(Just under 900 words) - response for Legendarium Ladies April: General Prompt: “Estel Anim”
After the Elf-lord, Finrod, had departed, she sat in silent thought. Tears welled and fell unheeded. Somehow, she knew in her heart, she would never see Aegnor again. She wiped her face. He was lost to her and his brother had all but spoken his farewells. He would ever strive in combat against an impossible foe, and she would wither as she waited. They would not meet again.
The room had grown cold, and her bones ached with weariness. How long had we spoken this night? The night was nearly over. The sky was turning grey. She rose and her knee cracked. What would an Elda king think of that, she wondered with a wry half-laugh.
They could live a thousand years with youth and strength, yet already, after only a few decades, Andreth’s body was beginning to fail her though her mind was still keen.
Aegnor and Andreth - I wish this moment could have lasted forever. They are so happy…
Andreth later said, in her conversation with Finrod, that she would have given all she was for one day with him (implied - as his wife). Although they did not marry, this was their time, and she did, indeed, give everything she was to have it. It cost Andreth the rest of her life to love Aegnor for a moment. And it cost him an eternity to love her back.
For marille-ancalima, who asked: Could you maybe write something about Aegnor and Andreth’s first meeting? I love them and I love your writing so yeah :)
This fits in between the two scenes I wrote here, though it hopefully makes sense without them.
“How do I look?” she asked, and perhaps because she was rather unreasonably excited about meeting the Elves it came out sounding far more like a childish, girlish question than a reasonable request for commentary.
Perhaps because of this, Adanel batted away the question with a dismissive shrug. “Presentable.”
“Aunt –”
“They’re Elves, dear, their clothes are woven with gemstones and light shines out of their every orifice and even the men have glossier hair than the shallowest girls I’ve ever seen – and I won’t have you turning into a shallow girl on their behalf.”
“Of course not. I’m only wondering, how do I look?”
Well, I’ve got several. But I’ve already written about Fëanor and Nerdanel and I’ll probably write more, you got a dash of Turin/Nienor a couple days ago, and Maedhros/Fingon is waiting for “something that’s practically canon” day, because I swear that prompt was written for them.
If you haven’t noticed, I exclusively ship utterly tragically doomed pairings.
So it shouldn’t really be surprising that my favorite Elf/Edain romance is this one.
“There are two scenes in Spirited Away that could be considered symbolic for the film. One is the first scene in the back of the car, where she is really a vulnerable little girl, and the other is the final scene, where she’s full of life and has faced the whole world. Those are two portraits of Chihiro which show the development of her character.” (Hayao Miyazaki)