Travel to the dance contest
In a villa outside Tirion;
Saira focused greatly on her lessons in Khuzdul with a Dwarven teacher to ensure that she learnt the correct terms and pronunciation. Given that her father Finrod had been helped by the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains to build Nargothrond, and remaining a trusted ally with them, it was only natural that his daughter followed in his footsteps.
"Well done, princess. You will be able to speak our language as if you had been born a Dam now."
"Thank you for all your hard work in teaching me, Mistress Ingvild," Saira thanked her teacher. The Dwarrowdam was a well-known scholar from the beginning of the Second Age, and had been personally chosen by Finrod as a tutor to his daughter in the hope of that Saira might feel more comfortable around a fellow female.
"Princess, there is a package for you from the mail carriage!" a housemaid called, entering the school room with a wooden box in her arms.
"Oho, a new gift from one of your suitors?" Ingvild joked, knowing that her Elven student was highly sought after as a possible bride, not only for her beauty and lineage, but also for her personal charms.
"I have already needed to reject two more suitors this year alone! Surely it is not fair for other maids of good family to see possible suitors be drawn to me like flies to honey?" Saira protested. It was not that she was uninterested in marriage and future motherhood, but a lot of her former suitors was rejected for not being her type, simple as that.
Instead, she focused on opening the wooden box. The design seemed familiar from earlier, so she had a good guess on its hidden contents.
"Oh!"
A handwritten book of poems, three bags of her favorite teas among the Dwarven-made products and what seemed to be a rose made from purple glass.
"That fellow again, I see. He is the only one who bothers to stand out though Dwarven-crafted gifts beside his own handmade ones."
Amarië had arrived while her daughter had been focused on the new gifts. This mysterious suitor had sent anonymous gifts to Saira twice each passing season for nearly one century and a half, but the gifts alone was no clue to his real identity. One possibility was that he simply was awfully shy, and feared to be seen in public with the gifts.
"I will prepare my last things for the journey tomorrow, dearest ammë. This dance contest is not something I intend to miss!"
The whole family would travel, Saira and her parents along with some trusted servants. It was a great honor to see more of the Dwarven culture.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
As it would take them about two weeks to travel in order to reach where the dance contest would be held, Yuë suggested for Rûsa and Maeglin where they might be staying over at friends to the family for a night so they could rest in a proper bed with a roof over the head at least once on the journey.
"According to the map… yes, that is a good idea with those people."
Given how hopeless it was for Rûsa to even attempt writing a formal letter with his dyslexia, it fell on Maeglin to write a letter to the people they planned to stay with.
After two days, they had packed all they needed for the travel alongside Yuë's competition suits in a separate bag and Rûsa had packed down some of his items needed for making drawings.
"Celebrimbor and Narvi have already left, but I think we will meet them at the dancing contest as it is near the gate to the Dwarven realms."
Somehow, Aulë had gotten permission from the All-Father that the Halls of the Forefathers would have a gate to Valinor, and if any of the Dwarves wanted a second life, they were welcome to build a city around that gate. No one had been surprised that Narvi had been one of the first to gain a new body, for she truly desired to meet up with her Elven husband again. That the Dwarves actually could choose which age the new body would be in, and no having to worry about ageing, had been a huge bonus when the Dwarrowdam had chosen to reappear in her prime.
I think that ammë was much pleased to meet old friends from the First Age again thanks to that gate, and it is always fun to see how the clothing styles changed over the generations, Yuë commented with a smile. He had truly proven himself a relative of Maedhros and Celebrimbor by being interested in the Dwarven race, especially the vast amount of fashion among the Seven Dwarven clans, which had often proven some form of inspiration for his own clothing.
"It was very amusing to see the shocked faces at the royal court in Tirion the first time Celebrimbor presented Narvi as his wife!" Maeglin laughed at the memory, she had been present at that time because such a reveal was once-in-a-lifetime event, given that the oldest grandson of Fëanor was the so far only known Elf to have fallen in love with and marrying a Dwarf. A huge difference from the Elven-Mortal romances that normally happened if an Elf fell in love with someone from a different race.
"Yeah, I think a lot of the courtiers got the shock of their lifetime there, since they never left Valinor at the Darkening!" Rûsa agreed, just as their mother came over to where her two sons and daughter-in-law was almost ready for starting their travel.
