b2mem | A Conversation With Emel, by Kaylee Arafinwiel (B2MEM 2016) (Reply)

B2MeM Prompt, Card and Number: B2MEM 2016, t_n_b alphabet, Like Inspiring Iluvatar
Format: dialogue/conversation?
Genre: chaptered fic
Rating: G
Warnings:
Characters: Luthien, Melian
Pairings: Elu/Melian
Creator’s Notes (optional): Playing catch-up since I wrote more for a previous B2MEM on my "Arafinwiel's Alphabet". I won't be posting all the new chapters today, just whenever it's a slow day on prompts.
Summary: Young Lúthien has been hearing troubling rumours about her mother, and asks Melian about them.

"Emel, is it true?" The little princess' voice sounded wobbly, and she did her best to calm herself.

Queen Melian smiled and drew her daughter into her arms. "Is what true, my best beloved?" she asked, brushing a kiss over Lúthien's brow.

"Is it true Atheg only..." She paused, as though realising she was about to say something she really should not.

Unfortunately for her, she was the child of a Maia, and Melian was nobody's fool.

"Do you think I forced him to marry me, my heart?" the Queen replied, eyebrows arched.

"People say you kidnapped him," Lúthien replied meekly. "Kept him from coming back."

"Do they?" Melian sighed and shook her head, rocking her daughter in her lap. "Well, perhaps it is true...from a certain point of view."

Lúthien peeked up at Melian, frowning. "What does that mean, Emel?" She paused. "Does it mean they can be right and wrong?"

Melian smiled, pleased by her child's astute question. "It means that they do not know all the truth, Lúthien, and so they speculate - they guess at my reasons, for they fear to ask me for the truth."

Lúthien's brow wrinkled. "But you're just Emel."

Melian laughed. "Am I? But I am not their Emel."

"Oh." Lúthien considered that. "Because you're the Queen."

"Hmm. Just so," Melian agreed. "Being Queen is a difficult task, best beloved, and yet it is the role appointed to me." She chuckled as Lúthien's confusion deepened. "Do you really think I took your Atheg away from his people without his consent, Lúthien? Would I do that?"

Lúthien shook her head hard, midnight tresses flying.

Melian stilled her, smoothing her hair back into order. "I would not. But I approached your Atheg and surprised him to start with, for I felt a stirring in my very spirit, an inspiration that here, with Elwë, was my heart and my home."

"An inspiration?" Lúthien asked.

Melian nodded. "I daresay it was akin to the inspiration of Ilúvatar, when He oversaw the emergence of my kind, calling us his own."

"Anatar," Lúthien mused. "He brought you and Atheg together."

"So I believe, best beloved," Melian agreed, and gave her child another kiss. Satisfied, Lúthien snuggled close to her mother, and was soon fast asleep.

***

Notes:

Emel - Mama, an older Sindarin form of "Nana"

Atheg - Papa, an older Sindarin form of "Ada". I believe these older forms would have been used when Lúthien was young, and probably were in widespread use in Doriath during this time period.

Anatar - Quenya, "grandfather"