First Lemon by Aprilertuile  

Tyelkormo was in the garden of the house, a simple place compared to his father’s own overlarge home, when Curufinwë came to find him.

“Hello brother!”

The fair-haired son of Fëanáro raised an eyebrow at his brother’s apparent good mood.

“Hello to you too.”

“I came on an errant: mother would like to know if you managed to grow any lemon and I would like to know if you can keep Telperinquar with you today.”

“Dare I ask why you can’t keep your son with you today?”

“Dad has something to show me in his forge!”

“Right, I’ll keep my favorite nephew out of trouble then.”

“I resent the implication that we make trouble in the forge.” Curufinwë said wryly.

“Ah, my apologies then. I forgot that burning off your eyebrows was a fashion choice.” Tyelkormo answered in a light tone of voice.

“Just because I recently had a little mishap with a lamp prototype…”

“And didn’t you cut open your arm working on a clock last season? Oh and that thing with your ring and the acid?”

“You know, I think I prefer it when you don’t pay attention to what I’m doing.” Curufinwë commented.

“And I happen to prefer when you are careful.” Tyelkormo answered tartly.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Excellent. And I’ll pick up lemons for mom, it’ll be a fun activity to do with little Tyelpe too.”

“Don’t let him climb…”

“Did I ever let you or our brothers get hurt on my watch?”

“No…”

“And how many trees did you and our brothers climb while under my supervision?”

“Hm…”

“That’s what I thought. Give me my nephew and go try to avoid exploding yourself with dad.”

“One day you’ll see the beauty of forging metal, and you’ll regret never coming with me to dad’s forge.”

“In the next Singing of this world, perhaps. Have fun, but not too much fun, be safe, and if dad tells you to leave the forge, don’t ask question and run fast.”

“We’re not that bad!” Curufinwë protested as they left.

Tyelkormo waited until his brother was out of sight before turning toward his little nephew:

“Don’t worry, I’m only teasing your father, he and dad are the leaders of the Forge-guild of Tirion for a reason.”

“I know. Is Huan here, uncle?”

Tyelkormo whistled and Huan came running… And let Telperinquar hug him and climb onto his back.

The dog had a lopsided doggy grin even as Tyelkormo shook his head at that.

“Alright then. I need to pick up lemons for mom.”

“Why does she want lemons? Why ask you? Why not just buy them in the market?”

“Every year, mom makes candied lemon. Do you remember the yellow candied fruits your dad gave you last year? It's candied lemon. Mom makes it for the whole family so it involves a lot of lemons. She usually manages to grow them in her garden, but this year she said it was a failure. The tree didn’t grow many flowers, and much of them didn’t really grow well.”

“And you did better.”

“My tree did better, certainly. But then again, my tree hasn’t produced lemons in large quantity for years either. Trees are like people you know. Sometimes they just need to take a break. Next year her tree will be back to producing a lot of fruits probably.”

“Trees need rest too?”

“Yes.”

“I thought it was just living things that needed to rest at times.”

“Everything is a living thing, kiddo.”

“Uh, no.”

“Uh, yes.”

Huan huffed a laugh at that even as Tyelkormo shook his head in despair at his own automatic answer. Too many little brothers had left long-term damages… At least Maitimo had been nowhere nearby to hear that one.

“Stones aren’t living.”

“Aulë would beg to differ, I’m pretty sure.”

Telperinquar frowned at that.

“How do you figure that stones and trees are living things?”

“A tree grows. A tree can be born, evolve and die. Hence, it’s alive.”

“… but…”

Tyelkormo walked Huan and Telperinquar to his two lemon trees and started to pick lemons, leaving them in a basket, waiting for the child to say something or try to join him in the fruit picking.

“Trees can really die?”

“Everything can die if you try hard enough. Or if you don’t try hard enough to keep them alive perhaps.” Tyelkormo answered, thinking of a plant he had gifted Curufinwë for his wedding celebration.

