A/N - Whaa? Non-shallow males?! I can't see that happening, within fiction or otherwise. You may not be too pleased with some of the future developments concerning Thaliondil and Elmarie; but, uh, at least you may be sure it'll all end in tears...insert evil cackle here.
Btw, the rant was much appreciated!
Chapter 18 - Respite
Tinuial was weary, such as she had rarely been in all her life. She had hurriedly bade farewell to Carnil and Thaliondil, and was now being led to the chamber which had been prepared for her. The glistening marble floor beneath her feet was a clear mass of shimmering swirls, and it was a great effort not to simply stop and trace its flowing pattern with her weary eyes. She strove to keep up with the young Elven maid who led her. The maiden spoke quickly, and Tinuial understood few of her words, partly due to the girl's accent which was somewhat different to that of the folk of Nargothrond, though the language was the same. Yet her lack of comprehension of the maiden's constant stream of chatter occured mainly because she did not listen, and was far too enchanted with the wonders which lay all about her.
Several times Tinuial beheld a thing so fair that she stopped and gazed awhile at it, before leaping several steps to catch up with the Elven maid, who seemed perfectly oblivious to the fact that Tinuial was paying very litte heed to her. They came at last to a tall doorway, intricately carven of wood. Upon either side of the door stood a suit of shining armour, which created the unnerving effect that she was standing before two grim phantom sentinels. Tinuial passed between them a little uncertainly, and entered her brightly lit chamber. The grey stone walls were veined with delicate threads of gold; alive and glistening like a beaded constellation. A large luxurious bed was set amid the room, and after the Elf-maiden had bade her a polite farewell, Tinuial cast herself down upon it and was asleep within seconds.
When Tinuial emerged from her chamber some hours later, the shades of evening lay heavily upon the world, and the lights of Menegroth were dimmed. She was clad in a flowing gown of pale cream satin, which had been laid out for her. Her flowing skirts streamed out behind her like billows cloud as she swept through the golden passages of Menegroth. She went in search of Thaliondil and Carnil, though as yet she had seen no one at all. Tiny lanterns of crystal formed in the likeness of crescent moons embellished the rich walls, and their frosted rays glanced upon the surface of Tinuial's eyes, almost kindling the darkness of her gaze. Suddenly, she turned a sharp corner and almost crashed headlong into Carnil. She halted abruptly, and without thinking threw her arms about him. He returned her embrace, smiling for the first time in days.
Together they sat beneath the swaying branches of a tall grey tree, when finally they had found their way out of the mazes of Menegroth. Tinuial's pale hair swung in glistening strands about her smiling face, as she gazed up into the fiery sky. The clouds were ignited and stained crimson by the descent of the furious sun; a blinding disk of vermillion leaving only red-rinsed shadow in its wake. The land below seemed steeped in blood; the trees ruffled gently by the sighing of the wind.
'Have you no notion of whither my brother has gone?' Tinuial asked, lowering her face and gazing gently into Carnil's glimmering green eyes.
'I know only what I told you. The servants report that he has departed from Menegroth, and is now in the forest. I know not his purpose.' A hint of unease crept into Tinuial's eyes, and she sighed deeply.
'Do not fear for him!' Carnil clasped Tinuial's hand. 'He is able to care for himself! He would not be so uncaring as to depart from Doriath with no word. He shall soon return.'
'There is something amiss with him. He is grieved, though I know not why.' Tinuial replied, her face becoming thoughtful and pale.
'That is hardly to be wondered at, for much evil has befallen.' Carnil remarked softly.
'Indeed,' she admitted, though the worried expression did not depart from her face. Rather, the furrows of her brow deepened.
'All shall soon be well,' Carnil exclaimed. 'For in this land lies all our hope.'
'How so?' Tinuial looked at him.
