Faded Light: Book II
folder
-Multi-Age › Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
12,220
Reviews:
46
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
-Multi-Age › Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
12,220
Reviews:
46
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
Characters and places belong to JRR Tolkien and to his estate. I own only my OC's and twisted storylines.
Hae Branadui
(For additional notes and disclaimers, please see top of Chapter 1.)
= Here's the next one, it's a bit shorter than the ones I've been posting lately; to make it up I'll try to post the next two this week...
Enjoy, and please review, I've been in a bit of a writing slump this week and some reviews would really cheer me up...and Sarah, thank you for your comments last week, there will definitely be some more chapters with Benain coming up... =
Chapter 26
Hae Branadui
“...Erestor, you know you are my favorite cousin in Arda, but I am not going to discuss my problems with Leralonde with you...
“Why is everyone at this stage suddenly so concerned about my love life...?” complained Saelbeth, taking careful aim of the target several yards away and letting his arrow fly. Leralonde had wanted to spend the day with Gwirithniel, and Saelbeth had let himself be persuaded by his cousin to come out for a while instead of spending the day alone in his quarters. It had served to show him, at least, just how out of practice his shooting had become.
“Or lack of one...” murmured Elrond’s advisor, ignoring the dark look his cousin sent his way, as the arrow missed its mark by several inches. “...but who else?” he asked.
“...Princess Mereniel...”
“I didn’t think she had an opinion either way on that matter...”
Saelbeth’s mouth tightened, as he hesitated as to how much to say of the matter. “Oh, she definitely has always had an opinion...”
The dark-haired Elf stopped in the middle of choosing an arrow and something as understanding crossed his face, “...that manipulative...”
“Erestor,” his kinsman chided in a tone that made the other bite back whatever he was going to say. “Right or wrong, she is the Princess...
“Anyway, she apologized...”
“I should be dismissed as Elrond’s chief advisor for being the biggest fool in Rivendell,” said Erestor, considering his target before taking aim, “...how did I not see that it was after that visit from Mereniel that you decided to sabotage your relationship...
“...you needn’t bother with your usual excuses, Saelbeth,” said Erestor, before Saelbeth could object.
“You forget I’ve know you all your life...and I know how you still feel about Leralonde even if you want to deny it...
“So, what did she say?” he asked watching his arrow hit the mark. “By way of apology I mean...”
“Does it matter?” said Selbeth, not appreciating being scolded, as he had often been when he was an Elfling by his cousin, who thought himself so much wiser even when much younger...
“In any case, it’s too late for Leralonde and me,” he said. "He has Tadion now...”
“And you’ve got some half-thought out whim to run off to Valinor...what you and His Highness need is some time alone without all these well-meaning or malicious distractions...
“And let Tadion find his own spouse,” he added, watching as one of the attendants ran to retrieve their arrows.
“First of all, Valinor is not a sudden whim; it is something I have thought of for a long time,” said Saelbeth. “Second of all, Leralonde is not my spouse; he and Tadion are free to do whatever they want...”
“...after two centuries, maybe it’s past time you two were...”
“This is isn’t Rivendell; Ellons in Mirkwood don’t marry each other...”
“Since when? I know at least three pairs of Ellons, and a several Elleth’s too, by the way, who have been happily bonded for centuries...”
“...not High born Elves and certainly not the Heir to the throne; it’s not...practical.”
“Don’t give me those old silly arguments Saelbeth; you sound like Ruthlagor. We both know they don’t apply to you...you could give the Prince an Heir as well as any Elleth...”
“...that’s assuming I should conceive again...
“I never imagined I would the first time, it came as a complete surprise...and Gwirithniel’s birth wasn’t exactly easy...I’m not sure I am willing to go through that again...”
“Tera...iston...” said Erestor, not gainsaying his cousin on that subject…
He and Leralonde had been there during those distressing months after the Orc attack and the ordeal of the birth...in his weakened state, Saelbeth had given much of himself to bring his daughter into the world...
Though the circumstances would hardly be same, if he were to bear another child...
“Besides,” added Saelbeth, as Erestor prepared to shoot again, as the attendant returned from clearing the arrows, “there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t be a daughter again next time, and I’ve no desire to match the number of Faenor’s children trying to bear the next Crown-prince...”
“I never knew you were so small-minded, Nur-haer o nin...”
“...I am not; Mirkwood, however, is a much more conservative place than Rivendell...”
“It doesn’t make it right.
“Why shouldn’t two Ellons be allowed to wed, any more than your daughter be kept from the throne because she is an Elleth...?
“Is Lady Galadriel any less able a ruler because she is female...?”
“You can hardly compare the Lady of the Wood to anyone else...and if your argument had been accepted during the Second Age, Oropher would not have been chosen to become King and married Gailrin...
“There would not have been a King Thranduil, and we might all be living under Esarulir’s rule instead, and that is not the world I would rather be in...”
“Maybe Esarulir would have had a more agreeable personality if such ancient and unfair customs hadn’t pushed his family aside and sent him and his mother into exile,” suggested Erestor, lowering his bow as the arrow hit dead center again.
“I have heard they endured many difficult times before Thranduil allowed them to come home...”
“So you think he would have had a more wining disposition, had he been born into more fortunate circumstances...if he and Hwinith hadn’t been passed over in favor of Oropher and his descendants...
“I doubt it,” said Saelbeth thoughtfully. “I think some people are just born with some inner darkness...
“There are many people with far more credible reasons that Esarulir’s thwarted dynastic desires...who have faced much greater tragedy or injustice and might have taken up a dark path, and didn’t...”
TBC...
Elvish Translations:
Hae Branadui / Old Ways
Ellon / Male Elf
Elleth / Female Elf
Nur-haer o nin / First cousin (Literally, kinsman on my (father’s) or (mother’s) side.)
