Narn Gil-galad by Earonn

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Chapter 2: Brother and Sister

 

Curtsy: To my ever-patient beta reader Nemis. Lots of orc-cookies for you, delivered by an elvenking of your own choice... ;)

Dedicated: To my own big brother, who doubtless had a great influence on my concept of Gil Galad's behaviour towards his sister...

A/N

As far as I know there are no dates of birth for both Gil Galad and Finduilas. We can derive something from the fact that Turin found an adult Finduilas when he arrived at Nargothrond. According to the HoME the elves reached their maturity approximately at the age of fifty. So Finduilas must have been born around the year 440 of the First Age at the latest.

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II Brother and Sister

Finrod was the first to be informed of the betrothal. He was enthusiastic about it at once, the more as he – as nearly everyone else in the dwelling – had been well aware of what was going on between his nephew and the Sinda from the northern hills. He congratulated them and offered to send news to Helegethir's family to inform them of his invitation.

"Your father will arrive in less than a month, so you don't have to lose any time by going to him", he told Orodreth. "He will be very pleased. It’s my only wish your mother could have seen this."

Sadly Orodreth looked down. There had been many losses at the Helcaraxe.

Helegethir no longer withstood the temptation of spending the winter in Nargothrond and at the side of her beloved. So she dismissed most of her company and prepared for months of chill and darkness outside, and full of warmth, love and joy inside the hidden stronghold.

At the beginning of spring Orodreth brought her back to her family. He spent only one night in the house of her father Laerion(1) until he rode on to Tol Sirion to keep up the responsibility of the isle and its pass.

The next morning Helegethir bade him farewell and she stood in the door and gazed after him, when he rode away. Orodreth didn't look back, but his mind was on her and the memory of her gentle hands on his skin.

There was much happiness among the elves of Tol Sirion to see their lord again at last. But Orodreth had grown silent and could often be found deep in thought. The separation was a hardship for both of them, only slightly soothed by the short distance which enabled some short visits.

If the prolonged invitation to Nargothrond hadn't forewarned Helegethir's parents, these visits did their utmost to tell them what was going on, even though they were carefully declared as a 'gesture of politeness towards close neighbours'. The first of them, however, came after more than a year, for Orodreth wasn't sure about the welcome he as a Noldo would find in the house and family of a Sinda.

Three times he came to her in the deep forests at the foot of the mountains; they told each other the tales of their kin and sang together. During the third visit Orodreth at last dared to ask her parents for permission to marry Helegethir.

They weren't happy at all to see their only daughter lose her heart to one of the Noldor princes, for they foresaw that there was much sorrow to come upon them, sorrow which they would have gladly spared Helegethir. And they were well aware that the siege of Thangorodrim wouldn't last for long and this was more a short interlude than a lasting peace.

But Helegethir wasn't afraid of the danger, for her fëa was strong and she paid no heed to the advice of her relatives. She knew she never would give her heart to any other man.

She could remember the time before the arrival of the Noldor. The danger and the terror the creatures of the north brought upon the Sindar, but also the peace of a well-known, constant life. The time, when only stars enlightened her way.

This was past and now Beleriand seemed to be filled with the strange voices of the elves of Valinor who had returned for revenge and war. But who also brought beauty and much needed help in the struggle against Morgoth. And Orodreth, for whose sake alone she wouldn't miss her old life. How dull it would have been if that strange and mysterious fate hadn't brought back his family from Valinor!

And every time her musings reached this point she smiled silently and was thankful, to no one specifically, for she knew not to whom she owed her gratitude. But she enjoyed the feeling of having received a great gift.

Finally they got the permission of her family and late in summer of that year both families gathered at Nargothrond to celebrate the betrothal.

In the following months the attack of Morgoth increased and with his typical patience Orodreth waited five more years until it was peaceful enough for the wedding with his beloved. It was held at Tol Sirion and even the High King Fingolfin took this opportunity to meet the children of his younger brother again.

