Sunrise Before I Ever Saw the Sun by Himring

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The Bear Incident

Celegorm and Fingon escape into the mountains, on a dare.

Maedhros finds out and follows to keep them out of trouble, but the one who gets into most trouble is himself.

Or: how Celegorm found out he could talk to animals.

 

Cheekily submitted for the Teen Spirit challenge for the prompt: Conflict: thirst for adventure.

(Yes, cheating was definitely involved. I confess I wanted that prompt and went on rolling until I got it.)

The central plot idea is stolen from Dawn's Felakverse, but what I did with it is not compatible with the rest of Another Man's Cage.

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Maitimo quickly tried to sit up, at once changed his mind and instead sat up very slowly and cautiously. His head was ringing and his left leg, he deduced, was almost certainly broken. He peered woozily up the cliff face which he seemed to have precipitously descended. What…?

A small stone fell from above and hit him on the shoulder.

‘Fin…’, he began, broke off and said sharply: ‘Slow down and watch where you’re putting your feet!’

Findekano, coming rather too quickly down the cliff face, obediently slowed down to a steadier, safer climb and also considerately veered off to the right, where he would be less likely to dislodge pebbles straight onto his cousin.

Maitimo remembered suddenly how he had come to fall off the cliff, opened his mouth and shut it again so as not to distract Findekano while he was still climbing.

The moment Findekano set foot on level ground, he turned contritely to Maitimo and began: ‘Sor…’, but Maitimo cut across him: ‘What about the bear?’

‘It’s all right,’ said Findekano, reassuringly. ‘Turko told the bear that we were sorry to have bothered her and meant no harm. She calmed down and went away, just like that.’

‘She went away? Because Turko talked to her?’

From above, there came the sound of a small landslide. No point trying to tell Turko to slow down. He arrived in a shower of gravel, fortunately not on top of Maitimo.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Maitimo urgently, although he could detect no damage except for a few small grazes on Turko’s arm and cheek.

Turko looked him over critically and shook his head. ‘I should be asking you that. You really shouldn’t have yelled at her and thrown a rock.’

‘I was trying to distract her from you,’ said Maitimo, severely. ‘How was I to know you can talk to bears, apparently?’  Curiosity gained the upper hand, despite the pain in his leg and his throbbing head. ‘Can you really?’

‘Apparently,’ said Turko. ‘Apparently yes.’ He smiled, gloriously, blissfully. ‘I had no idea I could until I really needed to, wanted to really badly. But she heard me all right. She was still annoyed with us for going near her cubs, but she decided we weren’t dangerous after all.’ He frowned. ‘Only by then she had given you that swipe and you had tumbled off the path.’

‘I see,’ said Maitimo. ‘Unfortunately, I’ve broken my leg, I think, in falling.’

‘Oh,’ said Findekano, anxiously. ‘How are we going to get you out of here?’

‘Maybe you can find a crutch for me?’ suggested Maitimo. ‘If you look for young trees or branches that are tall and strong enough?’

‘I think we’ll have to carry you at least for a bit,’ said Turko, with the new-found confidence of a boy who can talk to bears. ‘But we need to splint or fix your leg somehow so that it doesn’t get jarred and hurt.’

It was hurting anyway, of course, but Maitimo sincerely appreciated the thought. Findekano nodded at once.

During the following hours Maitimo witnessed, silently and in amazement, unprecedented levels of cooperation between his brother and his cousin as, between them, they quite competently managed to manoeuvre him into a more sheltered and accessible spot. By the time they had reached the overhang, almost a cave, some way further down the pass, he was feeling sick and dizzy and in considerable pain, nevertheless, and could not have commented even if he had wanted to.  The boys, too, were exhausted and their faces worried, looking rather pale beneath the smudges and the sweat.

‘We’ll have to leave you here and get help,’ said Turko reluctantly.

Rather ignominious, Maitimo felt, for a big brother who had initially followed the two younger ones to keep them out of trouble. But he had no choice but to agree and even accept the blankets that they insisted on leaving with him. He just hoped they would be safe until they reached the waystation and meet someone more experienced on the way up.

Findekano stopped and turned back to him.

‘Sorry,’ he said, completing his earlier apology. ‘It was…’

‘…a dare,’ said Maitimo.

‘Yes,’ said Findekano sheepishly and then, brightening, ‘but still you know, it was quite an adventure. Only…’

He looked at Maitimo’s leg.

Maitimo smiled at him.

‘Take care how you go,’ he said.

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Chapter End Notes

Quenya names used: Maedhros = Maitimo, Fingon=Findekano, Celegorm = Turko (short for Turkafinwe).

I guess Fingon and Celegorm feel like rather young teenagers here, although I haven't put an actual age to either of them.