Fic A Day, Day 9 - Lullaby
Aug. 9th, 2020 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grundyscribblingTitle: Lullaby
Author: Grundy
Rating: FR13
Crossover: LotR/Silmarillion
Disclaimer: All belongs to Whedon & Tolkien. No money is being made here, it's all in good fun.
Summary: Anariel put off going to sleep as long as she could...
Word Count: 1165
Anariel wasn’t entirely sure about having her grandmother help her get ready for bed, but she hadn’t really been able to argue with Uncle Finrod that she was all but asleep in her chair.
Grandmother had sighed and given her that fond smile that said she was acting like a child.
“Come, pitya,” she said. “I should have known better than to let Ingo come with me. It should have been obvious you would try to cram hearing about the entirety of the First Age, the Fourth Age, and everything in between into the space of a few days.”
“Aunt Findë is probably biting back on the ‘told you so’,” Anariel agreed cheerfully. “But I’m sure there’s time for one more story…”
“There is all the time in Arda for you to hear more stories after you’ve slept,” Finrod laughed. “In fact, I should probably turn in myself. I hadn’t paid attention to the time at all, but look how high Ithil is in the sky! Artë?”
“I’ll just tuck my little sun in first,” Galadriel replied. “Come, pitya.”
Galadriel waited until they were in Anariel’s room to tweak her new braid.
“I haven’t seen one of these in an Age,” she said softly. “Celeborn put this one in?”
Anariel nodded.
“We must be careful not to brush it out,” Galadriel murmured.
“I know how to re-do it,” Anariel said.
“I think it can stay in overnight,” Galadriel said. “But only the one?”
“Grandfather thought Thingol would want to put the other in himself.”
Galadriel sighed.
“Let us thank Nienna that he hasn’t come visiting yet. Aunt Findë may protest Ingo, but I suspect she’ll find Uncle Elu a less restful visitor still.”
She took the hairbrush and began to brush out her granddaughter’s hair, careful not to disturb that braid.
“Lúthien created them, you know. It’s how she wore her hair when they first returned to Menegroth from the North, before Carcharoth slipped into Doriath.”
“Really?” Anariel asked.
She’d known Lúthien wore the braids, but not that they were her invention.
“Really,” Galadriel assured her. “I’m surprised Celeborn didn’t tell you the tale when he did the braid.”
“We were talking of other things,” Anariel said with a grin. “It wasn’t long before we landed.”
She could hear her grandmother’s residual annoyance.
“Sorry they tricked you,” she said. “But I really did just want Ada and Nana. And that’s all I had time for anyway. I fell asleep again as soon as I talked to them.”
“Don’t trouble yourself, pitya,” Galadriel sighed. “That is between me and my mother and grandparents. I understand, even if I did not much like it.”
“I promise you can show me off to everyone once I’m allowed out of Lorien?” Anariel offered.
“Don’t be silly,” Galadriel chuckled. “There’s your hair done. Did you want to re-do your special braid now or in the morning?”
“In the morning,” Anariel said firmly. “It’ll just get messy overnight anyway. Apparently I don’t stay very still in my sleep.”
“Is your sleep troubled?” Galadriel asked in concern.
“I wouldn’t say troubled,” Anariel sighed. “Just not as stationary as it used to be. But I’m nowhere near as bad as Tindomiel was when she was little, she used to turn herself into a pretzel!”
She sent her grandmother a mental picture of a pretzel before Galadriel could ask – she generally realized she’d thrown in a California reference no one but her sister or mother would recognize the split second after she’d said it. At least pretzel was a simple one to explain.
“Tinu has had to explain a fair bit as well,” Galadriel chuckled. “Though she has not mentioned pretzels, surprisingly. They seem simple enough to make, I would have thought she’d have talked someone into trying their hand. If not Anairon, her cook.”
“Her cook? My sister has a cook?”
“No questions now, anarya! You sister has a few surprises up her sleeve, and she’ll be extremely upset if I spoil them. Besides, we were talking of you not sleeping quietly.”
Anariel sighed. She’d thought for a minute she found a workable diversion…
“I think the Slayer is getting restless. I mean, there’s nothing here for it to do.”
That had the benefit of being a true statement.