And in the same year when for the first time the dragon Glaurung appeared, which afterwards should bring so much pain on Nargothrond, on Tol Sirion Helegethir and Orodreth were gifted with a son. As it was custom among the Noldor, Orodreth gave him a name in Quenya and he called him Artanáro(2).

Helegethir cast a long look upon her new-born child, who tired of the task of being born peacefully slept leaned against her breast. "I will call him ''Ellach(3)", she said at last, since she sensed that he would become a bright star for his people.

Orodreth smiled down at his spouse and stroked lovingly over her brown hair. "He takes after you, dark as he is. The first of the House of Finarfin not to be bright haired." His fingers glided above Helegethir's shoulder and arm until it reached the child she held and caressed his little hands. "Would you mind to call him 'Fin-Ellach'? As a memory to his forefathers."

She looked up to him. "His name shall be Finellach."

Only thirty-seven years later a second child, a daughter, was born to Helegethir and Orodreth.

Great is the effort for the elves to bring forth descendants and it is said, two children in such a short period of time (short in the measures of the Firstborn) were more than Helegethir could bear. For a long time she wasn't able to leave her bed, weak and incapable of taking care for her daughter herself, who above all was born several weeks too early. At that time Orodreth was not present at Tol Sirion and so Finellach as her closest kin nursed his sister.

With great steps Orodreth went up the stair to his chambers. He met no one and only a few of his men knew about his return to Minas Tirith. But he had more important things in his mind than to announce his return.

The stable hand who had taken his horse had looked at him in a meaningful manner and when asked about it, had told something about the lady having delivered during the lord's absence – more than a month too early!

So he stormed into her room without even knocking at the door. He was frightened, a cold fright which made him sweat. It ceased a little when he saw Helegethir, his love, his heart, looking at him: tired, surprised, but wide awake.

And then he noticed the empty cradle beside her bed and it seemed to choke him. No child, Helegethir so much weaker than she had been after Finellach's birth and the look of the stable hand – it didn't take much to understand.

Carefully he sat down beside her on the bed and gently embraced his wife, pressed his face into her soft hair.

"It's good you're back again", she whispered.

"And I'm happy to be with you again. How do you feel?"

Her hand touched his cheek. "Weak. Tired. Relieved. Happy."

Happy?

He retreated and took a searching glance at her, then he gestured towards the cradle. "What..." He stopped bewildered.

But Helegethir knew her beloved well enough and even without words she understood what was in his mind. Quickly she took him into her arms. "Oh no, it's not that! She is well! Oh, we've got a daughter my love, a wonderful little daughter. 'Ellach takes care of her, it would be too much for me at the moment, and he's great in it! A little daughter and she's in good health, do you hear me?"

Orodreth cried, he cried out of sheer relief and it was soothing to feel his wife's soft touches at this moment, which gave him comfort.

After regaining his composure he smiled to her. "Where are they?"

She caressed his face again. "Though I don't claim to know every move of our son, at this time he usually is in his reading room. He learns. He says, it is easier if his sister accompanies him."

"He says that?" Orodreth laughed quietly. "Then she has to be completely different from him. For learning with little 'Ellach in the same room – that was impossible!"

She laughed too. "True, it was indeed. She is different, with fair hair and a very calm nature. Go and take a look at her!" She prodded him and the lord of Tol Sirion obediently rose from the mattress.

"Orodreth."

"Yes?"

"Be careful with the boy. It has...has been very difficult for 'Ellach. The birth had been hard for me and that was a great burden to him. He cares very kindly for the little one and there's almost nothing he wouldn't do for her. He is nearly mature enough to have children of his own, beloved, and I got the impression that she may be more for him than just a sister. He's fond of her and I deem it difficult for him to share her now."

He found his son where his wife had suspected: in the reading room, bent over a book in deep concentration, so absorbed in his reading that he didn't even notice his father's entrance.

