Humid summer mist spilled across the silvery green slopes in the fading light of Laurelin outside the home of Calarmo. The hum of voices filled the great hall where a modest feast was commencing. The guests from Tirion were departing in the morning, including her dear older brother Náretarnon. 

Luimëníssë's  mother and father had announced to the intimate gathering of family that they were to have a child in the next year. Even though her mother's smile seemed a little strained, Luimëníssë breathed a sigh of relief as her father pressed a kiss to his wife's temple and tears of joy filled her mother's grey eyes. Despite the shadow of what her mother had confessed to her, Luimëníssë was certain all would be well with her family.

Slipping out the corridor that led to the kitchens, Luimëníssë escaped onto the balcony that overlooked the fields leading inland. The gentle hills and sparse woods of their country were illuminated by the unfurling of Telperion, the constellations brilliant overhead. Crossing an arm over her chest, she pressed the pearl ring to her lips and closed her eyes.

"You need a reprieve from all the conviviality as well?" A toneless voice spoke from the shadows.

At a corner of the railing, under the curved spine of an ancient apple tree, a shadow moved. Curvo hopped down from where he reclined with his back against the wall and strolled to her side. The satin sweep of his midnight hair swayed across his chest, he was clad in his usual black raiment with silver accents. Luimëníssë stiffened. She'd wanted to make a break for her tryst with Rembano, but now she was stuck. She forced a smile as the Fëanorian twirled a downy, apple blossom between his nimble fingers.

"It is a lovely evening," she said, tapping her hands on the railing, calculating how she was going to slip away without him asking too many questions. She was a miserable liar.

"Those ruby hair pins are very fine." He motioned to her twists of silver hair held up by the ornaments. "Where are those from? Or did you just happen to find them on a cliff somewhere as well, like your little bauble there?"

The familiar serrated edge to his voice set her on guard. Luimëníssë chose to pretend she didn't hear it and gave a bright laugh. "Oh no, these were a gift from my brother. He made them, he said you helped him a little as well so thank you."

Curvo swirled around, pressing his back to the railing, his inquisitive gaze hard on her face. "I said before that you weren't what I expected, Luimëníssë. But I never took you as one for dabbling in falsehoods."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about that ring. You didn't just happen to find it, did you? I could tell in your eyes when we spoke two days ago. Did you steal it?"

Silence permeated the space between them, broken only by the song of a nightingale and the chirp of insects in the meadows beyond. "Perhaps once but then- then it became a gift." She knew it was a weak answer and his acidic scoff was understandable, if infuriating.

"How does a thing like that occur, hmm?" he asked, picking the ring off her chest and holding it to the starlight. "I knew I recognized it. This is the craft of another smith of Tirion, a very skilled one from dubious origins who has been seen in questionable company lately, who is possibly in league with my father's mortal enemy. Do I need to say the name or do you know it already? Rembano?"

Luimëníssë snatched the ring back, feeling tainted by his words. "You know nothing of this, you are only making guesses. I can't understand why you feel this pertains to you."

She strode away from him, her movements jerky with anger. As she moved down the steps into the garden, Curvo came alongside her, easily keeping step with his long legs.

"I speak harshly only because I am concerned. You are untried in the ways of the world. Things are not as pleasant everywhere else as it is here in your home. I dread the day you must discover this for yourself and I only hope to shield you from it," he explained in a hurried tone.

"I have enough family trying to shield me from life, I don't need someone else." She threw her hair over her shoulder as she lifted her chin. "Besides why should you care for a lowly, little Telerin maid like myself? I have no place in the grand halls of your kin with your even grander pursuits-"

He halted her, grasping her elbow and peering down into her face. His expression was not his usual of sardonic pride. His brown eyes were wide with sincerity. His lips, full and sensual, parted as he took a fevered intake of breath. "Because I have found that I... appreciate your company. And I hope, with your permission, to come and visit you again."

Luimëníssë drew a step back and he released her. She let out a breathy chuckle and rubbed a hand over her chin. "Are you proposing that you wish to... court me?"

"In a way. Yes." His voice was firm, the same way he had sounded when he agreed they should jump off the cliff together. "I am proposing that we start something. Only a beginning. Things being the way they are at home, perhaps it is not the most appropriate timing but I had to make my feelings known before I leave tomorrow." He closed the distance between them again, taking her hand in his and placing the other gently over it. His gaze searched her face in quiet panic. "Well?"

