We Are Sundered

[fernstrike]

B2MeM Prompt and Path: “I love the silent hour of night, For blissful dreams may then arise, Revealing to my charmed sight, What may not bless my waking eyes." Anne Brontë. Purple path.
Format: Triple drabble
Genre: Tragedy/Angst
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character death
Characters: Andreth, Aegnor, Finrod
Pairings: Andreth/Aegnor
Creator’s Notes (optional): As said in HoME, after the Dagor Bragollach, "it is probable, though nowhere stated, that Andreth perished herself[.]"
Summary: In the dream, she was young again, and she was laughing.

In the dream, she was young again, and she was laughing. Where once a star had been caught in her hair, the sun was now caught in his, gleaming golden and bright. They were by the lake, as in days past. He splashed her in jest, and the droplets glimmered like tiny jewels. His arms wound round her, strong like castles, and she held his face - young, stripped of cares, full of joy, filled with love. She drew close to him, as the world shrunk down to just his eyes. Bluer than the cloudless sky, warmer than summer. Two complete universes.

~~~

Andreth woke in a cold sweat, mind reeling, with a terrible ache in her chest. The ground was shaking. It cannot be.

She rose blindly, bones aching with age, stumbling against the walls until she flung the door wide. The winter wind did not chill her blood - it was the redness of the sky, the roaring sound, as though the clouds themselves were licked by flames and being rent full apart.

She knew, in her heart of hearts, what had befallen Aegnor. Her soul was certain as time's own passage. She crumpled to the ground, and wept, even as their warriors sent up the alarm, and people grabbed her shaking shoulders, telling her to run.

~~~

When he was spared a precious few days, Finrod rode out to Brethil. He asked of the Men there what had become of Andreth, and they led him to a stone, sparsely adorned with pale, frail flowers. Alone, he sank to his knees, and laid a hand over the inscription - Saelind, it read. "Until the End of Days, then," he whispered. "May you rest in Light until we are all together once again." Where his tears fell, the spring blooms grew, bright and wild.

Comments

[shirebound]

This is a wonderful, poignant gap filler.

[fernstrike]

Thank you :-) I definitely think it was one little moment in the sad story that needed a brief telling.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I love this gapfiller. It's a tearjerker, but a wonderful one.

- Erulisse (one L)

[fernstrike]

Thank you so much! It's definitely a very heartbreaking tale.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Oh man, this is beautiful! You made my heart ache. What a perfect use of the prompt, and what a powerful picture you paint with it.

[fernstrike]

Thank you so much! Yes, with that quote I couldn't help but think of the pain of their unfulfilled love. Their story is so tragic, but begs to be told. "The beauty and the sorrow" as they say.

Thanks again <3

[kayleelupin.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, how sad and poignant! I feel so bad for Andreth, how she was sundered from Aegnor with his death here. Finrod going to find her, and mourning at her grave, was heartrending. I'm so glad to read this! It reminded me of a couple of things you might like.

(All through this B2MEM I've been occasionally inspired by reading something, to rec something else that it reminds me of. I'm going to self-rec this time, with the understanding I'm not trying to detract from your fic.)

http://b2mem.livejournal.com/349345.html This is "Love Unfulfilled In Dorthonion" which I wrote last year about Aegnor and Andreth, in Andreth's youth.

I'd also like to recommend "Andreth Mourns Aegnor" by Dreamflower http://b2mem.livejournal.com/370660.html also written last year.

Kaylee Arafinwiel

[fernstrike]

There are a lot of heartbreaking stories in the legendarium, but this is one of the most tragic! That separation, and knowing that their fates after death are utterly sundered - particularly with the knowledge of the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth - just breaks me every time I think about it. Poor Finrod - he lost two very important people in his life all too quickly.

Thank you for the great recs! With a tale like this it's always enjoyable to see other folks' takes on it. "Love Unfulfilled In Dorthonion" - a difficult moment well-captured. And what do you know - "Andreth Mourns Aegnor" ends with 'We are/Sundered'! What synchronicity.

Thank you so much for reading! <3

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

This is a lovely, sad explanation of what happened after Aegnor fell. Poor Andreth and alas, Finrod was too late. But I just love that spring blooms grew after his tears fell. ♥

[fernstrike]

Thank you so much! I think the aftermath of the whole tale is quite painful and tragic - the fulfillment of the fates discussed in the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, especially because Finrod survived the two of them by several years. I'm glad you liked the touch about the spring blooms. Even in sorrow there is beauty :-)

[zdenka]

I like this -- so beautiful and sad.

[fernstrike]

Thank you so much <3 Their story is one of the more bittersweet and tragic little moments in the Silm.

[ysilme]

How powerful and poignant, and so beautifully painful!

[fernstrike]

Thank you very, very much <3