Impulsive and young, Thranduil brings back Aerneth to Doriath as his wife, making his abusive father furious. Through the Ages their hasty marriage is shadowed by war and death, dragons and dark lords, betrayal and kinslayings. How can they ever fin...
~We get to know what happened to Beren and Lúthien, and a monster has entered Doriath.~
oOo
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Beren and Lúthien by Sara M Morello
Lúthien and Beren
Menegroth, Doriath, First Age 466
With Aerneth's return to Doriath, life slowly settled back to normal in Oropher's house. Both ellyn returned to work, and while obviously still in mourning, they managed to hold it within themselves and keep up their appearances outwardly.
Aerneth took to running the household, and did it well. Oropher had no complaints about her anymore, at least none he would speak out loud, and their conversation around the dinner table was polite, albeit still a bit stiff.
Autumn turned into winter, and winter into spring, and all was well. On the surface.
oOo
"Why did you wake me?" Thranduil gave Aerneth an angry glare.
"You were crying in your sleep again. I cannot stand it." She tried to touch his cheek but he pushed her hand away.
"Just leave me be." He turned his back. He did not want her pity, why could she not understand?
She sighed in a sad way that grated on his nerves.
"I just wish you would speak about what is troubling you. I can see it is something."
"Can an ellon get some rest in this room or will you talk all night? Shall I go down and sleep in the sitting-room?"
That silenced her for a couple of minutes. Thranduil felt himself slowly beginning to relax when she again piped up.
"You have changed." Her voice was small and disappointed.
Furious, Thranduil rose, pulled on a shirt and slammed the door behind him as he went downstairs. Nagging elleth of a wife! Why could she never do as told? She just had to keep prying.
Pouring himself a glass of wine, he sank into one of the chairs, remembering his mother used to do the same. But he would not think of her. She was gone.
Instead his thoughts went to the troubled times the kingdom was going through. Ever since Lúthien's escape, the city had been bubbling with unrest, and a few elves had even left and moved to the Falas or just disappeared, one of them the king's best friend, the minstrel Daeron.
And then other strange news had reached Doriath earlier this year; that Lúthien and the hound had arrived at Sauron's island, and somehow they had single-handedly defeated that evil Maia and all his werewolves. As incredible and impossible as that sounded, it must be true, because many elves who had been imprisoned by Sauron had returned home afterwards and told the story. They had also carried the sad report that Finrod Felagund, former ruler of Nargothrond and Galadriel's brother, was dead.
