First Age year 497, the royal palace part of Menegroth;
The first signs of that something have to be be terribly wrong, was a unexpected minor explosion coming from somewhere in the palace. breaking a couple of windows. Trying to ignore the shocked and not so little scared Sindar Elves around them as many of them ran towards the palace, Eöl calmly setting down a tank of ale on the table where he and his family currently was sitting inside a small tavern.
"Seems like the young prince had one of those outbursts again, since his lady mother no longer have her Maia powers since coming back to life with her mortal," Eöl commented, as if this was something which happened everyday. Aredhel was less unruffled, from how she held onto her glass of water, likely expecting to break apart any moment.
"I hope that no one got injured by that, the king would be very displeased over it…"Maeglin said in a worried voice, his own food forgotten on the plate in front of him.
"That overgrown Elf have rarely been pleased by anything related to the world outside this hidden kingdom since that treaty Nargothrond and the Sons of Fëanor forced him to agree on as compensation for the death of Finrod Felagund and the emotional mess the Princess caused with your mother's favorite cousin, ion-nin, unless he wanted to see his kingdom as bait for the Dark Lord," Eöl muttered.
Just moments after, a horse galloped past on the street outside. Even if it was only for a short moment, none of the three family members failed to miss the long chestnut brown hair in a braid despite that they did not get to see the face, or what seemed to be a travel bag on the rider's back. Their shared suspicions were confirmed as a group of palace guards came after the first rider in a obvious attempt to catch the fleeing horse.
"Trying to run away in the middle of day, in plain sight of everyone? He must be pretty desperate to escape his family if that happens like this."
Aredhel and Maeglin could only nod in agreement to what Eöl said, still in shock at seeing the young heir of Elu Thingol doing something like this.
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Apparently, Thingol indeed proved to be displeased over what had happened once the guards finally had caught the young Dior Eluchil after a very long chase and set his only grandchild in house arrest inside the prince's own chambers "until that he had cleaned his head of rebellious thoughts", as the King of Doriath called it.
Once he finally was left alone, with the door to his chambers locked, Dior let out a scream of anger and frustration, causing a table and a few chairs nearly to be blown away like by a strong wind. Grabbing a silver crown laying on a pillow upon a small shelf, he threw it against the wall.
"I have known about this treaty all my life, getting myself ready to do my part of the agreement, and THIS is how you and Grandfather intend to dishonor it, Mother?!"
"Keep the racket down, brat, there is no need to draw more attention to yourself for the rest of today," Eöl ordered from where he looked out from a hidden corridor behind a secret door in the wall, his family following him into the chamber. Dior scowled at him, a movement which momentarily marred his fair face.
"Actually, Dior have every right to be in a bad mood at the moment, because he risks to be burdened with the consequences of something his maternal relatives plans...again," someone else responded from another secret door, the tanned skin and dark brown curls revealing the lady to be Nimloth, the only great-granddaughter of Thingol's younger brother Elmo.
"Do not tell me that Luthien have attempted to hatch a badly planned idea that is gonna mess up with the treaty…"
Eöl silenced for a moment, then saw the worried looks between Dior and Nimloth, an something dawned on him.
"Oh no. No, no, no, she can not be that foolish, to keep her only child away from Celegorm! She made this bed when she and her mortal created such bad relationships between Doriath and the Noldor, and now she have to sleep in it! And surely Thingol have enough common sense to not try anything…!" Aredhel protested, basically wording what Eöl thought in that moment.
"According to the King himself, it is a brilliant, logical idea in how to solve the very real problems related to the direct succession to the throne of Doriath, Dior gets a wife and I am nicely married to someone I am familiar with…"
"Logical?" Eöl deadpanned, before becoming even more serious, "Logical? Exactly what is logical to stab the Fëanorians in the back like this, when Dior basically have been betrothed to Celegorm since birth despite being male, to make up for Luthien rejected him in the past and trying to keep peace between the realms?! And surely Thingol must realize that annoying both the Fëanorians and the current High King of the Noldor is basically a invitation for his kingdom to become alone against Morgoth!?"
Dior made a unhappy face, where he now had seated himself on a chair, his arms crossed.
