Spring Is Finally Here
"Spring is finally here
Birds are tweeting
The deer are grazing
Get up and prance
Ye men and maidens
Spring is finally here
Sing la dee da
And hee hee ho
Spring is finally here
Leap through the heather
Through all kinds of weather
For the ladies are pretty
And ready and waiting
Spring is finally here"
"Decidedly not your finest, Elladan." Elrohir plucked a blade of grass and twisted it idly in his fingers before tossing it away. The sun shone brightly down on Elrond Halfelven's two younger sons as they lay on a hill of deep grass in the Valley in Lótessë while Elladan stood with his arms outstretched, his face upturned with a smile on his lips so he sang the last note of his song.
"What does it matter? It is spring!" he shouted with a laugh and fell onto his back alongside his twin.
"Better than I could do," eleven-year-old Estel complimented, "but what do girls have to do with spring being here?" Elladan and Elrohir looked at each other and grinned.
Elladan sat up, "What do you know about girls?"
"Other than the fact that they are silly, giggling things that have better to do then to sow and gossip?" He thought for a moment, "Well the older ones are okay, like Brethil. She's nice and she's the best cook, but she is more like a mother. What does my knowledge of girls have t-"
"The female gender is not all puppies and flowers, Estel," Stated Elrohir, "Did you know there are almost as many female warriors as there are male?"
"No."
"And what about Elien," said Elladan, "who works with Angbor the smith?"
"That's and elleth?" Estel exclaimed.
Elladan shrugged, "I'm just saying she's a female not into the normal female things."
Elrohir rolled his eyes, "What Elladan is trying to ask is, what do you know about love, trysting, that sort of thing?"
"Adar already had 'the Talk' with me." Estel made gestures with his fingers as he spoke symbolizing quotation marks.
"We are not talking about 'the Talk'" Elladan aped Estel's movements. He moved over to where Estel sat and slung an arm around his shoulders, "Each ethuil we celebrate the beginning of each loa. It is at this celebration that elleths are more inclined to be looking for mates. Now most are not ready to be married, and frankly, neither are 'Roh and myself. What we do instead is pick an elleth of our fancy and woo them for the night so we may kiss them. This is what every elleth secretly desires from us."
"A kiss?"
"A kiss."
"You go through all that trouble just for a kiss?" The twins grinned and nodded exuberantly. "Do you not get in trouble when they find out that you are not planning to marry them?"
Elrohir shrugged, "Sometimes. However, most are forgiving by the next go round."
Estel shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I just do not see the point. If I am going to pledge myself to someone it will be to her alone. None of this flitting around from flower to flower every time loa comes around."
Elladan and Elrohir shook their own heads. "He's young yet."
"There are simply too many beautiful young elleths to be tied down to just one."
"But that would be if I liked girls," Estel stuck out his tongue, "Who wants to kiss a girl and get cooties. Bleh!" The twins roared with laughter and lay back in the grass clutching their stomachs.
The End
a/n: yeah it's short.
Lótessë- In Blossom. Corresponds to our May.
Brethil- oc Silver Birch
Elien- oc Elf (male) Maiden.
Angbor- oc Iron Hand
Ethuil- S spring
Loa- growth
Note on elven calendars: Yén (Q) translated "year" is 144 of ours. A 'Day' was from sunset to sunset. There were 52,596 days in a year and 8,766 enquier or weeks of 6 days each. During each year they observed a solar year called a loa which was broken up into long months or short seasons beginning with spring or ethuil and ending with echuir or stirring. Seasons: (S/Q) Ethuil/tuilë- spring, laer/lairë- summer, iavas/yávië- autumn, firith/quellë- fading also called narbeleth/lasse-lante- sun-waning/leaf-fall, rhîw/hrívë- winter, echuir/coirë- stirring. Summer and winter had 72 days and the rest 52. Each loa began with yestarë, the day before spring and ended with mettarë, the day after stirring. Between summer and autumn were three middle days, enderi, making the loa 365 days by doubling the enderi every twelve years. Months: (S/Q) (the sindarin names were only used by the Dúnedain) Narwain/narvinyë, Nínui/nénimë, gwaeron/súlimë, gwirith/víressë, lothron/lótessë, nórui/nárië, cerveth/cermië, urui/urimë, ivanneth/yavannië, narbeleth/narquelië, hithui/hísimë, girithron/ringarë. -Appendix D ROTK Tolkien.
Elleths- she-elves