"Gift Horse" by Himring

[hhimring]

B2MeM Challenge:B6 wives and mothers unnamed in canon (Women of the Silmarillion)
Format: Teaser (excerpt from WIP "The chief in a village")
Genre:   Family (not)
Rating: General
Warnings: cheating on the prompt (see note)
Characters: Fingon, Gil-galad (mentioned)
Pairings: see summary
Summary: The woman who ended up not marrying Fingon

Erien had taken to Gil with an enthusiasm that turned out to be fuelled by relief.

‘I like you, Fingon’, she said, speaking more frankly than she ever had while Father kept trying to push me into proposing to her, ‘and I could like you even more if you were more interested, if you know what I mean. But all this “royal” business? It’s not for me. I would have done my best to do my duty if you’d asked me, but I’m so glad you didn’t!’

I must not have looked very intelligent at this point, for she gave me a sympathetic look and reminded me: ‘You were brought up to it, you know.’

I discovered my jaw had dropped and was hanging open and hastily shut it. If I had somehow managed to get out of this whole sorry mess without losing Erien’s friendship, I decided, it would be extremely ungrateful to look that gift horse in the mouth.

Especially if the gift included a mother substitute for Gil in the same package!


Note:
So I'm cheating here, because: a) she isn't actually Fingon's wife, b) she isn't actually Gil-galad's mother.
There is also the name thing: I'd wrongly remembered "Erien" as being the name of Fingon's wife in a discarded version in HoME. Checking my facts in Oshun's bio, I realize that the wife was unnamed even there: "Erien" is the temporary name of an abolished daughter of Fingon's. Typical. Never mind.

Comments

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

"Erien" is the temporary name of an abolished daughter of Fingon's. Typical. Never mind.

LOL! Indeed.

Please forgive the overarching and generalized "review," but...Elleth Himring, your B2MeM offerings have each been and are stellar!

ETA: Dang. Himring! My apologies. But y'know. It's true for both your offerings and Elleth's. I have been reading them faithfully.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

I agree that Himring's offerings have been stellar! :) Loved the take on Fingon not marrying Erien, but it still begs the question, who is Gil-galad's mom?

And Pandë, thank you. I'm feeling extremely honoured that you find my writing good enough to keep it in one mental drawer with Himring's. Eek. XD

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

one mental drawer

Heh. I plead the excuse of being an old fartessa. Lots of stuff rattling around in that mental drawer! :^D

[hhimring]

It's a grand mental drawer to be rattling around in! I'm deeply honoured to be sharing it with Elleth. Thank you!

I agree with you about the high standard of her B2MeM contributions, of course. Trying to keep track of them, I felt a bit like one of those hobbits who threw themselves flat on their bellies as Gandalf's firework dragon rushed over their heads and then looked up to see it turn a somersault over Bywater.

[hhimring]

...but it still begs the question, who is Gil-galad's mom?

There's a reason why these things are called teasers!

I'm glad you liked this little piece. When the whole WIP is written, it's going to be a rather strange beast, I fear...

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Strange beasts are often the most interesting. I'm looking forward to it and sitting here being all teased up. :D

[angelica-ramses.livejournal.com]

"Erien" is the temporary name of an abolished daughter of Fingon's

So Fingon was supposed to have a daughter some time? What a boatload of stories that could trigger! (*makes a note to go back to HoMe - or at least, read Oshun's bios more carefully*)

And yes, I agree with Pandemonium about the sterllarness (?) of your offerings and hope the WIP will be finished soon.

[hhimring]

One incarnation of Fingon in HoME had a son (who was not Gil-galad) and a daughter.

And thank you! It's going to be a bit difficult to decide which WIP I ought to concentrate on finishing first now, as I've written pieces of two long ones and two shorter ones for B2MeM and have lots of fragments now.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Oh you are teasing, yes :D

Still, whoever she is, she seems a nice, sensible woman and I like a good mystery, so I'll stick around and eventually we'll know.

[hhimring]

Thank you!
One thing I'm fairly sure of: that particular solution to Gil-galad's parentage isn't likely to be adopted by anyone else.

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

I am with Erien here--friendship would be one thing, but not marriage, as the marriage is often more to the title rather than the individual.

[hhimring]

Yes--the role of queens doesn't seem to be particularly well defined among the Noldor, but I think we can be sure that they do have a public role to play and can't just retire into private life.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

Intriguing! I'm almost wishing I'd chosen this card now. :/

[hhimring]

Thank you!
I got a lot of mileage out of this card.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Even with all the never minds, it was a cute story.

- Erulisse (one L)

[hhimring]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I had a bit of fun with Fingon here.