Awesome Ladies by daughterofshadows

Her sons disappear in a cloud of dust and darkness, leaving Mastomahtano behind as they have done countless times before. Never has their departure felt more final.

Her sister wraps a cloak around her shoulders, and Uruvanima grabs her hand. Nerdanel clings to it like a lifeline.

“Tell me I am not a fool for letting them leave,” she whispers.

Uruvanima squeezes her hand. “You couldn’t have trapped them anymore then father could have trapped you back when you went travelling. They have the best parts of both of you. They’ll be fine.”

For a moment, Nerdanel almost believes it.

A massacre. Her family has slaughtered hundreds in the name of revenge. Nerdanel’s fingers dig into the table, nails scraping against the wood.

“Have they lost their minds?”

Her family doesn’t answer. What is there to say?

Rage bubbles in her throat, fills the empty pit in her stomach. She cannot remember ever being so angry before.

It is only when her cousin gently pries her fingers off the table that she realises she has made herself bleed.

She stares at her hands, blind to the world as Rōka cleans her hands.

How much blood had been spilled in Alqualondë?

There are days Nerdanel is convinced she is going insane. It wouldn’t surprise her.

Fëanáro’s voice whisper in her ears, but his words contain only madness, not wisdom. She wonders what happened to the clever man she once loved.

Rōka left to check on his friends in Alqualondë. They haven’t heard from her cousin in days. She hopes at least he is alright.

Aulë requested her father’s help. Their people work tirelessly to return light to the world. Nerdanel does what she can to assist them, but her sculptures are of little use here.

Still, it is better than idleness.

Days blur together. Without light there is no telling of time passing.

Nerdanel’s dreams are filled with the memories of unseen horrors, and so she avoids sleep altogether until her sister drags her to bed. Then she weeps into Uruvanima’s shoulder until exhaustion overcomes her and she finally slips into Irmo’s realm.

Her sister holds her until she wakes again.

Anger follows.

It explodes over her workshop, and leaves only destruction in its wake.

And as she rebuilds her life from the rubble, Nerdanel swears her own oath.

Her life is hers to live. Fëanáro will rule it no longer.

Chapter End Notes

This was written during the Spies in the Shadows Drabble Duel for the Tolkien's Rockin' Ladies Bingo, and the prompts were the following:

Nerdanel +

1. I am not the fool

2. The children lost their minds

3. Devil on my Shoulders

4. You are not the king

This was originally four different drabbles, but I feel that it works just as nicely in one chapter.

She watches him walk away and hates herself just a little for breaking his heart. But Daeron is her brother, and her love will never be more than that.

It is the first time she sees that love causes pain.

Lúthien does not yet know it, but that pain will accompany her for the rest of her life.

She meets it again, when her father tries to lock her up, desperate to keep her safe, but cutting her wings, nonetheless.

And it is the pain of love that will claim her life, but that is a story for another time.

A silver mist covers the glade, and dew drops wet the hem of her dress, but Lúthien cares little for the water as she dances across the grass.

She sings with the nightingales and greets the new dawn with a smile, and when the sun peeks out behind the clouds, she rests on a rock and lets her dress dry.

Around her the forest wakes up.

Lúthien knows no greater joy, no greater peace than these early morning hours.

Her heart beats in time with the forest’s, and for a moment she just is.

This is what happiness feels like.

Angband is dark. Darker than any place Lúthien’s ever seen.

It holds terrors beyond measure.

But she will not submit to the fear crawling up her spine. Not tonight.

Morgoth holds no dominion over her.

She is Melian’s daughter, half maia, half elf, and she will bow to no one.

Her song slips into the halls quietly, twisting and turning the strands of reality; as gentle as a mother’s touch, it lures everyone to sleep.

She is a dream maker. Not even Morgoth can resist her.

The silmarils shine bright in the darkness.

At last, they have found their quarry.

When it is all over, after they survived Morgoth, and fought death itself, Lúthien takes Beren’s hand, leads him out into the forest and asks him to dance.

And dancing through the woods, they remember their first meeting, and he calls her Tinúviel again, her name falling from his lips like a prayer.

She watches every sunrise, singing with the nightingales again, and she thinks her happiness could grow no further, but when she holds her son in her arms for the first time, she is proven wrong.

And Beren cradles him against his chest, and they all dance together.

Chapter End Notes

This time the prompts were

Lúthien +

1. I hate myself for loving you

2. Freespace, for which Himring prompted me: "at her feet was strewn a mist of silver quivering"

3. Dream Maker

4. Dance with me

She has always had a rebellious streak, craved more than the life in Tirion, the life in Valinor could give her.

