Into the West (A Lord of the Rings Fan Fic)

Chapter Ten

Amaruil sat beside her parents at the head of the table, laughing and grinning as she caught up with old friends and people with whom she had grown up; though she questioned her mother’s motives for throwing it, she could not deny that she was enjoying the feast, and she only regretted that Elladan and Elrohir had not been around to attend, for Arwen and Elrond were both at their end of the table, smiling widely as they talked.

The feast carried on into the night and was then followed by more festivities, with elves reciting poems, stories and ancient songs as they sat around on plump cushions in one of the other halls. Amaruil sat beside Arwen as they listened to the Lay of Lúthien, but her thoughts were elsewhere – Merenwen had seemed different all day, as if something were slightly off, and she worried about what it could be; in all her years she had never seen Merenwen so visibly distressed by anything and Amaruil knew that it must be quite serious for it to have such an effect. She had tried to hide it but, despite her extensive travels, Amaruil could read her well and she couldn’t hide anything from her sister.

Even now, as she leaned against one of the pillars, her legs stretched out along the floor, what should have utterly contented her only disturbed her, because Amaruil couldn’t help but repeatedly glance over to where Merenwen sat on the opposite side of the room, seemingly engrossed by the stories, but with a tiny, almost unnoticeable, frown marring and puckering her forehead.

Eventually the guests began to leave, making their excuses and thanking her parents before gracefully sweeping out of the room, their rich gowns and tunics flowing behind them in myriad bursts of colours which ranged from emerald greens and deep sapphire blues, to the palest greys, like the light between dawn and the rising of the sun, and the prettiest pinks which reminded Amaruil of rose petals in the beginning of spring, just touched by a faint blush of colour.

Once everyone had left, Amaruil was free to trudge upstairs to her room, nearly collapsing from tiredness when she finally reached her bed. It was not to be however, because she had no sooner settled down under the covers than there was a knock at the door and Merenwen entered quietly.

“Forgive me for disturbing you so late sister,” she whispered as she came to sit beside her.

“Could it not wait until morning?” Amaruil asked hopefully despite knowing that Merenwen would not be there if it were not important.

“No, I fear that it cannot. I should have told you earlier but I did not wish to spoil your enjoyment of the feast,” Merenwen said, “and also you had only just returned; I did not wish to burden you after such a long time travelling.”

“What is it Merenwen?” she said, a little grumpy at the delay to her sleep.

“It is about Ada and Nana.”

“Yes?” Amaruil asked tiredly.

“They plan to leave for the Grey Havens,” Merenwen said quietly, her voice nearly a whisper as her eyes widened, her words stunning Amaruil into wakefulness and banishing sleep from her mind.

“What?” she exclaimed.

“They believe that it is becoming too dangerous here in Ennorath, and Ada is finally succumbing to the Sea-longing.”

“But what about the good that they could do here, their friends and family; what about us?”

“I do not know Amaruil. Besides, it is not as if we have much family remaining here, the majority have already left for the Undying Lands and Nana is determined to accompany Lenwë across.”

“Lenwë is leaving for the Undying Lands?” Amaruil asked shocked.

“He does not know when, but when he does it seems ever more likely that Mother and Father will follow,” Merenwen said sadly.

“I will not go.”

“Why not?”

“I cannot leave my friends behind and I refuse to leave while the fate of Ennorath hangs in the balance,” Amaruil replied determinedly.

“Perhaps it is better to cut all our ties while we are still safe Amaruil,” Merenwen said.

“It is not Merenwen; there is nothing worse than to leave before the end of the story. I will not leave my friends, no matter what our parents say. They cannot force us to follow them, and I have no doubt that I will sail across the sea before too long, but I will do it when I am ready, and I am not ready at the moment.”

“Who is it Amaruil?” Merenwen asked wearily. “There is no point in waiting for him.”

Amaruil instantly forced down the unbidden thought of Legolas and his bright blue eyes and kept herself calm. “There is no one Merenwen, merely concern for the land and for my friends. You may well know about Arwen… there is no way she is coming to the Undying Lands and I will not leave her before I have to. Besides I may as well ask you the same thing, for you seem extraordinarily out of sorts lately.”

Merenwen sighed as she gazed out of the window wistfully, the slight breeze playing with the ends of her long hair as it trailed across Amaruil’s sheets. “It is nothing Amaruil; I just miss the company of the twins; I could not help but think of them when I glanced at Arwen and Elrond and I was taken up by hoping that they were safe.”

“I am sure that they are perfectly well Merenwen,” Amaruil said tiredly. “Do you know roughly when they plan to travel?”

“No. They are always away for an uncertain amount of time.”

“Not the twins Merenwen, our parents?”

“Oh! No, I do not. Soon I think, but I also believe that they love Ennorath and Imladris too dearly to leave in a hurry. I suppose that they will probably make arrangements to sail when it seems that life here is dangerous.”

“At least we have a little time,” Amaruil murmured as Merenwen stood to leave.

“I am sorry Amaruil; Mother did not want you to know.”

“Why not?”

“I suppose that she feared you might leave; perhaps in anger, perhaps to make sense of it. I have a suspicion they desired to conceal it from me as well, but it is much harder to have secrets when you live with someone. As you know, I do not travel much,” Merenwen said with a little smile.

“Thank you for telling me sister,” Amaruil said as Merenwen paused in the doorway, “however I think that perhaps it might have been safe to leave it until morning,” she teased.

“Sleep well Amaruil,” Merenwen said with a little laugh, leaving Amaruil to settle into an uneasy sleep.

However, her parents did not bring up their decision to leave Ennorath at some undetermined point in the future while Amaruil was staying in Imladris, and so soon her conversation with Merenwen was forgotten about, becoming only a memory. Since it did not seem as if they were preparing to leave in the immediate future, Amaruil reasoned that they would have always left at some point, and that this only confirmed that they were thinking about the ‘some point’. She therefore resolved not to worry about it, and instead focused on enjoying her time at home.

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