1475

Years of the Trees

Waiting on the front porch of Eve and Amarië’s house shouldn’t have been as stressful as it seemed to be that day. But as Finno waited for his betrothed to return from a multi month maidens’ trip across Valinor, he couldn’t help but be shaking a little. He knew they had planned on returning today. He just hoped the women stuck to their plan.

After sitting on the step for several hours with a small bouquet of white roses, he finally caught sight of several horses coming down the lane. He saw Amarië and Elenwë, he saw youthful Marillië, and finally he saw Eve.

Elenwë laughed at him when Eve and Amarië dismounted at their house. She looked at Finno and shook her head. “And you used to say that Turvo and I were hopelessly romantic.”

He rolled his eyes and kissed Eve in front of the others with a smirk. Then he handed her the flowers. When he turned back to Elenwë, he quipped, “Turvo wanted to be here but he decided that rest was more important.”

Laughing, Eve blushed at the flowers. “Finno be nice.”

Marillië smiled from atop her white horse. “Come on, let’s leave these two.”

They did so, Elenwë and Marillië heading further into Tirion. Amarië went inside after stabling her horse in their yard, leaving Finno and Eve alone.

“Let me go put these in water,” Eve said as she and Finno went inside. “And then I’m free!”

Finno chuckled. “Good. Because I’ve got something to show you.”

Eve pulled a ceramic blue vase down from where it had been stared and pumped water into it from their well water faucet. Once she had done so, and decided the roses looked nice, she turned back to Finno who had thus far remained silent.

“What?” asked Eve.

He smirked. “Nothing. I was just busy watching you.”

With a dramatic roll of her eyes, she shook her head. “There has got to be something more worthwhile than watching me cut and arrange flowers.”

“No,” he replied. “There’s not.”

Eve laughed and joined him where he stood. “You said there was something you wanted to show me?”

Finno nodded. “It’s at my house. Come on.”

He took her hand and they walked out into the lane. It took about twenty minutes to reach Finno and Aro’s house together. They went inside.

“Now what I’m about to show you doesn’t go beyond us, alright?” he said quickly, closing the door to their house and rushing ahead of her. “It’s a secret.”

“Sure.” She nodded. “Lay it on me.”

He took a wrapped package from behind a couch and when she saw the size, her heart dropped. She knew what it was. But she had to pretend she didn’t.

“This is a sword,” Finno told her, unwrapping the silk cloth and unsheathing the blunted blade. It had been crafted of steel, and on the hilt sat a blue spinel crystal. He offered it to her. “Take it!”

She forced a smile and took hold of it. The steel made the blade heavier than her advanced tindalta sword from her brothers. With a twirl, Eve examined it. But that must’ve confused her betrothed.

“You’ve held one before, then?” asked Finno quickly. Her hesitation made him even more suspicious. “Recently, by the looks of it.”

“Finno-”

“Your family then. They’ve been training you?” He frowned in frustration. “We had suspicions that the House of Fëanáro was creating weapons. How many do they have? What are they planning to do with them?”

“I promised them not to discuss it,” she replied apologetically. “But they’re not planning to use them. They want to learn swordplay for sport.”

Finno stared at her unconvinced. “You don’t expect me to believe that.”

Eve glared and stood straighter. “Actually, yeah, I do. You’re family to them. Especially to Káno and Nelyo. I can’t believe you, all of you.” She placed the blade down and gestured with her hands. “I mean come off it. All of you. Just sit down and talk!”

“I will do so if they will do so,” Finno bit back fiercely. “But they will not. They are blinded by arrogance and pride.”

Eve scoffed. “And your house is not? Please, Finno. Your father, you, Turvo, Iri. Even Aro. You’re all as proud of yourselves and your house as Fëanáro and his sons are of theirs. They may be a little less tactful about it, but all of you are the proudest group I’ve ever met.”

“And why shouldn’t we be? We have had to learn to be proud to stand strong alongside Fëanáro,” he argued immediately. “There is no secret that our grandfather has always held Fëanáro in a special place in his heart, and his sons also. We became proud to fight with that.”

“Fight?” Eve shook her head. “There is. No. fight. You’re family, in paradise.” she huffed and turned to him in exasperation. “What the hell has happened to this family? To everyone?” Sitting down in despair, she put her head in her hands and sighed. “Everything is changing.”

Finno frowned also and sat beside her. He leaned over and kissed her head. “I am sorry. You are in a unique position. As an adopted member of the elder house, and betrothed to me of the younger… it must be hard.”

She choked on a few tears. “I just want to help everyone back together. I don’t understand what’s happening. There are rumors and lies everywhere. This is madness.”

“Indeed,” he murmured. “But it is reality now.”

She looked over at him. “When was the last time you and Nelyo spent real, serious time together?”

He didn’t answer. Instead he stood, picking up her sword. He looked at it carefully and frowned again. “Here.” He offered it to her. “You should keep it, even though I am sure that Curufinwë has managed to craft something more elaborate than this for you.”

She took the hilt, grasping his hand as she did so. She lingered in that spot for a moment. “Thank you, Finno.”

He sat across from her, pulling a chair closer. When she had set the sword back in its sheath and laid it away, he quickly took her still shaking hands. He didn’t know if they shook from anger or from fear or sadness. But it didn’t matter to him.

“Eve, look at me.”

She did so.

“We will get through this.” He bit his lip for a moment as they stared at each other. He nodded again. “We will get through this. No matter what. Together.”

“Together,” she agreed.

