Tengwar: To The Letter by cuarthol

Anna (gift)

A battle of wills (with a body count)
(Warning: references to dead animals.  250 words)

The stomp of boots heralded Celegorm’s approach, as well as his mood.  A moment later he threw the door open, finding Curufin on a cushioned bench beside the fire.  His wrothful gaze landed first on his brother, then on the three cats which surrounded him - one sleeping soundly upon his lap, one curled before the fire, and the third cleaning itself.  None of them deigned to acknowledge Celegorm’s arrival.

“Which one of your little monsters is threatening me?” Celegorm demanded.

Curufin blinked slowly.  “Whatever could you mean?”

Celegorm proceeded to recount the increasingly mangled corpses of mice, birds, rats, and even a rabbit which had been appearing outside of his door over the last fortnight.

“So dramatic.  They aren’t threats.”  Curufin smiled sweetly.  “I’m sure they’re just leaving you little gifts.”

Celegorm narrowed his eyes at his brother’s three menaces.  He disliked them on principle, they killed without reason, not even eating their prey, and he particularly disliked them killing the birds.

He also particularly disliked finding dead animals on his doorstep.  He had stepped on one before he had fully awoken and that had left him in a particularly foul mood.

“Do something about it,” Celegorm snapped before turning on his heel and leaving.

Curufin waved dismissively after him and turned the page of his book.

A few days later, Celegorm leaned back and smiled as his brother’s shriek rang through the fortress.  He must have found the “little gift” Huan had left him from their last warg hunt.