At any other time Orodreth would have stopped to enjoy the sight of his child, for even after all those years Finellach was a wonder to him, a gift. But today his awareness went towards the flat basket standing between books and sheets on the table, in which a bundle of covers faintly moved. Finellach held his book opened on the table with one hand, the other absently buried between the blankets.

Orodreth stepped into the room and now eventually Finellach looked up. He rose in a moment, when he recognised his visitor.

"Father! Finally you've arrived!" They shortly embraced. Then Orodreth retreated from his son and cast an inquisitive look at the bundle in the basket. "Won't you introduce me to this young lady who is allowed to share even your sanctuary?"

Finellach laughed, but it was a self-conscious laughter. "Certainly." He took the baby out of the basket. So familiar she felt in his arms, so fitting! He pushed away some cloth to free her rosy face. "Look who's there, Las! It's daddy!"

He handed his father the baby and watched him holding the little body enraptured. Orodreth's face turned dreamy. The baby sleepily looked out of her blankets, deep blue eyes nearly disappearing behind half closed lids.

"How do you call her? Las?"

Finellach carefully took one of the tiny hands of his sister. "Yes. Because she was light as a dry leaf when they gave her to me. So terribly light." He was apparently moved by the memory. "You could barely feel her weight." With a hint of defiance he looked at his father. "And I had to name her somehow." He felt certain guilt, for actually it was duty and right of the parents to give the child his everyday name.

Orodreth shifted his little daughter lightly, so he could hold her in one arm and stroke lightly across his son's cheek. "Certainly you had to, boy." He looked into the blue eyes of his daughter and breathed softly across the downy white-blond hair. "I thought to choose something with 'Ethir', 'Finethir' maybe, but now your brother has already given you a name and I don't wish to take it away from you." For a while he mused, silent, in deep concentration, than he looked up. "We will call her Finduilas, as a memory of the House to which she was born, the name of her mother she initially should inherit and the name she received from her brother."(4)

In spite of Orodreth's return Finellach took further care for his sister. He was very eager in this, thus building up a strong bond between them, extraordinary strong even in the measure of the Firstborn. The weakness which Finduilas' birth put upon Helegethir had been a great shock for the young elf, the more close he now felt to the one on whose behalf his beloved mother had endured so much.

Their parents were relieved to see their daughter so affectionately cared for, and it seemed neither to them nor to anyone else strange that Finellach looked after his sister with such a measure of brotherly love.

In their outward appearance Finduilas and Finellach didn't seem close kin, for she was similar to her father, fair-haired and with sparkling blue eyes, while her brother looked like his mother, dark-haired and with dark grey eyes. Later the Noldo-inheritance of his father became apparent and when he was nearly mature, he owned their sturdy physique and sharper features. Finduilas, however, remained lean and graceful throughout her life.

But in character they were very alike, loving the music of the Eldar and reading the books of lore of their people like their father did. They were of calm temper and not as proud and haughty as the descendants of Fëanor and Fingolfin. Especially they inherited their father's unobtrusive manners and the strongly developed sense of duty which was spread out wide within the whole family of Finarfin. Helegethir gave to her children her special expressiveness in bearing and gestures as well as the characteristic speech melody of the Sindar, which both never lost.

Always they were close, and seldom they separated for more than the couple of days or mere weeks that Finellach spent with the sentinels of his father to learn the art of elven warfare.

Five years after Finduilas was born, Celegorm and Curufin visited their friend of old Orodreth on Tol Sirion. They hadn't seen him since his wedding and the son of Angrod greeted his friends merrily. He introduced them proudly to his children. Finduilas was at that time nothing more than a charming infant, but her brother now reached the last years of his bodily growth and it became apparent how much he was like his mother.

Celegorm looked at the young elf with a hint of pity. No matter how he would further develop, Finellach was of elven beauty but among his own people he would never be called more than passable. And for one of the House of Finwë, all the more from the line of Finarfin, this was already a hard judgment. Though he didn't seem to care much about this and impressed more by the clever questions he put to the sons of Fëanor and his calm temper.

