grundyscribbling

Title: Food And Thought
Author: Grundy
Rating: FR13
Summary: Sometimes a girl needs a change and a rest.
Word Count: 1650
Note: The promised Anariel bit. Yes, I'm still a day behind.

Anariel woke with her namesake. Her bedroom window here faced east.

She’d gotten a pretty good night’s sleep, all things considered.

She did not like fire any better than she had since her first time at the Sudden Flame. Boy did Tinu need to have words with Grandfather Butthead about checking that things were empty before torching them. She wondered if there was any way to put that idea in her sister’s head without it setting her thinking…

Anariel had seen Losgar before, too – once from Grandfather Butthead’s side, once from Uncle Moryo’s – but experiencing it with Ambarussa the Crispy’s had been remarkably unpleasant. (Particularly given she knew it was coming. She’d wanted to shake him and tell him to sleep anywhere else but below deck so he might have a chance.)

Ambarussa the longer-lived had been more interesting, though there had been a solid chunk of time between the telling his father off more comprehensively than anyone else ever had and starting to roam East Beleriand where he’d suffered some sort of mental breakdown. Grandmother had also never mentioned that they’d met up quite a bit whenever she’d been in Doriath. Neither had Grandfather, and he must have known about it.

She’d also gotten a good long spell in which she’d sort of gotten to know her uncle through observation. No one had ever mentioned how much time Uncle Ambarussa had spent learning the forests and plants of Beleriand. Or that he’d been an artist – possibly because by Noldorin standards, he just dabbled.

The Second Kinslaying had been interesting, even if she’d already had an inkling about it from his mention in Neldoreth. Grandmother Melian was definitely alone in thinking he had anything to be sorry about for his judgement there.

The Third had been downright tragic, for both her grandmother’s people and for Uncle Ambarussa. As someone who had once drowned in a puddle, she could sympathize. (At least her getting killed had been on purpose. The hit that killed Ambarussa had been blind luck.)

Not that she thought he’d minded all that much. He hadn’t been any more enthusiastic about the Oath than Uncle Moryo, and for a lot longer – after Losgar, he hadn’t really cared at all. He had been missing his twin the entire time. She wondered what had happened to the little girl who’d killed him. Haru wouldn’t kill a child. At least, she didn’t think he would. Then again, people could do things in anger…

At least she had the minor consolation of knowing her grandmother Elwing was a certified badass. She’d been told, but getting to see it was special. (She wondered if Morgoth had really meant to let her in on that part, or if she was getting more than he’d meant to share on account of the maia thing.)

All the same, she wasn’t particularly in a people mood this morning – and she had a suspicion her brothers would ask. They mostly hadn’t in Tirion, but they liked Uncle Ambarussa, and were probably wondering about the thing with Uncles El. And possibly about Gramma Elwing and Granddad, too. They’d had the sense not to ask about any of it in Neldoreth with Grandmother Melian right there, but she knew better than to think they weren’t curious.

She took herself down to the dining room in the hopes that no one but the kitchen staff would be there. A light breakfast, and then she could go explore a bit and find a good spot to watch for Gramma Nerdanel. (The boys had mentioned a particular oak. And she could do with getting to know this valley.)

The kitchens had set out a buffet, aware that both the main household and their guests would drift in and out as they pleased. The dining room would consequently be serving breakfast most of the morning. Surveying the options, she decided all she really wanted was toast, and snagged a few slices of her favorite bread to toast over the miniature hearth lit for that purpose.

She decided to sample the jam options, too. She didn’t recognize all of them, but with no witnesses, she wouldn’t have to be dignified if she stumbled onto one she didn’t like.

To her surprise, her father was also up early, appearing just as she was starting to eat. She’d thought he would sleep in with Nana. She was pretty sure he was as happy to be home as she was. Not that they didn’t both like all (well, most) of their relatives, but…

“Good morning, Ada!”

“Good morning, my sunshine,” he said with a smile that swiftly gave way to puzzlement at seeing her with nothing more than toast.

