Title: Shadows of Terrors Past
Author: Endaewen
Rating: G
Fandom: The Silmarillion
Disclaimer: All the characters and settings belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and the Tolkien Estates.
Prompt: #17. Terror
Story Number: 10/100
Wordcount: 403
Character: Luthien Tinuviel
Summary: Written for the Arda100 LiveJournal community, the Doom'n'Gloom prompt set.
Note: Quotes (in 'bold') are from Of Beren and Luthien from The Silmarillion. From the thoughts of Melian.

He sits next to my daughter, talking quietly. They are just far away enough that I cannot hear what they are saying, but I can easily see his face. There is a light in his eyes which only appeared after Thingol had yielded and allowed them their love. And yet there are shadows still there in his eyes. It is only to be expected after the life he has led. Few of the Eldar have experienced what he has, let alone any of the Edain. Certainly he is the only one who has managed to pass my defenses, let alone to have done it from the direction he did, and the shadows were particularly evident when I first saw him.

Luthien has been talking to me, asking for advice, and apparently it has been only recently that Beren has been able to sleep without being troubled by his dreams. Luthien had been aiding him until that point, as that is her particular gift: the enchantments of sleep. I know of no other who could have affected Melkor that way.

She too has shadows of terror in her eyes from this quest, something which grieves me deeply. But, that is the way of life. Parents wish to protect their children, but as they grow to adults, we are not able to protect them from all the hurts of life, else they won't experience all the happiness either.

I watch the two of them together, and each understands the other, the silent moments, and the others. Beren seems to know when to attempt to cheer my daughter, or when his silent presence is enough, and she knows the same for him. Each of them is able to lift the grief of the other when they slip into memory.

There are days when I doubt that we will ever know of everything they have been through, and there are times also when I wonder if we even want to know of all the details of their experiences. Beren has said to Luthien and myself several times that he will not speak of his first journey into my land, that it is something he never wishes to remember, and although he has spoken of that time generally, none of us has or will press him for details. Neither Luthien or myself wishes to see the shadows in his eyes return to the strength they had of old.