The start of a beautiful friendship by Aprilertuile

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Meeting

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Tyelkormo was with the Hunt of Oromë for the first time. He was generally enjoying himself, learning with a Hunter who has been with the Hunt since the elves arrived in Aman. The elf in question was called Yarlossë. 

Since he arrived among Oromë’s Hunters, Tyelkormo had been paired with the older elf, and the elf understood quickly that as long as Tyelkormo understood the reason why he was performing a task, then he would do it without complaint, and stay interested. 

Under the elf’s guidance, Tyelkormo learnt the rules of the Hunt, among which the rules regarding weapon handling, because as a rule, any weapon that could kill a maddened bear or a giant spider could also kill an elf. 

So it was a very real rule that anyone welcomed with the Hunt was taught how to handle their weapons and how to not become public dangers, even before they were taught to hunt. 

He also learnt to perform all the tasks that a hunter needed to do: like tracking, creating traps and dismantling them, preparing the body of a prey be it to eat or to burn in the case of the creatures of shadows, repairing one’s own kit, making arrows, preparing a campsite and dismantling it so that there was no trace of it… 

Tyelkormo was burning with curiosity and learnt everything he could with the older elf, applying himself to the tasks he was given… However he also noticed quickly some tension around the guests of the Wood. He tried to ask about that, but he understood that Yarlossë wouldn’t tell and the subject was pretty much taboo. 

So he spent his time trying to become a better hunter instead, and perhaps one day, he’d uncover that mystery. 

That day, Tyelkormo followed Yarlossë in near silence up to a deep wood that they never entered before. 

“Master Yarlossë?” Tyelkormo whispered. 

“I asked, and received the authorisation from lord Oromë to take you into his part of the Wood for a tracking exercise. We’ll track a deer that’s known to travel alone. We will not hunt or kill unless we are actually attacked by something.”

Tyelkormo looked sideways at the older elf. 

“Being actually attacked by anything is unheard of in…”

“Pull your head out of your ass, lad. You live in the protected side of Aman where nothing ever happens that anyone knows of. This? This is Oromë’s Wood. There are wolves, great cats, and far, far darker things on the other side of those woods and sometimes, those darker things bleed within this forest.”

“I see.”

“Don’t forget it. It may cost you your life.”

“For real? Or like when dad promises to dismember and cook whoever will disturb him next?”

“For real. Your father’s actually a kitten compared to whatever may find us in there.”

Yarlossë nodded in approval as Tyelkormo pulled his bow in an easier position to draw it. 

“Lead on then. And let’s see how well you’ve learnt your lessons so far.” The elf told his student.

Tyelkormo was thrilled, and entered the darker woods carefully, on his guards, but enjoying every moment of the track… Until he noticed that the sounds of the forest suddenly went silent and he froze, listening intensely. 

At his side, Yarlossë also froze, bow and arrow in hands, ready to fire at whatever could attack them. 

There was a sound of a fight nearby, animal sounds, one seemed to be feline in nature but not any sort of housecat to sound like that. Yarlossë identified it as a giant forest cat, the kind that grew tall as dogs. Unchanged if they were lucky, steeped in darkness and pushed to madness if they were Unlucky. 

Tyelkormo was careful and so silent, approaching the place he could hear the sound of fighting from, that his mentor took a while to notice his departure. 

Yarlossë swore silently promising himself to put the younger elf on a leash next time, but followed his very discreet traces, and joined him in a tree, sitting on a branch, ready to go and run or fight if necessary… Watching as a giant dog, with clear fur… Finally caught the giant cat that reeked of darkness by the throat. 

Tyelkormo’s whole focus was on the fight, looking fascinated by the giant dog. One of Oromë’s immortal hounds. 

Yarlossë grimaced. 

He however stayed silent until the end of the fight, and watched as the dog started to feast on the entrails of the Cat. 

But Tyelkormo moved a bit on the tree, and the dog looked up and saw them. Yarlossë tensed as the dog growled at them, grabbed a hold of the giant cat, and left with it. 

“That was…”

“That was one of Oromë’s Hounds.”

“I thought they were friendly to elves?” Tyelkormo answered as a question for his mentor. 

The elf sighed tiredly. 

“Fine. I guess it’s time that I explain it to you, but, and I need you to promise me that. You will NOT repeat what I’m going to tell you to anyone, not even your fellow guests, not your friends and less of all to your family when you go back home. Understood?!”

“I understand. I won’t repeat what you’ll tell me.” 

Yarlossë guided Tyelkormo to a campsite that was empty, seemingly hours away from Oromë’s lodge where the Hunt and their guests were staying. 

They didn’t bother with a campfire as the weather was warm enough and they had rations they prepared just in case, so they didn’t need to hunt and cook. 

Watching the sky, and noticing the dreadful clouds, they set up a tent, just in case, to avoid being disturbed by rain. 

Once they were ready, and sitting side by side, Tyelkormo turned toward Yarlossë:

“Alright. So…? The hound?”

“It’s an old story that predates your birth. Most people don’t want to hear about it anymore. Those in power who were told what happened, namely your grand-father king Finwë and his court have chosen to hide that information and to consider that nothing ever happened and the elf that was concerned never came with them in the first place.”

