Tyelkormo's Great Escape by Aprilertuile

Tyelkormo was currently outside the house, hiding from his mother.

It was nearly winter and every winter was peak matchmaking activity time in Tirion’s palace. So Nerdanel focused more on her sons at this period since she wanted them to make a good impression so they could find a good wife as was proper for young adult elves.

She was all the more enthusiastic this year since she still believed that her plotting had worked for Makalaurë the previous year.

It really hadn’t, but she didn’t know that: His brother was a good actor and none of the siblings wanted to tell the truth to their mother on that point.

Alas now she seemed to have given up on Maitimo finding anyone anytime soon, and Makalaurë was seemingly in love and so she was focusing all her attention on him this year and…

Alas, Tyelkormo didn’t want that.

He didn’t want to give any false hope to his mother or to any of the noble girls of the palace.

He didn’t want a significant other.

He didn’t even want sex!

The mere idea of someone, anyone, touching him like that made his skin crawl and made him want to move permanently in the dark Avathar where no one ever went for safety’s sake.

And to top that off, he didn’t even want a child, so why would he bother trying to find a partner? The utter displeasure of living with an invasive other being who’d have opinions on him or his dog, or his manners or his chosen craft?

He’d end up living permanently in the wilds, never to return to civilization again!

He had tried already to tell his mother that, but according to her, he’d “grow out of this soon enough and would be grateful for her help in finding a good partner.”

But it was already true when he was a teenager, and still now as an adult it was true and he didn’t feel like it’d change anytime soon. He just didn’t want that!

But she didn’t want to hear him and her recent plans to have him participate in the string of the palace’s winter events for the express purpose of meeting hopeful young ladies was making his skin crawl. He was going to have to bite someone or otherwise create a scandal at court just to avoid people this season, he could feel it.

His father was going to be so disappointed in him…

He jumped, startled, when Maitimo sat on the branch next to him:

“I’ll have you know, brother mine, that I hate having to climb trees, so I’d greatly appreciate it if you could find a less bothersome hiding place.”

Tyelkormo snorted at that: “Alternatively you could have taken my chosen hiding space as a sign I wanted to see no one.”

“No, because mom is looking for you and I get the feeling that you hiding here is not an unrelated thing. So, do you want to share your troubles with me or do I need to involve Makalaurë?” Maitimo asked him.

“Mom is just being her usual self and trying to convince me that to marry is the goal of my life. Only… I don’t want a wife. I don’t want sex! I don’t want children! Just the idea of touching another like that, or being touched or. Or having an invasive other in my life or…”

Maitimo shivered next to him and nodded. Tyelkormo had probably let something linked through Osanwë. Oh well…

“I can feel it yes. You really don’t like the idea, uh? Ok then. Come with me, we’ll need Makalaurë’s help for that.”

“Why?”

“Because for mom’s planning, failure is the only option in the light of your feelings on the matter, and for that, we’ll need a distraction and Makalaurë’s our best bet.”

Tyelkormo sighed but followed his elder brother out of the tree. They gathered in their father’s workshop where their mother never went. Their father was at the palace of Tirion for the day at the request of his father so the place was sure to be empty.

“Alright, what may I do for you, my darling brothers, when I could and really should be working on…” Makalaurë started.

“Mom’s ambition to push us to find a wife is well focused on Tyelko this year, as you well know.”

“And so?”

“And we need your help to distract mom.”

Makalaurë was clearly going to protest, but Maitimo looked at him sharply and something passed between them through Osanwë. Tyelkormo thought briefly how he hated when his brothers did that and kept him out of the loop but right now perhaps he preferred not to know exactly what Maitimo showed or told their brother. 

Whatever it was, Makalaurë turned absolutely serious.

“Alright then. Never mind me. What are we going to do? Because I can try to distract mom but when she gets an idea, she’s hard to distract, and won’t let me get in the way for long.”

“Tyelko is going to prepare a bag and he will spend the winter up north, doing the mapping of the settlements that dad wanted. And if he happens to incidentally get caught in a snow related situation, it couldn’t possibly be on purpose.”

“Uh… Better him than me! Have you seen the north in this season?!” Makalaurë said with an exaggerated shiver.

“I’ll take hiking in the north over having to tolerate meeting the people mom wants me to meet right now.” Tyelkormo grumbled.

“Good because it’s exactly what you’ll do.” Maitimo told him.

“Alright? So?”

“So we need to distract mom long enough that Tyelko can make his bag, grab provisions, his horse and leave. And that, my dearest, most dramatic and loud brother, is exactly what we need your help for.”

Makalaurë’s grin at that was sharp.

“Oh how I adore you, brother mine. I suppose it’s time, indeed. My epic love story with myself must come to an end. How tragic… There will be Songs about it! What did I say? Songs. Laments! Entire ballads!”

“Right. I’ll really be better off up north.” Tyelkormo grumbled.

“Makalaurë, we need you to be as loud and obnoxious as you can be, and to stay as close to mom as you can! As soon as you distract mom we’ll either take the side door or I’ll go in and open my room’s window for Tyelko!”

“I really hope it’ll work.” Tyelkormo mumbled.

“I really hope so too.” Maitimo answered with a faint smile.

“Well, I will go now. Pray for my poor broken heart! And if you so happen to meet with a woodworker willing to take a commission for a complicated musical instrument on your way, please Tyelko, remember fondly my sacrifice this day.”

Tyelkormo blinked even as Makalaurë left them to go back to the house, crying for their mother.

“I absolutely hate the fact that he enjoys that kind of…”

Maitimo chuckled at that.

“Makalaurë is bored out of his mind, brother. That is all the reason he needs to make some noise in any way he can.”

By now Makalaurë had found their mother and had thrown himself in her arms, crying helplessly and loudly. But the sound alas told Maitimo that they were in the kitchen of the house.

“And here goes my plan. Go wait under my window, I’ll go open it for you.”

They separated, Maitimo going inside by the living-room side door, alas in plain view of the kitchen where Makalaurë had found their mother, and went to his bedroom on the first floor. He opened the window and let Tyelkormo in:

“You’re far too quick to climb anything, you know that right?”

