Cold
"I am worried about you, Andreth." Aegnor sighed worriedly, placing a hand on the woman's shaking shoulder, watching helplessly as she coughed violently, gasping for air in between. It seemed he was always watching her helplessly these days, watching as she was slowly being ripped away from him every day, with nothing he could do to stop it.
Aegnor hated being helpless.
"I am fine, Aegnor, this is naught but a cold, nothing of consequence." she protested meekly, wiping her mouth with the corner of her apron, leaving a bloodstain on the burnt cloth.
"This is not a cold, Andreth."
"I am perfectly healthy, I assure you, and will recover soon from this mild and common ailment, there is need to worry."
"You are not perfectly healthy, and you know it. Believe me, I remember when you were, back when you were rosy-cheeked and always smiling, I remember when you were not interrupted mid-conversation by sudden coughing fits every single day."
It was true.
Aegnor did not know how or when exactly this decline in her health had come on, it had been gradual, it had just started with a cough.
A cough that had never gone away.
"Are you suggesting that I am weak?" Andreth inquired in the same tired, uninterested tone that had long ago replaced her old animated, charismatic one.
"You used to be so strong, love, but now even the act of lifting a simple kettle drains you. You are grown thin, and pale, and tired. Your speech and breathing are punctuated by gasping coughs, and there is blood-"
"Fine. I am not alright. This is not just a cold." she admitted quietly, averting her gaze.
"Promise me you will rest more. Promise me you will take better care of yourself. Promise me you will stay with me." he pressed, smoothing her windswept brown hair lovingly with a tender stroke.
She gazed up at him, frowning, for some time, as if trying to figure out how much she could get away with.
Finally, Andreth sighed in defeat.
"Yes, I promise."
But they both knew as she walked away that it was not a promise she would be able to keep.
ok, this one needs a little bit of explanation. In my head cannon, Andreth dies of TB(tuberculosis), and Aegnor watches her slowly be taken away from him day by day, with nothing he can do to stop it. In my HC they are not with each other when they die, Aegnor is burned to death in the battle of sudden flame when the siege of Angband is broken, and at around the same time Andreth dies from her TB. :'(( sorry, I'm a sucker for romantic tragedy...
Please review and have an awesome day!