Part 174 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes.
A/N: Yeah, it's 12:30 am and I couldn't sleep, so I hashed out this story. Actually, the basic idea has been one of my unfinished tales, so in that sense it's a good thing. I only had a tiny nugget of an idea, but finally "the rest of the story" came to me.
And go check out Haarajot's "Eomer and Lothiriel Drabbles", which are sadly underreviewed. If enough of us read and enjoy them, perhaps we'll get her to finish writing "the whole story" for us!
Joie De Vivre
(Jun, 12 IV)
Lothiriel glanced down the hall, where light was streaming in from the open door. A figure leaned against the doorframe, gazing outward, and after a moment, she recognized her husband's silhouette. Curious, she moved quietly to join him.
As she approached, he noticed her footsteps and glanced to see who was coming. At the sight of her, he cast a smile of contentment, before returning his attention back to something outside. She stepped in close beside him, slipping an arm around his waist and leaning her head against his arm.
"Why do you smile, beloved?"
"I love that sound."
Lothiriel listened a moment, trying to discern to which sound he referred, as there were various noises being carried on the wind, but he further explained, "The sound of my children's laughter."
Out on the back terrace of Meduseld, Theodwyn and Theomund were romping about in a carefree manner, laughing and giggling. As Lothiriel watched, they apparently had invented some game that involved a great deal of…bouncing! They were hopping and leaping all over.
"What are they doing?" she queried, glancing up at her husband questioningly.
Now he turned and wrapped his arms about her shoulders as he grinned more mischievously. "They are jumping!" he told her, less than helpfully.
"But why?" she persisted, wrinkling her nose at him in annoyance.
"Because they are young, and life is good, and because they can!" he murmured. "That is all the reason they need."
She smiled more broadly, leaning against his chest. "You fought long and hard that all children might again feel free to express themselves thus. Your witnessing it now is a well-earned reward for all you sacrificed to bring it to pass."
"Aye," he replied softly, turning to gaze once more out at his offspring. "And I would suffer it all again to make this possible."
THE END
1/9/08 – 5/4/08
Theodwyn is almost 4 and Theomund is almost 2. As for the title, yes, it is far too modern and French to boot, but I didn't like any other alternative choices so well as this one (same as with "Détente")! It means "joy of life".
End note: It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order, but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.