"Your father and I will come to the dance contest too, but we have some things that needs to be finished before we can leave. Like ensuring that there will not be anything crazy from your grandfather again while we are gone."
Out of habit that had started since her wedding, Maedhros addressed Rog as the father to her sons. It was to ensure that no one with ill intentions found out about Taurion being the biological father of Rûsa, or the secret about her firstborn. Rûsa being born in Angband and brought up into becoming the real identity of the feared Warg Rider in the First Age, had to be kept hidden in order to keep him safe, it was already bad enough with her own actions as a former kinslayer and all that with the cursed Oath.
"Don't let grandfather blow something up again in his lab and I think things will be calm, ammë!"
Maedhros smiled. Sometimes it was not such a big surprise that her boys could act younger than what they were, for while Yuë was 290 years old this year and Rûsa's official age being 370 years since they claimed him to be born in the tenth year of the Fourth Age, the different personalities of the two half-brothers could highlight that they were both mature adults, but in different ways.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
The journey went fine for most of the first days, however, there were two days of rain that affected Yuë. Even with borrowing two extra cloaks to try to keep warm, it did not help much.
I hate when it is cold or damp weather like this!
His wheezing was impossible to hide, and there was a faint tightness in his chest that did not help his breathing either.
"We are nearly at the house owned by Dior and Nimloth, try and hold out until then."
Elrond had done his best to treat Yuë's lung and respiratory problems ever since the younger son of Maedhros had survived his premature birth, but not even he had been able to find a cure for the asthma Yuë suffered from outside giving him the recipe of a potion with equal quantities of ginger and honey to consume it 2-3 times a day. The famed healer recognized the symptoms of asthma from treating mortals in Middle-earth, yet he could not do much else, sadly.
The trio of riders was met by a rather...unexpected scene at the house where they had planned to stay for the night:
"How many times do I have to tell people that I do NOT WANT any gifts that reminds me of my parents!"
It was a male voice who shouted, followed by the sound of something of fabric that was thrown out in the air and landing on the ground. It turned out to be a growing pile of clothes made out of blue fabric as new pieces of clothing were tossed out from a window on the upper floor, along with what seemed to be tapestries with similar motifs of a dancing She-elf and a mortal who watched her. Anyone who knew the history of Doriath knew who the couple was.
"Ok, who has been idiotic enough to ignore that Dior does not hold his famed parents in a good light anymore?" Maeglin wondered aloud as some servants saw a chance to escape out of the house for a little while and came to take care of their horses.
"A not so brilliant courtier at Thingol's court who thinks that our master must be worshipping the heroic deeds of his parents to show that their love was more important that the relationships between the Elven realms, my lady," a housemaid quickly explained as their horses was taken to the small stable not far from the main house.
Oh, that explained the outburst from the master of this house. It was not that widely known, but Dior Eluchil had changed his view on his parents and their actions ever since the Second Kinslaying that had cost most of his own family their lives. Mainly because, in a sense, he was the one to suffer the consequences of the Quest for the Silmaril which had been started by his maternal grandfather Thingol demanding a nearly impossible bride price for Luthien from Beren, clearly not thinking of how the seven children of Fëanor could take offense of such an idea.
"Lady Nimloth? Are we arriving at a bad time?" Rûsa wondered as they entered the main hall, and a brown-haired She-Elf of mixed Sindar and Silvan origins hurried out from a room to meet her guests.
"No, it is just some idiot pushing Dior's patience about what people think about his parents again. As you know from our earlier meetings, he is not exactly happy with how he had to deal with things after them."
The former second King and Queen consort of Doriath had, a few years after their own rebirth and Dior choosing to be counted among the Elves, somehow managed to come to an agreement with the House of Fëanor; Yes, the whole Kinslaying could have been avoided in one way or another, but Dior had also been awfully young for a King ruling over immortal Elves while also being a married father of three small children and inexperienced with all the small details of not offend possible enemies. Besides, Luthien and Beren carried some of the blame for the whole thing, Celegorm had been ensnared by her inherited Maia powers and she had played with his feelings in the hope of gaining help to save Beren from Sauron, not realizing that Celegorm was not like any of the other rejected suitors in the past and that the Noldor as a whole had very different customs and traditions than the Sindar in Doriath.
