Notes: So...I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in forever. I haven't abandoned the story, don't worry. It's just that my story is getting to the part where I have to match it with Silmarillion records, to make sure my history is correct, and it's kind of pain for me to do that. Also, I've gone back to school, and it's SO FREAKIN' busy.
Anyway, I don't know whether I like this chapter or not. It seems to be more of a transitional chapter--in other words, it's functional, but not necessarily the best writing.
Also, thanks SO SO much to sazza-da-vampire, Willow Spirit, Darkhorselover22, and I.H.N. for their reviews. Updates would not come...about ever...if it weren't for your encouragement. Thank you, and enjoy.
10. Unity
Several months later, Galadriel and Celeborn returned to Doriath, where Thingol seemed to have calmed down significantly. "Welcome back," Thingol told them when they visited the throne room, "I do apologize for anything impolite I said last time we met, but by way of explanation, I was very angry." Celeborn bowed.
"I do not blame you for your words, but I cannot agree with some of them," said the Teler, "for I wish to wed the Lady Galadriel, if she will have me." Three responses came at the same time.
"You're getting married?" cried Luthien.
"How wonderful!" rejoined Nimloth.
"What?" demanded Thingol. Melian merely smiled, as everybody looked to Galadriel for her answer. The young Noldorin princess glanced in a circle around her, then fixed her gaze on Celeborn. She knew her answer, but she was unsure of how she should give it.
Suddenly, Celeborn found his lips occupied by a furiously blushing Galadriel.
'I take that as a Yes,' he murmured mentally.
'Do you even need to ask?' she replied.
When they parted again, they found a room full of advisors, the royal family, and Nimloth all staring at them with wide eyes. Celeborn bowed again.
"Forgive us, my lord," he said to Thingol, "my lady sometimes has unusual methods of responding to questions. Will you give us your blessing?" The look in Celeborn's eyes seemed to tell everyone that he would marry his lady even without a blessing. Everyone waited for the king's reply.
Thingol's brow was knit together, and his expression belied none of his thoughts. Melian laid a hand on his arm and gave him a gentle, loving look. The furrows in Thingol's forehead slowly smoothened, and the corners of his lips gradually turned upward. He spoke. "May the blessings of the Valar go with the both of you forever, and may your marriage be blissful and beautiful." There was a pause before Thingol continued. "When shall we hold the wedding?"
Lord Celeborn of the Teleri and Lady Galadriel of the Noldor were married in Doriath on a sunny morning, less than a month after their return from Nargothrond. The king and queen were present, and Luthien and Nimloth attended the bride, while Celeborn invited his brother Galathil's family. It was a quiet affair, during which Melian blessed the couple and Thingol formally recognized their marriage.
Luthien and Nimloth could hardly contain their excitement, and persuaded Thingol to declare a holiday. All the elves in Menegroth came to dance at the evening feast, which ended up being a grand affair. Very few, besides the couple's family, noticed that the bride and groom had retired early. However, Nimloth and Luthien, who had lately become close friends, giggled together by the fire about the implications of the departed newlyweds, as well as about the young men who winked in their direction.
After their wedding, Celeborn reverted to his post as royal advisor, and Galadriel continued her lessons with Melian. Galadriel's brothers occasionally visited Doriath, and all four he-elves had to admit their sister was happily married. Years flowed by in the First Age. Men arrived in Middle-Earth, and history moved with them. The elves fought many wars against the dark powers of the north, even as elven fortresses sprung up across the land. The three Noldorin families formed sometimes-grudging alliances with each other, and Thingol strove to protect his land from the darkness. Even so, Galadriel and Celeborn lived peacefully in a quiet corner of Menegroth, only half-aware of the overshadowing threat.
But as the First Age passed, the blissful couple gradually learned of the sorrowful power of darkness. In the battle called Dagor Bragollach, Galadriel's brothers Angrod and Aegnor were killed, as was her uncle Fingolfin. Fingolfin's son Fingon was crowned High King of the Noldor. At the same time, deep in the heart of Menegroth, Galadriel wept for her brothers and her uncle, and it was Celeborn who sat with her until she slept. For several days, Galadriel remained subdued in spirit, until Celeborn finally cornered her.
"You grieve," he said to her, and it was half a question. She nodded. "Why?"
"Do you not know?"
"Would you have me tell you plainly?"
"I would."
