(To my Curvo, @Server Room Gremlin ! This drawing comes with a short story, which is compatible with IC&SF Chapter 4.)
Maitimo had already spoken with Fëanáro about letting Tyelko use a bigger
bow, and he had paid off Moryo. Now, it was time to fulfill his end of the bargain to Curvo.
His request to read Maitimo’s last five essays definitely seemed the oddest of the three brothers’ requests, but at the same time, it warmed Maitimo’s heart the most. None of the other brothers, not even Kano, cared enough about his boring schoolwork to ask to read it. And though Curvo was barely old enough to be in school himself, his compliment towards Maitimo’s writing style and research abilities gave him a rarely-felt sense of pride in his own work.
Before heading up to Maitimo’s room, they stopped by the kitchen to take a small plate of snacks and some drinks. Curvo took a small wooden goblet of raspberry cordial, and Maitimo took a generous cup of green tea, as was both their habits.
They sat at Maitimo’s great desk of mahogany wood, and Maitimo placed a hefty stack of parchments in front of Curvo. He thought Curvo would be pleased at having so many to choose from, but instead his eyes widened and his little eyebrows scrunched up. He nearly looked on the verge of tears.
“What’s the matter?” Maitimo asked him, his own brows creasing in confusion.
“There’s… so many to choose from,” Curvo whispered.
“There are indeed,” Maitimo said with a deep sigh. And in fact, this pile was just the peak of
Taniquetil; he had just grabbed the pile of essays from the past several months, which he hadn’t had time to file away yet. Years and years of other essays sat boxed up in a great archival closet within their library. “Is that a problem, Curvo?”
“Well…” The little Elfling squirmed in the chair which was much too big for him. “It’s just that I don’t know how I would choose without reading every single one, and that violates the terms of our bargain. Not to mention, it would take three
ages. How can I know what the topic is of each, or the flow of the argument, or the quality of the writing? That’s why I simply asked you to give me the five most recent essays you wrote. That way I wouldn’t have to waste time trying to choose, and I’d get a surprise, which is always interesting.”
Now that Curvo was old enough to read and do some of his own schoolwork, he continued to startle and impress Maitimo with his grasp of
concepts which even students twice his age didn’t fully understand.
Maitimo nodded, feeling as though Curvo’s point made sense, and he almost felt a little guilty for causing Curvo to feel overwhelmed, even though he had simply tried to give him his own choice in what seemed to Maitimo like a rather boring pursuit.
“I have an idea,” he said. “How about I choose five for you? That way it’s still a surprise for you, but it will be better aligned to your interests than it would be if I just gave you the most recent five.”
Curvo nodded slowly and seriously, as though thinking over the matter. “I suppose that makes sense.”
Maitimo took the stack of papers back, but he found himself at a loss as he leafed through them. It occurred to him that he didn’t entirely know what Curvo would most like to read about. He knew Curvo had already taken a strong interest to watching Fëanáro in the forge, and helping him with small, simple tasks. But what other topics interested him? He was very private about such things, to Maitimo at least.
Though Maitimo didn’t have many essays relating to forge work, he did manage to find one about how different metals reacted to each other, so that was the first one he set aside. And for the remaining four options, Maitimo decided to just pick as wide a variety of topics as he could. So he chose
the one he had recently written about the history of the linguistic development of
Quenya, one about the economy of
Tirion, one about the various agricultural products of the outlying villages, and one about the transportation routes around
Valinor.
Curvo accepted these five papers with satisfaction, and he was quiet and contented for a while as he munched on the cheese and nuts and bread and sipped his cordial. In fact, he grew so quiet that, as Maitimo resumed work on his latest assignment, he nearly forgot Curvo was there.
Later on, Curvo sighed, and Maitimo was so startled, he jerked his pen and messed up his calligraphy. Suppressing a sigh of annoyance, he turned to Curvo and smiled. “Are you done?”
Curvo nodded seriously.
“What did you think? Which one was your favorite?”
Maitimo thought he knew what Curvo’s answer would be, but he apparently guessed wrong.
“I liked the one about the transportation routes best.”
Maitimo blinked in surprise. “Really? Not the one about metals?”
