Teaching a cousin by Aprilertuile  

That morning, when the first rays of Laurelin had hit the sky, Tyelkormo had presented himself at the entrance of Nolofinwë’s house.

Nolofinwë and Anairë were the only ones up yet, but they nevertheless welcomed Tyelkormo warmly.

More warmly than any child of his uncle would be received by Tyelkormo’s father, certainly. Well, to be fair that didn’t seem to bother Findekáno or Findaráto when they had something to speak about or do with Maitimo or Kanafinwë.

Thankfully, Tyelkormo thought briefly, Angaráto and Aikanáro had more sense than to come without warning to his family’s house.

It was good for his brothers, having people to challenge them and create a tiny bit of harmless trouble for them anyway.

“I’m afraid that Irissë isn’t yet up.” Anairë told him when he was introduced to the house’s living-room by a servant that looked grumpy to have to do such official duty so early in the day.

Tyelkormo grimaced slightly at Anairë’s words.

“My mistake. I apologise for the early intrusion; I was worried that with the distance I’d arrive late if anything happened on the road.”

Huan huffed at that, sounding far too amused to Tyelkormo’s ears. And yes, he knew the dog had been unhappy at the hour they left the house at.

“Understandable, living outside of Tirion makes travel to the city more unpredictable.” Anairë said, eyeing cautiously the giant dog sitting at Tyelkormo’s side.

“It’s easier for my parents and sibling’s crafts to live where we do.”

Tyelkormo had just enough tact to not tell them outright that strictly no one in the family could tolerate staying in Tirion for long, let alone live there. Not even perfect courtier Nelyo or popular minstrel Makalaurë.

Soon, when Laurelin’s light became brighter than Telperion’s softer night glow, Findekáno came down, as cheerful as ever, pulling with him all of his siblings. Turukáno squeaked when he saw that his cousin was there and ran outside the room.

“Dare I ask?” Tyelkormo asked wryly for Findekáno.

“He wasn’t properly attired to meet anyone outside of our direct family.” Irissë said cheerfully, making her two other brothers nod.

Tyelkormo looked at her deadpan at that:

“Please, tell me he’s not getting all bejewelled and formally dressed just for my sake. No offence, but look at me. I’m dressed as a Hunter of Oromë, not dressed for court, and certainly not wearing my weight in jewellery.” Tyelkormo pointed out.

“But if you’re dressed as a Hunter of Oromë, then you’re also formally dressed for your function.” Nolofinwë pointed out.

Findekáno cackled at the grimace that Tyelkormo made. His uncle had a point, but he didn’t quite appreciate that point.

“Also cousin Nelyo and cousin Makalaurë would have come here dressed for court.” Irissë said in a teasing tone of voice.

“That is true, but my young cousin, Makalaurë can’t teach archery and dearest Nelyo is too worried for his reputation to dare teach a so-called manly art to one of our female high-born cousins .”

It was Irissë’s turn to grimace in distaste.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous! Everyone can learn the bow!” She complained.

“I agree. It’s our grand-father Finwë who decided arbitrarily that young court ladies should be sweet and not try their hand at such a horrifyingly indecent sport. Or something of the sort, I didn’t listen to his rant last time.”

“I shall pretend I never heard you say that, and that you are of course delighted to hear your grandfather our king talk of his decision regarding the court and propriety.” Nolofinwë commented.

“Of course, uncle. Did I ever tell you that you’re my favourite uncle?”

Irissë and Findekáno exchanged an amused look at that even as their father looked tiredly at the younger elf.

“I also disagree with this decision of our king. Archery has nothing indecent so long the ladies are properly dressed for it. When will you start training Irissë?”

“The plan was to start this morning, as soon as she’s ready.”

“I’m rea...” Irissë started immediately.

“One, you need to eat. Two, you’ll need to change.”

“What’s wrong with my dress?”

“Flowing sleeves will be an issue when you use the bow. A delicate and fragile belt will just get caught in your quiver and get torn, freely flowing braids in a jewel net are the height of fashion, it’s lovely, only it’ll also bother you while you learn to use your bow. Tightly bound hair is better, I let you judge the amount of jewellery you’ll favour, so long as nothing is free floating around your face, you can do whatever you want. And lastly my dearest cousin, sandals are absolutely great when the weather is warm, I agree... until you let go of your quiver and hurt your toes.” Tyelkormo answered.