Slayer healing was nearly back to normal, and she had no true physical injuries to complain of anymore. Ok, if pressed, she might admit that her shoulder was still slightly sore. But the muscles and bones were definitely all in the right places again.
The Slayer spirit might still be recovering, but it was no longer drawing so much of her energy that she needed to sleep constantly or lounge around when she was awake. But both Findis and Estë were convinced she shouldn’t be training again yet. (Really, Estë was the one whose say mattered. Anariel was confident she could get around Findis if she really wanted. But in contest between ‘just became a maia recently’ vs ‘actual Valië’, she’s pretty sure she’s not going to come out on top. Learning curves and all that jazz.) Consequently, she had the worst of both worlds – still considered to be healing but with excess Slayer energy she had no way to burn off.
Despite their little tete-a-tete in her head on the voyage West, there was no effective way of telling the Slayer there was nothing here to hunt. She had no idea how to talk to the Slayer like that again. Much longer of the ‘no activity’ rule being enforced, and she was going to find sitting still a serious challenge, nevermind keeping still while asleep.
Galadriel frowned.
“If you continue to be unquiet in your sleep, we must find something for you to do to calm yourself. I agree with Aunt Findë that further visits from Tulkas are out of the question, but if you are well enough to walk around, surely there must be some form of exercise you can do.”
Privately, Anariel planned to push for swimming. Lorellin was large enough that she could do rounds of the lake, or repeated legs to and from the island. And no one could argue with swimming. Hopefully elves had the concept of ‘low impact’.
And hopefully, having planted the idea that the Slayer was what made her twitchy in her sleep, no one would look any closer.
“You’ll help?” Anariel asked, putting honest relief into her words.
“Sleep now, pitya. We’ll see how things look in the morning,” Galadriel advised.
Anariel sighed and climbed into bed.
“Would you like me to sing?” Galadriel asked.
Anariel hesitated, but only for a moment.
“There’s a Lindarin song Nana sings sometimes, the one she says is Amanyar Lindarin…”
“It is,” Galadriel smiled. “She learned it from me, I from my mother, and she from hers. Close your eyes.”
A song about the stars shining on the sleeper was probably a good thing to take with her, Anariel reflected as sounds of the waking world faded away.
Author: Grundy
Rating: FR13
Crossover: LotR/Silmarillion
Disclaimer: All belongs to Whedon & Tolkien. No money is being made here, it's all in good fun.
Summary: Anariel put off going to sleep as long as she could...
Word Count: 1165
Anariel wasn’t entirely sure about having her grandmother help her get ready for bed, but she hadn’t really been able to argue with Uncle Finrod that she was all but asleep in her chair.
Grandmother had sighed and given her that fond smile that said she was acting like a child.
“Come, pitya,” she said. “I should have known better than to let Ingo come with me. It should have been obvious you would try to cram hearing about the entirety of the First Age, the Fourth Age, and everything in between into the space of a few days.”
“Aunt Findë is probably biting back on the ‘told you so’,” Anariel agreed cheerfully. “But I’m sure there’s time for one more story…”
“There is all the time in Arda for you to hear more stories after you’ve slept,” Finrod laughed. “In fact, I should probably turn in myself. I hadn’t paid attention to the time at all, but look how high Ithil is in the sky! Artë?”
“I’ll just tuck my little sun in first,” Galadriel replied. “Come, pitya.”
Galadriel waited until they were in Anariel’s room to tweak her new braid.
“I haven’t seen one of these in an Age,” she said softly. “Celeborn put this one in?”
Anariel nodded.
“We must be careful not to brush it out,” Galadriel murmured.
“I know how to re-do it,” Anariel said.
“I think it can stay in overnight,” Galadriel said. “But only the one?”
“Grandfather thought Thingol would want to put the other in himself.”
Galadriel sighed.
“Let us thank Nienna that he hasn’t come visiting yet. Aunt Findë may protest Ingo, but I suspect she’ll find Uncle Elu a less restful visitor still.”
She took the hairbrush and began to brush out her granddaughter’s hair, careful not to disturb that braid.
“Lúthien created them, you know. It’s how she wore her hair when they first returned to Menegroth from the North, before Carcharoth slipped into Doriath.”
“Really?” Anariel asked.
She’d known Lúthien wore the braids, but not that they were her invention.
“Really,” Galadriel assured her. “I’m surprised Celeborn didn’t tell you the tale when he did the braid.”
