Our secret place
Author's note: this was more or less literally inspired from the newest manga by the Japanese fan artist Kazuki Mendou, whose Silmarillion-inspired manga stories I love to see to view (yet sadly is unable to buy for various reasons). I found the inspiration for the Nerdanel/Fëanor part of that latest manga preview posted on Pixiv. I will also blame on my personal image of Maeglin from that artist as well…
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Many thought it a horrible scandal, others a reasonable request. That the Queen Consort, Míriel Serindë, refused to step down from her position as the wife to the High King of the Noldor despite her frail health and insisted on that since her only child had gotten what should have been enough spirit for several following siblings, the only way Finwë would be allowed more children were through a lady chosen to act as substitute for her in the birthing bed. Any child born from that system would be legally a child of Miriel.
For most, the biggest shock was that Miriel had chosen Indis, the niece of King Ingwë of the Valar, for this task. Why, no one knew, but evil-spoken rumours spoke of that Indis had fallen in love with Finwë despite him already being married and that it was a attempt from Miriel to punish the younger She-elf for possibly trying to take what was hers. Other rumours, more friendly about the three royals involted, said that Miriel had guessed Indis' attention towards Finwë and that the system was a attempt let Indis have a chance with the Noldorin King and yet allowing Miriel to stay as Queen.
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By now, the unusual system had granted Miriel two more children from Indis, the newest one a second prince who had been gifted the name of Nolofinwë. Apart from being the birth mother, Indis also served as wet-nurse to her children so she could have a bond with them.
"Greetings, my fair Queen. I bring you the cotton fabric you requested from Celuwen to weave," Mahtan spoke at seeing the silver-haired lady sitting on a couch with a infant in her arms. This day, Miriel wore a lilac dress that brought out her hair colour and the similar colour of her eyes.
"It is nice to see you, Mahtan. Though it would be even more nice if you could lay off the titles in private. You and Celuwen were close friends to me back in Cuiviénen after all," Miriel smiled to the red-haired master smith, one of the finest ones to find in Valinor.
She had always liked Mahtan as a good friend, and his wife Celuwen had been one of her first apprentices when Miriel had made the important discovery of that she could use a bone needle and animal tendons to sew the animal furs together into proper clothing. Not long after, she had taken inspiration from the long grass intertwined into a kind of fabric to create her first loom, spinning plant fibers and pieces of wild sheep wool into thread to sew with.
"How are my son doing as a apprentice for you? I hope that he is not causing any trouble with that brilliant mind of his?" Miriel wondered, carefully swifting the sleeping baby in her arms.
"The prince is doing much well. The others have a little trouble in keeping up with him, but otherwise it is going in the right path. You were right in that he would thrive better among the working classes than the royal court."
Much had been spoken of how the Crown prince did not get along with his peers of noble birth, similar of how Miriel hated court life with all the daily rituals and had retired to live in a private villa outside Tirion. If Finwë wanted to meet her or any of his children, he was the one who had to come to them even if Indis sometimes took of over the task of a royal lady at special events when Miriel felt too weak.
"Speaking about my eldest….Fëanáro is soon going to be of age, when he will be recognized as a fully grown adult. Currently he is in that age when he should start noting ladies, yet he have not shown any such interest yet...you have a daughter of the same age, right? Only a few months or so older than him?"
Mahtan got a little unsure.
"Ah, my sweet Nerdanel indeed! Do you wish that she might help the prince to get a few useful clues about ladies? Well...she is not really what one may call feminine at first, with her character being strong, free of mind, and filled with the desire for knowledge…"
Miriel giggled softly.
"That sounds exactly like the wife I hope for my son to have. She does not need to be the fairest maiden around, or the one with most noble lineage. I want a law-daughter with common sense and who is not easy giving him control in a relationship. For all of that I love Finwë...he is a bit weak minded at times. He loves our shared son, yet I fear that Fëanáro will have a troubled relationship with him in the future for some reason. Possibly in the confusion about his siblings, despite that he loves them in his own way. A wife with the right character would give Fëanáro a new center of stability in his life."
Mahtan understood what she meant. While Miriel and Indis got along most of the time, there had been a serious disagreement between them about the succession when Indis carried little Nolofinwë under her heart and Finwë had made a very worrying act in that he tried to remain neutral between them. And young Fëanáro, naturally, had taken the side of his mother.
"I will ask Nerdanel if she can try this request of you, Miriel. I just need to find her, being out on a small journey again...she have the old restlessness, the one the first Elves once had after their Awakening."
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In fact, in that very same moment, Nerdanel were at the small mountain where she loved to find diamonds sticking out of the rocks.
"So pretty...it is almost a waste to remove them, but Atto said that he needed some new ones for a gift to the new little prince."
She was a skilled climber, and carefully used a small rift between two rocks on the ground to get herself closer to some good diamonds one food on each rock.
"I wonder if Fëanáro may like to get a few for his mother?"
Nerdanel and the Crown prince had agreed on meeting here, to harvest some of the diamonds.
"I think mother would be surprised if I gave her a rose made from diamonds and emeralds. She loves roses after all."
The male voice made Nerdanel slightly turn, her long red braid shining almost like fire in the golden light from Laurelin as she did so to greet Fëanáro.
"If you could pick that large one just above you for me, it will be good…?!"
Suddenly, Fëanáro turned very red in the face while going silent and only then did Nerdanel remember that she was wearing only a thin tunic and a longer wrap shirt around her hips that was made in a rather...thin fabric that was almost transparent. And that her climbing position gave him a very good view on her thighs.
Then, Fëanáro did something most people never would imagine him doing:
He fainted.
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"I swear, that you keep doing this just to temper me about things that we can not do yet because we are too young for marriage!" Fëanáro complained loudly, where he laid on his back inside a sleeping bag that Nerdanel had found inside his travel bag and a wet rag on his face to try and keep him from stop blushing so much. One fainting was enough for this day.
"Quit your whining. I only dressed like this because it is summer and rather hot in the air, remember?" Nerdanel responded from the fireplace she was tending to.
Still partly mentally boiling with all the sexual frustration of a youth who wanted to taste on the forbidden fruit yet was unable to for various reasons, Fëanáro frowned on the stars above him.
"It is only a few months left before that I comes of age. Your own coming-of-age ceremony is soon after that."
"It is still nearly four whole seasons to suffer though! I want to marry you now, not later!"
Knowing that he may start a long and rather difficult rant when he was in that mood, Nerdanel poured some water over his face to cool down.
"Be quiet for now, or you will only delay me finishing dinner with what we both brought along to eat here."
"...fine," Fëanáro admitted at least, though not without a sneak peek towards her body. For that, Nerdanel covered his eyes fully with the wet rag he still had on his face.
