Winterlights by Elleth

Daylight and Shadow

For prompt #22: Winter travel. After the storm, Lúthien and Thuringwethil seek shelter. (A follow-up to chapter 20.)

The storm passes with the night’s end, leaving drifts and dunes of snow. The branches in their ice-casings rattle in the wind, and the rising sun glares between shredded clouds – that, undoubtedly, also is Melian’s doing, knowing that twilight and shadow will find scant refuge in such a world of glistening, blistering white.

And indeed, Thuringwethil has clawed her hair into her face to shield her eyes. “Come,” Lúthien says, pity granting her strength, and gratitude for the past night’s shelter bestowing courage to clutch a clawing, spindly hand and guide Thuringwethil into deeper, darker shadows of the trees.