grundyscribbling | 12 Days of Christmas 5

Title: The Weather Outside
Author: Grundy
Rating: FR13
Summary: Tindomiel and Anairon and Anairon's winter adventure continues.
Word Count: 1625

Tindomiel snuggled contentedly under the extra blanket she’d worked into her sleeping bag.

She’d packed for the worst case scenario – getting snowed in on the road somewhere – when she’d convinced Anairon to go up to Formenos with her, and it turned out it was a good thing she had. Summer gear would not have gone down well.

She could already tell she wasn’t going to be able to pry her bestie outside with a crowbar until the spring thaw once they got to Gramma Nerdanel’s.

Anairon had rallied fairly well once she had pitched the tent, gotten him to help her make the windbreak, and come back inside to change into warm, dry clothes.

He’d brightened considerably once he saw she had all the dried ingredients to do a nice warming soup for dinner. Sure, she’d brought s’mores supplies, but she was also practical enough to want real food too!

She had a sneaking suspicion he’d actually enjoyed trying out the tent stove, and might even experiment with cooking on it some more once they got to Formenos. Just somewhere warmer and more comfortable. She could see him setting it up in the large hearth in the kitchen for further experimentation. (She didn’t object. Letting him experiment meant next time they went anywhere in the winter, he’d have his own versions of soup mix, quick bread starters, etc. Actually, she was kinda wondering how to maneuver his dad into coming along to try some of them out…)

“Did you do this on purpose?”

She tried not to glare. Given some of her past efforts to bolster his confidence, it wasn’t an entirely unreasonable question. But even so, she hadn’t gotten them stranded on purpose.

“No,” she said patiently. “Sometimes the weather just isn’t in your favor, even if you are from a house that is friends of Ulmo from way back. And anyway, winter snowstorms are normal up here. I just didn’t count on it snowing while we were on the road. It’s not like there’s regular weather forecasts in Tirion.”

Anairon frowned slightly at her mention of weather forecasts, but did not ask. He wasn’t thinking about California right now.

“This really is nowhere near as bad as the Ice,” she told him quietly. “I mean, not that Grandmother talks about it a lot or anything. But that was way colder for way longer, and not just a day or two away from a house with plenty of nice warm fireplaces and a fully stocked kitchen.”

“Do you think they know in Tirion that we got stuck?” was his next question.

“Probably not,” she shrugged. “I can tell someone if you want. But that would probably just mean your mom freaking out for no good reason. We’re fine. I mean, yeah, the menu will be slightly limited, but we’re not going to so much as miss a meal. And anyway, it will be far more embarrassing if someone comes looking for us like we can’t handle it. We’re practically grown up!”

“You try telling Ammë that,” he muttered.

“No thank you, not that foolish,” Tindomiel laughed. “Leave it to your dad.”

She paused.

“You could ask him about the Ice. He’d tell you.”

“You’re the grandkid, it’s safer if you ask,” Anairon said far too glumly for someone who’d just had s’mores for dessert.

“It was really cold, really hungry, and really dark,” Tindomiel told him flatly. “They only had starlight. Which Grandfather may be ok with, but it was the first time that was all anyone born in Aman had to see by. And I think it would be a little off-putting.”

She and Anairon were both children of the Third Age, which meant the sun and moon had been there all their lives. Tindomiel honestly had difficulty picturing a world without them, even if she understood theoretically that it had been that way. (Anariel was still firmly stuck on ‘how did trees give off that much light?’ which was apparently going to be all sorts of fun the first time she asked anyone who could remember them. Tindomiel had the distinct impression Ada wanted to be in the audience for that one.)

“I guess I could ask Turukano,” Anairon mused.

“Right, because that will go well,” Tindomiel snorted.

Personally, she thought if Anairon wanted to know and wouldn’t ask his dad, his best bet was to wait for one of his other two brothers to return and ask them. She wasn’t sure about Arakano, but the stories made Findekáno sound like he’d been fun before he got stuck being king.

“Yeah, but if it doesn’t, it isn’t like he can ignore me harder than he already does,” Anairon pointed out.

“Granted, but we’d have to actually go to his city for you to ask him,” she retorted. “I don’t know about you, but I’m in no particular hurry. Grandmama Elenwë and Gran Rillë fuss enough when we’re in Tirion.”