A traditional thing to do. The tree had been planted in his brother’s garden and had died promptly. No doubt that his brother had forgotten it somehow and threw away water contaminated with something in its vicinity.

Telperinquar looked mildly bothered by the knowledge.

“And what about stones?”

“That, you really should discuss with your grand-father instead. Dad, I mean, my dad, not yours, will have all the arguments you might want, to prove to you that stones are alive, while it’s not actually a form of living you or I recognize easily.”

“Uh…”

The child stayed sitting on Huan’s back, the dog acting like he couldn’t even feel the weight of the child.

“Uncle Tyelko?”

“Hm?”

“You’re a hunter right?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you interested in trees then?”

“My lord Oromë happens to love trees, and I somehow picked up on a lot of his knowledge on the subject of plant life. I’ll never be equal to a follower of Yavanna on the subject, but it’s enough for me to acknowledge that plants have a life, and deserve care.”

“Oromë likes plants?” Telperinquar asked, picking up a lemon from a low branch that he could reach from Huan’s back.

“He does, yes. Isn’t it common knowledge?”

Telperinquar shrugged at that.

“I don’t know. Dad doesn’t care at all about the Valar so I don’t have to sit in annoying lessons to listen about them.” The child said cheerfully before taking a bite of the lemon in his hand.

He froze in shock and spat a mouthful of fruit with a low whine of disgust.

Tyelkormo turned toward him in alarm and just… Started to laugh uproariously at the face the child was making: his eyes were closed, tears falling down his face, and his mouth was curled downward in disgust:

“That’s. That’s… Uncle Tyelko, the fruits are bad!” The child told him.

Tyelkormo wanted to answer him, truly he wanted to, but he was laughing too hard to manage.

“The lem. Lemons are. Fine!” Tyelkormo said in between bouts of laughter.

“Nuhu!”

“Yes-uh!”

“They don’t taste good! Grand-ma will not be able to make the candied lemon with it!” Telperinquar protested, brushing his mouth with his sleeves in disgust.

“That’s. Dear fucking Valar. Was that your first taste of not-yet-candied lemons, kid?”

“Well... Yes but... Even if it's not candied, it should taste good...”

“Kid. You only know candied lemon. So lemon with sugar, basically. Lemons are acidic. The ones we pick up at this stage. And the skin is terribly bitter too.”

“But… Why?! Why pick them up if they're so bad?!”

“Because we like them this way.”

“But…”

“And your grand-ma will use the lemons to make candied lemon and you’ll see they’ll taste very sweet once they’re candied.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I promise it’s the truth.”

Despite his uncle’s reassurance, Telperinquar remained very skeptical on the matter and refused to touch any other lemon until Tyelkormo was done picking up a basket of them.

“Let’s go see your grand-mother, right? We have a basket of fruits for her.”

“Of bad fruits.” Telperinquar grumbled.

Tyelkormo was still looking far too amused as he led Telperinquar, still carried by Huan, to the house of Fëanor and Nerdanel, finding Nerdanel in the garden.

“Hello mother, I come bearing gifts.”

“Is the gift your nephew?” She asked, coming to embrace her son.

“I meant the lemons but sure, Tyelpe too.”

“Grand-ma, the lemons are bad!” Telperinquar whispered to her when she came to hug him in greetings.

“Oh?”

“They taste horrible!” He whispered even as Tyelkormo was fighting a laugh again.

“Tyelko, did you give a piece of lemon to your nephew?!”

“No! I really didn’t! He picked one up all on his own to taste it.” Tyelkormo answered,  laughingly.

Nerdanel sighed.

“Like father like son, uh?”

Tyelkormo nodded wildly at that, and Nerdanel snorted:

“Stop mocking that poor child and go pick up some nice fruits for him, while I go put everything in the kitchen, something that’ll taste better than a lemon. Shoo!”

Huan remained with the child and Nerdanel, even as Tyelkormo was turning his attention to his mother’s garden to find some nice fruits for them all. No reason for his nephew to be the only one to have a treat here.

Leave a Comment