“It’s fun most of the time.”

“Pack for heavy weather. Warm clothing. Don’t be an idiot and good luck. I’ll keep watch just in case.”

Tyelkormo made his pack as he’d make it for hunting in the North with the Hunt of Oromë. He’d be fine with it. He then was told by his brother to go straight to the stables.

“No food supplies then?”

“Stop in Tirion for those, mom isn’t moving from the kitchen. Go. Be careful. Try to avoid dad in Tirion.”

“Got it.”

Makalaurë was downright wailing by now and even from the stables, Tyelkormo’s ears were ringing with all of his brother’s noise.

“I’d hate to be mom right now.”

“Mom is starting to want more kids, so that’ll be a nice reminder that kids are noisy little things.” Maitimo snorted.

“Is that why she’s that unbearable this time around?”

“I’d think so. Now go before she realizes that something’s up.”

“You think she can even hear her own thoughts long enough through Makalaurë’s racket to realize that anything is going on?!”

“It’s mom! What do you think?”

Tyelkormo grimaced, accepting that point, and just grabbed a blanket for his horse, and added another one for when they’d be up north and left the stable, leading the horse carefully so they’d stay out of sight of the kitchen.

He then mounted up and left in somewhat of a hurry. He needed to leave fast and most of all he needed to be at least a day of travel away before he’d be safe from his mother shall she discover his disappearance. 

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Tirion was always very colorful for the season. It was never missing its chance to become an eyesore of epic proportion in Tyelkormo’s not so humble or silent opinion.

It wasn’t even like it was really getting all that cold in Tirion anyway, not like in Valmar that was higher up in a mountain. There was never any actual snow in Tirion. And an elf would be comfortable enough in those temperatures but no, the city of Tirion as a whole was acting like winter was different.

It only was different in mountains or up north where his father was tempted to build a house - closer to those of their people who settled there.

Maybe he shouldn’t criticize the people’s desire to keep decorating Tirion like that since it meant that his father and his lamp making colleagues were kept well in business but still… To his eyes, that amount of unnatural colors and light was more headaches inducing than nice.

Tyelkormo dismounted, preferring to walk through the busy streets of Tirion. His horse let itself be led calmly.

He would go to Tirion’s market and fill a bag with travel bread. And some wine. He would find water easily on the way, but wine… And jam if he found any.

Hopefully his father would be busy in the palace and he’d be long gone from Tirion by the time his father would poke his nose outside.

In the marketplace, Tyelkormo managed to secure a nice pack of travel bread, and if he wasn’t completely stupid about it or added to it by hunting and gathering, it should even be enough to last him until he didn’t need it anymore.

He secured a couple of jars of honey, and dried fruits, but alas no jam. Oh well… He’d do without.

However when he turned to go to another merchant who seemed to have various wines in various containers, Tyelkormo spied his father dealing with said merchant.

His blood froze in his veins and he pulled his horse to the nearest side street he could see. He still could hear his brother warning him against meeting their father in Tirion if he could help it.

He didn’t know for sure what Maitimo had in mind, but whether it was because their father would take their mother’s side and bring him back home whether or not he wanted to, or because he’d be sympathetic to his plight and would start another argument with their mother, Tyelkormo didn’t think he’d enjoy the outcome.

Their parents were unbearable when they argued. It happened far too often for the sake of his sanity for one.

And for a second, shall his father take the side of his wife, he’d have to fight against both his parents and that would certainly not be a success.

The parental unit could be downright terrifying when they agreed on something.

The street was a very narrow street that had his horse throw him a threatening side-eye, but Tyelkormo pulled the animal through, and the creature followed placidly enough.

“So, what do you think? Stay here and risk encountering dad somewhere else, or leave Tirion now?”

The horse snorted, and shook its head and Tyelkormo sighed:

“You’re of absolutely no help, you know that right?”

He looked around quietly, but finally sighed again:

“Alright, let’s go to the northern gate and leave. I’d rather be without alcohol than meet dad here. Come.”

Tyelkormo carefully avoided the area of the market and started to walk toward the northern gate…

“Hey cousin Tyelko!”

He jumped out of his skin as he turned to face the voice…

That belonged to his insufferable cousin Findekáno. Right. No. Absolutely not, he was not doing that. Findekáno was a good friend of Maitimo, but certainly not of him.

Out of patience, Tyelkormo mounted his horse in one jump and sent it trotting away. He heard grumbling behind, but he didn’t turn around or acknowledged in any way that he heard or saw his cousin.

At least he was close enough to the gate of the city that the streets were actually almost empty of people at this time of the day.

It really was just bad luck that he crossed paths with his cousin. 

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Riding up north had been particularly calm. Tyelkormo didn’t cross paths with anyone of note, didn’t meet with any animal that’d force him to call on Oromë, didn’t have to make a detour due to the weather…

If he didn’t know any better, he’d think the Valar were helping his escape from the awful matchmaking of his mother.

However, he did know better. The Valar had better to do with their time than to poke their metaphorical noses into the personal lives of the Elves.

As usual when he was traveling, Tyelkormo made notes in a notebook of what he found and what path he was taking.

It was a habit he got from his father. As Fëanáro said often during their family travels in his childhood: ‘What’s the point of picking up samples of materials to test at home if it’s to forget where exactly you picked it up and how to access the place in the case of rough terrain?’

Unless Tyelkormo was mistaken, all the family had the same habit of keeping a journal of a sort when they travelled throughout Valinor by now, even if most of them weren’t picking up random samples of things, but just wandering for the sake of it, it was a habit. Their library was full of their traveling journals.

Since the winter weather was felt more strongly here, he was starting to wear his winter hunting gear, and added the second, warmer, blanket on the horse when they stopped to rest. The travel bread was handy to have: a couple of bites would sustain him as long as a full meal would.

Oromë had warned all his hunters to not live off of travel bread all year round but it’d be fine for one season if it came down to that.

