Title from Tyler Knott Gregson's "Chasers of the Light" poetry collection.
Written for Tolkien Femslash Week Bingo prompts:
Rare Characters i17: Finduilas of Dol Amroth
Cliche/Fluff/TLC i15: Gift-giving
Story Elements i17: A Pearl Necklace
Pairings g13: Human/Ainu
As the sun sank westward, painting the clouds crimson and vermilion, Finduilas slipped from the palace and ran, barefoot, down the path that lead to the shore. It tide was high and the breeze brisk, sending spray to settle on Finduilas' face and eyelashes even before her feet touched the sand. She inhaled the smell of clean air and salt deeply, closing her eyes and letting the day's tension flow out of her.
She would have dropped bonelessly to the ground there, basking in the last rays of the sun and the rising moon, if it were not for the singing she heard down the beach, a voice akin to the sound of waves, but different also, in a way no mortal or Elven tongue could adequately describe.
Finduilas hiked her skirts up to her knees and ran down the beach, laughing as she kicked up sand and splashed through the waves that reached up to wash over her ankles. The singing ceased, melting into answering laughter, and a woman rose out of the waves, water falling around her in a dress of sheer, flowing fabric that wasn't fabric. Her hair pooled around her ankles and out behind her into the water, woven with pearls and shells and strands of kelp. She caught Finduilas when she stumbled into the deeper water, and both of them laughed into their kiss.
Being with Uinen meant being immersed in music. Even her speech was practically singing. That evening she taught Finduilas the songs of the oysters that made the pearls divers collected for jewelry, while they floated and splashed together in the shallows, until it grew late enough that Finduilas had to return to Dol Amroth. Uinen caught her in a kiss that held all the passion and force of the running tide. "Until we meet again," she whispered before dissolving into spray and sea foam on the breeze, leaving Finduilas breathless.
It wasn't until she returned to the palace that she noticed the string of glistening pearls around he neck that had not been there before.