Broken Bond by avi17

Broken Bond

Short experiment with speedwriting- taking an idea and running with it instead of over-thinking and agonizing over every tiny detail and word choice like I usually do (very different experience, but definitely worth a try.) 200-250 words.

I have always been of the opinion that elves can feel the death of their bond-mate/spouse (going with the Laws and Customs bit about bonds and them only having one lover). This was one take on that. (For those who have only read the published Silmarillion, Anairë is the wife of Fingolfin who did not accompany him into exile, and her half-sister in law is of course Nerdanel, the wife of Fëanor.) I am also of the opinion that even though Nerdanel is estranged from Fëanor, at least some part of her still loves him.

Broken Bond

POV- Anairë

The night in Aman is deathly still as I am shocked from my sleep by a horrible sensation- a feeling of loss and grief so acute it manifests as a searing physical pain in the core of my body.  I am used to waking alone, for I have done so for centuries, but in my strange agony I panic and clutch the sheets as if I expect someone to be there.

As I writhe in anguished confusion in my bed, a memory comes unbidden to my mind.

Not long after we were left alone, I visited my half-sister in law, though I was unsure what words could or should pass between us.  We sat at tea in long silence, when suddenly, her eyes went wide and she let out a wretched wail.  The cup shattered in her hand and it began to bleed, but when I asked her why she cried, she whispered that she had felt her very heart tear itself from her breast.

Only days later, word came to us from the Valar that Fëanáro was dead.

As my pain resolves itself into an unnerving emptiness, more all-consuming than I have felt even as I watched my family walk away from me, I understand fully what it means.

It means that my husband has followed his brother one last time, to yet another place I cannot go.

Chapter End Notes

Poor Anairë, I finally write her and it's this. XD

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