He had no doubt that by now both his parents had realized that he had escaped home, but… Oh well, it wasn’t the first time someone in the family just left without a warning. Granted, it usually was their father or Makalaurë on a fit of inspiration, and it was the first time he did disappear without a warning but… 

He hoped that his siblings wouldn’t have troubles for the help they gave him in escaping home.

Upon a moment of rest in the journey, Tyelkormo was sitting on the cold grass, looking at his horse who was swearing up a storm about the cold and the taste of frozen grass and the wind and…:

“You know, I think I’ll have to find you a stable where you’ll be able to spend the rest of the winter until I come and pick you up again. You will absolutely hate where I plan on going and honestly if the weather turns to snow in that area like it usually does, I’ll have trouble feeding you anyway…” Tyelkormo mused for his horse that, frankly, didn’t look like it was paying him any attention, too busy swearing with such a vocabulary that Tyelkormo never knew his lovely mare even had.

He’ll blame Makalaurë’s mouthy stallion for that one.

Tyelkormo sighed and let himself fall on his back, watching the sky and the clouds that were dancing on the wind overhead.

“And now I’m talking in Quenya to my horse like she’ll understand that. Great. I escaped too late: Mom did turn me insane.”

There was the cry of an eagle in the far distance, and Tyelkormo’s eyes turned toward the sound, catching the sight of one of Manwë’s giant birds.

Tyelkormo idly contemplated whether or not he wanted to plan a detour toward Manwë’s eagle nests to see if they had babies or not, but he quickly decided that he didn’t want, nor need, to make such a detour.

There was no bigger gossip in the world than birds. Gossip went fast, more so on wings. He refused to make it easy for his mother to find him this season.

There were things to terrible to contemplate out there, and his mother finding him in time to harass him about his supposed need to find a good wife was one such thing. There was truly no escaping the feeling of dread that came over him at the idea, and he had no will to try and work on that side of his being.

If only she was clever about it and looked toward the members of the Hunt to make the idea just a bit more palatable! but no, she was certain he’d find a good match at the palace of Tirion: In the one place in all of Valinor that he avoided cheerfully since early childhood without a fail.

The previous year he even went to Valmar more often than in the palace of Tirion!

Tyelkormo shook his head, and turned his thoughts back on his journey.

If he wanted to leave his horse somewhere safe, he needed to stop at the next village over, see if they’d agree to keep his horse in exchange for money. Perhaps he should have left his horse at the palace of Tirion. But that’d have taken the risk of his father finding him and getting the whole story of what he was doing here and that was a big no.

Only two days of travel and he’d get to the next village. The place was always darker and colder than Tirion but the elves living there didn’t seem bothered by this.

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It hadn’t taken long for Nerdanel to discover the plot, all things told. Far less time than Maitimo had hoped, honestly.

She had consoled Makalaurë as best she could, but that evening when she realized that Tyelkormo didn’t come to eat all day long, and no one had seen him in hours at best, she went to check the stables and found her son’s horse gone.

She had gone back inside to interrogate both Maitimo and Makalaurë who remained silent on the subject of their brother’s whereabouts, which seemed to annoy her to no end, when Fëanáro had come home in the surprising company of Findekáno.

Maitimo was quite surprised that his father even tolerated his cousin long enough to come home with him.

“Nelyo!” Findekáno exclaimed, coming to hug him cheerfully.

“Hello Findo.”

“I don’t suppose you saw Tyelkormo?” Nerdanel asked her nephew in a resigned tone of voice.

“He was in Tirion earlier. I tried to tell him hi but he left like he didn’t see me.” Findekáno answered with a shrug even as Makalaurë signed hurriedly to him to shut up.

Nerdanel emitted a sound of frustration and left the room in a hurry.

“Where are you going?” Fëanáro called her.

“To find that moody child before he does something I’ll regret!”

Fëanáro raised an eyebrow at that, watching her back as she left the room. He then turned at his two eldest, ignoring his nephew, and crossed his arms over his chest:

“Alright you two. Spill. What is happening in this madhouse?”

“Well… Mom was going on and on about the fact that Tyelko needed a new robe for the season and absolutely needed to be nice for the balls and she was going on and on about the fact she confirmed his presence at the winter balls to grand-father Finwë and how he absolutely needed to be on his best behavior or else if he wanted to have a chance to find a good match…” Makalaurë said.

“And you know what Tyelko thinks of that.” Maitimo pointed out.

“And so your brother made his escape I suppose?”

“Uhu. We uh… Sort of… Helped? We sort of distracted mom long enough for him to leave and… Well…”

Fëanáro snorted in amusement at that.

“Alright then. I take it that your mother is furious at your brother’s escape. I suggest you two make yourself scarce before she adds two and two and come up with a reliable four regarding your involvement here.”

“That was the plan, dad.” Maitimo answered amused.

Fëanáro shook his head:

“Do I even want to know where your brother went?”

“Up north.”

“… Say that again?!” Findekáno exclaimed, clearly sharing in Fëanáro’s own surprise at the idea.

“We thought that it’d be less likely that mom could catch Tyelko in time to force him to attend the winter events at the palace if he went somewhere hard to access. Also he’s a hunter of Oromë, it’s not like he’s not used to living in stupidly hard conditions. If he went to Oromë, mom would get him back in a heartbeat just by being stubborn about following him around and being just in the way of things if necessary. And same if he went to Valmar or Alqualondë or remained in Tirion so…” Maitimo explained.

“Very well then. I know nothing, and neither do you, child. You do NOT get in the middle of that mess.” Fëanáro said, warning Findekáno.

“Uh… obviously, yes, I know nothing. But really you realize it’s only confirming that Tyelko’s weird !”

“Hey!” Makalaurë exclaimed, offended on his brother’s behalf.

“Who wants to go up North , in the cold, in winter?! Absolutely no one sane!”

“If you’re here to insult my sons, any of them, you know where the door is!” Fëanáro intervened firmly.

“We’ll go to my room!” Maitimo said, grabbing both his brother and his cousin and leaving.

Their mother would already be in a terrible mood, there was no need to add their father’s anger to the mix.

In the room, as soon as the door closed behind them, Makalaurë started laughing.

