Winter Wonderland [Event]

[voidtreckermods]

”Good Morning passengers. Today is day Twenty Four of the month of Catfish. You may wish to look out of the window.”

As passengers wake in their beds they will indeed notice something different about the light. If they look out of the window, instead of the ever changing void they will see white slopes of mountains, flakes of snow alling down around them and frost covered trees zipping past the windows. If they glance at the ICP on the table they will see a message.

Investigating the dressing cart they will find the drawers and cupboards unlocked once again. However, instead of the fantasy-esque clothing of world #25768 they will find thick winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves. There are heavy fur lined boots and even some ice skates.

Entering the garden carriage they will see that the glass dome of the roof has opened, leaving the carriage exposed to a bright blue sky. Any nonsense of the past few weeks has vanished, leaving the carriage pristine. Not that that is easy to notice as it is covered in a thick layer of snow. The paths are clearer, a light dusting of snow but easy to talk through. Around the paths the drifts are high, perfect for snowman building or a snowball fight.

The streams and the pond in the centre are solid ice. Anyone brave enough to try to find the ice holds their weight for ice skating.

And the ICP message was correct. There is hot chocolate in the stores.

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin gave her the time to make the attempt to get up, not intervening, but he smiled at her as she took his hand. "Don't worry, you'll learn the art of skating pretty soon. It just takes practice, and if the train allows this carriage to stay wintery for a while, there'll be enough time. Do you want me to show you the easiest way to get up if you fall?"

[knifewithnoname]

Just practice, that was reassuring. It meant that she could learn, like she had learned other things in her life before.

She nodded though at the offer. "I would be liking that, please."

Being able to stand up on her own would be a good start.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin smiled. "Okay, this is how you do it." He got down on the ice, on his stomach with his arms stretched out, the way people often ended up after sliding or falling. He rolled over so that he was sitting on the ice with his legs stretched out in front of him, toes pointing at the sky. "Now, this is the critical part." He bent one knee to the side and then rolled sideways over it, so that he came up on both knees and was kneeling on the ice. Then he brought one foot forward with bent knee so that he could plant the blade solidly on the ice. Then he put both hands on top of that knee, pushed down on the knee with the hands, and pulled the other foot through so that it was right beside the first foot, and at the same time he rose so that he was standing upright.

"You try it, now," he said.

[knifewithnoname]

She watched as he lay down on the ice and then more carefully as he demonstrated how to first roll and then kneel and then stand. She nodded silently when he told her to try and as carefully as she could lowered herself to the ground again and sprawled out on the ice.

Carefully she rolled over and sat upright with her legs stretched out. Now bend the knee, roll to kneel and... What was next?

Right one foot forward, solidly in the ice and then... Hands on the knee and very wobbly got to her feet.

"Did that be being right?"

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin watched and was pleased that she did so well on her first attempt. "Yes, that was right. Your motions will get smoother with practice, but you succeeded in getting up on your feet, so that was perfectly all right."

[knifewithnoname]

She beamed at the praise, glad that she had gotten it right on her first go. "I will be remembering and using it if I do be falling again." She told him with a smile.

"You do be knowing a lot about ice flying."

[so_dark_a_road]

He beamed back at her. She was such a lively, intelligent person, and he always enjoyed her company.

"I do know a lot about it. In my home world, my country had long winters and short summers, and there were rivers and streams and ponds everywhere. My people invented skating even before we came to that place, but we certainly used our skates often after we arrived. It was a way to lighten up, to celebrate, and of course to acquire strength, speed, and agility."

[knifewithnoname]

It sounds like a terrible place. She's quite enjoying today in the ice and the snow but if it was this cold all the time it would be a very terrible thing. She can't imagine long winters and short summers.

"How did you be drinking, if all your rivers did be being frozen?"

Surely they would all die, if they had no fresh water.

[so_dark_a_road]

It was a terrible place, sometimes. But not because of the weather. Curufin loved the beautiful northern environment, including the bracing cold, and he liked being a pioneer. Even the wars didn't daunt him much.

"We chopped or bored holes in the ice with axes and augers, and then dipped the water out with pails. We also dug wells down into the earth, down to the water table, and lowered buckets on a rope to bring up the fresh water. Of course, we had to break the ice in the wells, too, in the wintertime. But that wasn't much of a problem."

[knifewithnoname]

They chopped holes in the ice for water? She understands wells. Her own city had wells but the idea of smashing through ice just get water. It was a lot of work.

"I do be understanding. Did you be having to be breaking the ice every day?" After all this pond had been water yesterday and now it was ice. That was how fast it happened.

[so_dark_a_road]

Those First Age Elves were very strong, physically, mentally, and magically. They liked to work, and they liked new challenges. Bashing a hole in the ice was one of the easier things they did.

"It depended on how low the temperature had fallen. In a cold month, we'd be breaking the ice every day. A bitter wind blew from the north through the Pass of Aglon where my castle was located, and the villages began at the foot of the pass and extended south along the river valley. Thus, in the wintertime, there was no escaping that north wind, and it froze every mill pond and irrigation stream in the territory, and the river as well." He grinned. "Good thing we liked to skate! And the Elf children liked to sled on the hillsides and build snow figures in the yards. I used to take my son out to skate, sled, or make snow-art. He loved it all."

[knifewithnoname]

It sounded hard and cold and not a place she would want to go. She tried to imagine a whole place frozen, she was surprised anyone was even alive. She doesn't know sledding but she knows snow figures, Peter had been making some earlier.

"You do be having a son?"

A son and a father? How did that even work? That sounded like far too many family members.

[so_dark_a_road]

Our preferences are formed by our experiences -- and Curufin would not fault her for not loving an environment that she had not grown up in.

