Anneth has long clung to her dreams, though sorrow has threatened to murder them again and again. There was a time when sorrow made her hopes only sweeter, but as Sauron grows yet stronger in the East, she feels everything she has ever held dear fal...
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
- Genesis 2:18
I felt that he was a kindred spirit as soon as ever I saw him.
- L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
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Voronwe sat beside his daughter, observing how begrudgingly she spoke when he inquired something of her. He knew what it was that separated her in these moments, for of late she had taken to gazing out her window, rarely opening her mouth to speak.
Now Anneth did not speak often, nor did she tear her gaze from outside the window often, but now more than usual she had done it. Her father knew precisely what it was and shook his head. Youth.
His daughter nearly was of age, and it would be silly to ever insinuate she had not begun to 'notice ellyn'. This term Voronwe used for lack of a greater description. He saw the way Anneth's gaze trailed after the tall one, how she coloured when she spoke to him, often fiddling with the sleeves of her gown. It was clear; she fancied him, and not for a very good, compelling reason. Voronwe wished not to see his daughter let her heart be driven mindlessly by this failing infatuation. It would do her no good, and merely be a waste of her time and feelings.
Without an introduction, he asked Anneth, "Do you fancy him?"
His daughter blushed and nodded quickly, answering soon after.
"But I know it is foolish. Why, Ada, have you observed his horrifically crude mannerisms? And the way he so terribly treats his mother? There is naught attractive about him save his face. And even than might show itself repulsive to me in time." She sighed, pulling at the hems of her sleeves.
"I am proud, iell, to hear you reason so logically with yourself. He is young, and is not a good ellon, quite immature and lacking in chivalrous deeds. He is not worthy of my daughter."
"Ada, you speak of me as if I were a gem, and elvish princess of high standing," Anneth said, laughing quietly.
"Ai, but you are, my princess. Have you so easily forgotten that I am a king?" Voronwe chuckled to himself as he recalled the days when his eldest daughter had waxed poetic of her longings to be a princess so she might be wed to a prince.
Anneth smiled widely, throwing her arms around her father.
"I would have you guard your heart, Anneth, keep it safe for the one destined for you. Do not indulge yourself in fancies and infatuations, for those only shall lead to unnecessary hurts. There is an ellon for you in your future; wait for him. Do not hasten time, do not become distracted from this knowledge. You are worth more than that, iell, you deserve one who is worthy to be a prince by his actions, though he be not royal."
She said naught, merely tightening her hold on her father and allowing her thoughts to float away from the ellon they had dwelt on, instead looking toward her future and the ellon who had no name, nor bore a face. Even now she longed for him, imagined what loving him would be like, constructing her fate in her mind. She dreamed of their wedding feast, of their first kiss.
