All Hues and Honeys by Dawn Felagund

Withering

Orodreth recalls a lesson from Yavanna when confronting Celegorm and Curufin. A perfect drabble written in four 25-word sections. (I'm not sure I like the outcome, but it was a challenge to be sure!) Written for the Holiday Party challenge, for the prompt "Never Have I Ever"; Grundy asked if Orodreth ever lost his cool with his cousins in Nargothrond.

Blossoms littered the plant's base, otherwise stern and hale.

"A plant stressed will abort blossoms, Artaresto," Yavanna explained.

He caressed a leaf—deceptive, green—sorrowfully.

—

Celegorm and Curufin's voices whispered like mice in the walls. Orodreth rushed upon them. Finrod had again borne their double entendres with a smile but—

—

"You must remove all of the buds except one." It hurt to pinch away their little lives, but Artaresto did it. Then one may flourish.

—

The tirade that unspooled like vines clutching at his mind, where had it gone? It always withered.

But what remained stammered, then flourished:

"I know."