"What are we doing now?" Eve sat beneath the trees she and the descendants of Finwë had set up camp under. She sat between Findaráto and Moryo, chewing on what remained of the second bag of popcorn she'd taken from the track. "What grand adventure?"
Moryo snorted in response to her choice of words. "I am unsure what they plan to do." He gestured to his three older brothers and Findekáno who stood a bit apart. "I am going to the archery contests."
Eve nodded and stood. She walked over to the four elves in question and tapped Findekáno for him to let her into their square. He stepped aside to give her room.
"What's next?" She looked from Finno to Nelyo to Káno to Tyelko and finally back to Finno. Then she folded her arms. "There's got to be something interesting going on. Moryo mentioned archery?"
Findekáno grinned. "We plan to do the archery range tomorrow."
"He is competing in the longest distance," Tyelko explained.
Eve beamed. "Really? Cool!"
Finno smiled back and shrugged. "I have always competed. I have won thrice in the past five festivals, so we shall see who prevails tomorrow."
"You will." Eve didn't even hesitate with her nod of assurance. Then she paused. "Until then what are you doing?"
"We thought to go apple picking," Nelyo told her. "Some of us at least."
"I am joining Moryo with the archery trip," Tyelko clarified. "Káno?"
"I will join in the apple picking," he said, shaking his head.
"Findo!" Findekáno shouted to his blonde cousin. "What is your plan for today?"
The man stood from his seat under the tree and wandered over. He shrugged and glanced around. "I thought to join your brother with the children. Artanis is a handful and my father will likely appreciate the help with Aico and Ango both occupied elsewhere. Especially Ango. He and Eldalótë are always together."
"Then the four of us shall go apple picking." Findekáno nodded. "Good. We should start soon. The orchards are a good walk away."
Nelyo and Káno led the way, Eve trailed a few steps behind next to Finno. Eve didn't say anything. They all followed a well worn dirt trail that led off East. At the edge of sight stood a tremendous orchard with trees as high as twenty feet and bursting with apples. When they reached the trees, it was quieter than Eve had expected. Instead of bustling with activity, it seemed most of the elves had remained behind for the contests being held. The soft breeze blew the scent of the apples their way. To the far edges of the trees, berry bushes offered another harvest experience.
Eve stopped and closed her eyes as they entered the orchard. She allowed the sweet scents to fill her nose and the wind to clear the hair from her face. Findekáno waited for her patiently. When she finally opened her eyes, he nodded.
"Everything is so... alive here," she murmured quietly. "It's so weird. I can feel? Hear? The trees are almost talking. The land is singing..." Eve turned to Findekáno. "Is this what its always like for Elves?"
He nodded and gestured ahead. "Most of the time yes. It is more intense here, so close to Yavanna. Everything she has made sings her praise."
"Is she here?" Eve glanced around.
Finno nodded. "Somewhere, certainly. She would not let us into her orchards unsupervised."
Nelyo and Káno had disappeared while they talked. And so Findekáno led Eve forward, further under the trees. The leaves of the apple trees were darker than Eve remembered them being in her time. But it seemed not unfitting. They cast long shadows on the ground as Laurelin waxed in brightest.
Finno handed her a basket. "Here. Shall we?"
"Yes sir!" She turned and walked to a nearby tree. A few good apples hung close enough for her to reach. She plucked them and placed each gently into the wooden basket.
As he joined her, Nelyo and Káno walked up to them. The tall red haired brother shook his head with a wry smile.
"You get lost?" Nelyo looked at Findekáno pointedly. "Or did you have your mind elsewhere."
Findekáno rolled his eyes and tossed an apple his way. "Eve had some questions."
"Truly?" Nelyo tried unsuccessfully to hide his smirk behind the apple.
Káno had joined Eve in picking apples off her tree. As Nelyo and Finno teased each other, he brought over the small wooden step ladder for her. He set it before the woman.
"Thanks," she said with a warm smile. Káno offered her a hand as she climbed it carefully.
He let her go. "Do not fall. Our mother would never forgive us if you did."
But she insisted she was fine. She stood atop the four-step ladder and reached for the ripest apples she could find. The others faded below her, and soon it was her and the trees, the apples, the breeze. The elven voices below her disappeared.
Suddenly a sweet voice, yet warm and gravely, sounded beneath her. The feminine voice didn't speak to her but Eve became so distracted that she tried to turn around. She tripped on the step and tumbled.
Nelyo caught her fall but tripped himself, sending them both tumbling onto the ground. Káno's face was horrified and irritated, evidently seeing her fall as proof to why she should've been more careful. Findekáno helped Eve up from the ground with a hand, leaving Nelyo to his own devices.
Though Eve thanked Finno, her eyes rested on the source of the new voice. It was a woman, or a woman like being. She stood at least ten feet, with a green dress that molded to her body perfectly, yet modestly. Golden hair spilled down her back all the way to her knees. A crown of leaves adorned her head. The woman's skin was fair and yet golden tan also from many hours tending to life under the light of Laurelin.