One day when he stood together with him and Orodreth to talk about the situation in the various borders of the elven realms, Finellach suddenly began to smile broadly until they all cast questioning looks at him. He turned around and now they saw Finduilas standing there behind him, an expression of childish determination on her sweet face and arms lifted demandingly. Her brother obeyed the mute order and took her up unto his arm. There at once she laid her arms around his neck, leaned her head against his shoulder and began to doze, while he returned to the talk at hand.

It was distinct how close they were. Finduilas even seemed to prefer her brother above her parents, and he didn't hide his affection at all.

"He truly cares for her, doesn't he?", Curufin one day mentioned towards Orodreth and Helegethir, while they watched accompanied by Celegorm how Finellach gave his sister her first riding lessons on a broad-backed pony.

"Oh yes", Orodreth said with a smile, "since the day she was born." He grinned, happy and utterly amused. "It's something to muse about as a father, if his own daughter hides during a heavy thunderstorm not in the bed of her parents but with her brother. You feel completely superfluous!"

The elves laughed. "I'm anxious to see what he'll do when she begins to attract other men", Helegethir added. "To share his beloved little sister with someone else – that will be torment for him."

"Shouldn't he at his age take an interest for the ladies himself?", said Curufin whose only son Celebrimbor showed an unfortunate lack of interest of this kind and was instead always to be found in the smithies, eager to learn his father's secrets and arts.

"You mean women who are not kin to him, don't you?" Orodreth laughed anew, a happy, carefree laughter, half out of sheer pleasure to have his friends at his side and to earn their affectionate mocking and half of the happiness at the sight of his two wonderful children. Then he shrugged. "He will find his way sooner or later. Some day he will perceive that to love a woman can be more than the brotherly care for a little sister, but at present I'm not worried about that."

The longer they stayed at Tol Sirion, the more discontented Celegorm felt. This he could not understand, for during his prior visits he always had felt very well. He couldn't explain this feeling clearly in the beginning, the less could he fathom where it came, but he was too well aware that he grew irritable and sharp-tongued. He talked neither with his brother Curufin nor with Orodreth about this feeling of his, 'cause he didn't want to worry them – and what help could they be, as long as he himself didn't know what exactly was his problem?

One evening he observed Helegethir approaching her spouse and fondly placing an arm around his shoulders while they watched Finellach having seated himself comfortably with his sister on his lap and reading to her from a book. Suddenly Celegorm identified the nature of his sorrow and he was ashamed to envy his friend for having a happy family, a beautiful wise lady and two children to be proud of. Though often the son of Fëanor reminded himself that this was a useless and inadequate feeling, it would not leave him. So he tried to bury and forget it. Subliminal, however, it stayed, and as the years went by it spoiled his friendship with Orodreth.

Some years later king Finrod arrived at Tol Sirion to inform his relatives and the other elves of his meeting with the Men. He told about their courage and faithfulness and of Beor their leader, whose name had been Balan until he put himself into Finrod's service (5) and who lived now in Nargothrond, waiting for the return of the elvenking.

Finellach and Finduilas listened enthusiastically to his stories about the Edain, the second children of Eru Ilúvatar. Finrod's fondness of them was distinct in his words and thus transferred to Orodreth's son and daughter. So they pestered their parents and great-uncle until they were promised they could meet the humans themselves.

Two years later the High King Fingolfin sent messengers to the Edain in order to welcome them to Beleriand. Finrod led them to the camp in Estolad south of Nan Elmoth, and Finellach was allowed to accompany him on this journey.

