A/N: So I was inspired by the mini fanfic "Love on the Edge of Darkness" by AzureSkye23 and I wanted to write something of my own with Ecthelion and Niënor even as crack as this is. I suggest you readers to read her fanfic first before you read mine, but anything works. This is not a sequel nor is it necessarily a romance.
I want to focus more on their friendship and relationship.
Enjoy~
*Arda remade*
As I reflect back on my short, pitiful life, I see that there is not much to remember nor do I want to think back on it. It is just like the prophecy of Eru Ilúvatar; Arda was remade after millennial years of sons and generations. All beings of Middle Earth had come together for the final song along with Eru himself.
Men, elves, dwarves, hobbits, Vala and others have all reunited and everyone was able to reconcile with their family, friends and loved ones.
All the elves from Valinor shocked everyone with their resettlement in Arda.
Life was a joy in Middle Earth. There was no more sorrow and darkness around.
And yet, I could not find any peace of mind and heart. I, Niënor Níniel, was unhappy. The laughing faces, the uncaring voices and smiles of everyone else filled me with bewilderment and rage. How can they be so happy? How can they smile and laugh like that even after all that has happened? Has all the bloodshed and sufferings in this world gone from their minds like the lives of mayflies? Has everyone so easily forgiven the damned bane of the world?
I think about what had happened to my whole entire family. My fearless and honorable father who had spent nearly the second half of his life, in Morgoth's hell hole. My prideful and determined mother, who had never lost faith in her family, ended up losing all of us. My older sister whom died before I knew about her existence. My ill-fated older brother, I learned made the worst decisions in his life that caused the lives of many and a most trusted friend, only to have it had cut short as well. The man whom is my blood and husband.
I think back on Morgoth's spawn, Glaurung, and how he had ruined my life and my brother's life in every possible way possible.
I think back on how I died. How I discovered I was the mother of the child born from the shameful and scandalous act of incest.
I could still remember all the blind and overwhelming emotions I felt before I impulsively tossed myself into the river and drowned there. The terrifying feeling of ice cold water running through my nose and taking over my lungs as my body get heavier and heavier was still alive as ever in my memories.
I wanted nothing more than to slay the worm that is Morgoth's spawn, Glaurung.
The angry tears left burning trails down my flushed cheeks and fell into the fountain I was leaning my sitting body on. I was alone in my bitter ponderings when I found myself at an unknown ruined building with a large, beautiful fountain in the middle.
No one is here so what is the point in hiding my tears? The drops joined in the flow of the foamy ripples contained by the white cement of fountain.
The slight sound of footsteps brought me out of my reverie. Annoyed at being interrupted and probably caught weeping, I risked a glance at the intruder.
In front of me was an exceptionally tall man—no-elf staring at me with an indiscernible expression.
The elf was garbed in white and blue, and had an extremely pale skin tone that brought out the raven tresses cascading down his slender back. His serene observation of my person unnerved me and I found myself giving him a hard inquisitive look.
He seemed to have taken the hint.
"Excuse me, my lady. May I ask if you had happened by an eldar lord, Glorfindel?"
I unconsciously took a moment to process his surprisingly low yet melodic voice before coming out of my stupor hastily. I had no idea who this Glorfindel is and felt a wave of embarrassment of the time it took me to answer the firstborn such a simple question.
"No. I have not encountered this lord Glorfindel, my lord. Perhaps you have come to the wrong place to search?" I answered.
The strange elf's brows furrowed.
"That is quite unfortunate then. I had hoped to find him at the place where all the reminiscences of our history lay." His eyes, the color of rainstorm, looked up pensively to the clear sky.
Still peeved at being interrupted from my own sour recollections, I gave a curt shrug and turned back to the white fountain I so took comfort in.
The firstborn, however, apparently did not plan on leaving me alone any time soon and even dared to sit by me, leaning his back against the fountain. Frustrated with the elf, I turned to glare at him, the blonde hairs on my back sticking up.
"You should search for your friend. You won't find me much company, for I much rather be alone if you please." I said testily and only found him glancing at me with amusement dancing in his eyes.
"I am in no rush to search for the lord of the golden flowers if that is what you mean, for I am quite content to be seated at my own fountain, you yourself have taken the liberty to weep in."
I felt blood rushing to my face as humiliation racked my brain.
"This…is your fountain?" I asked incredulously.
"Indeed. This fountain and many others I own had once been the prime attraction of the once great city of Gondolin. This area we are currently in is Gondolin's very heart."
The melancholic tone of the elf and his solemn disposition was not unlike how I felt just moments ago. Although it was not every day I get to see an elf and hardly any of them ever talked to me save for Mablung, but even it was apparent I was nothing more than a childish, mortal nuisance to one of the captains from Doriath.
It was a bitter thought and I glanced back curiously at the strange dark-haired elf.
"Who are you exactly?" I prompted to ask.
He just glanced back at me briefly and a ghost of a smile graced his lips.
"Glorfindel and I were instructed to protect the white lady from the house of Finwë, but difficulties and conflicts aroused inevitably. We failed and she passed away without our knowing." He mused, unabashedly ignoring my question.
"You did not answer my question." I replied tartly, not sure where he was going with this anymore. I debated leaving him alone.
The elf did not deign to pay me any mind and went on with his musings to my utter confusion and irritation.