'I have been troubled of late,' Carnil answered slowly. 'For when we were assailed by the thralls of Morlach, and Erdal was taken, a heavy cloud of despair, darker than the shadow which hung then about the world, sank deep into my very bones. I believed with all my heart that dawn would not come, and I should never again know light or joy. And though the sun rose indeed, its radiance seemed hollow and cold. So the world has appeared to me for many days, and my dreams have been dark. Even now I feel the presence of the shadow that pursues me, and yet in the words of Queen Melian I discerned the truth. In Menegroth there is no darkness! There is anguish, indeed, and regret, and yet all such things here are clean and blessed, untainted by the hand of evil. It has always been my belief that no light could forever endure against the darkness which now haunts this world, yet I was wrong. The dark power can find no way through the mazes of enchantment which guard this land.'
Tinuial smiled softly, the dying embers of the sun's pyre illuminating her face. Yet deep within her heart, she felt that all the light and glory of the lands of Middle-earth was somehow imperfect; marred even ere its creation. So the tales had told. And she doubted somehow - though she had no clear notion of where her fears sprang from - that even Doriath, in all its glory, could endure forever unsullied in the face of all the world's evil. Yet she said nothing of her misgivings, for despite any dark omens she may ever have heard or conveived, she could think of no place on earth where she would now rather be. When Carnil was beside her, nothing could daunt her. They sat for some time in silence as the daylight died.
'Even the splendour of Menegroth is as nothing, when compared to you.' Carnil murmured into the dusk. His words were awkward, shy almost, but he looked her steadily in the eye, and it seemed to Tinuial that the darkening heavens wheeled about her as the scarlet rays paled, and faded into a deep, sombre dusk. The glowering clouds hung heavily from the sky, as though filled with an endless stream of sorrow which they were reluctant to release. Carnil drew his trembling hand softly to Tinuial's face, caressing her cheek. Her skin was smooth and cold as glass.
'The peril I have feared all my life long can pursue us no longer,' he breathed. 'Surely we may now dwell in peace.'
'Indeed, the shadow of Morlach need no longer concern us.' She replied gently, though not without a pang of nameless anxiety. The sharp wind began to shift the heavy clouds, tearing them from where they slumbered, and the white brilliance of the moon was suddenly unveiled. Tinuial smiled, for all things seemed to her more fair when bathed in moonlight.
'Of late I may have appeared distant,' Carnil said faintly. 'Yet naught could be further from the truth. For I have thought of nothing but you, and how I am unworthy of your love.'
'Do not say such things!' Tinuial cried, as the first drops of grey rain began to leap from the sky. It cascaded like liquid moonlight upon the misted breeze and smote the ground in glistening sheets of silver.
'I do not deserve one so fair as you!' Carnil spoke against the low moan of the wind, 'And yet I would possess forever the joy that you have given me.' His green eyes sparkled as though filled with icy tears, and with a hand that now shook visibly he swept his dripping hair from his face. It was true, he thought; he was undeserving of her. He had come closer than he would ever admit - even to himself - to succumbling to his feelings for Elmarië. Yet he knew now with the utmost certainty that here was where his heart truly lay, beside Tinuial. Only she could chase away the fear, the memories, the guilt invoked by the shadowy spectre of Elmarië, which still loomed somewhere at the back of his mind. But perhaps it was always so; no mortal heart could ever be wholly, entirely lost to another. The tiniest fraction would always remain elsewhere, clinging to some other lost love for its own arbitrary reasons. Such was the nature of things, he supposed, and he suspected that Tinuial herself was no different. He guessed that she had not forgotten Arreion, and never would. But none of it mattered now; he was young, and in love, and free for the first time in his living memory. He looked into Tinuial's face, and felt himself at peace.
'Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?' he asked a little uncertainly, startled, almost, that he had dared to utter the words. Tinuial gasped, and could not control the beaming smile which spread itself instantly across her face.
'I desire nothing more!' She cried, clasping his hand tightly.
Far into the night they remained in that fair place, locked in a kiss that neither of them wished to end. Days or weeks may have passed unheeded, yet when they parted at last, the darkness still hung upon the air, and the rain had not abated. Tinuial's long hair shimmered with sparkling drops of water, fair as beads of dew caught amid webs of golden spidersilk.