As detailed and eloquent as Finrod's descriptions had been, they couldn't sufficiently prepare Finellach for his first encounter with the Men. They approached them several leagues before Estolad, three men on sturdy horses, clad in simple brown clothes, with bows and broad swords. Every single piece of equipment, from the reigns of their horses up to their cloaks was simple and scarcely decorated, designed to be practical and endure long hard use. Dark-haired they were, tall and well-muscled, with fair faces and wise eyes. Their voices sounded not as lovely as those of the Eldar, but they had their own beauty and he was anxious to hear them sing.

After greeting Finrod happily they welcomed Fingolfin's messengers with great honour and respect.

He listened attentively when Finrod spoke with the Men. His relative had taught him a little of their language, but they used the Sindarin tongue to be able to talk with the elves of Hithlum. He admired both Finrod's diplomatic skills and the courteous pride of the Edain, and it didn't take much to convince him that they were indeed the Secondborn of Eru, who had been announced to the Eldar, different from them but nonetheless distant kin.

The camp with sheds, houses roughly made of wood and several tents was plain, but functional. Children ran towards them and he willingly allowed them to marvel at his sight, his clothes, weapons and belongings. Only a few of them already mastered the Sindarin tongue, but they were so similar to any children of the Eldar in their behaviour, that he could easily guess their wishes. So he lifted some of them on the back of his horse, while following Finrod and the messengers to the middle of the camp and the correctness of his guess was rewarded with their merry laughter.

He was introduced to Baran son of Beor and greeted him as it was appropriate towards a king. The thought of this Edain being younger than himself was odd at the beginning, but the dignity and wisdom of the man outweighed his seeming youth by far.

Fingolfin's messengers returned soon to their lord. Finrod and his followers, however, stayed in Estolad for a few months. In this time Finellach learned to esteem the Edain. They became dear to him and this love to the Secondborn should be determined in his later life.

Orodreth and his family travelled to Doriath for the first time after Finduilas left her childhood. They were distant kin to Thingol Greymantle(6) and he already had expressed his wish of being introduced to his distant nephew and niece.

At the border of the Guarded Realm they met sentinels of the guard, for they wouldn't have been able to pass the girdle of Melian without guidance. And though at this time Luthien lived in Doriath, the Grey Elves admired Finduilas, who in spite of her youth was a sparkling, golden beauty in the shady twilight under the forest's great trees.

But the young elves also were astounded by the splendour of Menegroth, which surpassed even the beauty of Nargothrond.

Melian took a searching glance at the children of Orodreth. Both showed a related cheerfulness and the light within their eyes was yet unspoiled. Finduilas just had reached the beginning of her maturity, but it was clear that she would become a very charming woman even in the eyes of the elves, and she didn't resemble her brother.

Outwardly Finellach didn't prove his descent from the House of Finarfin. But in character he was calm, reserved and unobtrusive, the true son of his father. And Melian, who in a certain way was still connected with the world of the Ainur, realised that a path full of pain and danger lay before him. Finellach now might fade beside his lovely sister, but it was he who would be more important for the fate of the elves in Middle Earth.

'He will have to fight great struggles and he will stand them, but the power for this will be born from hate alone', she thought sadly. She didn't wish any harm for this quiet, friendly young elf. But it would come, inevitably. And out of this grief Finellach would one day gather a great triumph for the children of Ilúvatar and open them a path to freedom.

While she mused about the prize he would have to pay for that, a single tear ran down the queen's face.

Finduilas, shy and timid, was always to be found near her elder brother. And he behaved distinctly protective towards her. Though they both greeted the king and queen of Doriath with perfect politeness, the young girl only left her brother's side to accompany one of her parents, usually her mother, while Finellach radiated more calm self-confidence.

Thingol friendly welcomed both as descendants of his brother Olwë but also he was cautious, for he knew how the beauty of his own daughter Luthien worked on the Noldor princes. The three young elves became close friends easily, the more as they loved singing and possessed melodious voices. Wonderful were the nights when Luthien and Finduilas sang songs of Elbereth, while Finellach accompanied them with his warm, deep voice. But to the king's relief nothing more seemed to grow from the meeting between his daughter and the son of the lord of Minas Tirith. And for all times Finellach would without hesitation call Luthien the most beautiful of all elves, he never bestowed his heart on upon her.