"That is almost exactly what I said to Mother when she presented her so called brilliant plan to my grandfather this morning. I have nothing against Nimloth and honestly can imagine a pleasant life with her as my wife, but I do not want Celegorm to think that I am rejecting him in the same manner as my mother once did, for someone else! Unless Mother really hurries up and give birth to a second child since I am supposed to start the journey to Amon Ereb in only two days, I am the one who have the duty of marrying Celegorm since I have followed the growth of my paternal race and is more or less a adult in body, though I might still be a bit immature in mind at times. I have known my role in this treaty since I was little despite that I can be called to be chained to it with no way out, and have tried to train myself in a manner that should make it easier for me to adjust to his way of living!"
They could all hear that Dior was greatly distressed over his mother trying to control his planned marriage like this all suddenly. It was well known that Luthien hated the idea of her rejected suitor marrying her only child, but she had been beaten in that game by Orodreth and his daughter Finduilas, who was very unhappy over what she and Beren had caused in Nargothrond, along with indirectly being the reason for the death of Finrod. Even if the realm of Finrod no longer existed since almost two years back, the treaty still stood as Maedhros had shown up soon afterwards to remind Thingol that it would be very unpleasant results if he tried to back out. And from the Isle of Balar had a similar warning come, signed not only by Gil-galad and his mother Queen Dowager Rilel, but even lord Cirdan to show just how outnumbered Doriath would be in a argument.
"You have met with Celegorm a few times, right? I am pretty sure that he must have been around Tol Galen since he seems rather unlikely to have refused to see you at least once when you grew up," Maeglin asked, to which Dior nodded. As far as Aredhel could agree on, her favorite cousin would never want to be a total stranger to someone he was to marry, be it a arranged marriage or one by free will.
"Last time was two summers ago, only a few months before Nargothrond fell. We have kept contract though letters otherwise since I learned to read and write. Though we had to keep a neutral tone in the letters due to that Mother would send rather bad-tempered words to him if he ever had tried to write anything more...passionate or anything hinting to what Doriath view as inappropriate."
Eöl had remained silent while the others talked.
"Did Luthien mention any time to try and have a marriage ceremony for you two?"
"Either this evening or tomorrow at dawn, since it will take some time to set up a nice setting even with many servants. Any time before Dior was meant to leave for Amon Ereb," Nimloth confirmed some of his worries. Less time than what he hoped for.
"And what does Beren say about this crazy idea?"
"He is more in favour towards Nimloth as my consort, since that kind of marriage holds a promise of grandchildren. I would like to have children, yes, but I do not want to become a breeding stud simply to give Doriath more heirs because I am the only child of my parents. And Celegorm being a former rival about my mother...have made him dislike the treaty since it was made," Dior revealed. Eöl sighed, casting a glare over his son and the half-Elven prince as a plan started to form in his mind.
"Pack what is necessary for a quick escape, both of you. Yes, both Nimloth and yourself, Dior. Maeglin, see if you and Dior are the same size in clothes or if we need to borrow a extra set of clothes from the guards we travels with from Nan Elmoth. It seems that Dior needs to be smuggled out of Doriath while making it seem to look like he and Nimloth have eloped to avoid this hurried marriage ceremony that comes like a lighting bolt out of the blue sky. Write a letter each to your respective set of parents to make it seem like you actually did elope in the middle of night."
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Somehow, despite all the risks of being spotted and the danger of suffering a very painful punishment for it, Eöl and Aredhel did indeed manage to smuggle out Dior and Nimloth from Doriath under the noses of the guards and royal family, Maeglin acting as distraction before joining up with his parents. It partly helped that Luthien had gotten stuck with yet another small trouble that mortals suffered from once in a while, and had been taken to her own chambers under the fussing of her husband and worried parents.
"They freak out whatever she suffers from a minor injury or illness because mortals are so much more frail than Elves, especially now when she and father are getting into their older years," Dior whispered to explain why everyone among the courtiers and servants suddenly had been running around like upset hens in a hen house.
"Do not relax yet, we can still be found out."
