Celebration
"Oh Imrahil," Finduilas sighed, toying with a lock of her damp, loose dark hair as she lay calmly on the bed, covered by an old quilt, "you shall miss the Yule festivities if you stay in here with me, I shall be well very soon: please, go out and enjoy yourself."
Imrahil did not reply, merely shaking his head and leaning back against her bed-frame from where he sat on the ground, playing silently with carved wooden figures.
"Imrahil, darling, it is not serious, I shall likely be up on my feet again tomorrow morning, and you will miss the celebration if you sit with me all night."
"What will I do when you are gone, Finduilas?" he murmured suddenly, more to himself than to his older sister, eyes focusing tiredly on the little whittled knights he was gently tapping against one another in a listless manner.
"That is hardly something for a little boy to be thinking about, Imrahil. And who knows, perhaps I shall outlast you." she chuckled, quirking a weary smile at his quiet, somber face. He smiled back, a weak, little smile for her; although both of them knew in their hearts that she would go first-already he could pick her up and carry her about, she five years older than he, for she was so light and thin, and frequently ill like she was at the moment. Once he had carried her all the way back from the seashore to their home when she had grown very faint all at once, only a few months ago.
"If you left, I should be very gloomy, so gloomy that it would make even Ivriniel sad, and that would have to be exceptionally gloomy, for Ivriniel smiles about everything. " he murmured, playing with a loose thread hanging off the end of her quilt.
"As for me, little brother, if I shall live by the sea and die by the sea, then I shall be perfectly happy." she sighed quietly, and he nodded.
"Yes, me too."
() () () ()
"Uncle, come, join in the Yule festivities, they won't last forever, you know!" Faramir cried joyfully, wrapping his arms around his uncle's neck, half-drunk face smiling almost giddily in the dancing firelight.
Imrahil had often wondered why Faramir was always so intimate with him, ever since he had been a little child, reaching out and holding his uncle's hand when he wouldn't suffer anyone else to touch him. When he had asked Boromir, the boy had said it was because Imrahil looked so much like their mother.
"I'd rather not-" but Imrahil stopped, as if suddenly remembering something, before shaking his head and smiling. "Oh, all right, Faramir, I shall come out and perform a full Dol Amrothian Yule dance, if that is what you are after."
Faramir's face lit up as he pulled him out of his corner and into a circle of youths like himself, whispering in his ear as he went, "Dance it the way mother used to."
At the beginning of this drabble, Imrahil is about ten and Finduilas about fifteen. For those unaware, happy-peppy Ivriniel is their elder sister, separated from Finduilas by three years, from Imrahil by eight. At the end of this drabble, Imrahil is an adult, and Faramir(his nephew, Finduilas is Faramir's mom)is a teenager. Yule is(from what I could find)a hobbitish term for the midwinter festivities, although it extended out through Gondor and Rohan as well. Faramir was a very young child when Finduilas died(three, I think?*can't remember off the top of my head*)but he still remembers her Yule dancing. She loved him very much, and basically raised him on her own since Denethor pretty much ignored him. :')
For those wondering 'what's up with Finduilas?' here's the scoop: she was probably rather weak/sickly for most of her life, and when she married Denethor and moved to Gondor to be with him, being separated from the sea(she has elvish blood)became just too much. Weakened after birthing her two sons, Boromir and especially Faramir, she passed away cloistered in the stone city, her death tore her family apart, and she was greatly grieved throughout Gondor.
Thanks for reading, have a good one, and please review! :D