Other Worlds Than These

[Earniel]

"Well, that's a start," Indigo said thoughtfully. It wasn't much to go on, but he could hardly expect people who came out of a virtual paradise to have marketable skills.

"Being a good and fast runner might mean you'd make a good scout or message courrier, Lur. Provided somebody has need of those services. Singing and dancing might be a tad more different," he said after another bite. "Many people love a good song or story, but I suspect people will expect to hear also songs and stories from Middle-earth, which you would have to learn first. But picking fruit is a good skill to have too, although it will only serve you for a season or two. And my father always said that there's always work for those who want it. So I'm sure you'd be able to earn some money if you put your mind to it. "

[Midge]

Lantie clapped her hands in excitement when she heard this. "Lur has often taken a message for one of our brothers or sisters when they desired to speak but were detained with the joys of Maleldil. And I would love to learn some of the songs of your land! But where should we go to find this work?"

Without waiting for an answer, she turned to Lur. "Oh, brother... we will have so much to tell the King and Queen when we return home. Imagine how much older we will grow our family!"

Lur smiled and laughed softly at her enthusiasm. "It will take a long time for us to tell Father and Mother of these adventures and all that Maleldil has taught us. But you are right. Our brothers and sisters will grow much older at the things we shall bring home."

[Earniel]

The next course was brought in: roasted pigeons with crunchy baked potatoes. Indigo's mouth watered as he heaped some of the delicious meal on his plate. But the intoxicating proximity of tasty food did not cause him to lose track of the conversation and his sibling guests had just said something interesting.

Indigo sat up a little straighter. "You two are part of the royal household of your world?" He asked. "In what capacity? Why, Lur, Lantura, you might have told me a bit earlier! This could be important."

Indigo wasn't quite at home with royalty and what they usually did. Hobbits had no kings, the closest Indigo could think of was the old King of Norbury, and that was thousands of years ago so probably didn't count. But Indigo had met the Mayor of the Shire a few times, nice enough bloke, this Mr. Gamgee, very approachable too. He had even commissioned a state portrait from Indigo once, which Indigo still considered as one of his best work.

But as for actual kings and queens, .... Well, much was made of the renewed King of Arnor and Gondor, even back in the Shire these days. Especially the Thain and the Master of Buckland seemed quite taken with him. And an Elven Queen in mortal lands was said to be a totally unique thing. Pity Indigo hadn't had the chance to even catch a glimpse of her when he had been in Minas Tirith. One glimpse, it was said, and she'd single-handedly rewrite your definition of beauty. Indigo's artistic sensibilities were intrigued by that claim.

So royality, even from foreign courts, probably was important. And Indigo had an inkling this could change their plans quite a bit.

[Midge]

Lur chuckled. "Everyone in our world is a part of the royal household. All our brothers and sisters are sons and daughters of the King and Queen. Is it not thus here?"

[Earniel]

"Oh, no," Indigo said who found the notion strange. "Most definitely not. Here we start with people first, and only when we have enough of those do we add kings and queens. Us Hobbits, for example, never bothered with a king of our own. But I suppose we'll answer to the King of the restored throne of Arnor and Gondor since he's a decent chap and leaves us to our own devices which is what we like best."

Indigo chewed a bit longer on the excellently roast pigeon while he tried to figure out what to make of Lur's explanation. He reckoned the fact that Lur and Lantura were children of a king ought to have an influence on their plans, but he wasn't sure what sort of influence. Could the twins still even be considered royalty if there was no non-royalty at all on their world? And was he supposed to call them 'your highness' now? Lur and Lantura didn't seem to make much of their exalted status, and Indigo wondered whether he was being rude if he didn't either. He wasn't sure how it all worked.

One thing was sure, and that was that he couldn't exactly let a prince and a princess do menial labour to earn their money. Again, he wasn't sure why, but it somehow felt wrong. Just this once Indigo regretted that Hobbits had no king of their own, he probably would have known better what to do if they had. He sighed. Life sure was complicated outside the Shire!

