From good to bad by Aprilertuile

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Before the troubles

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This year, upon joining the Hunt for the season again, Tyelkormo had brought his twin brothers. So far it has had mixed results. 

Mixed in that they weren’t bad hunters, and integrated easily enough the bulk of the elven hunters of Oromë, they got along well with their cousin Irissë here, however they still clung to their childish notion of fun and whereas at home it hurt pretty much no one, here, it was a problem. 

It had let to more disputes than Tyelkormo appreciated in this instance. 

And so that’s why he was once again looking for his twin brothers. They had seemingly disappeared again, and every time they did, it heralded troubles somehow. 

Tyelkormo was quite sure that neither Carnistir nor Curufinwë had ever been half as troublesome as those two. 

He found them sitting in a clearing just on the outside of Oromë’s home with Irissë and Taurhoswë, a common friend who lived permanently with the Hunt. 

“There you are, Troubles.” Tyelkormo said upon finding them. 

“We’re not causing trouble.” One of the twins said. 

“Nor are we in trouble.” The second added.

“If anything YOU are in trouble.” They both noted. 

“Oh? Care to elaborate, Troubles?” Tyelkormo said amused. 

“The twins know you well, that’s all.” Irissë intervened.

“… And that leads me to be in trouble… How?”

“You have faith in Oromë.”

“That… Is not exactly new.” 

“No, brother. You have actual faith. It’s not that you like him or like it here. You actually believe in a Vala. Dad is going to hit the roof for that one.”

“Oh, darling brother, how easily you forget that if dad learns of that little detail, he’ll forbid every single one of us to get back to Oromë. You very much included. You want to keep your freedom? You keep my secret. So if you put me in trouble with dad, you’ll get into it as well. Understood?”

The twins exchanged a look at that:

“He wouldn’t?”

“Wouldn’t he? Tell me, where is little Tyelpe learning his craft now?”

“With… his father and dad?”

“Yeah, and why is Tyelpe learning his craft at home instead of, say, with Aulë?”

The twins exchanged a look again and deflated: 

“Because mom told dad that she had faith in Aulë when he finally noticed her little shrine in her workshop, and they got into an argument over faith of all things.” One of them said, unhappy. 

“Indeed. So who exactly is in trouble, dear brothers?”

“Us all if dad realises you belong to Oromë.”

“Exactly.”

“You’re very annoying, you know that?” Ambarussa grumbled. 

“Thank you, little dove, I try.”

“Stop calling me that, it’s ridiculous.” 

“Why do you even have faith ? Dad says faith is ridiculous beliefs of ignorant minds.” 

“And mom says there’s no harm in faith and it’s only the problem of those who do have faith. And are you calling me ignorant, you pests? As I recall I have two masteries over you AND I’m a better hunter so far. If anything, the ignorant ones are the ones who repeat the words of someone else without thinking about what it means in any given context!” Tyelkormo snapped. 

“Your masteries are cheating! You passed them by helping Curufinwë and Carnistir with their class work so of course you have an advantage.”

They both looked alarmed at the growl of anger that escaped their brother at that. 

“I, not our parents, and not our elder siblings, helped our brothers with their lessons when I DIDN’T actually follow those classes and you call it CHEATING when I understood enough of it on my own to be an actual help to our brother and pass those same masteries? You, little ignorant lazy pests who barely bothered to pass a single mastery? And the same one at that? Who do you think you are exactly to throw judgement at me over your own inherited illogical prejudices?”

Fuming, Tyelkormo stormed away. 

May they get eaten by a bear on the next hunt. 

“You don’t truly want this, my little hunter,” was the thought that came floating in his mind in Oromë’s amused voice. 

“Perhaps not but I still want a refund. Little brothers are a pest upon this world and should be eradicated. Garden pests may have their use, but sibling pests do NOT!”

He could feel amused laughter though there was nothing to be heard around him, and nothing to see, save a maia in owl form that turned toward him at that. 

“Why does the concept of siblings even exist, Tilion? We really don’t need them.”

The owl, Tilion, emitted a hoot of laughter and closed his eyes as if sleeping.

Tyelkormo raised his hands in a gesture of annoyance and just kept walking. The woods had always been comforting to be in, peaceful even. 

Several hours had passed when Irissë managed to find him near the river that crossed Oromë’s domain. 

“They’ll help hide it from your father.” She told him straight away.

“Will they?”

“I managed to talk them into understanding it’s in their best interest indeed despite your little useless spat. You Fëanárions are all a nightmare to deal with, just so you know.” She said unimpressed. 

“Well, thank you, Irissë.”

“Yes, well, some of us understand the concept of faith, you know, and some of our parents are actually encouraging and not condemning any matter of interest of their children.”

