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Elemmírë paused for a moment to admire the view.
Her mate was standing on the balcony, arms on the railing. Her long dark hair trailed down her back in an intricate braid, nearly meeting the line of the sky-blue frock that had been a welcoming gift from Eärwen’s mother. Between the sheer fabric layered to the point that it was opaque but only just, the plunging neckline, and daring open back, it would have been scandalous in Tirion. In Alqualondë, it was unremarkable – not that Elemmírë imagined Findis would wear it anywhere but here. Well, perhaps in the sanctuary of their own rooms…
It looked all for the world as though Findis were trying to embrace the brisk spring breeze blowing in from the sea, as unconstrained and beautiful as the ocean itself.
Elemmírë found the tableaux delightful for more than one reason.
It was so rare to see Findis truly relaxing.
That was why Elemmírë had insisted on this holiday, going so far as to strongarm Írimë into standing as regent for a few weeks so Findis could leave Tirion for a bit. She hadn’t since the Darkening, and had objected even to this short trip until Írimë mowed down all her objections as only a younger sibling could. (That didn’t mean Írimë wanted to be in charge. After demolishing every single one of Findis’ arguments as to why she could not leave the city, she had immediately added the disclaimer that just because she wanted her big sister to take a break did not mean she was volunteering to be High Queen. If they weren’t back in two months, she was sending Ingo to fetch them.)
Findis had then tried to say that Alqualondë was not a place they could reasonably go. Eärwen wasn’t there to reassure her, but Anairë had been considerable help.
“Really, dearest, everyone knows you were managing the crisis here that day,” Elemmírë sighed. “Even if you had been there, you’d have been the one yelling at Naro and Nolo both to stop.”
“Besides,” Anairë added practically, “where else do you think would be better? You’re not one for the north, even if anyone has done the first thing about setting Formenos to rights, which I doubt. And if you’re in Valimar, either you’ll be fretting about your mother, or Ingwë will be fussing incessantly over you. I think Mírë has the right idea. Eärwen’s parents may fuss a bit, but they won’t be nearly as bad as your uncle.”
“I wrote to them, and Olwë replied that they have a house suitable for us to stay in,” Elemmírë added. “A lovely, out of the way place, nice and quiet. You wouldn’t want to disappoint them, surely? Not when they’ve already taken such trouble?”
Thus it was that the High Queen of the Noldor had been chivvied, coaxed, pleaded, and guilted into actually taking some time for herself. There had also been sundry reassurances that the Noldor understood perfectly well her needing some quiet time to rest, and were more than intelligent enough to distinguish between a holiday and running away with no intent to return as Naro had done.
Findis certainly looked to be enjoying herself now that she was here. The sea air had put new color in her cheeks and sparkle in her eyes – or perhaps it was simply being somewhere that did not remind her of tragedy and absence at every turn.
Elemmírë did intend to have words with Eärwen’s mother, though – she and Olwë might have mentioned the house in question belonged to one of their sons, not yet returned from Mandos. (One could not scold a queen with any success, but that had yet to stop Elemmírë from trying when the occasion called for it.) At least she had been persuaded that they needed no household staff.
Elemmírë didn’t claim to be anything more than a competent cook, and Findis might be slightly better but not by much. But true privacy – utterly impossible in the King’s House in Tirion – was more than worth eating simply and the occasional culinary mishap.
Findis was more the young elf Elemmírë remembered from the first time they’d met, when the Princess of the Noldor – at that time, the only one, and still her parents’ youngest child – had been visiting her uncle in Valimar. (It had been all of a week in her company before Elemmírë had known she could marry no one but Findis.)
Not as carefree, of course. That was not a state Findis could reclaim, any more than the rest of them. No one could turn back time to when they had not known how easy it was to destroy lives and shatter bonds, and Findis in particular would never again have that unshaken trust in her family. There would always be the memory of blood and grief.
But the Findis standing here on the balcony looking as though she might sing back to the sea at any moment, was more Elemmírë’s Findis than she had been for some years. Certainly since the Army of the West departed.
Elemmírë stepped closer, moving quietly enough that Findis didn’t notice her presence until she was directly behind her, sweeping Findis’ braid to one side to kiss the nape of her neck (and enjoy the full-body shiver that provoked.)
She leaned her chin on Findis’ shoulder, wrapping her arms around her. Findis twined their hands together, pulling Elemmírë closer with a sigh of contentment.
“There you are,” Findis laughed. “I wondered where you’d got to.”
“Off making sure there will be something for us to eat the next time the urge strikes us,” Elemmírë replied.
They’d been satisfying other urges more frequently, another blissful side effect of time to themselves with no one else underfoot.
“My clever wife,” Findis grinned, turning her head to capture her mate’s lips.
Given the way Findis was pulling their hands downward, urging Elemmírë’s toward a particular spot, there would probably be attending to more of those other urges before whatever the next meal would rightly be called. It might be anything from dinner to breakfast.
Indeed, Elemmírë had both walked among the stars and given that pleasure to Findis several times before they were tired enough to lay curled around each other in a private enclave of bliss watching the sun rise.
“I wish we could be this free more often,” Elemmírë murmured.
She didn’t doubt Írimë would make good her threat to send Ingo after them if they dallied too long, though she did hope they might have a few extra weeks’ grace before they had to worry about him turning up.
“That’s because you’re insatiable,” Findis laughed against her neck.
“If I’m insatiable, so are you,” Elemmírë protested as Findis began to kiss her way downward.
“It won’t be all that much longer,” Findis murmured.
“You mean to go through with it, then?” Elemmírë asked hopefully.
They’d talked before Arafinwë and Eärwen departed with the fleet about him taking up the crown on his return, but she’d thought that was just fond hope on Findis’ part, not true expectation.
“Of course,” Findis snorted, raising her head from where she’d been about to give Elemmírë’s breasts her undivided attention. “I don’t mean to be immured in Tirion forever. Nor was I among those who wanted the crown so badly in the first place. Ara will need a few years to settle back in, but after that, he’s it .”
She dipped her head to nip lightly at a nipple, and smirked at Elemmírë’s moan of pleasure.
“And then,” she continued, “we will be free to go where we will, when we will, and plan our future around our own wishes and desires, rather than the court and its ridiculous etiquette.”
She punctuated that declaration with kisses that made it increasingly difficult to concentrate.
“It may still be a long year or more before he returns,” Elemmírë sighed, running her fingers through Findis’ hair.
“No,” Findis replied with certainty. “It won’t be. Did you pay attention to the sea last night?”
“I was occupied with something much warmer and closer to my heart,” Elemmírë replied.
Findis kissed the spot between her breasts.
“And you were well-occupied, beloved,” she said with a smile promising more such occupation very soon. “But before you had other ideas, I felt a change in the wind – a change coming from the East. I am certain Ara won’t be so long as you fear. And if you can but be patient a little while longer, soon enough we’ll be able to contemplate a life that does not require my constant presence in Tirion or so much decorum on our part.”
Findis followed that with a caress between her legs that made Elemmírë gasp with surprise – when had that hand snuck down there, anyway? – and pleasure. Findis’ clever fingers made further reply on her part impossible, and Findis’ mouth was soon too busy with her mate’s enjoyment for further words.