"In the end, Morgoth and his minions destroyed the great city of Gondolin we have worked so hard to protect. Our beloved King insisted on going down with his beloved city and homeland. One by one, I watched all of my loved ones die, knowing I could not do anything about it. It was a despairing, hopeless feeling, my lady."
"Morgoth?!" I questioned the saddened elf. "I knew it. Everything is all that demonic bastard's fault. He ruins everybody's lives and he ruined all of Arda. It is all his bloody fault!" I snarled, my eyes narrowing into slits at nothing in particular.
There was a glint in the firstborn's eyes when he turned to look at me thoughtfully.
"Do you hate him?" He asked me and I scoffed at the question.
"How can you ask such a question, my lord? Of course I hate him. I must for all the evil deeds that he had done."
"I see." Was his simple reply. I stared at him. He just sat there motionlessly staring into nothing. I got up and was about to leave when he said something that made me pause in my steps.
"Hate will not solve our problems, my lady Niënor." His rainstorm eyes looked at me.
I felt panic and anger rush through me… Niënor.
"You know me, my lord?" I said through clenched teeth.
"Everyone knows the infamous children of Húrin and Morwen, my lady. Their mourning daughter is no exception." He replied smiling. I snorted ungracefully.
"Really?" I drawled deliberately. "What gave us away? How my brother betrayed and slaughtered his best friend? How my father and my mother's sacrifices were for nothing and ended up wasting away? How the monster Glaurung wiped my memories away and made me lame and dumb, unable to think like a normal person? About how I unknowingly bedded my own brother and produced child?"
"You forget about your brother, Turin's great deeds in slaying the dark lord. You also forget about the bravery and strong determination of your parents and their courageous, lovely daughter." The elf answered undeterred. He graced me with a soft smile and I felt my cheeks heating up.
In front of this peculiar and terribly handsome elf, I was obviously self-conscious and fingered a matted, blonde curl.
"No need for flattery, my lord. I know how fell my family is." I murmured. He turned back to whatever he was looking at half-heartedly.
"When I first saw you pacing around this ruined building, I knew exactly who you were. Your bitter tears made it apparent you resent the peace and happiness shared by other people around you because you cannot let go of the past. You think they are wrong to forgive and forget so easily and you inquire as to why that is. You think that you and your family are treated cruelly and you think the whole world is against you. But you are wrong, my lady. Everyone during your generation, before and after, was affected by the wrath of Melkor the Terrible." He said. "Do not think that you are alone in this, my lady Niënor."
My previous anger returned, but for once, it felt irrational for I knew he spoke only truth. But my childish pride still persisted.
"How would you know? I don't even know you and yet you act as if you can read me so easily. Well my lord, you cannot and I demand you to not be so presumptuous."
"Oh, but do you think I do not understand how you feel?" He countered. "When I lost both my arms, wounded, fighting three balrogs and ended up drowning in my own fountain, lost my dearest friends, failed to perform my duties and brought back only sorrow and dishonor, did you not think I cursed the Valar and the enemy?"
"Then why do you say all this to me if you understand?" I asked. This eldar was just plain odd and I still do not understand why I am here talking to him at all.
"Because through my years of loneliness in the halls and especially after reuniting with everyone, I was grateful. Grateful for being able to see them again at all. Arda mended; seeing the peace surrounding me and my loved ones, I had learned to forgive."
"So that is your point in this preaching. To…forgive."
He turned and gave me an amused smile.
"Preaching." He repeated. "Perhaps, but I am merely stating that it is best to treasure and be happy with how everything turned out and what we have laying delicately in our hands. In the end, the fate of Eru decides for us anyway."
I stared at him. The way he spoke was both optimistic and cynical at the same time and I will never understand how the elf manages to blend the two contradictories together so well.
I decided to take a seat next to him, but not so close less there be awkwardness, when he took out a shining silver instrument. He brought the thin, long pipe to his mouth and began blowing on the holes.
Out came a melody that was difficult to describe without going into elven accuracy that was lost to my mortal ears. It certainly was not beautiful by any means, but it seemed to be telling a story to the audience. There were moments of extreme high and low pitches that intertwine rapidly and the next minute, it would transfer into a slow and steady tune. An unpredictable piece.
I allowed myself to close my eyes and let my head sink in with the music. It made me both want to cry and dance at the same time.
"Why?" I asked vaguely when he was finished. The elf was strange indeed. It does not matter how many times I mentioned that, but I simply cannot stress it enough.
"It has been a very long time since I had the proper audience to play this flute so ardently." He answered earnestly, staring straight into my blue eyes with his own. I flushed and looked down at the clenched hands resting on my lap.
"You play beautifully, my lord. I thought I was lost in another world for a while there." I admitted.
"You have my humble thanks, my lady Niënor. As much as it pleases me to have your lovely tears fill my fountains, it is unbecoming of you to have such a forlorn expression on your fair face." He said with a grin and his eyes twinkled.
The blush on my face came back double this time and I willed myself to roll my eyes.
"That being said, you still have not told me your name?" I asked.
Once again, he ignored my question and stood up rather abruptly.
"Until tomorrow then if it pleases you, my lady Niënor." He took my hand and placed a gentle kiss at the knuckles and with that; I did not have time to blink before looking around and saw that the elven man disappeared from my sight completely.
I let out an exasperated sigh and made my way back to the family that awaits me.