Anairë nodded at her daughter: “Listen to your cousin dear, he knows what he’s doing.”

Irissë grumbled but started to eat her breakfast quickly, while Tyelkormo was sharing a cup of tea with her parents. She then went back to her room to come back wearing something more sensible for her activity of the morning:

“Better?” She asked her cousin.

Tyelkormo looked at her with attention and nodded:

She was wearing a proper white dress with close fitting sleeves probably stolen from her mother’s cupboard as it was more a fashion of her generation than of Irissë’s own. A practical sturdy leather belt, her hair was caught neatly in a working bun, no jewels in sight, and she was wearing boots.

“Much better, yes. Alright, we can go then.”

Irissë led him, and Huan, to the training area of the house, a secluded garden.

All was already well prepared for their arrival.

“All right. Come here. You said you already had some lessons, so show me what you know.”

She took the offered bow and got into position and...

“Stop, no. Your back needs to be straight, why are your shoulders down? Raise your elbow!”

Huan was lying at Tyelkormo’s feet as the elf was assessing Irissë’s skills, vaguely interested by the scene unfolding near him.

Irissë moved her body for a better position and fired three arrows in quick succession... The fourth, she escaped accidentally, letting it fall at her feet with a swear word that would have raised no eyebrows in the workshop of Tyelkormo’s father, but would have certainly earned the steep disapproval of princess Anairë.

Tyelkormo sighed:

“What’s the rush?” He asked.

“I want to be a hunter. Once I know how to use a bow properly I want to learn to hunt. Hunters need speed, don’t they?”

“No, they don’t.”

“Cousin, I talked to one of my father’s hunters, he said...”

“Girl, who here is a Hunter of Oromë?”

“... You.” She said grudgingly.

“Exactly. So don’t try to tell me what a hunter does or not, I know it better than you.”

“But...”

“A hunter is better served by accuracy. An average hunter will hunt and come back with their catch, mostly caught after a fight. A great hunter knows to diminish the prey’s suffering and kill it with a minimum of hits. The best hunters out there always try to kill their target with one hit and one hit only.”

Irissë sported a mulish look at that.

“ You are fast.” She said accusingly.

“I learnt accuracy first.  All Hunters of Oromë do. We learn to hit our target properly time, after time, after time. Not just once, not just by accident.”

“But it’s impossible to always hit your target perfectly!” She said snappishly.

“That is true. You however need to learn better so those instances where you won’t hit your target perfectly will be rare and far between. More so if you want to learn to hunt. Frankly I wouldn’t care so much if you just wanted to learn archery for competition or bragging rights. But you said you wanted to learn to hunt. The requirements aren’t the same.”

She looked like she stopped listening to him so he insisted.

“Obviously there’ll always be times when you'll miss your targets. We all do. But it doesn’t mean we have to just be happy to send our arrows in the general direction of what we want to hit. You need to shoot with accuracy. And for that you need to know the right movements to use, the proper position to hold your bow and it all needs to be repeated enough that it’ll become reflexes. only once it’s a reflex you can start to work on your speed, not before. So you’ll need patience, and you need to start slow.”

“Did you?” She asked with clear annoyance, challenge written in her whole attitude.

“Yes.”

That seemed to take her aback.

“The Master of the Hunt has no patience for prideful idiots. Either you are willing to learn and He’ll teach you, or you aren’t willing to learn and He’ll throw you out of his domain. Simple as that. We don’t play games in the Hunt.” He explained calmly.

Huan at his side nodded at that and she huffed:

“Fine.” She said before stomping away to pick up her arrows.

Tyelkormo had to stifle his laughter at that. He saw similar behaviour every day at home.

Teenagers... Stubbornness is their name.

Again, she took position, followed her cousin’s recommendations, and slowly, in the couple of exhausting hours, she started to raise her average numbers of hits on her target.

When she became tired to the point the exercise could only lead to frustration, Tyelkormo put a stop to it. They went back inside, and he promised to come back again the following day, barring any unforeseen event.

At least she was enthusiastic, and if nothing else, it satisfied his mother’s demands for him to become more sociable while he was home. 

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