Chapter length: ~1,700 words

A/N: Disclaimer: I don't see Fëanor as being an unpleasant person all the time. But he is one in certain situations.

Chapter II / Family dinner

Since the first days of their marriage they make a tradition of dining often at Carnistir's parents' house. Nerdanel invites them even more often: they do not always accept, because they like dining quietly at home, too. But they accept more often than Carnistir feels really comfortable with, and he grumbles about it sometimes.

'My family is best in very small doses per week', he says.

'I have no family here', Tuilindien reminds him. 'Your family is mine and I want to be a part of it, even when there is a risk of your father saying something rude.'

'There is always a risk of him saying something cruel', Carnistir grumbles, and by the look he sees in her eyes, Tuilindien agrees with him.

But she says, 'Do not be so protective of me, Carnistir, that you insulate me from things I need.'

So they ride through the city to Carnistir's old home at least twice a week. Carnistir remains ever vigilant, and is comforted – as is Tuilindien – by the knowledge that they have more allies in his family than there are people who would rather that Tuilindien weren't there.

Nerdanel has taken Tuilindien under her maternal wing; Maitimo is as reliably kind to her as he is to everyone who deserves it; Makalaurë and Tinweriel are, when they are there, very welcoming; and Ambarussar have yet to tire of vying for Tuilindien's attention.

And if Findekáno is visiting, as he often is, he appears to be happy to talk of Vanyarin things with Tuilindien every time, earning less-than-approving looks from Fëanáro and pretending to not notice them at all.

Tuilindien has been teaching some lessons to two groups of royal's and noble's children at the palace, including Nolofinwë's youngest child. One night only a few weeks after Carnistir and Tuilindien's wedding, Nerdanel asks her how she likes it.

'I like it very much.' Tuilindien smiles. 'There are some, but not many, differences between children of the Noldor and Vanyar. Two years ago I taught a group on Taniquetil who were only a little younger than my younger students here.'

'It does not take as much education and scholarship as you've achieved to teach children that young', Fëanáro says. He looks at his food rather than Tuilindien when he speaks, and his brows speak of a storm brewing.

Carnistir puts down his cutlery and steels himself.

Fëanáro somehow notices it for he says, irritated, 'Don't glower at me, Carnistir, I meant it as a compliment to your learned wife.'

'I'm sure', Carnistir replies, his voice as irritatingly sarcastic as he can make it.

Tuilindien slips her hand on his knee under the table and squeezes it. 'I enjoy teaching children', she says mildly. It is not the first time she has had to defend teaching.

'And do you intend to continue teaching young children for the foreseeable future, or do you have other plans?'

'For the foreseeable future, yes.'

Fëanáro sips his wine and purses his lips. 'You have a fine mind for language but you will never make much of a name for yourself if you keep straying from scholarship to pursuits that you enjoy but which are of little prestige.'

Carnistir stands up, sending his heavy chair crashing back. While everyone's ears ring with the loud sound, and Nerdanel and Maitimo reproach Fëanáro, Carnistir shouts, 'After all the damned conversations we've had about this, and you and mother too, and your promises –'

He closes his eyes, draws a deep breath, and continues, less loud but cold as glittering ice, 'Father. If you speak to Tuilindien with disrespect, we will leave, and we won't' come back for another dinner. We will host dinner at our house and invite everyone but you. I dare say that several members of the family will come.

'Do you want that to happen?' he asks baldly. He is after all better at straightforwardness than sarcasm.

Fëanáro has stood up too. Gaze and voice level, he says, 'I do not', and, 'You had that neat little speech planned, didn't you?'

'I did.'

Fëanáro sits down and picks up his knife and fork, avoiding Nerdanel's disappointed gaze. Carnistir doesn't sit until Fëanáro says to Tuilindien, cool but polite, 'I meant no disrespect. Only an observation of how things are here in Tirion, in case they are otherwise among your people. I am sorry if I caused offence.'

'The Noldor are my people now as much of the Vanyar', Tuilindien says, her eyes on her plate and hands in the folds of her dress. She says nothing of the offence obviously caused.

(Her dress is another Vanyarin confection of many wisp-thin layers of light blue fabric. Carnistir has come to love her floaty dresses; Fëanáro's face twitches every time he sees Tuilindien wearing one of them.)

'Let me speak, Carnistir', she whispers to him when she notices that he would defend her again.

She adds, 'It is the same with fame and prestige among the Vanyar. But I do not seek either, prince Fëanáro.'

(Tuilindien uses formal titles like tools and weapons, as signs of both respect and disapproval.)

