By the end of the week, the great city of Tirion rose up before them. Eve gasped audibly at the sheer beauty of it. Dark clouds hung on the horizon heralding rain to come, but the waning light of Laurelin mixed with the waxing glow of Telperion created a wash of colors across the clear sky like her water bowl after washing paint brushes. Alassë halted and Káno, beside her, asked her how she felt.
"I'm fine, I'm good. It's just... wow." She pointed at the sky. "I mean look at that."
"Truly magnificent, no?" He nodded as they continued forward to catch up with Tyelko and Moryo.
"It will rain soon," Findekáno remarked as they hurried towards his house to drop off Alassë. Nelyo and Káno remained with them, Tyelko and Moryo having ridden ahead. Finno turned to Eve. "Let us hurry."
And so they walked their horses more quickly, but still the rain had started already once they reached Findekáno's house. Eve hurried inside out of the downpour alongside the two sons of Fëanáro while Finno took their horses around the back. Eve watched out the window as the lightning flashed and thunder roared. The rain fell in torrents. She certainly wasn't eager to continue on to Nerdanel's just yet.
As Findekáno finished up the horses, Nelyo made himself useful in the kitchen. He heated water to make tea for they all felt chilly from their wet clothes in the autumn air. Eve stood at the window still, watching the falling water through the still present glow of silver from Telperion.
"Caravaggio would have a party here," she chuckled. "The shadows and light, their interplay. He'd love it."
Káno stood up and came next to her. "Who do you speak of?"
She shrugged. "Caravaggio, the master of light and shadow. He was a famous painter. He specialized in people, in Chiaroscuro." Eve turned to Káno and smiled up at him. "An art term. It has to do with light and shadows on skin."
"Intriguing." Káno nodded slowly and watched the rain fall with her.
They both turned when a great clamour arose from the back of the house. The quick opening and closing of a door startled all of them. Findekáno grumbled inaudible curses about a Manwë and an Ulmo as he wrung out his shirt. His wet hair was plastered to his skin and across his face.
Eve laughed and covered her mouth. "You're an absolute mess."
Findekáno's face brightened. He shook his head and smiled, scoffing at her statement. "Lord Manwë picks inopportune moments for rain. Always."
Nelyo turned the corner from the kitchen area and gave a hard laugh as he leaned in the doorframe. "Go change, Finno. You look like a bedraggled rat."
"Thank you, kind lord," joked the elf in question. But he already made his way up the stairs, boots squelching. He shouted directions. "You three are welcome to change as well. Use the guest room."
Eve, wringing out her own hair and trying desperately to untangle it, looked at her riding outfit. She realized immediately that she wasn't much better off than the elf she'd teased. Picking up her backpack, she turned to Káno, as Nelyo had gone back to make the tea.
"Where's the room?" She asked quickly.
"Straight down that hall." He pointed to the hallway that went left of the stairs.
When one entered the house of Findekáno and Turukáno, there stood a sitting room immediately left of the door. A table and chairs in the dining room went right. Behind the dining room, a small kitchen sat as a hallway went straight back to a backdoor and flanked by the stairs. But to the left of the stairs and behind the sitting room couch there was a guest room after a hallway.
Eve found the room quickly and shut the door. She used a small towel in her bag to dry herself as best she could, especially her hair, before slipping into a black dress with golden embroidery. Once her clothes were packed back up she rejoined the men. Each took a turn changing.
Her hair had been brushed as well as she could with her small comb. Finno had brushed his own hair, putting it into a braid to keep it out of his face. Four cups of tea sat on the coffee table between the couches and chairs. Eve picked hers up quickly and held it in her hands. Warmth radiated from the porcelain mug.
"What kind of tea?" She looked to Nelyo who sat across from her in a chair. She made a face and said in her best manly voice, "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." They looked at her strangely and she chuckled. "It's... There's... it's complicated. There was a story called Star Trek about a ship's captain. He'd always order his tea like that."
Nelyo nodded at her with a slight eye roll. "The ways of the Secondborn are very strange."
"Hey!" Eve whined and then chuckled, falling back further into the comfortable couch she occupied.
To her right, a snicker came from Fingon. He sipped his tea, trying to hide his smirk. But no one missed it.
"You guys are just jealous you aren't as cool as me." Eve folded her left arm across her chest and sipped her own tea. It tasted pleasantly of chamomile and vanilla.
"Ah yes, we are uncool," Findekáno added for her, failing to contain his laughter. "This much we are well aware of."
"I never said you weren't cool. Just not as cool as me," she corrected a moment later.
Across from her, the red head smiled. "Which of us is most cool?" Nelyo asked quickly.
Eve stuttered. "I can't choose one."
"But you must!" Nelyo urged seriously. "To settle once and for all that great question."
Eve placed her mug on the wooden table and narrowed her eyes. "Certainly not you."