“I already know everything you said in that one,” Curvo said with a shrug. “Atar’s the one who taught you all that, and he’s taught it to me already. It was well-written, and you didn’t say anything wrong. But I already knew it all.”
“Oh,” said Maitimo, feeling his heart sink a bit.
“But the one about transportation routes…” Curvo bounced a little in his seat, and his eyes glinted with the light of the candle on the desk, and he smiled slightly. “I can’t wait till I’m old enough to
travel all around Valinorë with you and everyone else. I’m determined to figure out myself what’s the best way to get from here to Valimar, or from Valimar to Alqualondë. And your essay explained those things, as well as other routes I hadn’t thought about, and the differences between traveling by
horse or on foot…” He stared at nothing for a brief moment, as though lost in his own thoughts, before turning back to Maitimo. “I know this wasn’t part of the bargain, but… can I borrow it for a bit? It might help me with some of the
maps I’ve been drawing.”
Maitimo smiled broadly and ruffled Curvo’s baby-soft hair. “You can keep it as long as you’d like.”
Curvo’s eyes lit up, and he leaned over and gave Maitimo a little kiss on the cheek.
He was like a cat, Maitimo noticed: he didn’t like to be smothered, but he gave little gestures of affection on his own terms. Still, it was hard for Maitimo to suppress his own urge to smother the little Elfling!
“And, uh…” Curvo’s voice grew quiet and he awkwardly averted his gaze. “I was thinking, you didn’t really deserve for us to ruin your curls and make you all wet and cold the other night. We didn’t know you were
actually trying to hide something, you see.”
“It’s all right,” Maitimo said with a gentle smile. “As long as the secret is safe, that’s all I care about.”
“Well, your secret’s safe with me.” Curvo lowered his voice to a whisper. “I won’t even tell Atar.”
“Well, good!”
Fëanáro was the last person who should be knowing about Maitimo’s visits with Aranya, but he didn’t have the heart to say that. With the close bond between Fëanáro and Curvo, this was the most sincere promise Curvo could offer.
“I was also thinking, I’m going to try to come up with some other games for Tyelko and Moryo and me to play. Something other than Interrogation and Spying.”
Maitimo laughed heartily, and hoisted Curvo up so he was sitting on his shoulders. “That sounds like a good idea.”
(Discussion time! You can use this thread to discuss it.
First things first: Happy Birthday, my friend! Just as Maitimo delights in getting to know Curvo better, I'm so glad to have gotten to know you better over the past couple of years. From your fascinating knowledge of Tolkien and history and technology, to the adorable Finwian Family Fluff you often think up, and your stories that hit me right in the feelz, I'm so glad to know what goes on in Servo's brain! And you've been a great friend to me, being someone I can talk to when I'm having insomnia or a hard time in general.
I thought it was only natural to elaborate a bit on Curvo getting to read Maitimo's essays, since it was your feedback that inspired that moment in IC&SF. Like Maitimo, I was looking at Curvo a bit superficially, thinking he would most like something relating to Fëanor and the forge, but you inspired me to dig deeper into his character. Also, did you see what I did there? There aren't trains in Valinor, but there are roads and horses!
I also felt like the drawing represents us: you're a diligent proofreader of IC&SF, so Curvo poring over Maitimo's essays is like you poring over my writing and helping me get rid of those pesky typos!
Some other details about the picture:
- Maitimo's outfit: do you recognize it?
- Now you know why I was asking you about Curvo's preferred snack!
- This once again has Minecraftey vibes. The bookshelves were kinda inspired by Minecraft bookshelves!
- Curvo's drink is in a little wooden goblet like you specified. Maitimo's green tea is in a mug inspired by my favorite tea mug in real life!
- I'm very pleased by what a little cutie Curvo turned out to be-- and I thought the cowlick suited him!
- From an artistic point of view, I'm pretty proud of the lighting! I'll separately send you the values-only painting with none of the flat colors. It helped me a lot to just work on the Multiply, Soft Light and Add layers so I could really see what the lighting is doing.
- I found it fitting that Maitimo is warmly backlit with Laurelin's light, while Curvo is more in the shadow and only faintly lit by the candle.
- Overall, even though Maitimo's room is not dark by any means, I hope Curvo would still find it cozy and comfortable (not like the blinding light of Valimar).
I hope you enjoy this, and I hope you have a great birthday!)