"You sorrow for your family, but also for yourself. And rightly. This is the first time you have ever felt the utter loss of someone so close, and even thus you were robbed of several people at once." There was silence as Galadriel broke into tears again. "What would you have me do?" Celeborn asked her finally, causing his wife to embrace him tightly.
"Promise me I shall never lose you."
"You know already you will not," he replied, and she smiled for the first time in several days. After this, Galadriel quickly returned to normal, reassuring herself that Celeborn was in little peril, for Thingol refused to endanger his people by participating in the wars against the dark power of Morgoth.
Time continued. Galadriel knew when Luthien fell in love with a Man named Beren, and Celeborn was present when Thingol sent Beren on a fool's quest for one of Feanor's lost silmaril jewels. Celeborn calmed Galadriel when news came that Finrod had died saving Beren, and Galadriel calmed Luthien when Beren died saving Doriath. And when Luthien followed her lover to the dark halls of Mandos, and Thingol fell into a sickness, both Celeborn and his lady were present at the Sindarin princess's funeral to comfort each other and the king of Doriath.
Not long after Luthien's death, Galadriel visited Nargothrond again, bringing her husband with her. By now, of all her brothers, only Orodreth was left, and he ruled Nargothrond as Finrod's heir. Orodreth had married while he lived in Nargothrond, and his wife bore him a lovely daughter named Finduilas. The young princess immediately attached herself to Galadriel, and the two were inseparable for the entire visit.
Late one evening, on the day before they were to depart for Doriath, Celeborn found his wife kneeling beside the bed in their guest chamber with her face in her arms. He felt for her aura and sensed a deep melancholy. Upon hastening to her side, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alatariel," he whispered. "Would it help you to tell me what troubles you?" Galadriel smiled mentally, and he felt it.
'That is what I love most about you,' she thought to him, 'You convince me to listen to your advice without ever using force.'
'I do not believe it is possible to force you to do anything, so what would be the use in trying?' he replied.
"Could you listen?" she said aloud, looking up into his face, "Do you not mind hearing my complaints?"
"If I minded, I would not have married you." The amusement in his mind sent warm rays of sun into her soul.
"I looked into Finduilas's eyes today," she began. Celeborn raised an eyebrow but did not speak. "What I saw…I have never seen a future of such unspeakable horror in one as glad as she. She shall suffer…"
"She was born to the house of Finarfin, my lady, and your house is immersed unalterably in sorrow." He hesitated before continuing, "Even with your power, you cannot look into what lies within your own future." Galadriel started.
"Have you looked?"
"I have."
"And what did you see?"
"Immeasurable sorrow, counterweighted only by immeasurable strength. Your niece shall grow to be like you, self-confident and resilient."
"And what did you see in young Gwindor?" she continued. A swirl of sadness appeared briefly in Celeborn's eyes.
"He shall suffer, even, perhaps, more than Finduilas, for he already has a great strength of will, the kind that will let him live when he would rather be dead."
"Then it is hopeless for them?" Galadriel demanded, her eyes filling with tears she tried not to shed. "They seem so beautiful and so in love." Celeborn smiled as he brushed the tears from his wife's lashes.
"At least they will have this—the blissful, innocent mornings of young love at the prime of Nargothrond—at least they will have these days to remember in dark times."
When they returned to Menegroth again, Celeborn helped Melian run Doriath, until the Valar granted Luthien's return and she healed her father. Afterwards, Luthien left Doriath again and dwelled with Beren in the wild. The couple took with them the silmaril jewel Beren had brought back and disappeared into the wild.
More years passed, and news began to arrive in Doriath that the elves were once more at war with the dark powers of the north. Gwindor had brought a Man named Turin to Nargothrond, where Finduilas's heart turned from her betrothed to the stranger. When the dark lord attacked Nargothrond, the Man had convinced Orodreth to attack rather than defend. Orodreth agreed, and took his troops out of the fortress, where he and his men, Gwindor included, perished in the fray. Finduilas was pinned to a tree by a group of orcs, and the Man disappeared. Nargothrond, the beautiful cave palace and renowned fortress of the Noldor, fell to ruin, and became the abode of a dragon.
Galadriel mourned the passing of the last of her brothers, yet she smiled at the end of that day, knowing that her family would suffer less in Mandos, and that her husband stayed by her side to watch over her. And soon, the tragedy passed, and life continued to flow gently through the peaceful land of Doriath. As the First Age passed thus, Celeborn and Galadriel lived quietly, watching the course of history.