A shelter for winter? by Aprilertuile

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The decision

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They’ve been walking for a solid week, taking it easy, resting, taking the time to eat and just enjoying each other’s presence, appreciating the scenery and the discovery of the new plant species they managed to find. Neither of them ever went to Eriador before. The war had taken all their attention, sadly enough.

Not to say the vegetation was entirely foreign, because it clearly wasn’t entirely foreign to them, but here and there they found plants that they never saw or noticed in Beleriand.

Elrond was working on preparing a couple of fishes for cooking, and while working, he was starting to consider drawing a map of this region, but really the way they were traveling couldn’t be called scouting by any stretch of the imagination, and it wasn’t like they had the material to draw maps on them in any case. If he really wanted to try, he’d have to try and barter for the necessary parchment and ink at the very least.

And barter with whom or with what…?

Besides, Maglor and he both had need for a map, but no real need to actually create one: they both had good memories and if they wanted to visit again some place they had seen, they’d be able to do so easily enough. So far at least.

“What are you thinking about?" Maglor asked, coming to him with a harmful of dead branches… And a few apples in his hands.

"Maps. I’m thinking of maps. And of how easily an accident could happen to you right about now with your balancing act."

"Your confidence in my abilities warmth my heart, Little Star." Maglor chuckled, and let the dead branches fall on the floor at his feet.

"Atto, I saw you fall into a pound not two days ago." Elrond noted with a small smile.

"And of course I fell in mysteriously on my own.”

Elrond smiled the most innocently ever at that.

“I have no idea what you mean. Surely no one here would have any way to bring up the water’s edge to make unsuspecting elves fall in."

"Uhu. And the fact I taught you that kind of things in the event you needed to defend yourself while you were too young to use a sword…?"

"Detail."

"Important detail, I would think. Here, brat, eat an apple, instead of making me want to throw you into a pound of your own.”

Elrond giggled at that, and took one of the fruits Maglor offered him, washing both his hands and the apple in the nearby river.

“The area looks nice." Elrond noted finally as Maglor worked on trying to light a fire.

"There’s trees aplenty, animals to hunt if necessary, the weather is strangely nice for the season, and there’s no human, elf or dwarf anywhere around that we could see, so indeed, the area looks nice."

"Hm… There are few chances of that changing before winter."

"Ah, indeed yes. Do you mean you want to stay around here?"

"Want, not specifically, but we could. At least we’d have time to build a shelter, and the area looks rich in resources.”

Maglor nodded at that.

“We can stay then. At least for a couple of seasons. We’ll need to look for a place where we can build a shelter easily, and where it can be both hidden and somewhat defendable, just in case. Also if possible a place that’s around a good amount of resources. Dead wood mainly if we want heat. I can get away with hunting far away, but I’m certainly not transporting wood for heat or building over kilometers over however many hills, thank you very much.”

Elrond nodded at that. He rather agreed with Maglor’s estimation there.

Seeing the fire take, Maglor sat next to it, and picked up an apple from the 3 left on the grass near their campfire. When the fire would be more stable, they’d put the fish over it to cook.

“Shall we stay here tonight and try to find a nice place to build starting tomorrow?"

"Yes. I rather like this area to be honest."

"Oh?"

"Hm… I hope we won’t have to walk too far away to find something."

"We’ll see. But there’s no reason why we’d need to go far.”

They sat together next to the fire, watching in peaceful silence the sun setting in the horizon. Elrond took first watch. Something they set in place since Maglor didn’t wake Elrond up the first time they did it the other way around. 

They both had their weapons at hand, though neither of them really felt any danger in the area they were in. However no one ever died from over-cautiousness. Over confidence on the other hand…

Half the night had passed, when Elrond woke Maglor up for his watch.

When morning came, it’s the sun rising that awoke Elrond. There were already a few apples on the floor next to him. He knew the apple tree was within sight. He was more surprised to have slept through Maglor moving away from him.

“I had to sing you back to sleep." Maglor noted between bites of his own apple.

"You didn’t have to you know.”

The vague humming from Maglor was all the answer he needed. Elrond shook his head and rose, stretching, before taking an apple from the pile.

“So, today we’ll try to find a nice place to build a shelter for winter?"

"That’s the plan."

"You look grim."

"I… No, I apologize. I guess I was wandering in the various realms of the what-if we don’t find a suitable shelter, with your human ancestors, there’s no telling how you’ll tolerate the cold. I’m… Worried. You didn’t do too well in Winter as a child, even if you chose to be counted as an elf now..." Maglor answered clearly concerned.

"It’ll be fine."

"You can’t know that."

"Yes atto. I can."

"How could you?"

"The land is welcoming. I can bet that we’ll find a suitable place to build a shelter before the end of the day.”

Maglor was going to answer, but took a good look at Elrond and snorted.

“Alright. You can lead me to wherever you felt that perfect place.”

Elrond smiled at that and as soon as they were ready, he took Maglor’s hand and pulled him in a vague eastward direction.

They walked all morning and part of the afternoon, and ended up at a large welcoming tree perched on a hill, above a river. The tree had strong lower branches that’d be easy to use to build a shelter using the tree as support.

“Nice discovery, but what about when we wish for warmth? And I beg you, don’t tell me you think I’m warm enough to actually keep you warm this winter”

Elrond looked amused at that and bite back his first answer.

“No. But if we find rocks, we could build a semi-permanent fireplace and avoid the risk of the tree catching fire and hating us on principle. Also there’s a river just down the hill, plenty of edible resources around. And animals to hunt when necessary."

"It won’t be efficient at all to keep warmth inside you realize, whatever we actually manage to build, even if everything else sounds perfect."

"We wouldn’t have time to build an actual house with all amenities. All we need really is a shelter. Something to keep the rain, wind and snow outside and safe enough for us to keep a fire lit.”

Maglor was going to offer another idea but winced. Elrond wasn’t wrong. Even if he wanted to, he’d have no glass for windows, no metal nails to keep things in place, and no stone carver to cut actual bricks. He also noticed no actual cavern around, which would have helped tremendously, admittedly.

“Alright, let’s try this way. But know that I will not be your living heater if your plan appears to be faulty, Elrond."

"Of course not atto." Elrond answered with a most innocent look.

"I stopped believing that face when you were 8.”

Elrond chuckled, but strategically didn’t answer. There are battles he knew he wouldn’t win and sometimes careful retreat was the best option. Maglor knew him far too well.