DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING YOU RECOGNIZE. PLEASE DON'T SUE ME. THANKS.
Ok, this story is marked AU, even though it goes by book verse canon: it's because this scene is set in modern day. I know, it's kind of weird. But you can't argue with the Muse. *shrugs* This is fanfiction. I'm unleashing my imagination.
That said, it does still partially base itself on the more old-timey values and ideas probably practiced in Tolkien's world. Have a happy holidays!
"I'm staying." Anaire spoke quietly but firmly from where she was leaning casually on the counter, watching Fingolfin wash the dishes for the last time.
"What?" he asked in surprise, looking up, a cluster of soap bubbles clinging to his chin, making it hard for Anaire to take him seriously.
"I'm staying. You are being foolish and rash, and I will have no part in it."
"Your husband and all of your children are leaving in the morning, and you say you will not come?"
"Yes,"
"Why?"
"I need to keep the others company, it is I who will be with your parents when all of you are gone. I need to take care of kind-hearted Amarie and lonely Nerdanel. Someone must keep the house up; it is in danger of falling into disuse without hordes of over-enthusiastic children tearing through it. Earwen is staying, and I could not leave her."
"I always knew you loved Earwen more than me." Fingolfin muttered in a fit of irrational grumpiness Indis had thought she had successfully quenched when he was quite young, beginning to clean the dishes quite aggressively.
"Only a fool would try to cross the Helcaraxe, and if you all die, I don't care." she sniffed bitterly, turning away.
The room was silent aside from the sound of sloshing water, dishes clinking and fearsome scrubbing, oddly loud.
And then something broke somewhere, inside of someone.
"I'm sorry, Anaire, but I have to do this." Fingolfin murmured, drying his hands on a dishtowel and walking over to her, enfolding his wife in a tender embrace.
"You always were so stupid and headstrong, Nolo, just like your son."
"Finde is not stupid."
"Yes he is, just like you. Some call it valiant, but I just call it stupid." Anaire murmured fondly, extending a slender hand and wiping the cluster of suds off of her husband's chin.
"Please come with me, Anaire, I need your wisdom to guide me and keep my stupidness under control." he pleaded self mockingly, and she laughed, before becoming serious.
"No, husband, I have made my decision, I will stay here and sweep your doorstep and keep up your flowers until you come home to me. Middle Earth is no place for Anaire."
"Alright, dearest, I suppose it is best that way, you are far too lovely to grace Middle Earth with your presence."
"I always was a plain girl, dear. Not like your sisters, or your mother, or our niece and daughter. You have known so many more lovely ladies, my love. That will always perplex me, why I was the one you chose. Middle Earth could care less if my 'beauty' graced it's shores."
"You never looked plain to me." he replied quietly, running a hand over her dark hair.
She snorted, casting him a dubious glance.
"But perhaps being around so many ridiculously radiant ladies made me need someone lacking in shining aura." he offered, chuckling, before straightening up and adding, "It will be nice to have my bed made and a hot dinner ready when I come home. Oh dear, my little kitchen maid, I fear you will be having too much fun without me to remember that, however." he teased, and she tried to smile. Her mother had said when they were married that she was too serious for him, that she didn't laugh as much. Fingolfin explained to her that he'd learned to be grumpy from Feanor, and how to laugh from Finarfin, as if that would make Anaire's cautious, judgmental mother feel more confident. He often made the rather intentional mistake of telling Feanor this, however, much to his reserved wife's amusement.
"Promise me you are coming home?"
"I promise."
"You will not come home for a long time, Nolo. Do you promise you will still love me then?"
"I promise. I will always love you, Anaire."
All was silent in the house. It seemed that even the buzzing of the guest-room light had stopped for them, in that moment.
Where it was just them and nobody else.
"Well, you'd better get going, Nolo, to rally your host and check on the supplies for tomorrow."
"Yes, I suppose I'd better. Goodbye, dearest Anaire." Fingolfin sighed as he unrolled his sleeves, letting down the messy bun he had pulled his hair up into as he performed the last of the chores for his wife.
"Goodbye, dearest Nolofinwe. Take care of yourself, think before you act, and take care of my children. Your home and wife will be waiting for your, whenever you're ready." she promised quietly, smiling and waving as he walked away, leaving for what they both knew would be a very long time.
And she did not cry then, as he walked away. She didn't want him to look back and see her cry. He had never seen her cry before. Anaire hadn't cried since she was a little child.
But she cried that night, and Earwen held her close.
And they both cried.
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you thought in the review box, and favorited if you really liked it. :D
Thanks again, and have a wonderful Holiday season and a happy New Year!
~Thurin