“Yes, yes, I know, your parents are absolutely perfect, which is why last year they betrothed you to an elf you had to humiliate in court to escape from. I see how perfectly accepting they are. No really, they’re so very accepting and listen so attentively.”

“The… Betrothal was more Grand-father’s doing than my parents. Also after I humiliated the elf at court grand-father agreed to stay out of my dating life, thank you very much.”

“It’s Finwë’s choice that it happened, and your parents’ choice to let it happen. Irissë, none of our parents are perfect. My father just happens to be more vocal than most but it doesn’t make him specifically worse on every point. For instance when Grand-father tried to find a wife for each one of us too, dad told him off and stopped it in its tracks. He’s not wholly bad. Just… Stubborn and prejudiced on some very strange subjects.”

“I’d like to point out that you’re the one fearing what he’ll do if he learns how far your so-called ‘friendship’ with Oromë goes.” 

“Yeah, well, I’m not Findis. I can’t see myself abandoning my family for my faith.”

“If your family’s the one pushing you away for it…”

“So far it’s been working as I want it to, no need to abandon either. I can even teach my people to respect the laws of the Hunt when out hunting and dad says nothing of it.”

“Did he even notice your shenanigans?”

“Eh. It’s just good practice if he asks. Oromë’s not… Following him doesn’t require stupid shit that makes no sense. Every single rule can be explained and explained well.”

She snorted in amusement at that. 

“It makes sense to you, not everything makes sense to everyone else. I do pick and choose with rules to keep when I’m out of the Wood, as do every other hunter out there. It’s just Oromë’s chosen hunters who keep them all.”

“One could argue we’re his chosen hunters because we do see the sense of upholding his rites and laws, not the other way around.”

She elbowed him in the ribs at that:

“You know well what I meant.”

“I know. It takes effort to follow him, as everything worth knowing does.”

“By the way, you have three masteries? The fuck with that?”

“Four. Linguistics, Animal Languages, Mathematics and Trade.”

“Linguistic like all of you feanorians.”

“Yes.”

“Animal Languages I knew already.”

“I’m trying to convince Makalaurë to give it a try but my brother prefers to serenade the girl of his dreams who seems completely oblivious.” Tyelkormo said looking aggravated at that, making his cousin cackle. 

“Seriously?”

“Yes. She’s a woodworker, she’s pretty good at what she does.”

“Ugh Fëanorians. How about you describe her before you describe her craft to me?” Irissë complained. 

“Small, quick, nice voice, atrocious accent, clear hair but not straight up blond, green eyes… very patient when working, very not patient with customers, which tends to amuse me to no end but also one of Carnistir’s teachers would have had a stroke if confronted with her attitude.”

Irissë snorted in amusement at that. 

“So the right temper to deal with you lot, and skilled or none of you would have ever noticed her, and she doesn’t bother with the classical quenya that you lot love. Got it.”

“And to go back to our initial subject, Mathematics for Curvo, and Trade for Carni. That one in particular was a plague. Mathematics at least I could see the sense of.”

"Why didn't we know you have four masteries? We know all the masteries of your brothers, your father made a celebration out of each one somehow."

"I don't even know if he realises I have those. I didn't quite tell him after the hm... quite epic argument we had about my lack of academic interests. I didn't want to give him hopes and plunge myself into a nightmare of further academic pursuits." 

"I need to ask, how did it happen at all if your parents don't know."

"I'm pretty sure it's all Curufinwë's fault. He arranged everything, including on the financial side, to add me to the exam session than him and later Carni, and you know how it is when one of my siblings says : 'I bet I can do it better than you...' I can't help it."

"And did they?" Irissë asked, laughing. 

"Of course they did. It's a subject they were both passionate about while it's just a subject I learnt incidentally to help them get better at it. I just passed it, they got it with all due honor, the poor elves."

She laughed at that.

"Your siblings know you too well."

"Alas, they do."

“Dare claim it was useless?” She taunted him.

“One, if I did, Carni would skin me alive, so no thanks and two… It did help me simplify the process of dealing with my side of the family’s politics, but I still wouldn’t call it interesting.”

“Afraid of your little brother, Tyelko?” Irissë cackled. 

“Have you met Carnistir?”

She just laughed at him for it. 

They stayed by the river, chatting until Tyelkormo rose to his feet, offering her his hand:

“Hm?”

“Our lord Oromë will soon gather us all.”

“Your lord, thanks. I’m just a free spirit who enjoys riding with the Hunt.”

And the horn of the Vala rang in the forest, calling all of his hunters back to him. Irissë shook her head, irritated:

“Your connection to him will one day stop being unnoticeable if you keep doing that you know.”

“And one day I’m sure dad will have come to his senses.”

“That’d be the day.” Irissë snorted.