“Right...”

Yarlossë nodded. The younger elf has shown to be quite discreet when he wanted to, but he also saw some of Tyelkormo’s reaction that showed clearly to him who learnt to read him, that Tyelkormo disagreed strongly with some of the politics of the court of Tirion. 

“Alright. So… When lord Oromë brought elves on these shores… we followed. The situation was a bit of a mess and some who came were… unwell.”

“Unwell?”

“Different. The land over the sea wasn’t safe, Tyelkormo. It was dark. There were things chasing us. That shadow cat that you saw today? It’s nothing compared to the rest. Those things I’m speaking of could snatch the unwary in the dark leaving not a trace to follow… Or choosing to leave behind a path of blood. Some of the elves who were snatched this way were recovered. Sadly those who were recovered were… Different, in body or in mind.”

Yarlossë’s eyes were fixed in front of him, unseeing the world around him. 

“One of those elves was with us. He came to Tirion, settled as a hunter. He came to the Woods of Oromë, as a guest, a learner of the Ways of the Woods. We often went out, us Hunters with the guests, to learn with the Great Hunter. To better ourselves and not just hunt whatever seemed available without thoughts on consequences. More so now that we were organising in great cities instead of small hidden settlements.”

Tyelkormo nodded at that. He was always very focused on memorising what his mentor said regarding the history of their people, or hunting in general. Yarlossë knew the younger elf would be able to repeat word for word whatever he said. He was that good at memorising things that interested him. 

“Lord Oromë already had his Hounds, and sometimes he gifted them to those of his Hunters, or guests who distinguished themselves.”

Tyelkormo tilted his head at that, eyes going cold. 

“I don’t think I like where this is going.”

Yarlossë smiled bitterly:

“No one liked it when it happened either. That elf distinguished himself by his bravery fighting some shadow creatures that just popped up in Aman. You must understand, this land is blessed, created of light by the Valar, but nothing is perfect in this world. There are spots of darkness even here that infect creatures and plants around. Everything that lives in Arda Marred can be found on Valinor. Be it good, or bad.”

Tyelkormo nodded at that. He’s had this specific lesson already. 

“Those things can be deadly to us and thus the Valar managed to have them restricted around the Woods of their Hunter. Or their Hunter claimed the Woodland closest to where they mostly appeared, whichever. And that elf went after those creatures relentlessly. He was commended for his bravery, his skills, and he was offered the right to have a Hound of his own to help him.”

“Did the Hound have a right to choose to be given away too?” Tyelkormo asked with a frown. 

“They do, but you must understand they’re usually given away as young ones so they can grow with their companion and both can learn together to complete each other.”

“They didn’t have enough experience to see a threat in an elf.” Tyelkormo whispered. 

Yarlossë nodded. 

“Indeed, not until it was too late. We didn’t see this elf worsen. But somehow he did. You see, the creatures of shadows that we hunt can be mostly eradicated… To a point. A point that we reached in the past. But then the elf found himself seeking other hunts to satisfy his… Cravings. Hunted predators. Until he was warned by lord Oromë that he had to stop. He became sullen, abrasive, we mostly learnt to leave him alone or suffer his bad mood. And then one day… He turned against his hound companion.”

“Why?”

“He was craving violence, and found relief in the hunting. If he didn’t get a challenge through the dark creatures then the hound of Oromë would provide one. Or that’s what he claimed when we found out. I don’t know. I don’t understand it really. But by the time lord Oromë realised there was a problem, by the time the Hunt could intervene, the hound was injured badly. He barely survived the experience and grew… Extremely wary of us elves. Lord Oromë was absolutely out of his mind with rage and the elf disappeared and hasn’t reappeared again so far. The season ended early and lord Oromë took years before he opened his woods again to guests.”

“Is there… A possibility that this elf was puni…”

“We don’t talk about possibilities .”

“Why?”

“We just don’t. We are guests on this land, young prince. Abide by the law of the land and do like we all do. What that elf did to his companion was horrible. Whatever happened to him was deserved.”

Tyelkormo tilted his head to the side again at that, thinking. 

“Alright. And the hound?”

“Every hunter who is allowed entrance to the woods occasionally or not, knows to stay away if by case their path crosses that of the Hound. No one knows what could happen, and no one wants to know. You saw it, it’s a hunting beast. It’s powerful, like all its kind, and it’s unlikely to take kindly on our people. We stay away. Do you understand, young prince? You stay away!”

Tyelkormo didn’t answer, looking bothered. 

Miriel died, everyone started to avoid mentioning her, up to Finwë who decided to remarry. 

No one ever talked or acknowledged in any way, shape or form the constant disagreement between the sons of Finwë or the regular fights that erupted in the streets of Tirion because of said disagreement. No, the king was too happy living with his head in the cloud, never seeing problems, and the people were happy to pretend nothing ever happened, even when they were in the middle of cleaning up a mess. 

One elf was a violent mess and disappeared in Oromë’s woods without a trace after offending Oromë and no one wanted to acknowledge it either.

Tyelkormo wondered how far he’d need to dig, to find out other issues that were just kept silent for fear of showing a less than pristine picture of grating happiness.