It is no surprise she leaves when finally given the chance, even though their departure is drenched in blood.

Artanis looks at the men in her life and knows she can do better than them. She was meant to rule.

Let them see her worth beyond wisdom and beauty, let them see the strength in her bones.

It is only in Beleriand that she learns the truth.

She is as much of a fool as the rest of them.

Elu Thingol declares them kin and welcomes them to Doriath.

It is a high honour, and Galadriel finds many things in these strange woods.

She finds Celeborn, who treats her like a queen and whose wit matches her own.

Their love blooms quickly under the shadowy trees, and they will remain together through many hardships.

She also finds a mentor in Melian.

The maia has many things to say, and Galadriel learns even more from her silence.

She learns when to speak the truth, and when to keep her own counsel.

It is the most important lesson of them all.

She is the black sheep of the family, the outlier, the anomaly.

Against all odds, she survives.

Around her, her family is cut down one by one, until she is the last one left standing.

Sometimes, it feels more like a punishment than a blessing.

But there are good things, too.

Her husband is one of them. Her daughter another.

She is respected, trusted, admired.

Life still surprises her.

She doesn’t expect Gimli, doesn’t expect a dwarf and an elf to be friends, not enemies.

Galadriel gives him three strands of her hair, and a blessing.

The future looks bright.

They sit on the beach.

No longer are they lords and ladies, leaders of Middle-Earth. They are simply Galadriel and Celeborn, Elrond and Círdan.

The time of the elves comes to an end. Tomorrow, they will set sail, leaving behind these lands of pain and sorrow, of joy and hope.

Galadriel tilts her head back, letting Arien’s light warm her face.

Elrond’s voice rises above the crashing waves, quiet at first, but growing louder with each word.

“But since it fell into my lot, that I shall rise and you shall not…”

She joins him.

It is a bitter-sweet goodbye.

Chapter End Notes

The prompts were:

Galadriel +

1. Don't care what the old man say

2. Speak the Truth

3. Black sheep

4. Raise a little

The song they are singing in the last drabble is obviously Parting Glass, whichever version you like best.

I'm partial to the version by Colm McGuinness.

The road stretches out before her, inviting her, teasing her with the adventures she knows lie beyond the bend.

Belladonna sets off with eager feet.

As the distance grows, her worries shrink, until she can barely remember why they concerned her in the first place.

The road has no expectations, it does not care about marriage, about fauntlings or society.

Here, it only matters how far her feet can carry her.

Belladonna relishes in the freedom it brings.

This is where she belongs.

Not in a smial, or a kitchen, but under the open sky, the world at her feet.

She makes it all the way to the sea.

It’s a grand thing, the ocean. Grand enough to make a hobbit feel very small, but it’s also wild and beautiful, and Belladonna is glad she came.

She sits on the beach, and just listens for a while. To the seagulls, and the waves crashing against the shore.

Distantly, she can hear the sound of a harp, and she briefly debates to go looking for the harpist, for it is sure to be an elf.

In the end, she decides against it. The beach is too peaceful to leave just yet.

Being married to Bungo changes everything, and still so very little.

She is still a wandering soul, still feels most at home on the road, but now she no longer dreads the return.

Bungo makes space for her and in turn, she comes home to him every time.

She finds a place to rest by his side.

Together, they turn Bag End from a hole in the ground into a smial they can be proud of.

It’s a refuge. A place, where they can just be themselves.

For the first time in a long time, the Shire feels like home.

Belladonna looks down at babe in her arms, staring wide-eyed at the world.

Her son. Somehow, they have created this miracle together.

She still cannot believe it.

“He has your eyes,” Bungo whispers into her ear, arm tight around her shoulder.

Belladonna squints.

“Perhaps. He’s got your hair though.”

“Ten perfect toes on fuzzy feet, and ten fingers, too, and the cutest nose in all of the Shire. I think we did pretty well with him, my love.”

“We certainly did.”

Belladonna smiles, and Bungo presses a kiss to her hair.

“I hope he’ll have your sense of adventure, too.”

Chapter End Notes

A few Easter eggs were hidden in this one, tell me if you can guess what they were XD
One is a nod to one of my all time favourite Tolkien fics, the others are for some of my own fics.

The prompts were:

Belladonna Took +

1. Back where I belong

2. Long road

3. Feeling like myself again

4. Home at last