"I'm sorry, you have caught me by surprise. Yes, perhaps we have reached a place of better understanding, but I never thought that you would consider someone like myself."

"Believe me, I am certainly more surprised than you."

"Aren't there any maids among the Noldor that have drawn your interest?"

"A few but none as keenly as you. And I don't believe any will suffice after that day on the cliffs when we jumped into the water. When you... saved me. I don't believe I ever properly thanked you for it." He lifted a hand and rested it at the crook of her neck. Luimëníssë was too shocked to move away. "I know the objections from my family will be strong, mostly from my father, of course. You are far from the kind of maid I was raised to find suitable-"

"I believe you've explained yourself enough on that account," Luimëníssë snapped. She shook her head as she tore herself from his touch. "Have you heard a word of what you have said? You have done nothing but insult me."

Curvo blinked and wet his lips. "I apologize, I didn't think as I spoke."

"How funny, because you seem to be the kind of person who always thinks before he speaks. You weigh each word, each insult like a fletcher crafts an arrow, divining which one will hurt the most. You have a tongue as sharp as the blades you craft, even when you try to tell someone you care for them." Luimëníssë turned her back on him. "I must bid you good night and good bye. I wish you safe sailing on the morning tide."

She ran from the sprawling gardens and shining lights of her home. Throwing her leather sandals off to the side as she reached the steps carved into the cliff, she almost tripped down them in her haste. She skidded at the bottom and fell into the sand, pressing a hand to her burning cheek. 

What kind of answer did Curvo expect from her? She barely knew him. Of course, she knew that such connections between elves could be instantly sensed, but shouldn't that mean by both parties?   

The quiet padding of footsteps up the beach stole her attention. A lofty figure trotted towards her, sable hair bouncing on his broad shoulders. "Luimëníssë? Are you well?"

He extended a hand to her, starlight filling the sharp angles of his masculine face. His thin lips pulled back into a brilliant smile as he helped her to her feet. "You dance so well, I'm surprised to see you clumsy."

She brushed the sand from her skirts with a breathy laugh, immediately overcome by his presence. All thoughts of Curvo were lost as he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm.

"I'm well," she managed to breathe. "Only a little disoriented. I haven't been down here at night, my mother has always forbidden me."

Rembano gave her a sly wink. "Then let's take advantage of your disobedience. Come with me, there's something I want to show you."

Leading her by the hand, they skirted the foam, bare feet leaving prints in the sand. Lifting her hem, she beamed back at him as he tossed a playful grin over his shoulder. He led her at a light run, both laughing as they raced down the starlit beach.

At the edge of the rocky outcrop was a chasm of the cove only visible at low tide. They ambled deep into it's shadows. The cliffs rose around them till they could only see the ocean at their backs. 

"Do you trust me?" He pointed to the shadowy mouth of a sea cave almost hidden from view. "We'll have to swim under water at one point."

"Yes, I trust you," she answered without hesitation.

They entered the dark cavern, the sound of waves echoing inside. A few feet from the entrance was a black pool that Luimëníssë only saw when her eyes adjusted. Rembano slipped under the surface, his shirt slick against his skin. He lifted a hand towards her, smoothing his dark waves back with the other. Silently, she took his fingers and sunk under the surface, her hair and gown swirling around her. A strange light emitted from his other hand, a fire red glow that bounced off the onyx walls and made them iridescent. They swam under a granite ceiling and emerged on the other side. 

Surfacing together, the strange red glow from his hand was doused. Before she could ask him about it, her breath was taken away by what she saw. It was a domed cavern, the walls swirling with mithril that blazed in the black. Jewels, strange and wondrous, illuminated the sloping ground beneath their feet in shades of violet and indigo. She could clearly see him before her in the light, the water lapping at their shoulders.

"Well?" He floated halfway onto his back and gently tugged her towards him, arms around her waist. "What do you think?"

His body hummed with warmth even in the chill of the cave. She braced her arms against his chest, lightly resting her hands on his collar bone as he tread water in a circle around the pool. "I had no idea it even existed."

"I found it so very long ago. Centuries before your people even settled here. I used to gather these jewels for my first ornaments. My master, the one I had before... he said that those initial attempts were very admirable." He gave a wistful laugh. "So that was what I became known as, the admirable."