"Frankly I'm a bit at all loss what to do now," Indigo said truthfully. "I've never met king-children before. And people, especially here in Gondor, generally seem to find kingship and all dreadfully important. So I think... yes, that might be for the best, I think we should go to Minas Tirith -that's a city not so far from here where the King of Gondor lives. I'm sure people there can tell us what royalty is supposed to do. Because I don't think sons and daughters of kings are allowed to run errands and sing songs to make money. None of the princes and princesses I have ever heard of seem to do so at least."

[Midge]

Lantie was disappointed to hear that children of the King and Queen did not sing. "I was so looking forward to learning your songs!"

Lur chuckled at his sister. "Well, Indigo, I guess we shall head to this city of your King's to learn what we best can do in your world!" And with that, he tucked in to his roast pigeon.

[Earniel]

"Excellent!" Indigo said. "You'll quite like Minas Tirith, I suspect. it's quite a sight! Very few cities can compare to it in grandeur. And have no fear, Lantura, you will be quite able to learn any song you'll like. There are many singers and performers in the capital."

He put some more baked potatoes on his plate. "I'll talk to Mistress Rosian in the morning," he said. "Minas Tirith is not far, but we'll need supplies for on the road. Travelling is a demanding business after all."

[Varnafindë]

"Hello," Barufiniel answered, smiling at the two women who seemed to have been out shopping. "Have you had a nice morning? And now you need to get some letter-writing done, as you said - and when we've done with that, I expect it will be time for lunch."

She took out her packet of writing materials.

"So, where do we start?"

[feawen]

"Oh yes we have had a good time shopping havent we Anahera!" Anahera did not look like she had enjoyed it quite so much as Elspeth.
"Well" Elspeth started, smiling back at the elf woman, "I guess i should tell my mam and dad that im ok, and that im meet Ashkaio. Oh! you dont think they will think ive ran off with him! Oh my! Maybe its best to tell them i meet Anahera and that im helping her to Minas Tirith with some other people. If you would tell them that i have sold my things and that i am being paid to help Ashkaio and Anahera get to Minas Tirith, that should make them happy. Tell them i shall be back of some as i can and they should not worry." Elspeth sat back and thought for a little worth then added, "Should i add anything else? i dont really know what goings into letters."

Anahera in the mean time was looking at the pen and paper trying to guess what their useage was. She understand little of what Elspeth said, she talked so fast! She picked up the edge of one of the thin sheets, feeling its edge between her fingers. She turned her attension to the sharp looking thin thing. The sharp end looked like the end of a spear, but it was to thin and small to create much damage.

[Varnafindë]

"I'll make sure your parents don't misunderstand anything," Barufiniel promised. "I could mention the names of all the people you will travel with, and Ashkaio will only be one of them. Should we rather not mention about them being from different worlds? If you would rather explain that yourself when you go home? Those things can be difficult to accept at first ..."

She sighed. She had had some awkward moments in her time. But she had also met people who accepted her story relatively easily.

"As for what goes into letters - I think the contents of this letter will be fine. We can start it with some greetings, and finish it with wishing your parents well. Then you can sign your name yourself, if you like, and I should add my name as the clerk you hired to write it."

[feawen]

"Oh yes yes, thats a good idea! My mam and dad will think im mad if i start talking about other worlds! I wouldnt believe it my self, at first i didnt with Ashkaio! Thank you very very much!" exclaimed Elspeth excitably!

Anahera in the mean time held the pen and paper before her eyes trying to figure out how they went together, after a little pause she started to shake the pen up and down, maybe it made noise, like the rain noise makers they had at home?

[Varnafindë]

Perhaps they don't use pens for writing in Anahera's world, Barufiniel thought. Perhaps they're an oral culture, and don't use writing at all?

"May I have the pen, please," she said, holding out her hand towards the small object. Anahera hesitated, as if not sure what she meant, but chose to give her the pen, and Barufiniel thanked her for it.

"Now I'm going to write a letter," she announced, and opened her small silver inkwell.