"Come now, you wound me!" Nelyo put a hand across his heart. "Your words are like daggers in my chest!" Then he snickered and fell back into the chair he occupied. More seriously he continued. "Choose, then. Káno or Finno."
Eve huffed. She picked up her tea and sipped it. Carefully she observed both Káno and Finno. Finally she had her answer. "Findekáno. Sorry Káno, but his braid is cooler than your messy ponytail."
They all devolved into laughter. Eve chatted with Káno for a moment and missed the smirk and wink Nelyo sent Findekáno. But Finno did not miss it and rolled his eyes. Once Eve finished apologizing to the loser of the coolness contest, she turned to Findekáno.
"Men don't usually wear their hair long where I'm from," she explained to them all. "Your braid is pretty impressive."
"Hair length varies among the Eldar, depending on what one does for a living." Nelyo sat up straighter as he continued drinking his tea. "The Falmari dock workers, for example, often wear their hair shorter for convenience. Or the great craftsmen in the forges here."
"Your father has long hair though," Eve pointed out. "Why?"
"He enjoys it that way," Káno responded. "And he knows how to keep it out of the way, unlike some of the lesser craftsmen."
"And the Ambarussa keep theirs but to their shoulders," Nelyo added. "They enjoy being able to play without it getting in their way."
"Makes sense," Eve agreed.
They paused for a minute, Finno and Nelyo taking their mugs to refill with tea. Eve watched the window from her seat. The water and light interplay reminded her of a Thomas Kinkade piece and she desperately wanted to paint. She went over to the main door and rummaged through her pack, drawing out her sketchpad and pencil. Sitting back on the couch she wrapped her feet under her body and began to draw the window.
When the two elves came back in with more tea and little cakes to eat. Eve halted her sketch to grab one and stuffed it in her mouth in two bites. Her stomach growled.
"Woah I'm starving," she said with a laugh. Eve grabbed a second one more gracefully and tried to make sure no crumbs dropped.
They digressed into quiet conversation. At some point, whether through Nelyo's devious urgings or accidently, Findekáno was unsure which, the topic became couples in the family of Finwë.
"Ango and Eldalótë have been courting for well over a year," Findekáno explained as he sipped his tea and sat lounging on the couch. "Turvo and Elenwë longer than that, even."
"Findaráto and Amarië have known one another since they were children," Káno added. "I cannot tell whether they are courting because they have always been inseparable."
"And you guys?" Eve asked with a laugh. She let the warm, calming liquid pour down her throat. After the pause she continued. "Anyone hanging around you?"
They all cackled with laughter, Nelyo the loudest. He shook his head and spoke again, "Nay. Nay not yet."
"I devote my time to my music," Káno added.
They all turned to Findekáno. He rolled his eyes. "I do not know if I have found anyone yet."
"Fair enough," Eve nodded.
Nelyo put his tea on the table. "And you, Eve?"
She shrugged. "I didn't do the whole dating thing back home. Too much work with school and all that."
It was the truth; she had avoided relationships like the plague, not wanting anything on top of her classes at university and her job in the art store on breaks. And that being said, she often found herself the third wheel between Sophia and Christopher. She hadn't minded much.
"It is late, and the rain shows no signs of stopping." Finno gestured to the window. "You are all welcome to remain here for the night. I am not yet tired."
Eve nodded. "I don't want to go out in that."
As if in response, a massive thunder clap rocked the house. The lightning lit the road outside and Eve nearly jumped off the couch. But settling down, she played with the ends of her hair.
"You do not have to," Findekáno assured her. "The guest room is yours. These two can stay in here."
Káno nodded and stood. He went to his bag and retrieved the harp he always carried. Findekáno shot up, grabbing something from a room upstairs. When he returned it was with a small flute.
"You said you enjoy music, Eve?" He handed her the small flute that resembled a recorder. "Try this."
She hesitantly held it up to her mouth and blew softly, trying a fingering she remembered from school. To her pleasant surprise it sounded as the correct note. With a quiet laugh, she beamed with happiness.
Káno began his tune slowly and Eve played what she could in unison once she caught the melody. The first few times sounded horrible to her ears, but eventually she got it down. She played for about ten minutes before letting Káno play on his own. Her thoughts turned to the gentle rain outside which played like another instrument alongside the harping of Káno.
An hour later, Káno and Nelyo both decided to rest. Leaving them to sleep, Eve suggested they sit outside under the porch while the rain fell. Findekáno agreed.
They sat mostly in silence. Though Telperion's glow permeated the entire sky, it especially affected the rain. The water droplets became like crystal prisms, casting the light of the tree all about the world. It seemed to Eve that some became liquid silver, or what she imagined liquid silver to be like.
She sighed contentedly. "Nothing from my home compares to this."
"This is your home," Findekáno reminded her softly as he too watched the liquid light catch in pools beneath street lamps whose calm flames cast their own light around them.
Eve nodded. "I suppose it is."