Many Journeys by Elleth

Carom

Nerdanel and Fëanor, and estrangement.

The door slammed shut.

Silence fell, settling, like dust, into the corridors and rooms and hallways. The house would be choked with it before long, and every sound that arose would be smothered before it reached the ears of a living being.

She went to the door, startled by the weakness in her knees. The handle was warm when she touched it, resisted when she tried to open the door, was wrenched from her hands when he re-entered, penitent, and took her face into his hands to kiss her.

She turned away.

"Forgive me."

"Not this time, Fëanáro." Her stomach churned. It hurt. She spoke on before he could ask the questions she knew would come. "Ask not only what, ask how often. To rebound another time without breaking is impossible."

"Then break and let me have your pieces!" she heard him exclaim in a sudden, but not unexpected, upsurge of anger. "I will fashion you again!"

"You do not understand." The calm to his storm. "It is not I who will break, it is us. How will you work when you, too, are broken? Tell me."

The door slammed shut.

Silence fell. She hoped it would smother her weeping.

Chapter End Notes

carom KAIR-uhm, noun:

1. A rebound following a collision; a glancing off.

intransitive verb:
1. To strike and rebound; to glance.
2. To make a carom.

Carom derives from obsolete carambole, from Spanish carambola, "a stroke at billiards."

(from www.dictionary.com)