'As you once said to me, I am of noble enough birth – and made more so by my marriage, I might add – that I can move between pursuits as pleases me. It pleases me now, as it often does, to spend my days teaching children, and to work with Carnistir on our house and garden that are still far from what they can be, and to learn more about Tirion and its people.'

'Few newlyweds who have just moved to a new place think of gaining renown above anything else', Nerdanel says, smiling at Tuilindien though there is still a pinched look around her eyes.

'We did', Fëanáro replies.

'Few people do', Nerdanel repeats.

'It is simply a difference of priorities', Tuilindien says, finally looking at Fëanáro.

'It must be', Fëanáro says with a tight-lipped smile.

Tuilindien picks up the conversation again after an awkward pause during which Nerdanel and Maitimo seemed to be looking for something to say, too. 'I have actually found that teaching children of the court is a good way of getting to know their parents too', Tuilindien remarks. 'I spoke with Comyarë today, Rúmil's daughter – I believe you know her well, Maitimo. She has been gathering words for comparison from the Falmari…'

And she actually manages to have a pleasant conversation with Fëanáro, Maitimo and Curufinwë about linguistics, though the tension in her body does not ease until they ride home.

'I am sorry for my reprobate of a father –' Carnistir begins as soon as they dismount. He feels exhausted.

'Do not apologise for him, my darling', Tuilindien sighs as she leads Mirwannë into the stable and to her stall. 'It is not your task. You did your utmost to protect me from his sharp tongue, and for that I am grateful. It worked.'

'It always feels that I do too little and too late', he says unhappily, but Tuilindien's eyes that meet his over the low wall between Mirwannë and Varnë's stalls are clear of unhappiness.

'You do enough', she assures him.

'Where do you find your patience and courage to keep trying with him?' Carnistir asks. 'Answering his prodding questions, and then sparking up a conversation about something you know he'll be interested to talk about.'

Tuilindien pats Mirwannë's neck and leaves her to the groom's care since she is dressed nicely for dinner, not horse-grooming.

Carnistir is dressed for somewhere between those two activities but he unsaddles, brushes and feeds Varnë himself anyway because he has yet to find a groom to employ that Varnë tolerates or who is brave enough to go near her hooves and teeth even though she doesn't.

(He'd tried to poach the bravest one his father employs, but the man proved too loyal to his long-time employer to accept any of Carnistir's increasingly generous offers.)

Tuilindien waits outside Varnë's stall and answers his question after a moment of thinking. 'I find my courage and confidence in being yours', she tells him, her liquid-green-blue gaze on his. Carnistir leans against Varnë's warm flank and listens. 'In the knowledge and security that no matter what you father says, he cannot tear us apart.' She puts her hand on the stall door, her right hand bearing the golden ring Carnistir gave her at their wedding feast.

What can Carnistir do at that but go and kiss her over the chest-high stall door? It is one of the most uncomfortable kisses they have shared.

'Things will keep getting better', he promises to her, and kisses her once more for good measure, and then goes to groom Varnë because that simply has to be done before they can go inside and kiss properly. 'Even my father cannot help but warm to you. Or get used to you, at the very least.'

He brushes Varnë down with the swift, long motions that she prefers, and keeps talking himself down from the remnants of rage that still smoulder in his heart. 'My father is learned and clever but he cannot understand people different from himself. My mother told me so once. I couldn't see it before that myself.

'At least Tyelko and Curvo are no longer rude about you. Well, Curvo is still childish sometimes, but he is still a child, just an overgrown one.'

Tuilindien bursts into laughter. As always it makes warmth bloom inside Carnistir's chest. 'Overgrown in height and in years, too, Carnistir! He is several years past being of age.'

'Well, he doesn't behave like it', Carnistir grumbles, but smiles at her as he switches from brush to hoof-pick and begins his daily struggle to clean Varnë's hooves while the mare pretends that it is the worst thing in the world.

'Looking at you doing that, you know, I think that half your strength is built up from fighting Varnë', Tuilindien remarks teasingly.

Carnistir would laugh if his hands shaking would not lose him this particular fight with his horse. 'Perhaps it is', he says, wresting another hoof up to be cleaned. 'I have had her since I was still growing. If it is, well, is she not a worthy opponent, since she weighs several times as much as I do?'

Tuilindien does laugh again, and the night continues like that, and they do not spare Fëanáro one more thought.

A/N: In the next chapter, it is the turn for Tuilindien's family to make an appearance. The chapter will be posted on Thursday.