"Anyway, Dior will come as soon as he has calmed down, so please enjoy your guest chambers and a nice bath before dinner. This whole summer has been a repeat of this nonsense and he is much displeased about it," Nimloth promised, taking the role of a hostess for her Noldorin guests.
Dior did indeed show up at dinner to share the meal with his wife and guests when he had calmed down from his earlier outburst.
"Oh, you changed into the clothes I made for you this winter!" Nimloth smiled in joy at seeing what he was wearing.
Even when dressing in plain, home-made clothing and his dark brown hair set up in a simple ponytail laying across one shoulder that was slightly too broad for a full-blooded Elf, it was impossible to hide that he was one of the fairest beings known in Valinor thanks to his lineage, but that beauty was marred by that he had demanded to be reborn with the scars from the fatal duel against Celegorm, as a personal reminder of what his actions once had caused and for not wanting people to think of Luthien when seeing him. As such, he had three great scars on the left side of his face, the kind left by long fingernails clawing deeply into the skin. Another scar hidden under his plain tunic, was from the deadly sword cut across his chest.
"Greetings everyone. I hope that the journey went well?"
"Yes, thank you. Uncle Celegorm asked us to tell you that he will be hunting around this area in a few weeks."
Some people might say that Dior's social skills were only mediocre due to being raised in Tol Galen, for it did not have any neighbors living around and that as a royal prince, he should have to socialize more in the south of Valinor where his grandfather had gotten a small realm to rule over and as a visitor to the other royal courts in Valinor, yet he and Nimloth were happy to live a fairly secluded life with few visits in addition to friends or relatives.
"Eluréd is doing well with his studies in becoming a botanist under the teaching of Orodreth and Elurín enjoys working with wood carving," Nimloth revealed when asked about what the now grown sons were doing after moving out.
Besides, after a rocky start due to the past, Dior had surprised everyone by actually befriending Celegorm to the point of almost being his apprentice in hunting and wilderness survival. A lot of people questioned that to be true, given the whole history of what had happened in Nargothrond, but for Celegorm and Dior it was an honest attempt of putting the past behind them
It had started when Celegorm had given an honest explanation to Dior and Nimloth that he had never ordered his servants to get rid of Eluréd and Elurín in the first place, and that his original idea with the young princes was to take them hostage and try to exchange them for the Silmaril since with Dior and Nimloth having three children within four years and that the births had been very close for a She-elf who normally could wait several decades between each pregnancy, the most logical was that Nimloth could be too drained spiritually to try another pregnancy and that it would be very stupid to risk their two sons' lives. In a way that had been correct, because Elwing's birth only three years after their twin sons had not only been very draining for Nimloth spiritually, it had also left damage that would make a new pregnancy dangerous.
"What are you intending to do with all those clothes you threw out earlier, Dior? Because I doubt that all of them can be given away to friends or remade into horse blankets…"
The Half-Elven signed.
"To be honest, we have run out of ideas on what to do with the clothes, since we have already made so many blankets and pillows to give away to charity. Blue only reminds me of her, so neither Nimloth or I wear them. Many of them are actually made in a wrong size for me, as several people think that I inherited the height of my maternal family when I am roughly the same height as a normal Elf."
Nimloth told the three guests that some clothes had been away to the House of Fingolfin since that was the traditional colour of their family in contrast to the red of the House of Fëanor and the white of the House of Finarfin, but that would not go in the long run.
Maybe you could gift the clothes to the Dwarven merchants and tailors? If there are several ones in the same colour, pattern and fabric, I do not think it would be too much trouble to redesign them into Dwarven clothing, Yuë suggested after spending most of the meal in silence, even if he did use ósanwe to take part in the conversation from time to time. That was a good idea, the two married couples did agree, and also a bit hilarious, especially given that Thingol had gotten a serious phobia about Dwarves thanks to the manner he had died in and would most likely be horrified to learn that his grandson had given all his gifted clothing to the Dwarves for them to use.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
After a pleasant meal in good company, Yuë felt satisfied with the day. He and Dior had bonded early on back when he was still an Elfling, in that they were the sons of famous mothers and fathers, and how that could be a troublesome legacy to live up to.