Eve opened her mouth and then closed it. Then she spoke a single word. "Wow." Then she paused. "Wait you were there. When I..."
"Yes," said the woman. "I am Yavanna, child."
Eve bowed, suddenly compelled by sheer awe to do so. Around her the elves stayed quiet. But Eve was too curious.
"Curiosity killed the cat," she muttered to herself. "But satisfaction brought it back." She stood tall then and faced the Vala. "Why am I here?"
Yavanna straightened up, caught by surprise. But the. She bent down and touched Eve in the shoulder. "I do not rightly know, child. Námo may know now. But Eru brought you here. Perhaps only the Creator knows why."
"Hm." Eve felt warm at the touch of Yavanna. Yet it did not sate her hunger for answers. "You must have some guess?"
Yavanna chuckled warmly, placing her hand on Eve's cheek, then raising the woman's face to look at her own. Yavanna's green gaze pierced her own sharply. There was no malice in those eyes, only warmth.
"Child, none know all the ways of Eru. Not even Námo, though wise he be. My guess is that you are here to help something great ahead, good or ill." At that, the Vala's eyes hardened. "Your coming has frightened some of my kin, and myself, rightly so. For Eru would not have brought you here thoughtlessly. But I cannot guess what your task is."
Eve's face contorted in surprise. "I scare you? You guys are terrifying! Everyone here is terrifying." Then she sighed and looked down. "Not always in a bad way though. Terrifying, but kind." She missed the warm expression which settled on her companions, and Finno most of all. "But how am I supposed to help here? Everything's great. It's a literal paradise."
That's when Yavanna stood tall. She straightened up and looked towards the North, seeing something none there could glimpse: Laurelin and Telperion. "I do not know. And for this we fear. Perhaps paradise will not always last." Then she chuckled a little and turned back to Eve. "But do not trouble yourself overmuch. Let us decide what is best."
Eve sighed but nodded. Yavanna turned then to the elven men. She smiled and drew from her tree four apples. The red turned a golden yellow. She handed one to each there.
"Keep this young maiden close," she joked. "And do not pick too many apples. Leave some for those that come after."
"Of course, my lady." Findekáno bowed low.
Káno folded his arms. "It would be easier if the young maiden didn't insist in climbing too high."
"Oh boo," Eve said, sticking her tongue out. "I didn't hurt anyone."
"Speak for yourself," Nelyo chirped back. But when she looked at him in concern, he shook his head. "I am unhurt. I assure you."
"Good." Eve nodded to herself. "We've got plenty of apples. Should we head back?" She looked at Yavanna in question.
"Indeed. By the time you reach the festival grounds, it will be falling into dusk," said the Vala.
And so they bid her a gracious farewell. Eve waved back at her even as they left the trees, and Yavanna waved her way softly. The elves had put their apple haul into three sacks which each male elf carried with Eve held a smaller sack with the four golden apples. They walked the hour back to the fields and clumps of trees. When they reached the campsite, no one was in sight.
"I'm going to change," Eve told them. She gently placed the golden apples down and grabbed a riding outfit from her bag. They were the only pants she owned. The one she chose was brown, tan, and a soft dark green. "I'll be right back."
And so she changed at the proper place. While she had started getting used to wearing long dresses all the time, she missed her jeans from back home. When she returned to their sleeping place, she found no one. She sulked.
"Up here," Findekáno laughed from far above her in the tree.
Eve grinned right back, but then her face fell. "I don't climb trees."
Finno snickered down at her. "Nelyo says the same of me, and yet here I am!"
She grumbled to herself. Nevertheless she found a foothold and hoisted herself up into the tree. She realized it was a fairly easy climb and yet still it terrified her.
"One foot in front of the other, Eve," Findekáno coaxed her. He pointed to footholds as he dangled his legs down from a particularly thick branch. "There you are."
She huffed and puffed but at last she sat herself beside Finno. He allowed her the spot nearest another branch for her back and she relaxed slightly. Eve turned to him. "I fell out of a tree in first grade. Broke my wrist."
"First grade?"
She sighed and explained "A level of study. I was like seven maybe. It terrified me."
"Well you did well. You climbed it despite your fear," Findekáno reminded her. He bent back the branches in front of them to show a clear path to the fairgrounds and to the sky.
The lights of Laurelin and Telperion mingled together, neither bright but both strong enough to vie with the other. Eve saw that the belt of Orion, of Menelmacar, shone in the sky already, piercing through the haze of twilight. Findekáno closed his eyes and took in the music of laughter and song around them.
Eve found herself watching him. The first thing she'd noticed upon waking was the beauty of the elves. Back at home, "hot" was a common descriptive term. But elves were beautiful, graceful, strong, powerful. Findekáno not least of all certainly. She liked his laugh and wished to hear it every day. It made her laugh. He gave her a little piece of comfort amidst all the unfamiliarity. Eve still regretted slapping him, though he had his fair share of cheekiness.
Several moments later he opened his eyes, and she let herself immediately watch the sky. The stars here shined vividly, even more vividly than normal for Valinor as she'd come to experience it. And so unable to stare at Findekáno, she stared at them.