Finding Peace by StarSpray

Finding Peace

“Is it really so bad in Tirion?”

“Hm?” Arafinwë cracked open one eye to find Eärwen leaning up on her elbow, frowning down at him.

They lay on a quiet stretch of sand behind Olw ë’s palace, where the water was quiet and gentle, and no one but Olwë’s family came to bathe in it. No lamps were lit there, and the stars overhead were very bright, like diamonds spilled over dark velvet.

“You seemed so unhappy when you arrived yesterday, but today you are so much more relaxed. Did you quarrel with Nolofinwë? Or with Fëanáro?”

Arafinw ë laughed. “Me, quarrel with Fëanáro? No. I think he forgets that I exist most of the time.” It stung, when he stopped to think about it, but at the same time it was preferable to the increasing venom with which Fëanáro regarded Nolofinwë. Arafinwë did not know how Nolofinwë could stand it. “I did not quarrel with anyone. It’s only—there is tension there, and it has been growing of late, and I do not like it.”

E ärwen ran her fingers through his hair, nails scratching lightly over his scalp. It felt nice, and Arafinwë closed his eyes again, leaning into the touch. “Perhaps we should live here, when we wed,” she murmured. “It would please my parents greatly.”

Arafinw ë wondered what his own parents would say, and realized that he was not sure whether his father would notice—or else he would encourage it, telling Arafinwë to carve out a place of his own. Finwë meant well, but he had enough in his hands with Arafinwë’s brothers. His mother would miss him, but she traveled often enough between Valmar and Tirion that adding Alqualondë to her list of destinations would be little hardship. “Yes,” he said, “I would like that very much.”