She dipped her pen in the ink and began to write.

'Elspeth to her Mam and Dad, greetings.'

"These marks on the paper," she explained, "represent the words we want to say. Someone who knows the meanings of the marks, can then see what we wanted to say, and thus they can get the message even if we have to send it far away for it to reach them."

She carried on writing, making sure to include all the details that Elspeth wanted to share (and to omit the others), and ended with the well-wishes.

'I hope that you will both be safe and sound until I'm back,' she wrote.

'Your affectionate daughter, Elspeth.

Barufiniel, daughter of Rameldir, sometime scribe to Lord Elrond of Rivendell, wrote this letter.'

[feawen]

Elspeth smiled at the new letter, a little in awe of the beautiful script, "Oh thank you!"

Anahera watched the curling marks appear on the paper. She would not say as if by magic, it was not magic for she could see the meaning by their appearence, but still it was interesting to watch. The marks gave her an idea.
"With long travel Nolow, we leave marks in ground, show way home with stone and tree, then if lost find home." She picked up the salt shaker and a knife, laying the knife length ways and the shaker above it. "Mean left"

[Varnafindë]

Barufiniel nodded.

"It's something of the same idea," she said. "With stone and tree, you can only leave large marks, and there cannot be many details in them. With the pen, I'm able to write smaller marks with little details in the curls that distinguish the marks from each other."

She dug into her packet of writing materials again, and found a small scrap that she had used for taking rough notes. She wrote a word on it and showed to Anahera.

"This also means left."

[feawen]

Anahera looked at the small curled word and her larger mark for left. She moved the shaker from the top to the bottom of the knife, "Right". She looked at the small word, it was so small! Anahera looked at Elspeth, "You understand?" She nodded towards Barufiniels writing. "Oh nooo!" Elspeth said. "I can tell you the right time of the year to plant certain things but that writing if too hard!"

[Varnafindë]

"Reading is easier than writing, though," Barufiniel said. "When writing, you need to make the marks correct, even the smallest curls should go the correct way - it takes time to learn to control the pen. It's easier just to learn how to understand the marks that someone else has made."

She looked from one to the other.

"Now that we'll be travelling together for a while, I could try to teach you how to read," she suggested. "I could write down some small stories and explain the marks, and then you could begin to recognize them. If you like, that is. And both of you, if you like."

I would start with teaching them to recognize complete words, she thought to herself. Groups of letters as marks for whole words. I wouldn't point out the individual letters until later, perhaps not until they want to learn how to write after all. If they do. And if the journey lasts long enough.

[feawen]

"Nolow tell story with mouth. hmmm. Guess i be here long time, should learn marks. Man from ships use marks when trading, may when i go home i can use marks too! I learn. You learn!" Anahera pointed at elspeth.
"Me! oh, i couldnt do that! Could i!" Elspeth thought of the money she had been promised at the end of this trip and the little shop she could open, to read and maybe write would stand her in good stead. "Ok, we will learn together!" She grinned at her two new friends.

[Varnafindë]

Barufiniel's smile became a wide grin.

"Of course you can learn," she said. "I'm pleased that you both want to. We can start as soon as I have time to write down something - perhaps something about Bilbo who met a dragon? I'll try to find some time during the day. And I think it's nearly time for lunch now - we should just find someone to deliver your letter."

[feawen]

As they stood up to leave Anahera puzzled over the word draagone! What could be this draagone and what was a bilbo! Such strange words. Such a strange world! Still Anahera followed Elspeth and Barufiniel, she still had not got used to the dress, which got under her legs and feet, not practice for hurting or long journeys. Anahera also wondered about the need to eat more. This lunch was unknown to the Nolow, who ate at first light and last light, with maybe a small snack in middle, not 3 whole big meals! That ment less work could be done. Such strange people.

[Varnafindë]

"Do you know whom to ask, Elsbeth?" Barufiniel asked. "Can anyone carry a letter - or do we need to find someone who has that as a special task?"