"How old are you?" She couldn't imagine the number if he had been here before the Teleri had settled on these shores, even though her people were the last to settle in Aman. She wished she knew more lore like her mother.

He twirled a floating curl of her hair around his finger, the knuckle brushing against the bare skin of her arm. "Much older than you, I'm afraid. Does that intimidate you?"

"No."

"I'm not surprised. Nothing intimidates you. You are fearless, I knew it from the moment I first saw you as a child clinging to that cliff side. I was going to help you to safety, but you pulled yourself up without a cry. You have the heart of a hurricane, Silver Bell." 

His words left her aching for him, his voice like the quiet rumble of thunder as it bounced off the smooth walls around them. She leaned towards his mouth, but he gave a teasing smirk and pulled away. 

"There is something I want to give you," he said as he stood, though one hand never removed from her lower back. 

He retrieved a small pouch from his pocket and slipped open the drawstring. A ring, silver with an intricate but simple foil, was fashioned with the black pearl she'd discovered in the cove beyond her home. 

"It's lovely," she murmured.

"I made it for your finger alone. It won't fit any one else's, like that pearl ring that you keep won't fit any but me." He tipped her chin up, his golden eyes only for her. "Do you accept this ring?"

"Yes," she said. "With all my heart."

He let out a small sigh of wonder at her words and slipped it onto her finger. 

"May I return yours to you now?" She took the pearl ring out from under her soaked gown. She slipped it off her neck and removed the chain. "I want to give it to you."

He wet his lips as he peered down at her hand. "The exchange of rings is a sacred thing between elves."

"Yes, I know," she whispered. "But I wish to do it. It's my own choice."

"You would... have me? Even without knowing anything about me? Whether I am of noble birth or not?"

"I would have you no matter what. I may be young but I know what I want." She pressed a hand to his cheek, her fingers pulsing with heat at the touch of his skin. He leaned into her caress, his eyes drifting closed. "And I want you."

"Very well," he said.

She settled the ring onto his forefinger. Oddly, it seemed to seal to his skin. 

His urgent kiss sent a shock wave through her body, his mouth as hungry for her as she was for him. He pressed closer, the water surging and ebbing with the gentle current. The heat of his body made her feel like she was submerged in a bed of coals, as though they were two pieces of metal being fused together in the flames.

As he breathlessly pulled away, she tilted her lips greedily towards him, wanting more. With a light laugh, he pressed his fingers to her mouth and let them linger there.

"I cannot give you any else now, you must understand," he said huskily. "I must be going soon."

She nuzzled his fingertips, eyes never leaving his. Uttering a groan from deep in his chest, he rested his forehead against hers.

"You are making this very difficult, love," he said with a winded chuckle.

"But why must you go?"

He swam towards a ledge and lifted her up onto it. Resting between her legs, he drew her close till his chin was level with her breastbone. He blinked up at her, his expression pained. "I don't want to, but I must. For now. There are events happening in Tirion that I must witness. Things are going to change very soon, love, but you mustn't be afraid. I will keep you safe, you are a part of me now."

"What do you mean? I have heard others speak of similar matters."

"Things between the Noldor and the Valar are not well at the moment. They have a leader among them who is driving a wedge between Tirion and the Holy Mountain. Tempers are running high."

"And what is it you want to do?"

"I want to bring order and control to this world and I'll do it by any means necessary. Its the only way for things to run efficiently."

"Spoken like a true Noldo," she laughed.

A strange smile flickered over his mouth. He laid a kiss to the hollow of her throat. "I suppose so," he breathed onto her drenched skin. 

Luimëníssë shivered as his lips skimmed the curve of her neck. "But you will return to me as soon as you are able?"

"Nothing could keep me away from you for long. I fear I will never be rid of my need for you," he sighed, rising up and kissing her hard.

They emerged from the cave to find that the lights in the house above had been doused. She didn't care anymore if her mother was concerned with her whereabouts, not with Rembano's hand in her own as they walked towards the cliff steps.

"I will leave you here, I don't want to alarm your father, a stranger bringing his only daughter home at this hour. And soaked to the bone," he whispered with a wry grin, enveloping her in his arms. Resting his hands to the sides of her face, he kissed the tip of her nose. "I will return, Luimëníssë. I always will. You must trust this."

"I do," she replied. 

Fighting every natural impulse in her, she left his side and quickly climbed the steps. As she reached the landing, she peered down into the blackness to find he had disappeared.