“So… Does someone want to go into details about what happened?”

Maitimo sat at his desk, looking on with amusement as Findekáno and Makalaurë settled on his bed, Makalaurë going into excruciatingly dramatic details about what happened, making their cousin laugh at the ridicule of the situation.

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Tyelkormo couldn’t be happier when he arrived in sight of the village.

It wasn’t even for his own sake since the cold wasn’t bothering Tyelkormo all that much. No. But his horse apparently hated the cold and held a grudge. That creature was spoiled.

Twice so far the horse tried to throw him in a muddy half frozen pond they passed by. Once Tyelkormo avoided falling from his horse, and once he fell but caught himself well enough so that he mostly avoided the mud.

Additionally, Tyelkormo was pretty sure that he learnt new vocabulary just listening to his horse’s swearing at him.

The animal needed to get into a stable until the weather turned warmer, before it actually managed to throw Tyelkormo into half-frozen mud or made his ears ring with endless profanities until spring.

The leader of the village was one of his people. The elf was actually a worshipper of Yavanna, and held the Valar’s laws in utmost respect, meaning he utterly disdained Finwë for having remarried, and his faith meant he was at odds with Fëanor’s own lack of anything resembling respect for the Valar. The elf had contacted him himself to give him his allegiance when it started to be a well-known rumor that he was one of Oromë’s Hunters.

The fact that he was one of his would perhaps help him tremendously to find a warm stable for his horse, or possibly would earn him a lecture or ten on the insidious forms of abuse of power.

Or knowing his mother’s ability to hold a grudge, perhaps both.

Regardless, Tyelkormo approached the elf with a smile, his horse in tow.

The elf looked surprised to see Tyelkormo arrive without a word of warning in this season.

“I apologize for the surprise arrival. I was wondering… Would you perchance have a place in a stable for a willful, badly tempered mare with an absolutely foul mouth?”

The other blinked at that, his expression settling on mildly amused:

“I’m afraid that only those who follow lord Oromë are likely to understand animals on such levels, none of us here would hear her ‘foul mouth’, your highness.”

Tyelkormo grimaced.

“May I beg you to not do that? I’m… Just here as a traveler. I’m really not supposed to be here in the first place.”

“Dare I ask?”

“I’m escaping Tirion and avoiding the crowd and… You know…”

“In this weather?!”

“The plan is actually for me to go further north, but my horse is being difficult. She doesn’t like the cold apparently. I can pay for her to be taken care of, if you have a space for her in the village…”

“We have the space of course, but she’ll be lodged with the sheep.”

“That’s fine. She’s usually pretty friendly, she won’t mind the company. It’s just that she seems to hate the cold and decided to make me pay for the fact I took her north in winter.” Tyelkormo answered laughingly.

“Honestly, my lord, I have no idea why you bothered coming here in this season. Most people hate coming our way and you could have gone absolutely anywhere at all on Valinor to escape Tirion.”

“It’s precisely because most people hate it that I’m here.”

Talking, Tyelkormo was led to a large barn already taken by a number of sheep. The place was far warmer than outside and the horse just left Tyelkormo’s side as soon as the elf took her blanket and his bags from her.

“She’s already happier here than she was with me. Spoiled thing.” Tyelkormo muttered.

That made the other smile with amusement.

“You know, most people would agree with your little lady here. That’s why most people don’t settle out there so far north.”

“For the occasion I really need to go further north.”

“Do you know what path to take to stay safe?”

Tyelkormo bit back the instinctual answer of “it’s Valinor, it’s all safe” that he grew up hearing when outside of the family and that he mostly grew out of when he started to ride in Oromë’s train.

The Hunters of Oromë rarely remained all that safe.

Alas, some reflexes were hard to lose.

“I was thinking of hiking toward the river and following it until I reach a place I can stay until spring.”

“Just for the record, when you say a place you can stay until spring, you mean a place livable by our standard as noldor, or by the standard of the Hunt of Oromë?”

“Definitely by the standard of the Hunt.” Tyelkormo answered laughingly.

“Right. Of course it’s what you mean... Do you need additional supplies?”

“I should be good with what I have.”

“If you are sure…”

The skepticism in the other’s voice was somewhat amusing to Tyelkormo.

He was quite sure that everyone was going to react much the same when the news would spread, and sadly it was really a matter of ‘when’ and not of ‘if’. Makalaurë was going to have fun with it, but oh well… He did owe his brother for this, after all. He could hardly begrudge him his fun considering the help he gave him in escaping the seasonal matchmaking.

There was a short moment of silence and the local lord finally sighed:

“Please my lord, at the very least stay until tomorrow morning so that I can reasonably say that you’ll be safe on the path you’ll take instead of fumbling in the dark. And before you say it, no, having one of your father’s lamps will not help you much if you’re out there at night.”

“I’d hate to take space…”

“There’s a free bed for travelers in the barn. No one is using it and it’ll be warm.”

Tyelkormo weighed his options but sighed.

“You’re going to be stubborn about this aren’t you?”

“I will not. I will however go get my wife who will convince you by virtue of being far more stubborn.”

Tyelkormo snorted in amusement.

“Alright then, the barn it is.”

“Excellent. You can also discuss monetary settlement for the upkeep of this little lady this winter with my wife, it’s her trade more than mine.”

“Fair enough, fair enough.”

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The sky wasn’t yet flooded by the warm golden light of Laurelin when Tyelkormo started on his way, leaving a letter of thanks behind. He had thought he’d be burdened without his horse for company, but in fact, it was freeing to know his horse would be taken care of, and would be happier in the village than with him out there.

He really should have left his horse in Tirion. Or at home in the first place. If he hadn’t been in such a hurry… Oh well, there was no changing the past.

He was whistling happily as he set on his way, although he remained guarded as wolves and great cats and bears lived in the area.

He wasn’t too worried about that: he had his weapons on him, as always when he wasn’t in Tirion, and felt pretty secure about the fact he wasn’t those creatures’ usual prey and they should have, in theory, no reason to attack him.

