Chapter Text
There was something different in the garden.
Celebrian paused, her eyes running over the tangle of plants. It was, despite Nerdanel’s occasional and half-hearted attempts to the contrary, still mostly wild and overgrown. The artist claimed that she didn’t have the time to deal with it herself and that having anyone else take care of it would only serve as a distraction.
The only part she kept clear was the area around her memorial sculptures for her husband and sons.
That was when Celebrian noticed the difference.
The pedestals had been shifted, making room for another one to stand between Maedhros and Celegorm. Although the base was still empty, either because she hadn’t finished it or because she couldn’t stomach to put it out, it was clear it was intended for a statue of Maglor.
I might as well make a marker for Kanafinwe, she had once told Celebrian. For all the good it will do me to deny that he’s most likely dead.
Celebrian squared her shoulders and hurried up the steps to the house, letting herself in without knocking.
“Which one came with you today?” The sound came from above her head, and Celebrian looked up with a started cry to see Nerdanel perched on the chandelier.
“What are you doing?!” Celebrian demanded, rushing to the foot of the ladder Nerdanel had left beside her.
Nerdanel just looked down. “No one?” she asked, an eyebrow raised. “Good. I don’t need to be tripping over any of my inlaws.”
“My uncle may come by later,” Celebrian said quickly, too preoccupied with determining what Nerdanel was doing to think straight.
“Damn.”
“You are going to get hurt,” Celebrian pleaded, watching as Nerdanel adjusted the light sources in the chandelier, then removed it from its base entirely and slid it into her apron pocket.
“Show some respect, girl. I’m older than your mother.” With that, Nerdanel swung her feet over the edge and dropped some twenty feet to the ground. She landed easily on her feet and stood, dusting herself off as though it were nothing.
“I-” Celebrian didn’t know what to say, mouth still agape. “My grandfather has offered countless times to send someone to oversee repairs on the house,” she managed.
“Don’t need ‘em.” Nerdanel strode past her, disappearing into the depths of the house. “Don’t want ‘em.”
Celebrian shook her head and hurried after her. “You would have more time for your art,” she offered.
“I enjoy fixing things.” Nerdanel stopped short and Celebrian nearly ran into her. “Besides, no servant of my brother in law would know what to do with this.” She pulled the light source out of her pocket and held it out to Celebrian. Instinctually, Celebrian flinched back from the brightness.
Unlike most things that worried her - triggered her, Finrod would say - her reaction to the light in Nerdanel’s palm had nothing to do with her capture by orcs. Instead, it brought to mind something else that was intrinsically linked with Nerdanel’s line.
“Is that-”
Nerdanel snorted. “This is nothing like the Silmarils,” she promised, pushing it into Celebrian’s hands. “It’s a harmless light my husband devised when he was still a child.” She narrowed her eyes at Celebrian, thinking for a moment, then casually said, “Of course, he was younger than you when he died. Strange thought, isn’t it?”
It was, and it didn’t help matters that Nerdanel turned and continued her way down the hall, leaving Celebrian gaping after her, the bright stone still in her hand.
“I saw the garden on my way in,” she called after her.
Nerdanel paused, glancing over her shoulder. “I still don’t want Arafinwe’s men there either. Valar only knows what they’d do to my children.”
Her children. Celebrian still wasn’t certain if she called the statues that because they depicted her long-dead sons, or it that was just what Nerdanel called all her creations. Like many things, she wasn’t certain she wanted to know.
“You’ve moved them.”
“I told you, Kanafinwe is as good as dead.” Nerdanel was moving again, but she motioned Celebrian after her. “Come, I’ll introduce you.”
Thankfully, despite Celebrian’s fears, Nerdanel didn’t mean ‘introduce’ in the literal sense. She seemed perfectly aware that the statue was an inanimate object, and was in no way trying to replace Maglor with it.
Not yet anyway.
Celebrian had never met the men who had raised her husband, and she took a long moment to stare at the statue before speaking. Nerdanel waited patiently.
Maedhros’ statue hadn’t interested her the way Maglor’s did. After all, Maedhros’ wouldn’t have looked anything like the man Elrond remembered, since Nerdanel had depicted him before his torments. But Maglor’s seemed to fit the descriptions she had been given.
“He looks…. kind.”
“He was,” Nerdanel said, brushing away a speck of dirt Celebrian hadn’t noticed. “Foolish. But kind. It was his downfall, in the end, I suppose.”
Celebrian snorted. “You have a strange way of showing your love for your sons.”
“By making them memorials?”
She shook her head, a soft smile creeping across her face. “No. The way you speak of them. Maedhros was too eager to please. Maglor was foolish with a weeping heart. Caranthir was stupid-”
“They weren’t perfect. I don’t pretend they were.”
“I don’t walk around telling everyone about the troubles my children have caused!”
“Would you rather I call them murderers?”
Celebrian clamped her mouth shut.
“Good,” Nerdanel said. “Now where’s that uncle of yours? I need his assistance to move this thing.”
Finrod only put up a token protest to helping with the statue, although he had seemed somewhat unnerved by it. “Of all the things in this house to fix, she picks this?” he had muttered to Celebrian.
The younger woman just shrugged.
They hadn’t let her help much, which was probably for the best still she still tired easily. Instead, she lead the way and held open doors as the passed.
“I know he enjoyed food,” Finrod complained, struggling to keep his cousin’s face from slamming into a wooden beam, “But he was never this heavy in life!”
“How much weight have you gained since your marriage?” Nerdanel retorted.
Celebrian bit back a grin at the way Finrod quickly glanced at his reflection in a mirror. “Hardly any,” he said proudly.
“Keep lying to yourself,” was all Nerdanel said. “And do try to pass on some of your habits to your niece. She looks like a wraith.”
Celebrian shivered.
Finally, they had the statue out where it belonged, perched on it’s pedestal between his brothers. Finrod slumped dramatically to the ground, fanning himself with his hand. “You picked the hottest day of the year, aunt.”
“Nonsense,” she sniffed. “It’s nearly autumn.” Then her eyes snapped to Celebrian. “Girl, make yourself useful and find us something cool to drink.”
Once Celebrian was out of sight she turned her gaze on Finrod.
“Whatever it was, it wasn’t me,” he said quickly.
“Oh do be quiet. She won’t be gone long.” Nerdanel cast once more quick glance at the door Celebrian had disappeared through, before continuing speaking, “I’m going to have her help me get the lawn under control. She has an eye for plants.”
Finrod raised an eyebrow. “She’s still weak. And besides, who told you that?”
“I found some elves who had sailed from Rivendell before she did.” The artist snorted. “Did none of you think to try that?”
Judging by his face, they hadn’t.
“And she’s only as weak as you let her be. If it weren’t for me, she’d still be laying in bed weeping.”
“Everyone needs to weep sometimes.”
“Not all the time. Not unless you’re a Vala.”
Finrod glanced to make sure Celebrian wasn’t about to bounce back out of the door, then his eyes snapped to his aunt’s. “If she gets hurt-”
“Don’t you trust me?” When he didn’t answer, she reminded him, “You’re never too old to turn over my knee.”