AN:
I hope the format is readable.
.
At a great feast the Lady Galadriel and the Lord Celeborn flanked Breguril – taller than either - as her mother claimed her as her flesh and blood. Great cries of indignation rose when the manner of the elf-maid's begetting was mentioned. A few cries of "Kill the Noldor!" were heard, before the hotheads had it beaten into them that they would have to start with their lady - a Noldo of highest breeding. Other cries asked if the Lady's continued Exile was due to the Valar somehow condemning her for the horrific event. And – should that be the case – calling upon the Galadhrim to all sail with the Lady and press her right to dwell in Valinor with spear and arrow point. This made the Lady of the Galadhrim teary eyed. Of the Fellowship only Aragorn – as in him the dignity of the Kings of Old had been Reborn - and Legolas were still on their feet at this point of the party – the remainder snoring in the bushes overpowered by elven spirits.
.
Aragorn was equally astonished by the revelation as everybody else. Yet this explained a certain mystery and made him think better of himself and his ... future aunt-in-law? Elbereth! What a strange thought! Now that he knew that she was his betrothed's aunt this explained to him why he had never caught her roving eye ... he had occasionally wondered, was he not handsome enough? Bad breath? Something with his fashion sense?
.
When the sun rose over Dol Guldur Celeborn intercepted the elf from the north.
- Sit, Thranduilion, the Lord of Lothlorien insisted. – You had expressed yourself disparagingly over Breguril's childhood and youth in Beleriand. You can ask your parents for confirmation of the events, they were there, you know ... I wish for you to at least tolerate my stepdaughter.
Celeborn's eyes took upon a distant expression, as his mind drifted back in time to the Blessed Land of Valinor.
- We followed Fingolfin into Beleriand over the ice of the Helcreaxe, following both a desire for revenge on Feanor and the yearning for adventure in a land without the stifling presence of the Valar. Much more exciting ... or so we thought at that time. Many died on the ice, but little Breguril survived. Once in Beleriand we learned that Feanor managed to get himself killed and put himself beyond our grasp. The three of us and Finrod settled in Doriath. There we kept Breguril's parentage – on both sides - a secret. This proved to have been a mistake as while among the Sindar Festival Children are not unheard off, and not thought off poorly, this caused her much grief when she lived among the Noldor later.
- Once of Age Breguril loved to discover Beleriand, often travelling with her uncle Finrod. I often came along – even though Galadriel did not sense any madness about her brother, we were naturally cautious about uncles and nieces ...
- Not yet fully grown* - not a hundred yet! - she ran away in ellon garb and fought at the Dagor Aglared, one of the few from Doriath. Afterwards she refused to come home and swore allegiance to Fingolfin, keeping siege on Agband and skirmishing with Morgoth's forces. She wanted to live in the open, not in seclusion like Doriath, Gondolin or Finrod's Nargothrond.
- This lasted until the defeat of Dagor Bragollach and death of Fingolfin, after which she joined – with some other survivors – the host of Finrod. She was ever at the front until the disaster of Nirnaeth Arnoediad. That battle cost her close to half of her cousins, some of which she was close to.
Celeborn unconsciously raised his hand and rubbed his throat.
- At Nirnaeth Arnoediad a Balrog's fiery whip almost throttled her. The monster jerked her towards him but she had her sword drawn and gutted it. But the scar around her neck remained. Her hair burned that day too ...
Legolas, mesmerised by the tales of the 1st Age, patted his hair as if checking – was it still there?
- Then came her second loss of kin and friends – the Fall of Finrod's city, of Nargothrond. She barely survived the battle against forces led by Morgoth's first Lieutenant, the Lord of Dragons Glaurung. Half of her face had been burned by Dragonfire, her wounds deep and many, and her hair crisp ash yet again. Survivors brought her to Doriath, where it took her a long time to fully recover. Melian and many others used mighty magics, far beyond our power and skill today, to rebuild her face. Yet again a scar remained. She never grew out her hair ever again.
- Then after the Naugrim had killed Thingol, Melian left Middle Earth for Valinor, thus depriving Doriath of its protection*. Before the country could adapt to the new circumstances, the following year a host of Dwarrow from Nogrod struck to avenge their clansmen slaughtered in retribution for the king-slaying. Although not present at the Battle of the Sarn Athrad, where an alliance of Doriathrim, Green Elves and Ents massacred the dwarrow host and made the River Gelion run red with blood, Breguril answered Dior's summon to arms and partook in the Sack of Nogrod two years later.
- Attacked by the Dwarrow of Belegost, standing up in defence of their fellow dwarrow without looking at cause of the conflict, the Doriathrim struck against them too. The following year we put Broadbeam and Firebeard settlements to the fire and sword. Where the dwarrow had hidden underground, the Elves either diverted steams to flood them or smoked them out to put to slaughter. Not being intended to make part of the Illuvatar's Music for Arda, Aule's Bastard Children were given no mercy by the army led by Oropher and his son Thranduil ...
Here Legolas nodded, knowing this part of the tale, even if from a different perspective.
- But alas, while Doriath's best warriors were cleansing the Ered Luin of the Naugrim, the Feanorians descended upon Dior's realm and butchered the inhabitants of Menegroth in the Second KInslaying. Dior fell in combat with Celegorm, while other defenders took the lives of two more sons of Feanor - Curufin and Caranthir. Dior's wife, Nimloth, was killed defending her children, the seven year old twins Elured and Elurin and 3 year old Elwing. However, the Silmaril eluded the Kinslayers as trusted servants hid it nearby woods.