He walked for half the day when he suddenly felt something he usually only felt when he was with Oromë’s Hunt.

He was feeling hunted.

Now the question was… By What or Whom?

Tyelkormo hid his noticeable hair under his hood, climbed a tree and sat there, out of sight, before closing his eyes, focusing on the area immediately around him.

He felt nothing out of the ordinary. No animal out there was paying any attention to him.

Tyelkormo focused on himself and… Yes, there it was. The family bound he had with his mother.

She very clearly knew of his escape and she also very clearly was on the war path… And closer than he wished: if he felt that feeling so clearly then she was really not as far as Tirion, even if she was not as close as the village.

No doubt she learnt by now that he took the northern gate of Tirion to leave. He should have taken another. Or should have bribed Findekáno to keep his mouth shut as that was most likely her information source here.

And no doubt that if she followed his trail she’d end up at the village where he left his horse and where people knew of his plans… Would they talk to his mother or not? 

Alright then. Time to change his plans, just in case.

He checked the area thoroughly and seeing that he was still alone, he jumped down from the tree, and careful to leave no traces, he changed his path. Instead of going North-West toward the nearest river and Námo’s halls area, he went North-East, being as careful as he learnt to with the Hunt to leave absolutely no trace of his passage.

He would not make it easy, and he would certainly not give up and go back to be paraded like an object to sell to the highest bidder.

If she wanted a puppet she could dress up and throw at the first girl she found suitable, she needed to find another because he refused to play that role.

Being that careful slowed his path, but slowly, slowly, he felt the feeling of being hunted disappear.

Either his mother had gotten clever about it, which wasn’t usually her way but wasn’t entirely out of the question, or he had gotten away by leaving no trace for her to follow which was more likely but not something he wanted to bet his immediate future on.

He didn’t relax, and remained very, very careful to not leave any trace for anyone and anything to follow.

It has been days since he left home, but mere days, even a couple of weeks, would not dull his mother’s temper. He knew that from experience. The more discreet he’d make himself the better it’d be.

Now, anyone and anything hunting for him would be met with the full skills of a Hunter of Oromë who didn’t want to be found, and good luck to them.

Once again he found himself being endlessly grateful for the teaching of the Master of the Hunt. He had no idea how others could live without all those skills.

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the fact that being caught wasn’t something he wanted to live with: if only for the lectures and endless marriage talk and all, he had to admit that it was rather nice. Going out, on his own, and visiting the north.

He usually only went here in the summer months but really in winter it had its charms.

The dulled gold of Laurelin was less strong here than in Tirion, probably because the hills and mountains were creating a sort of barrier that affected the quality and strength of the light without cancelling it completely yet, and the clouds overhead, threatening and heavy with water, were giving it all a feeling of what Tyelkormo was far more willing to call winter.

Honestly by this weather he’d love to be home with a hot spicy tea at hand, and a book to read or something similar. It felt like that sort of weather.

It was the kind of things they never got in Tirion.

But alas he had no home in the area to hole up in and so he continued walking, until he found himself in a charming little natural grove, hidden deep between high hills. He wasn’t sure he was far enough to spend the winter there without being bothered, but he could at least certainly spend the night there, under the protection of the local trees.

The place was honestly lovely, and in the sky above, he could almost see the stars through the faded light of Telperion.

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Nerdanel was riding hard. She was convinced she could still catch up to her son. Trying to run away, really?! At this time too?!

She was going to drag him home kicking and screaming and he would be grounded until he was at least 300 years old!

The plan hadn’t been hard to guess. Her son left Tirion by the northern gate: there was a straight road there to join northern villages.

She’d have to guess which one he meant to join, but her bet was on the one built by the faithful of Yavanna that swore allegiance to her son. They usually ordered a new statue of the Valië once every ten years or so, and Nerdanel found them as unsettling to work with as any faithful but they got along with Tyelkormo and Tyelkormo would very certainly rely on their welcome.

She hoped.

Otherwise she’d have lost her time and would have no idea how to find her son.

All that because of his childish idea that he needed no one and wanted no one. That utter child needed to grow up and start acting his age! Of course he’d want a wife one day. And if he didn’t straighten up and didn’t start to act like an actual adult about it, he’d lose his chance to find a good match in the future!

She took a deep breath. No. It wasn’t even that: He may never want a wife, she knew that, but he needed one. She foresaw that one day she wouldn’t be with her children anymore and she didn’t want to imagine her sons alone in that future, without the help of someone balanced and loving and gifted with common sense that only women seemed to have among Noldor. Or at least in the family.

She took another deep breath and focused on the task ahead. She needed to find her son, and she needed to drag him back home.

Running away was NOT a proper solution for any problem in life!

At the very least, running away from his own family was NOT an acceptable solution that he should get away with, and by Eru, he was certainly NOT getting away with it this time!

She rode for days until she reached the village, hopefully not too far from him… Only to find that no one in the village was willing to help her.

It was like they suddenly didn’t even know which son she was speaking about. Like she’d believe that when he was their prince and they chose him specifically out of everyone in the family.

“I am his mother, the least you could do is tell me if he came this way.”

“I’m afraid my lady that I have no idea what you are talking about.”

She insisted, but the answers of this elf didn’t change. She wanted to scream. She walked around the village, just trying to see a hint of her son’s passage, but she saw nothing.

She wasn’t offered a stay in the village that night and it’s dejected that she started to return home. She had well and truly lost her time and lost his trace.

This was a disgrace. Her son was willful and dismissive and didn’t care for what this would look like with the palace, with FINWË!

He didn’t care for his future. He didn’t care for their reputation. He clearly didn’t care for her as his mother…

When he’d return, she would have words for him!

No doubt that Fëanáro would find it fun.

But… Perhaps one of Oromë’s Hunters would agree to help her find her son again.

Even if he wouldn’t return in time for the start of the season perhaps they’d manage to track him down where she failed and would manage to return him home before the end of the season.

Yes, not everything was lost. She would ask Oromë. She should have done that from the start: of course her son was never going to make it easy for her to find him, so she needed the help and she should have known that from the start. 

