Chapter Text
It was not unusual for Fëanor to be lost in thought. If he had a particularly difficult project that he was working on or, like today, he had misplaced his notes for the improved alphabet he was creating, he tended to loose track of what was right in front of him. And, not for the first time since becoming a father, he was so pre-occupied that he nearly tripped over his eldest child.
At the last moment, Fëanor managed to swerve around the elfling. He spun on his heal, already apologizing for his lack of attention.
"Maitimo! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you…" Fëanor trailed off. Maitimo was balancing a very large plate of cookies with a somewhat guilty look on his face.
"I’m ok!" Maitimo squeaked, peering at his father over the mountain of cookies.
"What was you plan with those? That’s quite a lot of sugar for one elfling to consume," Fëanor asked suspiciously.
"They’re not for me. They're for Ammë. I made them because the new baby makes her tired and sad," Maitimo explained solemnly. He wasn’t wrong. All ready well passed the half term mark, Nerdanel’s second pregnancy wasn’t going nearly as smooth as her first one. They were worried for the babe, but they tried not to let Maitimo see. Apparently they weren’t hiding nearly as well as they thought they were.
"That’s sweet of you Maitimo," Fëanor ruffled the coppery hair as he studied the mountain of sweets. He was astonished at the simple perfectionism that the cookies displayed. He recognized them as the chocolate and hazelnut cookies Nerdanel always made. Maitimo had managed to perfectly replicate them in every way, from the shape and size down to the simple icing design on top.
"Well, I ’pose you could try one, but the rest are for Ammë," Maitimo proffered Fëanor one from the edge.
More than delighted he was allowed to partake in his favorite dessert, Fëanor eagerly took a bite. He chewed for a second before gagging. The cookie was overpoweringly salty. After a quick glance around revealed no receptacles for him to spit the cookie out, Fëanor quickly swallowed the mouthful. Even once it was out of his mouth, Fëanor could still taste the salt.
"What recipe did you use?" Fëanor finally managed to gasp.
"The one Ammë uses. Is something not right?" Maitimo’s little face was the perfect picture of disappointment.
"They’re …um… very salty," Fëanor carefully explained.
"But I followed the directions," Maitimo hung his head.
"Oh, well, maybe Ammë doesn’t follow the directions for everything," Fëanor bit his lip as he thought. He had never made cookies and he didn’t like to follow directions. His only logical conclusion was that Nerdanel didn’t follow the recipe when she baked.
Maitimo was thoroughly crushed. He had wanted to make a surprise for his Ammë. He was sure that he had followed everything the recipe said to do, all the measurements and all the ingredients. He bolted back to the kitchen. Carelessly setting the plate on the table, Maitimo stood on the stool and bent over the book on the counter. He carefully re-read the recipe. What had he missed?
"Maitimo?" Fëanor had been more than a little startled when his eldest raced off.
"I did it right," Maitimo protested, his small finger skimming over the neat lines of text, "I did it just like that."
Fëanor’s eye’s ran over the recipe and then over the neatly stacked ingredients. He quickly noted what was wrong. Maitimo had pulled out the salt jar and not the sugar jar. Fëanor turned back to the recipe. It didn't look all that hard to follow, even if he didn't know what exactly either 'fold sugar in gently' or 'bake until fully cooked, but still slightly soft' meant. They could fix this. Fëanor gave the red hair a ruffle.
"Why don’t I help you and we can make better ones for your Ammë. If we start now, we can have them done by the time that she wakes from her nap,” Fëanor promised.