Through Sorrow to Find Joy by Dawn Felagund  

The Turning

Nerdanel remembers joy. A drabble.

The Turning

Nerdanel the wise had known that it would end in grief. Mayhap not so badly--her husband exiled, her sons murderers--but grief all the same. But she had seized her joy. She had thought of neither eventuality nor inevitability.

It came nonetheless.

Winters are harsh in Formenos, even more so now without the Trees. Yet on this day--the longest day of the year--winter is unthinkable. The city is arrayed for festival for the first time since the Darkening, and none think of winter.

Nor does Nerdanel. She will have her joy. But she feels the year turning.