"I do have a son. His name is Celebrimbor. I have not seen him in a long time, but my heart tells me that we will meet again someday." Curufin's face is a little sad, but at the same time hopeful. And of course, not all of what is in his heart shows on his face.

[knifewithnoname]

"Celebrimbor." That was a long name and she hoped she had said it all right. She tilted his head at his sad face, he must miss his son. She can understand that. She sometimes missed home as well but at the same time she wasn't sure how much she'd like anyone she knew turning up here.

"He might be coming here. A lot of your family do be being here already."

[so_dark_a_road]

She had said his son's name exactly right. That seemed to be common for her, that she got so many things right the first time.

"Yes, I've got both my parents, two of my brothers, and one cousin. The VoidTrecker must think that having many Elves on the train would be a boon to its purpose. Maybe it will decide that Celebrimbor is necessary, too. I would be so glad to see him again. And he really is brave in a battle, and skillful in the forge and in other crafts. He'd be useful, in truth."

He thinks he's talking too much about himself.

"You have no one here from your world, do you? But you've made friends on this train, a great many of us, I think?"

[knifewithnoname]

"Maybe. But there must be being more elves who do no be being in your family." Surely. Unless all the elves were one big family. Who knew, other worlds were strange.

Brave in battle and skilful in a forge, he sounded like a useful person to have around.

She shook her head, "I do no be thinking so. I did no be knowing too many people there but no one else do be being from Gauig here and I did no be meeting anyone who did be being like a person from my world."

They were all from strange places. She nodded slowly at his last part. She still wasn't sure about friends. Friend seemed to be a title people imposed on her a lot. But she didn't really know what a friend was meant to do or why she had found herself with so many. But it was a truth and so she nodded. "I do be having a lot."

[so_dark_a_road]

"In my world, there are a great many Elves who aren't my immediate relatives. And I've met a few from other worlds who aren't my relatives, either. Unless in fact we all have a common origin. But who knows about that?"

It was a little sad that she didn't have anybody from her own world, or at least somebody from her world that she cared for. And yet, friendship was a good thing.

"People are drawn to you, I think. Maybe at first it's because you're a child, and that automatically makes people want to befriend and protect you. But that's not all it is. Personally, I really enjoy talking with you. You're smart, competent and curious, and I think you have some affinity for unknown situations? You don't hide in your cabin and pray that it'll all go away. Instead, you get around and talk to people, and ask questions, and get to know the people and the situation."

[knifewithnoname]

Right. So there were Elves that were not related. That was a relief at least. Maybe some of those elves would turn up instead. Or maybe not. She didn't know how this train decided to kidnap people.

She tilted her head as he explained. People were drawn to her? That wasn't a good thing but she was pleased he thought her smart and competent.

"Hiding do be being stupid. If you do be hiding then you will no be changing anything." Praying was not a bad thing, but she was unsure that her god could hear her here. It was not their world.

"So that do be being why I do be having friends..." Just because she was smart? That occurs to her to not be altogether a bad thing. Being a person that is seen as competent and people want to protect. Not that she needs protection, of course.

[so_dark_a_road]

Who knew what the train's criteria really were?

"I completely agree with you about hiding. Whoever hides loses any chance of changing anything at all. It is not your way, and it is not my way. We're in complete agreement on that."

Friends. Friendship is a mystery too. Even when people know why they are drawn to one another. Translating that into an active friendship is a mysterious art.

"I think that's why you have friends. But I suppose your friends would have their own opinions as to why they like you. Reason for friendship are as many as the leaves on the trees." He smiles. "That's an Elvish saying."

[knifewithnoname]

"As many as there do be being leaves on the trees?" That's a lot of reasons. No wonder it was so complicated.

"So you do no be needing to be feeling one specific thing to be being friends with someone? You can just be... Being their friend. You can just be saying it?"

He seems very knowledgeable about the subject and if Elves have sayings about friendship then they must be very wise about it.

[so_dark_a_road]

"Yes, as many as the leaves on the trees. That's because conscious, feeling beings are complex, and we are not all the same."

He thinks about what she is saying about friendship and reasons. "You don't have to feel only one specific feeling in order to be inspired to seek friendship with a person. You can be their friend for all sorts of reasons, and you don't even have to explain."

Elves have had many millennia to think about friendship, to experience it, and to try to describe it. If experience is wisdom, then they are wise.

[knifewithnoname]

Feelings are complex. The most complicated thing and really hard to learn. But Curufin explaining it like this helped. She didn't need to feel one specific feeling to be friends with someone and you didn't have to explain.

So even though Peter was a stupid light addled idiot who used twenty times as many words as he ever needed to and even though sometimes she just wanted to stab his stupid face she still could be his friend. She liked spending time with him, he made her smile and he was a person who would help her.

"I do be thanking you. You do be knowing a lot about friends."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin smiled at her and said, "You're welcome, and feel free to talk with me anytime. It can help to share your ideas and questions about life."

He'd be amused to hear her thoughts about Peter. He too had once had friends he thought were idiots and whose faces he'd have liked to punch. He and they had remained friends as long as they had known each other.

[knifewithnoname]

She grinned at him, it was good to have someone who she could ask question of, who knew so many things.

She skated in a circle around him, only wobbling a little bit. She was definitely getting the hang of it. "I will be."

[so_dark_a_road]

"All right!" he responded, cheerfully. He was looking forward to more conversations with her in the future.

He watched her as she circled him on her skates. "Very nice," he said, nodding, and also turning in a circle so that he was facing her at every instant. He grinned. "Want to skate around the edges of the pond with me?" He took off, though not so fast that she wouldn't be able to keep up.