Atanatari: Of the Three Houses of the Edain by Himring

Snowballs

Winter in Dor-lomin: two episodes in the childhood of Turin Turambar.
The first shows him with his little sister.
In the second, Sador, the cripple Turin befriended, tries to comfort him during the first winter after his sister's loss.

Written for Dreamflower for Fandom Stocking 2014.

Rating: Teens. Warning: reference to canonical character death

Lalaith has a brilliant idea. She makes a snowball—little more than a loose fistful of snow—and, rising up on the ball of her feet and taking careful aim, hurls it straight into the bushes. Giggling, she runs forward. Amid bare and evergreen branches, Turin stands head and shoulders spattered with powdery snow—as was the plan!

‘Snowballs, Turin! Come play snowballs!’

But her peculiar brother is staring at her with one of his peculiar expressions.

‘Turin! Turin hurt?’

He mutely shakes his head.

‘Turin sad?’

She puts her little hand in his. He grasps it, a bit too tightly, but Lalaith doesn’t protest or try to withdraw her fingers. Why didn’t he want to play? Never mind, he’s looking happier now and he’s holding her hand, so it must be all right.

***

Turin makes snowballs, a whole series of them, all perfectly round, patted down to a hard, icy surface. They sit on the ground before him in a row, lined up like artillery. Sador looks at them and shakes his head.

‘Who do you want to attack with those, son of Hurin?’

‘Lalaith… Urwen wanted to play at throwing snowballs with me. I refused…’

Sador picks up a snowball and prises it apart with his fingernails. The hard surface gives and the ball crumbles into pieces.

‘Your sister wouldn’t have held that against you. She was always ready to play and quick to come up with a new game when any of her ideas didn't take off…

Shall we make a snowman together, Turin, you and I? We could use these snowballs of yours to make a start with. Or maybe a snow deer, if you prefer?’

Chapter End Notes

A slimmer version of the scene with Lalaith (cut to 100 words) was posted to Tolkien Weekly as a drabble at Tolkien Weekly for the prompts "ball of the foot" and "snowball" under the title "The Game".