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To her first cousin Eregiel, the Lady of Minas Tirith, does Meril, Lady of Hithlum, write to announce the conception of a son, her opening statement as bold and triumphant as a war trumpet, and all the lines that follow as an army of anxiety armored in pleasantries. In an uncharacteristically straightforward plea does Meril ask for reassurance from a kinswoman who has given birth and raised a daughter to adulthood. Eregiel is the closest living relative to whom Lady Meril can ask questions. Meril has few others, even by marriage, that are female, let alone experienced in pregnancy. There is a thread of panic in Lady Meril's pen. Through her husband, Fingon, she has no mother-in-law, for Lady Anairë stayed behind in Valinor. Lady Lalwen is her aunt-by-marriage, but Lady Lalwen is unwed. Of her two sisters-in-law, Aredhel, would have been possibly helpful if the rumor about Cousin Eöl was true if not for Aredhel's also rumored return to the hidden Gondolin and thus was unreachable. And Lady Elenwë, Turgon's wife who would have been Lady of Gondolin if she had not died on the Ice, twice-over is she out-of-reach. A failure of support in that corner.
Eregiel hopes kindly that among the few female Noldor in that fortress of Barad Eithel are those that have given birth and are at hand to give Meril physical reassurance. Her cousin is sensible and has probably found a midwife among either Annael's shepherds or the Morben noblewomen. Eregiel pauses and double-checks: Imbirodel, one of Meril's letters named the wife of their clan leader, as opposed to their leader, yet another man. Imbirodel has at least one son, Eregiel remembers. Ask Imbirodel for advice and thus by placing yourself in her debt, you tie the Morben's loyalty to you - so Eregiel advises.
Meril's mother is dead. Meril's father is dead. Meril's younger brother, her grandfather and grandmother - both sets, and her grandfather's sister, all are dead. On her father's side, the only surviving kin is her father's younger brother, Ereglas, and his daughter Eregiel. Her paternal grandfather, Eredhon, the Lord of Northern Beleriand before the double-blow of Morgoth and the Noldor, died soon after Meril's father, mother, and younger brother. As did Eredhon's sister, Princess Linpinen, but through her marriage to King Elu Thingol's younger brother could Meril claim the Doriathrim Royal Family as family. Thus Cousin Eöl, who might or might not be her brother-in-law. But more importantly: Cousin Lúthien, Cousins Galathil and Celeborn, and the sons and daughter of Princess Eärwen who stayed in Valinor are all personages that Meril can claim. None are useful to answer her questions.
Meril's mother had been Delieth, daughter of Denethor. Impetuous and beautiful, she had been young and daring to wed Laewlas and abandon the forests for the cold and mist-covered plains. Her beauty drew Laewlas to court the maiden, though she had been only a few years into adulthood, and Delieth had been drawn by Laewlas's smooth manners, handsome face, the wealth and power as Lord Eredhon's eldest son, and the excitement of his horses. Eredhon's wife, Lady Aegros, had clashed with Delieth, or so gossiped Eregiel's father. The mother-in-law thought her Nandorin daughter-in-law a flighty and silly chit. Lady Aegros had been famous for her strong will, overbearing at best according to unflattering remembrance. The two would have never reconciled to another and likely battled each other in attending to Meril's pregnancy, had they lived. In choice of spouse, Delieth had severed herself from her people. Had she waited until a full century of years to claim, perhaps she would have had her father's full blessing for the union, as his sister Danaril did when she wed Elmo's only son Galadhon. This tie of kinship made Meril a cousin by blood to Prince Galathil and Prince Celeborn, if a branch removed. It was a connection that she lorded over Eregiel, even though Eregiel regularly visited them and Meril had only two childhood meetings from before the Girdle's creation. Eregiel had met Galathil's wife and was friends with Oropher, which were connections that Meril could not claim.
Anyways, all of her Nandorin relatives were dead, even if most died upon Amon Ereb. No maternal grandmother or aunt to question or give instruction on what foods to eat and exercises to partake or refrain from while growing a child.
Perhaps that tie to King Denethor, or a pride in her father and grandfather who had ruled not just Hithlum but Nevrast, the Ard-Galen, and Lothlann - vast lands claimed now by various Noldor princes- was what prompted Meril to chosen this particular name for her son. Ereinion, she wrote to Eregiel. Scion of Kings. She had toyed with naming him Rodnor, after her dead brother, so confesses Meril in the letter. But she worried that name was too tainted by sorrow and war. Better a name that honored his family, and Eregiel knew that Meril was thinking not only of his Noldor grandfather and great-grandfather, but she would point to them first. Lady Meril of Hithlum was the premier lady of a High King's court. And, with a touch of humor and kindness, Meril wrote, that name 'Rodnor' if so desired was one that she would be honored to let Eregiel make claim to if she ever had a son to join her daughter Finduilas, as it was amusingly close to that of her sweet 'Rodreth.
Finellach, Eregiel writes back. Flame of Eye and Hair. Better to keep that Fin that is so important to the Noldor kingship as to make them double up their names, like a wall or moat, and still honor her dead. Finellach Ereinion, and no way would he be dethroned or his claims and honor denied him.
"Come to me in Minas Tirith, or if you ask, I shall come to you," writes Eregiel, her pen hesitating to add "if you feel safe" and deciding not to. She does not understand the fear that lurks in Meril's letter, acrid as smoke. Like an enemy army besieging a city, out of eyesight and the range of arrows but no less present. In only a few years after Ereinion's birth, as the Dagor Bragollach rages around Eregiel and Sauron lobs stones against Minas Tirith, does the lady understand a little of her cousin's clouded foresight.