She wasn’t usually a light eater, but after all the grandparents that have been trying to feed her the past couple months, she could probably go toe to toe with a dragon or two and not want more than a snack after. And she had a feeling their kitchens were gearing up to do something impressive given they had visitors.

She said as much, and tried not to giggle at her father’s mild resignation at how right she was. Shouldn’t he be used to it by now? She doubted the grandmother brigade had been any more restrained about him, Nana, and Tinu when they arrived.

But as long as they were both here and didn’t have an audience, maybe he could answer something for her. She had no idea how it had gone when Uncle Moryo had come back. She was hoping the answer was ‘totally peaceful, no riots involved’, but given the general lack of chill that seemed to characterize the Noldor, she wasn’t about to hold her breath on that…

“Ada, I wasn’t here yet when Uncle Moryo returned. Were people in Tirion ok about it? When he came back?”

If there were riots, it might well be judged her fault, and she was pretty sure that not only would that be a problem considering that fancy speech they’d given to Grandpa Ara in his capacity as Noldaran, Uncle Namo would probably take a dim view as well.

Her father looked to be suppressing laughter, and shared with her a brief memory of using the close resemblance between him and Miryo to sneak him into the King’s House unnoticed.

That wasn’t really going to be an option with Uncles Ambarussa, unfortunately.

“Tirion will manage just fine,” Ada smiled. “If anything, some segments of it may be… overenthusiastic. It’s as well you had the idea to give Grandmother time to see them away from all that.”

Sort of like she’d gotten to see Uncle Moryo in semi-privacy. Anariel frowned inwardly. She could do better than semi-privacy here. Actual privacy would be happening.

She also caught from Ada that they’d probably go with Gramma and Uncles Ambarussa whenever they did go to Tirion. Joy oh joy. Hopefully that wouldn’t be anytime soon. She really just wanted some quality time at home, in her own rooms. Even if she had to keep sharing her bath with the Grandmother and Aunt Trouble and Uncles Ambarussa. (She totally got the collective nickname for them now.)

Her father noticed both her empty plate and her antsiness.

“You need not wait on me to finish, my sunshine,” he told her. “I’m sure you’ll get to show off your ability to sit still later at dinner.”

No foresight needed to know that was a true statement, Anariel reflected with a sigh.

“Thanks, Ada,” she said in honest relief, and gave him a quick kiss before making her escape.

With no one else around, she could get away with jumping off the balcony – well, jumping off the balcony without anyone having kittens about it. The Fearsome Foursome deserved their name well enough that they probably wouldn’t care, but she had no idea about some of the other relatives.

“Woof.”

“You could have slept in,” she snorted at Huan. “Not like I can get into any trouble in my own backyard.”

The look that got said quite clearly her canine minder did not believe that for a second.

“I’m having thinky thoughts this morning, so all I plan on doing is finding a quiet spot and hiding out,” she informed him. “You really do not need to worry.”

“Woof.”

“You know, no one in Middle-earth knew you were this sarcastic.”

She wondered if he’d always been like that, or if it had come from dealing with Celegorm all those years.

“Woof!”

“Really? No one’s ever mentioned it about her, either.”

Then again, most of what got said about Lúthien tended to focus on how amazing and heroic she was. But Grandfather had called her a brat a time or two, and Uncle Eöl and Uncle Oropher hadn’t exactly contradicted that notion…

“Woof.”

“Suit yourself,” she shrugged. “I really am just looking for a good spot to chill out and wait.”

Ah, there was the oak the boys had been talking about.

It was taller than any of the trees in Imladris proper had been, but she recalled one or two of a similar size further down the valley. This one felt older, though. It took a good jump to reach the lowest branches, but once she had it was an easy enough climb.

She glanced down halfway up and found that Huan might not be able to climb, but he’d found an unobtrusive spot at the base where he wouldn’t be obvious to anyone approaching the house from the Tirion direction. (But where he would definitely notice if she changed her mind about a nice quiet spot.)

She wasn’t going to. She’d see Gramma coming from a mile away if not more up here. But that shouldn’t be for several hours yet, which gave her plenty of time for thinking. And also for a nap, now that she could be sure it wouldn’t feature any Morgoth dreams.