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The night in the grove had been enjoyable. The weather remained steady. The air was cold, but the sky was clear, with no sign of rain during the hours of Telperion.

He also met a chatty mouse that told him tales of what lived out there.

Alright so mostly about the danger of owls and wild cats but… It was cute and good company.

To be fair, most animals made for good company, as far as Tyelkormo was concerned, far more than elves.

Come morning, when Laurelin started to awaken, the steady weather changed: now there was a drizzling rain that looked like nothing but would drench everything quickly enough and it was freezing. Not enough to risk the life of a healthy elf, but still, it wasn’t enjoyable.

Tyelkormo picked up his bag, and contemplated leaving the grove. The weather was absolutely dreadful. Did he really want to go walking under the thin icy rain?

Meh, not really.

But did he want to take the risk of being found here shall his mother become actually resourceful in tracking? Certainly not!

He sighed, said goodbye to the mouse, and left.

There were priorities in life…

The weather certainly was playing against him. Still he remained careful to leave not a trace behind. And even in its dreadfulness, the weather brought a certain charm to the landscape around him. The sky was that strange goldenish grey that storms always brought in Valinor, but still rays of Laurelin reached through the rain, Through the cloud and fog in interesting rays of colors that reverberated on the mountains around.

It accentuated the shadows, making them seem larger than they were. It seemed to oddly accentuate the seasonal gloom that some elves seemed to feel for some reason. The only gloom he ever felt in Winter came from his mother’s persistence in trying to push him to find a wife, and it was certainly not weather-related, so he didn’t quite understand those elves.

People could be just too complicated for him at times.

Overhead he saw a bird of prey flying. It was circling around something. Tyelkormo had a vague thought for the poor animal soon to become dinner for this predator. But so was the life of wild animals. Predators too needed food to live.

Tyelkormo missed the moment the eagle plunged on its prey, it just disappeared from his sight.

The air itself carried the scent of water, of ice, and of woods. Something chilly, and something old. He would feel very small in front of the harsh nature around him, if he wasn’t so used to this feeling, running with Oromë.

The Vala himself was so foreign a being that standing next to him was like standing in the middle of a storm, lost in a dark woods filled with predators and prey and never knowing which was which.

And well… Being one of Oromë’s Hunters, albeit newer than most, meant he had his fill of ending up alone in forests and mountains, hunting predators gone wrong, and strange giant spiders that seemed to leak in from somewhere far south, for some strange reason.

He walked, and walked, for days, until he found something that… was oddly convenient for him, but hey, he wasn’t going to cry that he found an empty cave, near a flowing and clear river bed, in the middle of a somewhat poor forest of pine trees, now, was he?

The cave was not all that deep, but good enough to keep him safe from the elements. The stone was hard and dark, its floor was stone, but also covered in dirt.

Tyelkormo observed it quietly, looking for any trace, any hint that the cave was used by any sort of animal, but there was nothing.

He wondered briefly what was the catch, but shrugged. Nothing too bad seemed to be going on around. He didn’t have the feeling of warning he learnt to listen to with Oromë’s Hunt so…

He set up his camp for the night. For now he’d try to remain for one night, although he hoped he’d find he could spend the winter here. It’d be honestly ideal.

Going further north might become a problem soon, and he was far away from any village by now: to find him, anyone would have to even start by finding his tracks. If anyone managed, they deserved to find him, he guessed.

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Eating travel bread might become tedious long before the end of the season, Tyelkormo reflected as he took a bite of the bread, sitting on the blanket he used as a bed when he travelled around.

But… That was exactly why he also picked up honey and dried fruits. Neither would last him the full season probably, but at the very least, it’d provide some diversity for a little while.

He built a fire for the evening, using fallen wood, fallen, dead, dry branches on the forest floor. He didn’t usually like using pine for that, but he could only work with what he had. Good thing that elves weren’t likely to die of the cold though, because he doubted he’d find perfectly dried wood all season, and not dried pine wood was absolutely terrible to use for fire.

The night was calm, punctuated by the sound of the forest outside. Predators hunting, owls mainly. Nocturnal prey animals living their lives. Wind. Rain.

Tyelkormo slept as usual with what many in the Hunt called a strange awareness of his surroundings.

Personally, he never found his awareness in sleep strange. He had brothers . Prank wars started at the drop of a hat in the mad house he called home, his father’s work even sometimes got unforeseen results like… oh, an explosion, fire erupting… His siblings' own crafts and attempts at crafts having various results meant that he had learnt early on to rest without losing his awareness of his surroundings.

In the morning, he watched with joy the faint silver rays of Telperion give way to the golden, stronger rays of Laurelin. The way the light shined outside, giving the rain and ice on the floor and plants a faint glowing appearance was mesmerizing.

It was so pretty to watch.

His own breath could be seen in the air, that was how cold it was outside.

Nevertheless he got up, and out of his blanket, and stretched before he went out of his little cave, gathering wood. He also wanted to check around the cave, just in case he missed something the previous day.

He gathered as much wood as he could during most of the morning, coming and going around the cave.

He wondered vaguely how his siblings did in Tirion, but he knew that they, at least, enjoyed the dancing and mingling, if they absolutely hated their mother’s attempt to push them toward girls, so he wasn’t too worried: They’d still enjoy themselves well enough this season.

And if he wasn’t mistaken, Tyelkormo had now missed the opening ball at the palace, and a solid week of that absolute nightmare of a season.

That knowledge alone made him irrationally cheerful.

The day was spent in a flurry of activity to prepare the cave and ensure he’d be comfortable. He didn’t hunt that day. Perhaps later he would, but for now he was fine without and had too much to do to add hunting to the list.

He felt pleasantly free for now.

Perhaps he should do that more often.

He sat on his makeshift bed, considering the merits of opening already one of the jars of honey or the dried fruits, when he heard a loud panicked bleat like a ‘naaaaa naaaaa naaaaaa’. A panicked, loud voice, clearly that of a fawn.

Before he could think about it, Tyelkormo jumped to his feet and ran toward the sound. Of course the echoes made it travel louder in the mountain, but still, he was a Hunter of Oromë. Finding the place of origin of an animal cry was not that hard.

