Lovers of the Water, by Kaylee Arafinwiel (G48, F/F)

[kayleearafinwiel]

 

B2MeM Prompt, Card and Number: Day 1, G48,  Language of Flowers (Balsamine - impatience)

Format: FLF - 500 words

Genre: Femslash (thank you mods for tagging it so I knew what to put here!)

Rating: PG

Warnings: Mentions of character deaths, nothing graphic

Characters: Rian of Dor-lómin, Gwindeth (LOTRO)

Pairings: Gwindeth/Rian, Huor/Rian

Creator’s Notes (optional): Gwindeth is the Blue Lady of Nenuial in LOTRO. She’s some sort of water spirit, perhaps whatever Goldberry is, but in any case immortal. I've supposed she may have inhabited a well in Dor-lomin when Beleriand was around.

Summary: Rian is to marry Huor, but doesn't want to leave her dearest friend...

“Gwindeth!” Rian called out in anguish, throwing herself down amongst the sweet pink balsamine, cupping her hands in the bubbling spring and bathing her face with the clean water to wash away her tears. Her basket of eggs had scattered on the soft grass, though miraculously none had broken. When she looked up once more, as she expected, Gwindeth was there.

“Here I am, impatient one,” Gwindeth laughed, but her voice gentled as she saw the young woman’s distress. She caressed Rian’s cheek with a cool, misty hand. “What troubles you, my darling girl?”

“Huor,” Rian whispered. “He has asked me to marry him!”

Gwindeth felt the bleakness in Rian’s tone, cold as ice. “Is he not a suitable mate, dearest?” As Rian’s anguished tears fell, and no other answer was forthcoming, she thought back on how they had met.

When the daughter of Belegund had been a child of six, they had come to Dor-lómin - women and children, refugees in need of succour as their husbands, fathers and brothers marched to war. She had tried to stay close to her cousin Morwen - at fifteen, though, Morwen seemed quite grown up, and had little time to spare for a little girl. So Rian was left to wander.

It was in that way that Rian had found the well of Gwindeth, a clear, cold spring with a ring of stones set round it. She had played by herself, splashing happily in the waters, and arousing the curiosity of the River-maiden. It had seemed quite natural to an imaginative child like Rian that a young woman should rise from the water, blue all over, and splash her back. Rian had thought she was imagining a new friend, but soon Gwindeth proved to be quite real, and they had many adventures together, playing about Gwindeth’s well as Rian grew to womanhood.

“Gwindeth, no, I cannot,” Rian wept, drawing Gwindeth from her reverie. “I cannot marry and bear a son, just to see my husband and son taken from me as my father - our fathers - all were.”

“Ah, dearest one,” Gwindeth murmured, leaning forward to kiss Rian on the brow. “You shall not see your husband or son die. They will be great in the annals of Arda.”

“Then...then this must happen?” Rian whispered.

“Huor is a kind Man,” Gwindeth said gently. “He has ever been your friend, has he not?”

Rian nodded, eyes stinging. “He is a wonderful man, Gwindeth, but I am afraid to love him. I love you.”

Gwindeth smiled sympathetically and gave Rian another kiss. “I love you too, dearest one, but not after the manner of mortal kind. I have loved you since the day you came to my spring, so lost you were, and needing comfort. You are my dear child, and so will your children be mine, lovers of the water. Do not fear to place your hand in Huor’s. I will not forsake you.”

Tearfully, Rian gathered up the eggs, and vanished into the trees.