And while Finduilas spent much of her days with Luthien, strolling around the woods, golden and dark beauties in the radiant light of Elbereth's stars, Finellach was with his parents and the lord and the lady of Doriath, learning much from and about Melian and getting used to the touch of her might on his fëa.

After three years they returned from Doriath. Finduilas left many sad looks on fair faces of unattached males, and more than one of them wished to attend the guard of Tol Sirion in order to be near the daughter of its lord again. But her own heart was yet untouched. She was friendly towards everyone and didn't wish to cause any grief. So it rather was a burden to her, being responsible for such sorrow which she could not yet understand.

At that time on Tol Sirion there lived Gwindor son of Guilin, one of the most gifted chieftains of Orodreth's guard. He had watched Finduilas grow and come into maturity and likewise his love for her grew and became ripe.

When she and her family returned from Doriath, on the evening of their arrival, he heard her brother teasing her with all the broken hearts she left in the Guarded Realm. From this moment Gwindor feared to lose her to someone else.

Therefore he began to court her cautiously, unobtrusive and reserved, so gently that even she hardly recognised what happened. And when after several years he was sure that his feelings were requited, he asked her one evening for a walk and some conversation. They left Minas Tirith and strolled to the northern end of the isle, where the great river parted, roaring and singing his powerful song.

And here, accompanied by the melody of the water and under the glistening stars, Gwindor declared Finduilas his love, and she became aware of the voice of her own heart and with all her courage kissed him lightly on the forehead.

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Chapter End Notes

 

Notes:

(1) Sorry, forgot to translate the names in the last chapter:

Laerion: 'laer' = summer, 'ion' = son - ‚son of summer'

Aewarn: 'aew' = bird, 'arn' = royal - ‚royal bird' (I do know that usually the adjective is positioned before its subject, but it's also said that the elves departed from their own grammar rules in favour of a name's sound)

Helegethir: 'heleg' = 'ice', 'ethir' = 'mouth of river, estuary' - 'ice (on) a river's mouth'

(2) Artanáro: Quenya "noble flame" (from HoME XII, 'Peoples Of Middle Earth')

(3) Ellach: Sindarin "flaming star". It is apparently a synonym for his later epessë ‚Gil Galad'. Tolkien used both names side by side in Gil-Galad's letter to Tar-Meneldur in the story of Aldarion and Erendis, to be found in the Unfinished Tales: according to Christopher Tolkien (in HoME volume 12, 'The Peoples of Middle Earth') this letter originally began with "Finellach Gil Galad of the House of Finarfin". I never liked 'Ereinion'... ;)

(4) Finduilas: in his book 'An introduction to Elvish' Jim Allan translates the name with "Slender-flowing-leafage" and "Locks-of-flowing-leafage", though he marked both translations as doubtful. I've asked Helmut Pesch, a German expert on Tolkien's languages, after his lecture at the RingCon for a better translation, but he only found a similar one. In both his and my opinion, however, this meaning isn't fitting to the bearer of the name. The translation used here with "Fin" as an often used suffix in the family of Finwë, "dui" from Sindarin "duin" = river (and thus similar to "ethir") and "las" = "leaf" is mine, but Mr. Pesch approved it. I owe him a debt of gratitude for his kind help in this matter!

Likewise the reason why Finduilas got this name is invented by me.

If anyone knows a translation made by Tolkien, please tell me!

(5) Balan's later name Beor: According to the 'Silmarillion' Balan was named Beor, "vassal", after he put himself into Finrod's service.

(6) The kinship between Gil Galad and Thingol: Thingol Greymantle, also known as Elwë Singollo, was brother of Olwë of Alqualondë. Olwë's daughter Earwen married Finarfin and was the mother of Angrod, thus great-grandmother of Gil Galad.