A Different Kind of Heaven [ Silmarillion ] 1

Chapter 22: Sketches

"Five glasses of Laurornë wine, and from a good year, too," Moryo told them as he set the glasses down. Findekáno handed him the large bottle before both took their seats. Moryo began pouring. "You are sure you do not wish for any, Eve?"

"Yeah no. Thanks though," she said with a small smile.

Findekáno leaned over and peeked at her drawing. "Alqualondë?"

She beamed, glad he could recognize her sketch. "Yeah!"

"A nice drawing," he added, smiling back at her. "Perhaps you could draw something from your home for us?"

The others elves immediately sat up, intrigued by the prospect. Evidently they were interested. Eve nodded.

"Sure." She flipped the page of the sketch pad and paused. Deciding what to draw was harder than deciding to draw in the first place. "Okay. This is what we call a car."

Her hands flew across the page, starting with a loose outline of the car body. She decided on a basic commuter car, four wheel and low to the ground. After picking the final line from the sketch lines, she darkened the outline and added the wheels and extras like handle, door frames, and windows.

"What is a car?" Tyelko asked as she showed them the picture.

"It gets us around, sort of like horses but a lot faster." She pointed to the front half. "A driver sits here and steers with a circular wheel to tell the car where to go."

Moryo frowned, "But it is not alive?"

"No definitely not," Eve laughed. "It runs on electricity and gas, but don't ask me how that works. I've zero idea."

They frowned but eagerly nodded. Káno paused before asking his own question. "What sort of instruments did you have?"

"Millions," Eve joked. She turned the page again and sketched little images of a piano, an electric guitar, an ocarina, a drum set, and a recorder. She spoke their names. "Do you have any of these?"

"We have some similar ones," Káno nodded. "The one you called a recorder we have a version of. Drums we have. And that ocarina looks like a version of a flute like instrument. But the others are foreign to me."

Eve nodded. "I was okay at piano. The recorder is something that we were taught in school as children."

Nelyo leaned over and looked more closely before turning to Eve. "What of your alphabet? Can you write in your native tongue?"

"I hope so," Eve murmured. She took her pencil and made the shapes of each letter of the English language. It took a lot of concentration, but she slowly managed to recite their names and a few English words to combine them with. "This is just one of thousands of language spoken where I come from. It's English, my first language. But not everyone speaks it."

"Intriguing," Finno nodded eagerly. "You must show these to Findaráto. Of all of us, he will be the most intrigued."

For an hour or so they sat and drank, eating small helpings of food and watching as Eve became lost in her own little world of art. She had started sketching herself and her friends and fell out of the conversation. She was focusing on getting Christopher's nose right when she realized everyone but Findekáno had retired to bed. Findekáno himself was finishing of some sort of grand desert and a last glass of wine.

"Wow I really wasn't paying attention," Eve chuckled as she realized they were gone. "Sorry."

Findekáno chuckled. "Do not apologize. They had too much wine and decided to retire for rest." He gestured to her sketch pad with a fork. "May I see what you worked on?"

She paused, hesitating. But she turned it towards him and explained what it was. "That was me before I got here. Big difference is the shorter hair. Those are Sophia and Christopher, and that one there is my dad."

"Ah so you were beautiful even as a pure Secondborn," he said with a tiny smile. He immediately blushed, wondering what had come over him and all he could think was how thankful he was Nelyo had not been present.

Eve paused and blushed, a smile growing on her face until she couldn't contain it. "Thanks!"

"You are welcome," he mumbled, playing with his food. He suddenly felt much less critical of his brother's way with Elenwë, or Findaráto and Amarië. He could only hope they would take pity on him and not relentlessly tease Findekáno back. "Are those the types of clothes you wore?"

She glanced at the pants and shirt she had drawn on herself and Sophia. "Pretty much. Tight pants and boots and a long sleeved shirt plus a scarf tends to be my winter wardrobe."

"A nice wardrobe," Findekáno chuckled. "Very different from us here. But no less good, I think."

Eve turned to him. "So, of all your cousins, who's the best?"

Findekáno laughed hard. "You cannot just ask me this question!"

"I just did." Eve poked his arm. "I bet it's Nelyo."

"Nelyo is essentially my brother," Findekáno admitted with a nod of his head. "As the eldest in my family, he became an older brother I did not have by blood. That being said, Findo and I are good friends as well."

"So the oldest all stick together," Eve chuckled. "Do you pick on the younger ones?"

Findekáno rolled his eyes with a half smile. "No more than they require. Angaráto and Moryo are the easiest to upset, and Turvo is my brother so I must with him."

"Of course!" Eve nodded sarcastically. "Why would you ever not!"

With a quick sip of his wine he smirked. "Glad you see it as I do." He paused as she laughed. "Believe it or not, the Ambarussa are more a nuisance than I am."

"They're just kids," Eve protested.

Findekáno nodded. "Yes. Smart ones."

They each returned to their rooms soon after. Eve wanted a couple of hours of sleep and Finno did not keep her longer. They bid one another goodnight at their doors and Eve ducked inside her room. She smiled to herself, blushing terribly as she looked at the drawing of herself and her friends. He'd called her beautiful, and for some reason she found that a higher compliment than she'd ever received.