eldalieva
Harem Frishna, Keeper of
the Blue
Registered: Apr
2002
Location: Losin' it. Oh wait, LOST it.
Posts:
43 |
This was
posted at Imladris for Ele's birthday...thought I'd post it
for a belated birthday party here at our second
home!
PS: Silmarillion is a must-read if you really
want to appreciate and understand Frodo's world!---as I'm sure
we all do!
You know...I kinda miss the branch office.
Afternoon, April
Frodo is in the garden
behind the kitchen, by the terrace that looks down the lawns
and over the sea, on this perfect April day. Around him is the
somnolent hush of late afternoon; the only sound is birdsong
and the distant murmur of the waves on the
shore.
Elevensies comes upon him from behind and places
her hands on his shoulders, then leans over and kisses him on
the cheek. “What are you doing out here?” she asks.
He
looks up and smiles, almost abashed. “Actually, I think I was
nearly falling asleep.”
“Perfect day for
it.”
“It is.”
She sits on the arm of his chair
and he rests his head against her. She runs her hand through
his hair, combing through the full locks. He jumps a little
when her finger catches on a knot in his hair. “Ouch!” he says
and laughs lightly. “Thank you very much!”
“You should
hardly blame me if you have knots in your hair!” she
chides gently. “What you should do is wash this…” she
ruffles her hand through his dark curls…“Wash all of this
out.” An idea comes to her. “In fact, I’ll do it for
you.”
“I’m sure that I can…”
“No, no, no,” she
says, jumping up from the chair. “I won’t hear of
it.”
“This is silly!” she hears him calling behind her
as she runs into the kitchen to get some things. Her apron. A
towel. The linden-scented soap he loves.
She fills two
pitchers with clean water, warmed from standing in the sun all
afternoon. Coming back to where he sits, she lays everything
but the towel on the ground behind his chair.
“This is
silly,” he says again, laughing.
“Nonsense.” She lays
the towel over his shoulders and combs her fingers through his
hair. “You need it done and I want to do it. You won’t be
sorry. All right. Tilt your head back, please.”
“Yes,
ma’am,” he obliges. With one hand, she pours a pitcher of warm
water over his tipped-back head, running her other hand
through his hair.
He lifts his head up and wipes water
off his face. Taking the bar of linden soap, she makes a
lather with her wet hands and begins to work it through his
curls.
“Mmmmm…this is nice,” he says, closing
his eyes.
“You see...”
Frodo leans his
head back against her. She thinks he must be asleep, or very
nearly, when he says dreamily, “My mother used to do
this.”
Sweeping soap from his forehead, she asks, “Do
you remember her well?”
“No…her eyes…her touch. It was
warm…like yours.” He draws a long sigh and opens his eyes to
look up at the sky. “That was so long ago it seems like
someone else’s memory. A tale that was told to me. If I had
known then everything that would happen…” He lapses into
drowsy silence as he blinks heavily and lets his eyelids sink
down.
Gazing out at the horizon, she works her hands
fondly through his hair, loving the way it curls through her
fingers and how the perfume of linden mingles with his own
warm scent. The April air is so mild, the afternoon so
peaceful and heavy with sunshine that she works as one
mesmerized, her hands moving on their own.
After a
little while, she says softly, “Frodo…I have to rinse
this.”
“Hmmmm…?” he says, but does not open his
eyes.
He seems so content that she decides not to rouse
him. Stepping aside, she allows his head tip back on her left
hand. She pours the sun-warmed, clear water over him, rinsing
out the soap. She sets the pitcher down at her feet. Covering
his eyes so that no water will run into them, she tilts his
head back up and leans it against herself once more. The ends
of his hair are already curling, droplets of water run down
his face.
Then, so distantly he seems to be talking in
his sleep, he murmurs again, “If I had known everything that
would happen…”
She does not believe that he hears her,
but she continues his thought. “If you had known…?” She picks
up the ends of the towel to dry his face and hair.
A
faint, sad smile crosses his face. After a moment, he says “I
might have thought to drown myself with her.”
She
pauses for a moment and then lays the towel back down on his
shoulders. She places her wet palms lightly on his face. “Oh,
Frodo,” she says gently, “Don’t ever say that.”
She
looks down at him to see if he will respond, but he does not.
His eyes are still closed, and she wonders again if he is
asleep. She strokes wet tendrils of hair from his forehead.
Water sparkles in his eyebrows and eyelashes, like diamonds in
shadow. Gently, she passes her fingers over his wet lashes,
the span of his cheekbones, down the straight bridge of his
nose. Even the fine wings of his nose are perfect, delicate
and pink, like the edge of a seashell. How beautiful he is! A
drop of water rests in the soft channel above the bow of his
upper lip, and moisture glistens in the corners of his mouth.
She passes her fingers over his lips and he parts them
slightly, his breath cooling her wet hand. She strokes both of
her hands up the angles of his jaw, to his neck, then rests
them on his face.
“A vrannon vain, tan avo bedo,
” she whispers.
He is not sleeping. He brings his
hands up to cover her own. Taking her hands in his, he kisses
first the left palm, then the right. His eyes flutter open and
he turns his head to look up at her. “Ettelewen,” he
says softly, using her Elvish name. It is a secret between the
two of them, and he knows how she loves the sound of it, the
sweetness of it in his mouth. “Ettelewen, avaro niphred
anim.”
She steps around the chair and kneels down
in front of him, looking into his eyes.
“No, I am not
afraid,” she whispers and smiles at him. He leans forward and
kisses her on her forehead, on her closed eyes, on her lips.
The afternoon envelops them in silence, in warmth, in
peace.
Happy Birthday, Ele!!!!
A
vrannon vain, tan avo bedo: Oh, beautiful lord, don’t say
that.
Avaro niphred anim: Do not have fear for
me.
Ettelewen: That’s for Elevensies only!
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04-16-2002
03:33 AM
) 
WHY did I talk
myself out of buying some of it??!!?? 