“Is that what prompted our current predicament?” Anairon asked.

“We’re not in a predicament,” Tindomiel shot back. “We’re plenty comfortable, and as soon as the storm is over, we’ll be to Formenos in a few hours.”

“Fine, our current situation,” Anairon sighed.

“I just wanted to see snow,” Tindomiel grumbled, knowing even as she said it she was setting herself up.

“You achieved that,” he said in a carefully even voice.

“You know what I meant,” she grumbled. “Anyway, I did know they were coming for midwinter, but it was really more about it not wanting to spend midwinter in Tirion. It’s stupid calling it midwinter when it doesn’t feel like winter at all.”

“It’s winter now,” Anairon sighed. After a pause, he added, “You should have packed more chocolate. We used most of it on the s’mores, which means very little left for hot chocolate.”

Tindomiel frowned.

“Fuss about it in the morning if it’s still snowing,” she suggested. “We’ve got enough for breakfast at least.”

Privately, she suspected she could manage a very small portal directly to the kitchen storeroom in Tirion. But Anairon was still weirded out enough by her Key abilities that she didn’t want to mention that. Maybe she should just wait until he was asleep, grab some more chocolate, and then say she’d found more in her pack…

“Do you think it will have stopped snowing by then?” Anairon asked hopefully.

“Maybe?” Tindomiel offered.

It was even odds if this was one of the brief but fierce storms, or the beginning of one that would settle in for several days of steady snow after the first blast. They could press on through the snow if it wasn’t coming down too heavily to see, but if it kept going like it had this afternoon, they’d just have to stick it out where they were.

And if that was the case, she might have to admit to Anairon how she was replenishing the supplies.

“Is this the part where you tell me to stop fussing about it since we can’t change it either way?” Anairon asked wryly.

“I wasn’t going to say it,” Tindomiel protested. “You’re allowed to be kind of annoyed, even if I have no weather sense whatsoever.”

“Weather happens,” Anairon said in a tone of trying to convince himself. “And I guess this isn’t as bad as the time we got caught in that rainstorm sailing down the coast.”

“No,” she agreed. “That was much worse. At least we’re dry this time.”

The squall had blown up so quickly they barely had time to get the sail down so they weren’t blown all over the place, and there’d been enough water coming down that she’d contemplated whether it was possible to drown standing upright, and if they might be better off going into the water and appealing to Uinen.

Also, neither of them had thought to have spare clothes in a watertight bag.

It had not been one of their more fun adventures. At least they’d been far enough down the coast that it was only Lindar who saw them the next day waiting for anything to be dry.

“Pretty warm, too,” Anairon said, contemplating the blankets, sleep rolls, and small stove keeping the tent fairly cozy. “Did they have these on the Ice?”

Tindomiel shook her head.

“The stoves they learned about from the Lindar in Beleriand, and I think these blankets are fabrics that weren’t invented until the Second Age sometime.”

Given no one had been planning on taking the frozen way, she wasn’t too sure they’d had much winter gear, even such as the Noldor had back then, with them when they started out.

“So not this comfortable even before they ran out of firewood?” Anairon said glumly.

“Probably not,” Tindomiel replied. “We could always try Grandmother if you don’t want to ask your dad.”

By his expression, that would not be happening.

“That’s ok,” Anairon sighed. “Besides, we probably won’t see her anytime soon. I don’t think she’ll be coming up north before spring.”

“Probably not,” Tindomiel snickered. “Grandfather likes winter well enough, but she’s not a fan. Even Anariel thinks snow is fun now and again.”

Not all that often, but whenever her sister got here, she probably wouldn’t mind joining them in Formenos to do a ski run or two before holing up in front of the library fireplace with Anairon.

“Fun is a little strong,” Anairon informed her. “But it does look pretty when it’s not coming down so hard we can’t see through it.”

“I can work with that,” she said cheerfully.

“But not until morning?” Anairon prompted. “We don’t have to go out in the cold again tonight?”

“Oh heck no!” she exclaimed. “Not when we’re just getting properly toasty! Pull that blanket up and settle in!”

12 Days of Christmas 5 - The Weather Outside

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