And there he found a fawn, alone. No sign of another deer in the area.

“Fuck” he breathed, noticing the state of the fawn.

The creature looked exhausted, and far too thin. That was NOT a fawn in good health. Certainly it had lost its family for more than a few hours then.

“Alright. Alright…”

The fawn, seeing him, approached, with a very small, pitiful bleat of ‘help’. Tyelkormo sighed and looked up at the sky, as if to ask why him, but he shook his head and touched the fawn, assessing it from up close:

“Are you even weaned? Because you look… Very small…”

Tyelkormo grimaced. If the fawn wasn’t weaned, there was no way he could save it… The best thing he could do if he was too small to eat proper food, would be to put it out of its misery… His mouth took a downward turn at that knowledge.

He pulled what was left of the travel bread he had started to eat that day, and offered it to the fawn. It was not proper food for it, but right now here and there, he was a bit out of his element.

But the fawn bit into it (and almost into Tyelkormo’s fingers at the same time)… And ate. It was slow, but it ate solid food.

“Alright… Alright. I just have to… Bring you somewhere warmer and… help you to find proper deer food. Great. At least we’re not lacking in pine trees around here, right? not the favourite food for you lot, but you can eat it. You’re too small to reach most of it, I suppose, but I guess I’ll help until we can find you a herd again…”

The fawn trotted happily next to him, and Tyelkormo led the animal back to his cave, where it… Just laid down on Tyelkormo’s blanket.

Tyelkormo snorted in amusement at that.

“Of course you would steal my bed.”

But it was warmer here, and the fawn felt safe, and had food in its belly… So it went right to sleep. Tyelkormo sighed but sat near it. He lit a fire. Hopefully between the fact the cave was keeping them safe from the elements and the fire, the fawn would be warm enough during the night.

Tyelkormo rested, sitting on the blanket, the fawn half covered by his cloak, both the fawn and the elf enjoying the warmth of the fire. 

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When Tyelkormo opened his eyes in the morning, at the hour of the emergence of Laurelin’s rays in the air, Tyelkormo found himself nose to nose with… A goat.

“Why is there a goat here?! No better question, where the fuck do you come from?” Tyelkormo asked the animal, blinking.

“Our friendly goat is here because you have a not entirely weaned fawn without a parent with you and it comes from my wife’s garden. Hi Tyelko.” Oromë said with an amused smile, sitting as he was in front of a fire that should definitely not be as strong as it was.

“… My lord. Welcome… What may I do for you?”

“Your mother came to me.”

“Right.”

“She wants you back home.”

“My lord, I refuse to go back home before spring, and I say this while sound of mind and free of speech.”

Oromë snorted in amusement.

“I thought you’d say that, and so of course, I will not force the issue, you are an adult elf and free to do as you will. Your father found your escape hilarious by the way. Apparently when his father, your king, did to him what your mother did to you, he escaped and toured all the rivers in Valinor to check them for precious stones.”

Tyelkormo snorted in amusement at that:

“That does sound like dad. So… The fawn. Where are its parents? Its mom at least?”

“Dead. An uneducated hunter took her life. The herd fled the area but the fawn was left behind. It was lost.”

Tyelkormo escaped a growl at that.

“I was going to send my hunters to track down that little one to put it out of its misery when I felt it come in your company. It’s not too young to start eating solid food, but it’s not yet weaned either so… I brought you a goat.”

“Instead of bringing the fawn to a deer herd?”

Oromë smirked at him at that:

“You started so well. Besides you’ll need something to do this winter and on top of that you know it’s not that easy. This little one was born late, no other deer that I can sense is still with milk.”

“Ah. Alright then. I’ll have company for the winter. Cheers.”

“I knew you’d like it.” Oromë answered with a grin full of wolf teeth.

“I don’t suppose you’d feel like taking the three of us back to your Hall, would you, Oh my lord and master? The fawn would be better in a less cold environment.”

“You know, I’m a firm believer of people reaping what they sow. If you’re careful, it’ll be fine. Enjoy your winter, Little Deer of Mine.”

Tyelkormo’s face showed how unimpressed he really was as Oromë disappeared with a laugh.

Fantastic.

Now Tyelkormo had a fawn AND a goat to take care of during this winter… Why was he even friend with his Vala? His sense of humor was terrible.

“It’s all your fault, you realize right?” Tyelkormo told the sleeping fawn. “And I’m talking alone again. Great.”

At least, as Tyelkormo noticed, Oromë provided the goat with a lot of hay, left at the back of the cave. Hopefully it’d be enough until spring.

“And here I thought the season would be calm, and quiet.” He noted before he rose to his feet. “Wait, I didn’t come with that bowl… Oh no. Absolutely not. I’m not learning to pull milk from a goat. The deer can feed itself. It can right?” Tyelkormo asked, vaguely horrified at the idea, to the very uncaring goat, who was busy munching on some hay. 

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Winter had passed in a surprising flurry of activity for Tyelkormo. Yes, he did need to learn, and learn fast, how to pull milk from a goat, which he did not appreciate at all, but the fawn loved the result of.

Also the goat had been extremely patient with him.

But now the season had passed and it was time for him to go back home. The fawn had grown up nicely and Tyelkormo taught it during the winter how to find food, which was easier to do in a forest of pine in winter than anywhere else he could think of.

Tyelkormo gathered his belongings, and started to leave the cave, the fawn and the goat trotting at his side.

The two animals were endlessly chatting, as they always did, and they followed him to the village, where the people looked at them with concern:

“Oromë. It’s all I’m willing to say about it. This is entirely Oromë’s fault.”

The village’s leader looked very entertained at that, and led Tyelkormo to his horse.

Tyelkormo looked at the three animals and sighed:

“I leave with one horse, and I come back with a horse, a goat and a deer. No one is going to let me live it down.”

“You know, the rumor that you went far north to escape the palace balls of Tirion was heard even in our village.”

“You mean that I’ll never live down the tale of my escape in the first place.”

