We’ll grow old together by firstamazon

We’ll grow old together

The sea sparkled in blues and whites and greens, while the four cousins watched it in miraculous silence for a minute – never more than a minute, for their personalities never allowed extended periods for quiet thoughts.

Indeed, before the minute was over, Curufinwë poked Angaráto's rib and whispered: "Want to bet that Tyelko will toss the fish pole into the water before he catches anything?"

Angaráto snorted. "No? I know he will do it sooner rather than later." They grinned at each other. 

"I can hear you, and I will not," both cousins snickered at Tyelkormo's reply.

"Be quiet the lot of you!" Ambaráto hissed. "You will scare all the fish away!"

The three shared looks of complicity. Ambaráto was the only one who truly cared for fishing, and they all knew Tyelkormo agreed to it just because he thought he could talk to the fish from above the water. Angaráto had dared him, and-

"Look! Did you see that?" Curufinwë cried, pointing at the distance and almost toppling their boat over.

"Easy, Curvo!" Ambaráto gripped on his tunic. 

"I think it was a humpback whale!" Angaráto said wonderingly, looking to where Curufinwë's index finger still pointed like a compass. "I have never seen one so close to the shore!"

"There might be others, then," Tyelkormo said expertly. "A calf, at least."

"Do they... have hair?" Ambaráto asked with a frown, looking at the distance; fishing was forgotten entirely. They all looked at him with similar frowns, but Tyelkormo scowled.

"Of course not! They're mammals, but they don't have hair like us."

"Father says there are sea animals in the North that have hair," Angaráto murmured, eyes still fixed on the spot where the whale had appeared.

"But this is not the Northern sea, and yes, my father told your father that, because he's been there before, while your father-" 

"I know!"

"Don't be an ass, Tyelko," Ambaráto mumbled.

"Don't call my brother an ass!" Curufinwë turned to his cousin in anger.

"Don't worry, little cub," Tyelkormo ruffled his brother's hair. "It's all in good jest, isn't it, coz?" He elbowed Angaráto's ribs, whose lips turned up involuntarily. 

"LOOK!" Curufinwë pointed excitedly and leaned forward. He would have fallen into the water if, again, Angaráto hadn't grabbed his shirt from behind.

As he said and they indeed looked, a massive form emerged from the placid water like it had been listening to them. 

It was a woman's head. 

Her hair was a diaphanous shade of white and silver, and they took it for sea-foam; in some parts, it shone almost grey under Laurelin's rays. The head emerged until they could see her deep-green eyes and the curl of her lips.

The four boys stood aghast. It was their first encounter with the matron of the Telerin mariners. She smiled upon them and raised fingers like seaweed from the water and waved almost shyly at them.

Boisterously, Tyelkormo stood up on the boat and bowed to her, an extravagant courtesy that made him lose his foot and hit the water belly-on. The boys roared in laughter, and Uinen huffed a little laugh too, which hit them in the form of a big, smooth ripple.

Tyelkormo was still smiling when he climbed back to the boat. Uinen dove back to the water as they waved their goodbyes. He, then, said to his friends: "You have to promise me we will do this again!"

"Of course!" Ambaráto grinned. "Though next time, we can just sail and swim."

"Yes!" Curufinwë whooped with joy.

Angaráto smiled and said: "Never worry, cousins. We will do this many a time still. We'll grow old together, after all."