At least Dior and Nimloth have each other for support and strength, even in dark times and bad days. That is one of the things I envy those who are married…
Taking his ginger-honey medicine so he would be able to sleep peacefully, Yuë then made some light stretching exercises since the riding each day did not allow him to do his daily dance training as normally. Besides, in order to cover as much distance each day, Maeglin, Rûsa and himself had to get up early each morning. Tomorrow, however, he could sleep in as they planned to stay for two nights, with Dior and Nimloth needing some extra help to find all the gifted yet still unused clothes that they still had in their wardrobes and then join the trio to the dance contest to sell the clothes to the Dwarves.
I guess that there will come a day when I can no longer send gifts for her. But right now, it is the only way I can show my love for her without risking to be found out. The memories of brother and Maeglin facing a lot of slander and even distrust due to choosing each other in marriage...no, I am not strong enough to stand against that, I may be a son born to one of the famed Lords of Gondolin but at the same time, I am the son of a Fëanorian, tainted with her old crimes from the Kinslayings…
People would not react well if they found out that the younger son of Maedhros desired to have the daughter of Finrod as his bride. Especially those who did not want the House of Fëanor to gain more power again. Yuë knew that his mother, maternal grandfather and uncles were not proud of what they had done in the past, and had done their best to make amends for the Kinslayings and a lot of other things the Oath had indirectly led to, but sadly there were people who kept viewing the family as untrustworthy, that they secretly awaited a perfect moment or situation to extend their power again.
And it was the younger generation who paid for what their parents once had done, long before several of them even had been born; Celebrimbor had enough problems by being reminded by how Sauron had twisted the Rings of Power. Maglor's daughter Lindë with his wife Rainiel had to keep her own musical talent toned down or she risked to be viewed with distrust due to who her father was. Rûsa was viewed as socially inappropriate for various reasons Yuë had never really understood outside that his brother hated to spend time at the royal court. Cúwen was somehow viewed as too wild to be viewed as proper lady despite that she mostly was a little more outspoken than her brothers and well-known for determination. Lówen enjoyed acting as proper modest lady, but behind her sweet appearance she hid a big dose of irony aimed towards people who disrespected her family.
At least Frëja could escape some of that, thanks to her mother being a Dwarrowdam and enjoying a career as a singer among her maternal race if it became too much for her among the Elves at times. Narvi was a famous name among the Dwarves, not only as one of the co-workers who had built the Doors of Durin in the Second Age, but for other reasons outside her legendary friendship-turned-romance with Celebrimbor.
No, I have to stop thinking negatively. I have promised myself that if I manage to land myself in a good place in the ending list during the dance contest, I will confess my feelings to Saira even if she will reject me.
With a final look on the miniature portrait of Saira that he had gotten from Rûsa, Yuë blew out the candle so his guest chamber was only filled with the light from the stars and new moon outside the window.
Good night, beloved Saira.
For all of that he kept sending her those anonymous gifts, it still felt reassuring that he could at least give her gifts she liked. Last time he had been in Tirion, for example, she had been wearing a silver hair comb chip which he had gifted her on her begetting day. If that was not encouraging in their own way, then what was?
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note:
Yuë clearly takes after his father Rog in terms of hesitate to reveal themselves as the sender of secret gifts to the lady of his heart. For Rog, Maedhros being a princess and third-in-line with Fëanor as the Crown prince during the Years of the Trees, meant that he as a common blacksmith at that time were not very likely to be her suitor despite that Fëanor had most likely broken a lot of plans for his future by marrying Nerdanel. In the case of Yuë, the past of his family and his own reputation among the Noldor is a big obstacle about Saira
Ingvild is an Old Norse feminine name, and seeing that Tolkien used such names for the Dwarves, I thought it fitting that Saira might be taught by a Dwarrowdam.
I like the idea of Orodreth being a botanist with herbalism as his speciality
My personal headcanon is that Dior have mixed feelings about the whole Quest for the Silmaril and his parents after the Second Kinslaying, as Luthien and Beren basically doomed their son though the whole drama of her rejecting Celegorm as a suitor and not giving the Fëanorians the Silmaril after that they returned to life as mortals. Personally, I think Dior would feel bitter and likely try to avoid people from Doriath because he does not want to be reminded of his parents