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

[marriedanidiot]

She smiles. "Well, feel free to ask then. I must confess, I know very little of Men - so I may well have questions of my own!"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Wow, did that statement leave an opening. If she weren't married he would never have been able to resist taking it... "Well, your questions seem a lot easier to answer around here than mine. Lots more of us after all!"

[marriedanidiot]

"True! This is the first time I've seen so many Men... dear Elrond doesn't truly count, and Tuor is so elf-like in his mannerisms it's hard to remember he's not actually one."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Is that because they're in short supply where you come from, or are you just very distant from them?" Either way that might explain a lot, though he'd be inclined to worry were it the first.

[marriedanidiot]

"Mortals don't come to Valinor." She nods. "Baring only a few exceptions... Tuor and the hobbits, and young Legolas' dwarf are the only ones I know. The peredhel technically don't count as they are all part-elven. "

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Oh, you have dwarves too?" They at least had something in common! But -- "Because that was the only word in all of that I understood."

[marriedanidiot]

"Indeed so! The three races of the Eruhini are Elves and Men and Dwarves, with the Hobbits slipping in unnoticed, as they often do, probably as a branch of Men."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Right! Halfway there!" What the heck was a hobbit and what the heck was an Erruhiney?

[marriedanidiot]

"If you want to know what a Hobbit is....well I'm afraid I just don't know! They are, the loremasters think, probably some branch of Men. But they themselves don't know where they came from, only that they are. They are a little people - shorter than the dwarves. And the two I have met are kindly folk, with a love of food and tales."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Oh! Okay!" No problem there: Edge's mind immediately leaped to the small people that composed some of Mythril Village's population. "Now I think I'm getting it. So none of them can come to your lands except by special permission... is it sealed, then?"

[marriedanidiot]

"Aye. We didn't use to be. But after Numenor invaded the Valar removed us from the world. You can't get there from here, as it were. Not without permission."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Oh, it was sealed away!" Yes, Edge understood this. The Underworld had been similarly sealed off, right until the series of events that led to the opening being restored, then exploded shut, then drilled open again.

[marriedanidiot]

"Aye." She nods. "If one has the blessings of the Valar, the Straight Road is still able to be found but... for all intents and purposes, we are removed entirely from the world."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Hmm. You know, I'm not sure history says that's such a good thing." The dwarves had begun truly prospering with opened ties to the surface, after all! And their help had been invaluable when the Giant began its march as well.

[marriedanidiot]

"Perhaps, and perhaps not!" She lifts a hand then drops it - a small shrug.

"It cannot be changed now, though."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Edhe laughed, lifting one fist in recalled triumph. "Hey, the last time I heard that, we mounted a drill to the front of an airship! Don't underestimate what necessity and determination can accomplish!"

[marriedanidiot]

She chuckles.

"That may be true for Men! But Elves and especially the Valar are very slow to change. We were removed from Arda for good reason, and the road I think will remain shut."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Time will tell. I guess you have plenty of that, huh?" How long did she have before she even put on a wrinkle or the like?

[marriedanidiot]

"Until world's end, or so they say." She nods. "And after that... who knows?"

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Well, your husband is the luckiest of men to get to spend eternity with you." His mind flashed briefly to a girl he'd have no time with at all, whose own days would pass as years to him.

[marriedanidiot]

She smiles a little sadly.

"Maybe. If they ever release him from the Halls..."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"But didn't you say he was..." Edge pointed a finger over his shoulder to the train at large.

[marriedanidiot]

"Here, on this train, yes." She smiles sadly. "But at home, my husband has been dead now two Ages of the world, and dwells in Mandos' Halls. Rumor says he will not be released until the end of days, although what the truth is I do not know. The other Reborn do not speak of him."

[onehandsomeslickninja]

"Wait, but he's --" Edge looked back and forth, trying to put this together. "Hold on, how does that even work?"

[marriedanidiot]

"I don't know." She shakes her head. "But he is here, and he is alive, my Feanaro. Death does not quite mean the same thing to us as to you, but even so, his spirit should be fast within Mandos' Halls, and not here. And yet..."

And yet, he is here, and she can feel him, even without trying, the warm lick of his spirit next to hers.