The other shrugged, amused. Tyelkormo sighed and leaned against his horse.

“Well… At least I’ll have a good excuse to argue with the siblings then, I guess. Thank you for taking care of my horse. Did you need more money than expected to cover the costs of her presence?”

“No, the money you left us before the season was enough.”

“Good. I’ll be on my way then.”

“Be safe, your highness.”

Tyelkormo sighed but left, walking first, his horse, the deer and the goat following him cheerfully. Tyelkormo planned to go around Tirion, to stop home to reassure his family that he survived the winter, and then to lead goat and deer to Vána and Oromë respectively.

The whole journey would take a while, so there was that. His mother was probably still seething about his escape anyway so better to make himself scarce and he had a good reason this time.

As planned, he went around Tirion.

And when he came into view of the house, he found Maedhros in the courtyard with Findekáno.

“And here is our missing cousin. Did you enjoy your cold dreary… What the fuck?! Where do those animals come from?!” Findekáno spluttered, seeing him coming and finally noticing the deer and goat.

“The woods and Oromë.”

Maedhros only shook his head, half amused:

“Only you brother.”

The red-head came to hug his brother, and Tyelkormo leant firmly against him, enjoying the contact, and the brush of Osanwë, his brother’s fëa against his, after months of silence, forced by the distance.

“Hey, at least it gave me something to do during the winter months. Teaching a baby deer how to be a deer is quite the task, you know.” Tyelkormo muttered, his head hidden against his brother’s neck.

“So I have some good news, and some bad news. Which do you want first?”

“Start with the bad.”

“Mom is still furious at your disappearing act and your refusal to obey when Oromë tracked you down.”

“I suspected that would be the case, yes.” Celegorm nodded, stepping back from his brother’s embrace.

“But the good news is that she’s decided that you were dad’s son, and that since dad found your escape so fun, he could deal with you and since she’s now pregnant… Well, she has other, more pressing concerns to deal with.”

“So I’m somewhat safe from motherly retaliation?”

“Eh. I wouldn’t try her patience if I were you but…”

“Hm. I won’t have the chance to before a while, I need to bring both deer and goat back to Oromë so…”

“No offence, Tyelkormo, but you’re the weirdest elf I know.” Findekáno told him.

Tyelkormo raised an eyebrow at that.

“I’m not sure you know enough elves if that’s the case. There are plenty of people out there with their own bags of tricks and weird choices.”

“No one in their right mind would decide to go camping in the northern mountains in WINTER just to avoid a perfectly fine, fun and more importantly warm and popular celebration at the palace.”

Tyelkormo shrugged.

He wouldn’t have avoided the palace had his mother not been so pushy about him meeting a woman. He did not want to and it was high time she realized that her meddling wasn’t welcome even if she was his mother and he loved her as such.

“Come, tell me that you’ll at least spend a few days here, dad and Makalaurë would be glad to see you and even mom will be relieved to know you’re fine after all that time away.”

“I suppose I can if we can leave the deer and goat with the horses.”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

Tyelkormo was subjected to a hug by everyone, including his very much showing mother.

“Uh… When Nelyo said you were pregnant, I didn’t think you were…”

“I suggest you choose your next words carefully.” Nerdanel said warningly.

“Showing that much. I mean, you look radiant, far more than usual.” Tyelkormo said quickly.

She eyed him judgmentally at that, knowing full well he only thought of the physical signs of her pregnancy.

“The pregnancy is developing well and next winter you’ll have a new sibling. I dare hope you will be more… careful about not disappearing when they are about to arrive.”

“I will of course endeavor to be here to welcome my new sibling into the family.”

But I will certainly do my best to not be here-here for the birth itself. There are things out there that are too terrible to contemplate.” Tyelkormo thought, sharing this through Osanwë to Maitimo and Makalaurë, who were hard pressed not to laugh at him.

“How long will you stay home this time?” Nerdanel asked him.

“Not very long? I came with a deer and a goat that I need to bring to Oromë so…”

She raised an eyebrow.

“A deer.”

“Yeah? I found it as a baby, wandering alone in the wild and I could either give it mercy or raise it myself so… Well…”

She raised an eyebrow at that.

“And you didn’t kill it? That’d have been food for the winter.” She pointed out simply.

“You know, mom, I came to the conclusion that apparently I love to complicate my life needlessly. Mostly I came to that conclusion when I found myself stuck in a cave, snowed in, with a baby deer, newly weaned in need of food, and a moody goat that doesn’t like to be stuck in an enclosed space.”

Makalaurë cackled at the idea, leaking through their mental bound the idea of a very, very tired Tyelkormo facing an angry goat, and harassed by a baby deer.

“Not that far from the mark actually.” Tyelkormo mused silently for his brother.

Makalaurë devolved into hysterical laughter at that, and had to leave the room, laughing.

“You are not going to escape a song about that, you realize, right?” Findekáno commented with amusement.

“It’ll go well with the song about the wild hunter who escaped Tirion in a panic at the coming of the winter celebration.” Maitimo said with a snort of amusement.

“… Excuse-you, our brother did what?”

Findekáno was laughing even as Maitimo sang a few verses of the song before Makalaurë took it up from outside, singing cheerfully. Hearing the mocking verses, Tyelkormo ran after his minstrel brother who started running, laughingly singing at the top of his lungs.

Maitimo and Nerdanel exchanged a look at that:

“Well… Tyelko’s home.”

She snorted in amusement at that:

“He shouldn’t have left in the first place but… It’s good to have everyone home, if only for a few days. Now, let’s see that deer, shall we?”

Maitimo led his mother to the horse pasture outside, where the deer was sticking to the side of Tyelkormo’s horse. From there, they could hear Makalaurë taunt Tyelkormo who was swearing inventively at him.

And in his forge, Fëanáro was building a new crib for the future baby. The family was reunited again, doing what they did best.

The day was nice and, Nerdanel thought, perhaps she could even convince Tyelkormo to stay for more than just a few days. Surely the deer and goat could stand to be here for a little longer. The house was certainly more comfortable than a cave or a hunter camp in the middle of nowhere in winter.

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