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grundyscribbling) wrote2024-12-28 10:00 pm
12 Days of Christmas - 4: Keeping Her Nose (And Other Things) Clean
Author: Grundy
Rating: FR13
Summary: Anariel is happy to be home in her own rooms, in her own bath...
Word Count: 1330
Anariel sank happily into the hot, bubbly water.
The best part about being home was being home.
She hadn’t gotten to adequately appreciate her new rooms before dashing off to Tirion and Alqualondë and Neldoreth. And if Ada could put his foot down, now would be a good time to tell their many relatives she wasn’t going visiting again for a while. If people want to come here, she’ll put up with it – in fact, she wouldn’t mind Solo and Arador coming to stay for a while.
She noted they had not been included in the Melian Express, and suspected ulterior motives on her grandmother’s part.
She hadn’t even gotten to try out her private bathing room before. The couple nights she’d had “at home” bathtime had been a family affair, catching up with Ada, Nana, and Tinu. So her own blue, green, and gold bathroom with its seaside impression and fabulous tub had sat unused.
Not only was she itching for a bit of peace and quiet, she felt like family bathing might be a little much tonight. That ‘fearsome foursome’ thing Grandmother had going with Aunt Trouble and Uncle Ambarussa was not entirely exaggerated. Besides, she liked her bath hotter than most.
She dunked her head under, and came up enjoying the floral scent of the bath bubbles. She’d have to ask which flowers – she didn’t recognize most of them, but it smelled amazing.
Darling? Do you mind company?
She gave Grandmother the mental equivalent of a shrug. She wasn’t inviting anyone, but she wouldn’t say no to Grandmother and Grandfather.
That was, however, not who she got when the door opened.
Apparently the fab four had been banished from the family bathing room.
“You guys couldn’t behave yourselves?” she asked as they hung up their towels and started disrobing.
“Ambarussa need to be eased into bathing in mixed company,” Aunt Trouble announced blithely. “He never got a chance to try it and he doesn’t want to admit to everyone else that he did.”
The first he was apparently Ambarussa Umbarto, the second Ambarussa…Ambarussa. No one had ever mentioned to her how everyone else differentiated them.
“Does bathing with you two not count?” Anariel asked in bemusement, absolutely certain this was not the first time these four had bathed in a group. Probably not even the first time they’d bathed in a group in Aman.
No, but the first time as adults, Grandmother put in. It would still scandalize our grandmother.
“They said starting with just you would ease him into it,” Ambarussa who’d made it to the Third Kinslaying explained. “If you weren’t already aware, they’re quite good at excuses.”
“We’re told you could learn a thing or two,” other Ambarussa added.
Anariel narrowed her eyes at Grandmother, fairly sure who that comment would have come from.
“Your grandfather and Uncle Eöl said something about wanting peace and quiet,” Aunt Trouble added, sounding bemused.
“Can’t think why,” Anariel muttered, making room for her ‘guests’. “So who were you bathing with, Uncle Ambarussa? Make friends with the Lindar in East Beleriand?”
“Something like that,” he shrugged, sliding in. “Whew! Are you bathing or boiling yourself?”
“Hot baths are relaxing,” Anariel informed him airily. “Anyway, I doubt you’re going to fool Uncle Moryo, let alone Gramma Nerdanel.”
“Ammë always knows,” Umbarto said unconcernedly. “But why is Moryo coming?”
“I thought we could do with some level heads, so I told her Moryo and Miryo should coming with. That gives us two level heads. Ada will appreciate that if no one else does.”
Both Ambarussa looked quizzical at ‘Miryo’.
“Didn’t you guys talk in the Halls? Mírifinwë Carnistirion, formerly known as Erestor.”
She glanced pointedly at Grandmother.
“Oh, I assumed we were keeping that as one of those little surprises your sister is so fond of, darling. It’s probably why she never mentioned it to them. Though I expected she would be here. Did you not tell her?”
Anariel thought about it for a second, but decided as she was probably going to end up with an annoyed little sister either way…
“She apparently made a fuss about wanting to spend time in her own house after I left Tirion, so I figured I better let her actually have more than a few days there.”
“More like she wanted to watch Finno deal with Turvo,” Aunt Trouble snickered.
Anariel raised an eyebrow.
“Nobody told me that part,” she prompted.
She caught her grandmother’s exasperated Irissë! and looked from the one to the other.
“Was I not supposed to know about it?”
“Eventually, perhaps, darling,” Grandmother sighed. “We were hoping to keep the peace for now.”
“It doesn’t sound very peaceful if Tinu wanted to go see the fireworks there instead of Neldoreth.”
She’d have thought her sister would want to see her tell Nimloth a thing or two.
“Finno has a bone to pick with our ass of a brother for much the same reason you do,” Irissë said cheerfully. “But unlike you, he’s Turvo’s elder and was also his king for a time. And his temper’s had time to ripen, he’s been simmering since Tinu first told him about Turvo’s silly book.”
Ah.
“If you wanted to see the fireworks too, darling, it would have involved going to Turvo’s city. He was asked not to join us in Tirion.”
Anariel wrinkled her nose at that.
“I’m fine here, thanks.”
“I suspected you might see it that way,” Grandmother chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your chance to give my cousin a piece of your mind – it may help that you’ll be the last one to have a go at him.”
She’d ask Tinu about that later. For now…
“You were surprised about Miryo, but not that Uncle Moryo had been married.”
“We did live together for a number of years before Menegroth,” Ambarussa the longer-lived told her. “Or were you expecting that none of his brothers would notice?”
“It seems like no one else did,” Anariel pointed out.
“I told Tyelko, but it didn’t seem worth troubling the others about,” Ambarussa shrugged.
She looked at him dubiously.
“The Oath was weighing on everyone by then, pitya. Curvo was focused on keeping Tyelpë safe to the exclusion of all else. Maitimo’s hold on sanity was tenuous at best without Finno. And Kano may have waited another hundred years or so to go wander the seashore, but if he hadn’t needed to look after Maitimo, he probably would have tried it sooner.”
“Right, note to self, you’re the cheerful one,” she muttered.
Aunt Trouble started laughing, and didn’t stop with Ambarussa the crispy splashed bath water at her.
Anariel privately decided that picking Ambarussa the longer-lived’s brain about his brothers in Beleriand would have to wait until Grandmother, Aunt Trouble, or preferably both were elsewhere.
“Wait,” she said suddenly. “If you knew Moryo got married, what else did you find out about that no one else knew?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Ambarussa the longer-lived grinned.
“Your little sister isn’t the only one who likes surprises,” Ambarussa the crispy said smugly.
She narrowed her eyes. The amount of satisfaction on display meant they knew something good.
Not sharing, Ambarussa informed her flatly. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we’re around to see the reaction.
The only thing that made that halfway tolerable was the sudden indignance from Grandmother’s direction that meant she hadn’t been let in on whatever secret he was holding onto either.
But that was just fine, because Grandmother took her revenge immediately, telling a story of the woes of young Ambarussa. That triggered a round of tales of misbegotten youth that soon had all of the fab four trying to make the others look worse. At the rate they were going, Anariel was going to hear more of their hijinks in one evening than she had gotten in several weeks in Tirion.
Tindomiel would forgive her missing out on Uncle Ambarussa’s first days back if she shared the stories later.
Probably.
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