- Unspeakable was the sorrow and rage of the Doriathrim returning from the Ered Luin to the dead bodies of their families and kin. But before pursuing the Kinslayers they searched for survivors in the woods first. One of the search parties found a half-dead Elwing and her fully dead brothers, Elured and Elurin. The children had been left in the woods to die, Elwing miraculously surviving as she had been protected from predators by wild birds, seemingly at her command*.
- While one party of Doriath survivors took Elwing, the last surviving member of the family of High Kings of the Sindar to the Mouths of Sirion, to entrust her - and the Silimaril - to the care of their kinsman Cirdan - another detachment made chase after the retreating Feanorians. Sadly they only managed to overcome the rearguard, the main body and the Mad Feanorians escaping. They managed to rescue several score children taken by the Noldor. Spared from the sword they were to be raised as warriors and servants to the Feanorians, replacing the Noldor and Sindarin servants fallen in battle with Morgoth or Kinslayings. Sadly, most of those freed children were killed or again enslaved at the Third Kinslaying thirty years later.
The vengeful Doriathrim, crazed and numbed by the losses of the last few years, at Dwarrow and Elven hands, showed no mercy to the prisoners.
- Lady, please. The Sinda, serving the Noldorim lords, pleaded as Breguril bent over him and cut his bonds. From the screams of the others he knew what was coming. With a snarl and grunt she kicked his face, knocking him to the ground and breaking his nose.
- Please, Lady, my wife is pregnant, mercy! ... he screamed. He screamed – now incoherently - again as Breguril brought down her club to break the bones in his forearms, first on one side than the other. She then smashed his tibias, leaving him defenceless and incapable of running. He could still painfully crawl or lift his arms in futile defence – this being the idea behind such mutilation. The servants of Feanorians were given the same fate as the grandchildren of Thingol – they were to be disposed by the wild animals – wolves, badgers, wolverines, bears – which the vengeful Doriathrim had summoned.
- At this point very few of Breguril's friends or kin remained. She took to the wilds and with small bands of elves and edain harassed Morgoth's forces whenever they could. I suspect that warriors of the sons of Feanor also fell to her blade, especially after she had learned of the Third Kinslaying. She fought in the wilds until the end of the War of Wrath, until Beleriand was sundered and drowned.
She than ran off into the wilds again, chasing Maglor, the last of the Sons of Feanor, for at least five yeni.
Legolas was quiet for a longer while, pondering on what he had learned, comparing the tale to what he knew of the history of his family, of his nation. A nation formed when wild Sylvans and Avari coalesced around a core of Doriathrim émigrés.
- But why do none of the songs mention her?
Celeborn smiled sadly.
- It would not do for a song about the Doriathrim to have Noldor cast in any other role than vilest scum. A heroic Noldo princess would be confusing. And not so uplifting for Sindar sentiments. Or so Oropher thought and ensured that all songs show a clear division – of us, Sindar, against them, the whoever. Downplaying Dior's line and events linked with it was also in his personal best interest ... have you ever given a thought of the Kingship of the Doriathrim been passed down by the distaff side? Who then could make claim on the loyalty of all Sindar from Doriath?*
Legolas gasped:
- Huito!
.
.
AN:
- I'm going by LACE where elves reach mental maturity at 50, marry and have babies between 50 and 100, and are fully grown by 100. If anything seems odd about that sentence take it to Tolkien, please.
- Teleri – I'm using that version of the Legendarium where Teleporno, later known as Celeborn, was a Teleri aristocrat who hanged out with the children of Finarfin and Earwen – Earwen being a Teleri princess
- Through a quirk of ancestry Elrond – by sword or distaff – was heir to most Elven and Edain kingdoms
- the Girdle of Melian magically protected the Kingdom of Doriath
- Elwing was said to be able to speak with birds
- I edited this chapter after discovering that Galadiel and Celeborn had passed East of the Ered Luin before the fall of Nargothrond.
.
A timeline, to put things into perspective:
.
1 - Crosses Helcreaxe as 20 year old girl
2 – in Beleriand goes with Galadriel and Finrod (uncle) to Doriath – FA 2
3 – reaches maturity at Doriath – c. FA 30
4 – travels across Beleriand with Finrod - FA 30-50
5 – takes part in Dagor Aglared, or the Third Battle of Beleriand in FA 60
6 – spends 400 years (rotated frontline duty) in siege of Morgoth's fortress Angband, serving in King Fingolfin's (Galadriel's and Finrod's 1st Cousin; not a Feanorian) army
7 – in 455 FA fights in Dagor Bragollach - "Battle of Sudden Flame" – where Morgoth lifts siege of Angband.
8 – FA 456- fights against Morgoth under the banner of Finrod, survives the disaster of Nirnaeth Arnoediad or Battle of Unnumbered Tears in FA 472 (losses several cousins)
9 – FA 495 – barely survives the Fall of Nargothrond – Finrod's city – half of her face burned by the dragon Glaurung; face heals but leaves living scar; losses many friends and cousins
10 – FA 496 – reaches Doriath with handfull of refugees, recovers from wounds
11 – FA 502 – King Thingol killed by Dwarrow
11 – FA 503 – Doriath sacked by Dwarrow, yet again losses many friends
12 – FA 503-506 – wars of retribution against Dwarrow (the first non canon event, apart from Breguril's existence, that is)
13 – FA – 506 – Doriath destroyed by Feanorians – the 2nd Kinslaying, Dior and his sons killed; many friends die
14 – FA 506-538 – Guerrilla warfare against Morgoth
15 – FA 538 Third Kinslaying at Mouths of Sirion
16 – FA 539-545 – Guerrilla warfare against Morgoth
17 – FA 545-584/90 – the Great War against Morgoth – the Army of Valinor and some Valar come to fight
So this is how her childhood and young adult years look like.