Finno sent her a small smile. “Now. Want to see which of us is better at the sword?”

With a laugh, Eve shook her head. “Not today. Today, can we just… stay here.”

He smiled at her. “Of course.”

“Good.” Eve chuckled lightly and shook her head.

They sat quietly, not speaking, not doing anything but enjoying each other’s company. Moments later that peace shattered as someone rushed in the door and slammed it closed. Finno rolled his eyes with a rueful smile, turning to see who had come in.

“Oh. My apologies,” joked Aro as he saw them sitting together. “I did not know you had come over, Eve.”

She shook her head with a smirk. “Trust you to ruin a perfectly romantic moment.”

He scoffed. “Please. You two have plenty of romantic moments.”

“Just wait until you and Marillië spend more time around the rest of us,” Finno teased him.

“Oh I spent plenty of time with her,” Eve reminded them. “She’s wonderful, and my guess is she can be plenty romantic.” She winked at Aro.

Aro waltzed over and eased himself into a chair. He put his long legs up onto an ottoman and yawned. He smirked as Finno rolled his eyes. “I mean, I suppose I could leave. But I do so enjoy this chair.”

“Stay as long as you like,” Eve assured him, though her tone mocked him ever so slightly. She stretched out, leaning against Finno’s shoulder. Then she smiled at him. “So, how have you been. I’ve been gone for awhile after all.”

He rolled his eyes. “You’ve not been gone that long, Eve.”

“Humor me.”

Aro laughed. “Very well. I’ve been well. Turvo, Finno, and I have been working on a few ideas for a begetting day gift for Elenwë.”

She grinned. “Oh? What’ve you come up with?”

“Turvo thought to make something.” Aro paused. With a short laugh, he shook his head. “That’s as far as we got.”

Eve chuckled at his sheepish expression. “A good starting point. How about a sculpture? You guys could commission it from Nerdanel.”

“Perhaps.” Finno hesitated. “But we would rather not involve that half of the family if possible. I know Lady Nerdanel is in no way against us,” he immediately added when Eve went to protest, “but we also do not want to provoke Fëanáro.”

As Eve sat up straighter, Aro found his boots suddenly extremely interesting. He had no interest in provoking Eve, but clearly Finno didn’t take that into consideration.

“Findékano,” she started fiercely, “Nerdanel is the nicest person I have ever met. Asking her to help you and your brothers will not provoke her, nor Fëanáro.” She hesitated. “Actually, I’m fairly sure Fëanáro and Nerdanel are more at odds than you realize. She might welcome to opportunity to do a job that brings together both houses.”

“You know, there would be an easier way to bring together the houses,” Finno replied with a smirk. “It involves a wedding.”

Instantly Eve shut her mouth and started trying to hide her grin. “Finno, don’t distract me when I’m yelling at you.”

“Why not?” Finno winked at her, putting his arm around her. “It’s fun.”

She groaned, trying to regain her straight face. But just as she went to continue scolding him, he spoke up again, and Aro started laughing as she struggled to control herself.

“I was thinking. Who should we invite?” Finno sat back into the chair and removed his arm from her. “Turvo and Elenwë definitely. Findo and Amarië. You’d probably insist on Nelyo and Káno.” He sent her a wink.

“Of course. My entire family is going to come to our wedding thank you very much,” replied Eve with a nod. “And your family too.” She turned to Aro. “I expect you to be there with Marillië.”

Aro snickered. “Of course, my lady.”

Then she turned back to Finno. “But back to the matter at hand. Just ask Nerdanel-”

“If I can marry you?” He planted a kiss on her lips to which she rolled her eyes as they broke apart. “Yes I think I’ll definitely ask her that.”

“No. Ask if she can make the sculpture.” She pushed him away. “Finno! Pay attention.”

He started laughing then, shaking his head. “Fine, fine. Lady Nerdanel. Of course.”

“She’d be delighted to sculpt it for Turvo, I’m sure.”

With a shrug, he stood. “That’s up to him. It’s for his wife, after all.” Finno poured himself a glass of water. After a large drink, he wiped his mouth and leaned against the nearby dining room table. “What do you think, Aro?”

“I think we should get back to talking about when you two are finally going to get married and put the rest of us out of our misery.” He gestured to the two of them. “After all, you’ve been betrothed for years. Why haven’t you just gotten married yet?”

Eve frowned. With a sigh, she finally answered when she saw Finno waiting for her response. “I am unsure of whether or not my family will agree to attend. And I want them to.” She shook her head and looked out the window. Then she turned back to Aro. “I suppose I was hoping things would improve between us all.”

Aro nodded, more serious than before. “Perhaps.”

“We will overcome this,” Finno assured Eve as much as his brother, seeing her face drawn in concern. “Maybe we can heal the rift between our two houses. Maybe it is time we forced us all to sit down together and talk.”

Eve nodded immediately. “I’ve been saying that for years. Don’t pretend that’s some bright idea you just got all of a sudden.”

Finno cracked a smile. “No. It’s not. But your words finally reached my head.”

“Good,” said Eve with a grin. She got up and walked over to where he stood and kissed him. “Then together we’ll do something about this dumb schism. Together.”

Aro’s groaned caused them to break their second kiss. He glared at them. “The sooner you two receive your own house, the better.”

They all laughed. Eve loved the sound of laughter, especially when it came from her friends. It gave her even more of a reason to heal the House of Finwë; they needed to laugh together again.

Author's Note:

Uh ohhhh

But alsooooo

Yay.