'"Thou art unjust to me in thy thought", said Finwë. "It is unlawful to have two wives, but one may love two women, each differently, and without diminishing one love by another. Love of Indis did not drive out love of Míriel; so now pity for Míriel doth not lessen my heart's care for Indis. But Indis parted from me without death. I had not seen her for many years, and when the Marrer smote me I was alone. She hath dear children to comfort her, and her love, I deem, is now most for [Fingolfin]. His father she may miss; but not the father of Fëanáro! But above all her heart now yearns for the halls of Ingwë and the peace of the Vanyar, far from the strife of the Noldor. Little comfort should I bring her, if I returned; and the lordship of the Noldor hath passed to my sons."'

JRR Tolkien, 'Morgoth's Ring'

.~.~.~.~.

Indis Rilmo's daughter to Finwë Noldóran, hail! May you come under the protection of Manwë.

You will naturally be surprised to receive a letter from me. You may be insulted by my not writing before, although, in fairness, I may say that you have sent no message to me. I write this in the hope of expressing the thoughts of my heart more clearly in words on a page than in speech, which may be misinterpreted or misremembered in the heat of passion. You would be doing me a great service if you would read this letter carefully and with some consideration. If, when you have done so, you have a shred of understanding for me, then be on Taniquetil at the Feast of First Fruits this Year. We can talk more of these things there.

I love you. I have loved you since I was a child, I will love you until the end of time. A love such as this will forgive any crime, as I have long since forgiven those errors of judgement which may have been committed by you over the matter that has concluded in our separation. But to forgive is not to forget. I do not believe that I will ever be able to forget what I have suffered in this city, not only through you, nor only through Fëanáro, but because of the difference in spirit between my people and yours.

I do not say that that difference is finally irreconcilable. It may be that two souls of greater wisdom and better mutual understanding than you and I might have found in it a strengthening of their union, where we have found only a source of discord. Or it may be that all marriages such as ours must finally be doomed.

I no longer find any pleasure living in this place, for all my pleasure has always come from you. In your company I knew for more than two Ages a bliss such as no creature of Arda Marred can rightly deserve. It is proper that there should be a time of reckoning.

When I say that all my pleasures have come from you, I seem to imply that I did not find pleasure in the house of Ingwë, whither I fled in those Years of your first marriage. This is correct. What I found instead was the gift of peace, most precious to me whose heart had felt the unutterable anguish of seeing he whom I loved bound to another. I cannot truthfully say that those Years were a time of happiness for me; they were a time of peace.

I cannot find peace in Tirion. This house, for me, is bound up with the memories of my greatest sorrows and my Hours of greatest happiness, haunted, by you as well as by Míriel whom you loved. Why, then, do I linger here? It is because I am waiting for you.

I wait for you to return; and I wait for that special resolution that only you can bring to me. You must know that I could never leave your home without knowing that I had your understanding. Indeed, I would hear your forgiveness in your own voice and see it in your eyes before I would abandon you.

As I believe, these Years of solitude and reflection have brought me to a point where I can see myself clearly: clearly enough to say, without my eyes being unduly clouded by vanity or humility, that I have been a good wife and a good queen to you. I have given you the daughters whom you once so much desired, and to your people I have given two strong princes in Nolofinwë and Arafinwë. Whatever my fault was - and there was a fault - it was not in my conduct towards you.

My error is yours: I have given too much love to one of the children of my body, at the expense of the others. It is a bitter crime that carries coiled within itself a bitterer punishment. So it is that I can forgive you, for my punishment is to watch the one whom I love most of all stand victorious over his own brother, and to know that I love him the more for every thing in him that is not of me. I see now more and more clearly how my love for Nolofinwë is nothing but another form of my boundless and eternal love for you.

I do not mean to say that Nolofinwë has behaved especially wickedly towards Fëanáro. I believe and will continue to believe that Fëanáro has acted like an arrogant fool in every respect. All my Nolo has done to cause me this pain - but it is enough - has been to behave like the Noldo he is, born to glory and to take pride in conquest. I stood my ground through the battle, for your sake and his, but understand this: I cannot abide the peace that comes after victory and is no peace!

I have seen the Noldor and I have loved them in glory and in hatred, and now I desire only to see the land where disturbance does not come. I love you - I have loved you - I will love you and only you. Give me one word of understanding and I will carry my love with me to the silence of Taniquetil.