...rattling some of her projects, breaking others...

I suppose that could be a summary of their story, in some ways.

I've never really liked that late story in HoME about Ambarussa, for what it seems to be saying about Nerdanel as much as for what it seems to be saying about Feanor. But in your version here her asking for Ambarussa to stay comes across as right, somehow, in spite of it being the wrong move.

And that final exchange!

I thought this was beautiful, Agelast, one of those pieces where, at so many moments, I would wish to see another or more story spun. This is my favorite pairing, and I think you did a good job showing their strength and complexity that both made them work as a couple long enough to raise seven children, then proved their undoing.

I loved it too! It is sometimes harder to please me writing about my favorite characters or pairings because I get so stuck on my own version. You made a fantastically engaging argument for your version in this story. It was bittersweet, sexy and heartbreaking all in one. I loved them both and wished they both could have been happy. Nerdanel shines in the story. So strong and brave and yet wholly human and fallible. Better than canon!