They did not stop for a rest until that they were several hours away from Doriath, when Eöl ordered to make a small camp that would be quick to break up in the morning. Normally he was not so fond of travelling under the sunlight, but right now his own discomfort had to be ignored. They needed to bring Dior as close to Amon Ereb as they could, if Thingol soon pulled things together and sent out his best soldiers and scouts to bring back his grandson by force.
Dior, who had struggled against his increasing fatigue as the hours passed by, barely managed to do much outside laying out his sleeping bag before he almost collapsed down.
"Sorry for not helping out, but I am not having as much of the Elven stamina as I would like. My mortal blood tends to take over when I am stuck by fatigue in very stressful situations like how it was today…" he apologized, looking just as tired as he must feel.
"You have done well for someone who have to sneak out from his own home. Nanaeth and I almost did the same, but Ada chose some well-spoken counterarguments about the…. location we would have gone to."
"It is pretty hard to not have heard about the Hidden City and its ruler that is cut-off from the rest of Beleriand. Especially when it is ruled by the very paranoid second son to the late King Fingolfin and pretty much no one is allowed to leave that city. There is no way I would allow my wife and son to be locked away in a golden cage with no actual freedom to speak of," Eöl replied in a calm yet cold voice.
Nimloth would have preferred to ensure that Dior would fall into sleep after the long ride, but there was nothing to do when his attention had been caught like this. He had a great interest in the other people and cultures outside Doriath after all.
"Just a short version, the rest can be left to the morning when we have to move again," she requested in the hope of that Dior would be able to catch on as much sleep as he could. And Aredhel did indeed spoke a very brief version of her second brother who had followed his family into Exile despite originally being against the departure of the Noldor from Valinor, how he had changed in personality after losing his beloved wife on the Grinding Ice and hiding himself away from the world once Gondolin had been finished.
"Eöl did right in stopping me from choosing to return to Gondolin with Maeglin, for otherwise my late father and brother would never have known about him and make him a alternative heir to my nephew Gil-galad. Maeglin was even my brother's heir before the birth of his younger cousin, since Atar chose to chose to exclude Turgon and any descendants of his though Idril since they can not count as reliable or even helpful against Morgoth by hiding themselves away from the world."
"Our marriage was difficult at that time, and Maeglin being in his later years as a adolescent did not help either. He is more like either of us, depending on what his mood is. Thankfully it helped with the compromise of having him meet the rest of the family while avoiding Gondolin. One High King and several Noldor Princes was very happy once the first shock had passed," Eöl muttered, handing over a water skin to his wife to drink.
As much as he wanted to ask more, Dior felt that he barely could keep awake anymore. They were still far from Amon Ereb and there was no way he would dishonor his part in the treaty without strong resistance. Celegorm had never been cruel to him the few times they had met, which naturally had made the half-Elven seriously doubt the tale of the silver-haired Fëanorian trying to abduct Luthien. If he had really been a such person, surely he would have tried to steal Dior away as a child without waiting this long for him to grow up into a mature adult? As a mortal and by the standards of his paternal race, Dior could have been wed off as Celegorm's consort already twelve years ago when he just had been fifteen years and being in his early adolescence, even his own father Beren had been facing the reality of being a only heir and thus becoming the male half of a betrothal in his youth before the young lady died as one of many victims from orcs under the orders of Morgoth invaded and overran their land.
"I wish that Father could tell me more about his life before becoming a outlaw and meeting my mother. I would really have liked to know more about his personal thoughts and feelings about that other lady he might have married, if things had been different…"
Under the sound of Nimloth singing a simple song to the stars, he fell asleep and remained so until the break of dawn.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note: Given the importance of marriage and having surviving offspring in RL history when it comes to people of important status, it is pretty unrealistic that Beren, as the only son and heir to two direct descendants of Bëor the Old, would not have any kind of romance before meeting Luthien. The idea of him actually having a betrothed before his life became that of a outlaw at the age of 23 years is fully my own. For example, both his female relatives Morwen and Rian married their respective husbands at the age of 21 and 20 years, so Beren would likely have married Luthien at a "late" age by being 37 years old after returning to life in the year 469 of the First Age and Dior was born the following year.