Tera (q.) / Yes (Literally, it means “correct,” but incredibly it’s the closest thing in Elvish to the word “yes.”)
Iston / I know
= Here's the next one, it's a bit shorter than the ones I've been posting lately; to make it up I'll try to post the next two this week...
Enjoy, and please review, I've been in a bit of a writing slump this week and some reviews would really cheer me up...and Sarah, thank you for your comments last week, there will definitely be some more chapters with Benain coming up... =
Hae Branadui
“...Erestor, you know you are my favorite cousin in Arda, but I am not going to discuss my problems with Leralonde with you...
“Why is everyone at this stage suddenly so concerned about my love life...?” complained Saelbeth, taking careful aim of the target several yards away and letting his arrow fly. Leralonde had wanted to spend the day with Gwirithniel, and Saelbeth had let himself be persuaded by his cousin to come out for a while instead of spending the day alone in his quarters. It had served to show him, at least, just how out of practice his shooting had become.
“Or lack of one...” murmured Elrond’s advisor, ignoring the dark look his cousin sent his way, as the arrow missed its mark by several inches. “...but who else?” he asked.
“...Princess Mereniel...”
“I didn’t think she had an opinion either way on that matter...”
Saelbeth’s mouth tightened, as he hesitated as to how much to say of the matter. “Oh, she definitely has always had an opinion...”
The dark-haired Elf stopped in the middle of choosing an arrow and something as understanding crossed his face, “...that manipulative...”
“Erestor,” his kinsman chided in a tone that made the other bite back whatever he was going to say. “Right or wrong, she is the Princess...
“Anyway, she apologized...”
“I should be dismissed as Elrond’s chief advisor for being the biggest fool in Rivendell,” said Erestor, considering his target before taking aim, “...how did I not see that it was after that visit from Mereniel that you decided to sabotage your relationship...
“...you needn’t bother with your usual excuses, Saelbeth,” said Erestor, before Saelbeth could object.
“You forget I’ve know you all your life...and I know how you still feel about Leralonde even if you want to deny it...
“So, what did she say?” he asked watching his arrow hit the mark. “By way of apology I mean...”
“Does it matter?” said Selbeth, not appreciating being scolded, as he had often been when he was an Elfling by his cousin, who thought himself so much wiser even when much younger...
“In any case, it’s too late for Leralonde and me,” he said. "He has Tadion now...”
“And you’ve got some half-thought out whim to run off to Valinor...what you and His Highness need is some time alone without all these well-meaning or malicious distractions...
“And let Tadion find his own spouse,” he added, watching as one of the attendants ran to retrieve their arrows.
“First of all, Valinor is not a sudden whim; it is something I have thought of for a long time,” said Saelbeth. “Second of all, Leralonde is not my spouse; he and Tadion are free to do whatever they want...”
“...after two centuries, maybe it’s past time you two were...”
“This is isn’t Rivendell; Ellons in Mirkwood don’t marry each other...”
“Since when? I know at least three pairs of Ellons, and a several Elleth’s too, by the way, who have been happily bonded for centuries...”
“...not High born Elves and certainly not the Heir to the throne; it’s not...practical.”
“Don’t give me those old silly arguments Saelbeth; you sound like Ruthlagor. We both know they don’t apply to you...you could give the Prince an Heir as well as any Elleth...”
“...that’s assuming I should conceive again...
“I never imagined I would the first time, it came as a complete surprise...and Gwirithniel’s birth wasn’t exactly easy...I’m not sure I am willing to go through that again...”
“Tera...iston...” said Erestor, not gainsaying his cousin on that subject…
He and Leralonde had been there during those distressing months after the Orc attack and the ordeal of the birth...in his weakened state, Saelbeth had given much of himself to bring his daughter into the world...
Though the circumstances would hardly be same, if he were to bear another child...
“Besides,” added Saelbeth, as Erestor prepared to shoot again, as the attendant returned from clearing the arrows, “there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t be a daughter again next time, and I’ve no desire to match the number of Faenor’s children trying to bear the next Crown-prince...”
“I never knew you were so small-minded, Nur-haer o nin...”
“...I am not; Mirkwood, however, is a much more conservative place than Rivendell...”
“It doesn’t make it right.
“Why shouldn’t two Ellons be allowed to wed, any more than your daughter be kept from the throne because she is an Elleth...?
“Is Lady Galadriel any less able a ruler because she is female...?”
“You can hardly compare the Lady of the Wood to anyone else...and if your argument had been accepted during the Second Age, Oropher would not have been chosen to become King and married Gailrin...
“There would not have been a King Thranduil, and we might all be living under Esarulir’s rule instead, and that is not the world I would rather be in...”
“Maybe Esarulir would have had a more agreeable personality if such ancient and unfair customs hadn’t pushed his family aside and sent him and his mother into exile,” suggested Erestor, lowering his bow as the arrow hit dead center again.
“I have heard they endured many difficult times before Thranduil allowed them to come home...”
“So you think he would have had a more wining disposition, had he been born into more fortunate circumstances...if he and Hwinith hadn’t been passed over in favor of Oropher and his descendants...
“I doubt it,” said Saelbeth thoughtfully. “I think some people are just born with some inner darkness...
“There are many people with far more credible reasons that Esarulir’s thwarted dynastic desires...who have faced much greater tragedy or injustice and might have taken up a dark path, and didn’t...”
TBC...
Elvish Translations:
Hae Branadui / Old Ways
Ellon / Male Elf
Elleth / Female Elf
Nur-haer o nin / First cousin (Literally, kinsman on my (father’s) or (mother’s) side.)
Tera (q.) / Yes (Literally, it means “correct,” but incredibly it’s the closest thing in Elvish to the word “yes.”)
Iston / I know