A Garden of Plots by LadyBrooke

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Fanwork Notes

Also for Legendarium Ladies April (as most things I write this month will probably be).

I'm sure everybody is sick of me getting inspired by this prompt. I promise there's only one more coming. I really like the idea of things that are pretty and strong though - most of the time I hear those as opposites, but I disagree with that.

But these two (and the house) might be beautiful, but they will tear the entirety of society down to shreds and rebuild it.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Nimloth is reborn, builds her own house, and starts a garden.

Major Characters: Anairë, Nimloth

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: General

Challenges: Strength and Beauty

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 410
Posted on 2 April 2017 Updated on 2 April 2017

This fanwork is complete.

Chapter 1

Read Chapter 1

Nimloth is reborn in Valinor, and she wants to scream and rage at the injustice of telling her to be happy that she has been reborn in this false land of supposed non-death and non-decay.

But that will only cause them to believe that they are right, so instead she does what she can for the other Sindar and the Silvan and Avari who come to ask her advice.

And then she builds her house, which she models on what Dior told her of Lúthien’s house, because she had loved to imagine it.

When it is built it is tiny by the standards she is used to, the grand caverns and towering tree houses of her first life, but it is hers. She plants flowers outside of the cottage, and rejects the artificial lines of most of the houses in Valinor. Her garden is wild and beautiful, and she laughs at the faces of those who think that it is lesser because of that.

Once it is finished, she begins to invite those she likes and thinks it will help. Nimloth cannot stay here all the time, but when she does, she welcomes her visitors with open arms and the offer of the spare bed to stay in and hide from the rest of Valinor for a while.

She makes most of her new friends that way. Anairë, especially, welcomes the chance to not be part of the remaining royal family of the Noldor, to get rid of the airs that are required to exist there, and to simply be who she wishes to be.

They talk of their families and their children, lives lost and reborn, and lives lost and still waiting in the Halls. After that, they begin to spin plots together, plots to reclaim what they have lost, plots to gain respect that has been denied merely because their husbands are dead, plots that the world will not know about until they are able to stand and say they are happy with how things are now.

Their friendship is built on this, the former daughter-in-law of the first King of the Noldor and the wife of the first from his house with the great-great-niece of the first King of the Sindar and the wife of the second. It grows to be more, like the flowers outside do, but it is rooted in the recognition that they are both capable of far more than others think they are.

Comments

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This may be my favourite of your (recent) stories centered on the rebirth of Avarin Elves in Aman. I love the imagery, of Nimloth creating a cottage with a wild garden that becomes a kind of rallying point for those who feel out of place in Valinor. I really like the idea of Nimloth befriending Anairë, as someone who is very much a child of Aman yet not content there (any longer?). It's a lovely picture, the seemingly humble and harmles cottage where wild ideas are allowed to grow!

Thank you! I'm glad you love the imagery of her creating a cottage that is a rallying point. 

Anairë both is content with Valinor in ways that Nimloth never will be (she grew up there, so the enviroment and such doesn't bother her the same way it does Nimloth, who is used to living in a world where the weather is unpredictable and death lurks around the corner), and isn't content with the sameness of a world where the Valar are the ultimate authority and aren't supposed to be questioned, even in cases where parents are deprived of their children, much the same way Nimloth is. 

I don't think there's anything wrong with loving this prompt and writing as much as possible about strength and beauty. :)

This was such a lovely story.  I love that Nimloth recognizes the capabilities of her friends and that she wants to do the things she wants and like the things she likes!

I love the uplifting sense of freedom you have written in this fic.

Thank you! I'm glad you don't think there's anything wrong with writing as much as possible about this prompt. 

Nimloth, I think, would recognize the strengths that the rest of Valinor wouldn't really see, like Anairë's. And she will definitely like what she likes, so I'm glad you love that about her!