Taboos Were Made To Be Broken (January 2017) by Kaylee Arafinwiel

Thoughts of Kings

Celepharn and Neldiel consider the Mortal Beren, and where his path may take him.

It was just as well that nobody had tried ordering Neldiel to leave; she'd have been just as stubborn about leaving as she had been about staying. She stayed silent, her hand still in Celepharn's. She had allowed him to unclench her fist, before, and he had made sure that Elu saw him entwine his fingers with hers. It had been a silent show of solidarity that nobody could have missed.

Celepharn tugged lightly on Neldiel's hand, drawing her toward the great three-trunked beech, rather than away. Mablung still stood at its foot - he and the other guards Elu had tasked with guarding the tree were the only Elves yet remaining. But he did naught to hinder Celepharn from looking.

"I can't believe he would do this," Neldiel whispered. She laughed humourlessly then, and shook her head. "Actually, I can."

Celepharn sighed. "So can I," he admitted. "Uncle Elu loves Lúthien, I know that," he said quietly. "But this...I think it has frightened him."

"He has sent the Mortal to die," Neldiel said.

"Likely he believes the Mortal will just return to his own people, rather than dare the land of the Dark Hunter," Celepharn said drily. "But if this Man is Lord of Ladros, in Dorthonion, he has already dared terrors far greater than many of us know here in our seclusion, just to reach it. He has already passed within striking distance of that one's servants. No, I do not believe this Beren son of Barahir to be a feckless and lovelorn child." He shook his head.

"If he has the sense Lúthien has credited him, he will seek Prince Finrod in Nargothrond, and ask his help. For as Celeborn has told me, cousin Finrod may be prince of the Lechenn, but he is the best of them. He owes Barahir his life, moreover. He will aid Beren - and if anyone can fight the Dark Hunter, it is the grandson of Finwë. I have faith that Beren will return, and Lúthien will be freed."

 "She should never have been put up there in the first place," Neldiel fumed. "The King has made a mistake. How can he possibly think that this is forgivable?"

"I believe he thinks he is protecting Lúthien by locking her away," Celepharn said quietly. "I do not think he is right, and I do not think it was right of him to do so. But I do not believe Uncle Elu had malicious intent. He is frightened of losing Lúthien - no Elf has wed one of the Firiath before. It is quite unheard of, and when Beren dies, as he someday will - if Lúthien has bonded herself to him, what then?"

"It is Luthien's choice," Neldiel retorted, as she walked away from the tree with Celepharn, back to where they had left their horses. "She's not a child, but she might as well be, the way he treated her. He humiliated her, in front of all her family. And for what? Why did we need to see that? He could have done it quietly, and achieved the same thing."

"I do not know," Celepharn admitted. "That troubles me as well."