Aerin and Broddun by Himring

Extra drabble: As little might be thought

Broddun, Brodda's sister, faces evidence of Brodda's physical abuse of Aerin.

The title is, of course, taken from the passage about Maglor's fosterage of Elrond and Elros, but there is no explicit reference to them and the parallel is not exact.

At first, she thought Aerin had stumbled and fallen. She reached down to help her up, when Aerin’s silent but palpable flinch taught her she was wrong. She spotted black bruises along Aerin’s wrists.

She had tried to convey her disapproval by traditional means, but her brother was deaf to any hint, as if he could not conceive Broddun might have an opinion about Edain, and hints were all she dared. 

Neither night nor day would heal this wound. No trust could grow. Yet she knelt, whispering in her language: ‘Sister, sister!’

And ‘sister’ Aerin repeated in Easterling after her.

Chapter End Notes

"Traditional means": the idea is that in this society women had very few enforceable rights, but social pressure and shaming could still be employed to prevent some excesses. Disapproval could be signalled silently. However, the situation in Dor-lomin means that this no longer works as it did and Brodda in particular is the kind of person subtleties are lost on.

Originally written for Tolkien100, for the prompt "Night heals"