“We were talking of other things,” Anariel said with a grin. “It wasn’t long before we landed.”
She could hear her grandmother’s residual annoyance.
“Sorry they tricked you,” she said. “But I really did just want Ada and Nana. And that’s all I had time for anyway. I fell asleep again as soon as I talked to them.”
“Don’t trouble yourself, pitya,” Galadriel sighed. “That is between me and my mother and grandparents. I understand, even if I did not much like it.”
“I promise you can show me off to everyone once I’m allowed out of Lorien?” Anariel offered.
“Don’t be silly,” Galadriel chuckled. “There’s your hair done. Did you want to re-do your special braid now or in the morning?”
“In the morning,” Anariel said firmly. “It’ll just get messy overnight anyway. Apparently I don’t stay very still in my sleep.”
“Is your sleep troubled?” Galadriel asked in concern.
“I wouldn’t say troubled,” Anariel sighed. “Just not as stationary as it used to be. But I’m nowhere near as bad as Tindomiel was when she was little, she used to turn herself into a pretzel!”
She sent her grandmother a mental picture of a pretzel before Galadriel could ask – she generally realized she’d thrown in a California reference no one but her sister or mother would recognize the split second after she’d said it. At least pretzel was a simple one to explain.
“Tinu has had to explain a fair bit as well,” Galadriel chuckled. “Though she has not mentioned pretzels, surprisingly. They seem simple enough to make, I would have thought she’d have talked someone into trying their hand. If not Anairon, her cook.”
“Her cook? My sister has a cook?”
“No questions now, anarya! You sister has a few surprises up her sleeve, and she’ll be extremely upset if I spoil them. Besides, we were talking of you not sleeping quietly.”
Anariel sighed. She’d thought for a minute she found a workable diversion…
“I think the Slayer is getting restless. I mean, there’s nothing here for it to do.”
That had the benefit of being a true statement.
Slayer healing was nearly back to normal, and she had no true physical injuries to complain of anymore. Ok, if pressed, she might admit that her shoulder was still slightly sore. But the muscles and bones were definitely all in the right places again.
The Slayer spirit might still be recovering, but it was no longer drawing so much of her energy that she needed to sleep constantly or lounge around when she was awake. But both Findis and Estë were convinced she shouldn’t be training again yet. (Really, Estë was the one whose say mattered. Anariel was confident she could get around Findis if she really wanted. But in contest between ‘just became a maia recently’ vs ‘actual Valië’, she’s pretty sure she’s not going to come out on top. Learning curves and all that jazz.) Consequently, she had the worst of both worlds – still considered to be healing but with excess Slayer energy she had no way to burn off.
Despite their little tete-a-tete in her head on the voyage West, there was no effective way of telling the Slayer there was nothing here to hunt. She had no idea how to talk to the Slayer like that again. Much longer of the ‘no activity’ rule being enforced, and she was going to find sitting still a serious challenge, nevermind keeping still while asleep.
Galadriel frowned.
“If you continue to be unquiet in your sleep, we must find something for you to do to calm yourself. I agree with Aunt Findë that further visits from Tulkas are out of the question, but if you are well enough to walk around, surely there must be some form of exercise you can do.”
Privately, Anariel planned to push for swimming. Lorellin was large enough that she could do rounds of the lake, or repeated legs to and from the island. And no one could argue with swimming. Hopefully elves had the concept of ‘low impact’.
And hopefully, having planted the idea that the Slayer was what made her twitchy in her sleep, no one would look any closer.
“You’ll help?” Anariel asked, putting honest relief into her words.
“Sleep now, pitya. We’ll see how things look in the morning,” Galadriel advised.
Anariel sighed and climbed into bed.
“Would you like me to sing?” Galadriel asked.
Anariel hesitated, but only for a moment.
“There’s a Lindarin song Nana sings sometimes, the one she says is Amanyar Lindarin…”
“It is,” Galadriel smiled. “She learned it from me, I from my mother, and she from hers. Close your eyes.”
A song about the stars shining on the sleeper was probably a good thing to take with her, Anariel reflected as sounds of the waking world faded away.
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Date: 2020-08-10 05:03 am (UTC)Really enjoying this!
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Date: 2020-08-12 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-11 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-08-12 03:55 am (UTC)