Pictures at an Exhibition by Robinka

The Cure

A double drabble written for Rhapsody. Why did Nellas choose to keep an eye on Túrin after he had arrived in Doriath as a young boy?

Thanks to Neume for the beta.

"Do you love him?"

The question, posed with the straightforwardness that caused Nellas' shoulders to stiffen, hung in the air for a time, but she could only nod furtively. Melian moved from the sill of the window, gliding along the stones of the floor with the lazy gracefulness of an eagle that landed in the nest and folded its protective wings over the nestlings.

"I have no cure for your unrequited love, my dear," she stated. Nellas stepped back. Her mind shouted, ‘It is not! Not unrequited!', but she answered nothing.

"I may have," Melian continued calmly, "something to make your mind and hands busy while your heart bleeds with unfulfilled cravings. Follow me, please."

In the throne hall, abandoned and echoing with quiet sobs, there was a boy, pale and dark-haired, depositing his sorrows on a few wooden toys at his feet and the polished tiles of the floor. Nellas' heart sunk.

Coming over to the child, she glanced back at the queen, who smiled and encouraged her by nodding. Nellas crouched beside the miserable figure. She pushed the dark locks from his forehead and was rewarded with a flash of glistening eyes, a faint smile.

"His name is Túrin," Melian said.