#caeveneth

Prompt: 'but I can carry you' for @lotrweek day 6

Summary: Faramir and his Aunt Caeveneth come to terms with Denethor's death, together.

Character(s): Faramir & OC

Rating: G

Word count: 4.9k

It was Mithrandir who told Faramir that she had come. “Did she give you a message?” he had asked.

The wizard had shaken his head. “I do not think that she wished to speak to anyone. She only demanded to know what had become of the House of the Stewards. When I told her of its destruction, she left immediately.”

Faramir had not been to visit Rath Dínen since his father had taken him there. His memories were dark and burning, little more than breaking voices and a jostling that had seemed to rattle his very bones, all perceived through the murk of fever and strung between dreams of overwhelming night and black wraiths whose touch scorched like a brand. Yet it had not been the heat or the shadows that had overwhelmed him, that made his mind darken at the thought of those dread hours. It had been the loneliness, the knowledge that, should he cry, no one would hear him, should he reach out, no hand would meet his own. He was alone, in the burning dark, and there he would die. Even now, more than a month since and spring livening the air, a cowardly part of him wished to wait for her to come back, to leave her to grieve alone. But you cannot do that.

He had grieved Boromir alone, as had she, as had their father. And yet have you grieved him? Do you not feel his death like a weight upon your heart?

So he swallowed his fear and descended to the fifth level. The street was cool and silent, the sun crowning the ancient heads of long-dead kings and heroes with golden fingertips, far from the fire and blackness of his last visit. The only sound to trouble the quiet was a sparrow in sporadic conversation with its neighbour as it flitted in and out of its nest, a ragged little structure perched on King Ondoher’s carven shoulder.

Summary: Ivriniel has a proposal for her sister-in-law.

Relationship(s): Ivriniel/Caeveneth (Denethor's sister)

Rating: G

Word count: 4k

have some old woman yuri for @tolkienfemfeb!

I followed her words to the sitting room, or rather, what had been the sitting room until recent years, when Minas Tirith began to empty in earnest and I finally gave up pretending that this house provided me more than a bed to lie in. In those years, it had come to be filled with plants, gifts from nobles, friends and former patients who were smart enough to know that I was more interested in foliage than flattery. "Good morning, handsome!" Ivriniel called, from where she was collapsed on the floor. She raised an eyebrow. “I knew you were not in the mood to be woken but a knifing is a bit of an excessive response.” I glanced down at my knife and lowered it somewhat as I stepped around cloth-draped furniture and overgrown potted plants. “I thought you were an orc.” Both eyebrows were raised now. “I did not realise that I looked so frightful.” I had to scoff at that. Ivriniel has a habit of looking beautiful in every circumstance. Drunk, hair in tangles, she was collapsed in the dark earth, broken greenery and shattered clay of one of my potted plants, her fine purple robes and golden jewellery smeared with dirt, yet I had half a mind to fetch a painter. They'd probably call it something poetic and sentimental like 'Yavanna's child'. Then I realised that Ivriniel’s hand was clamped over her left foot and red was leaking through her fingers.

Thank you! <3

The way I stared at this for multiple minutes trying to work out whether it meant absent as in 'not there' or 'not paying attention to what's happening'. I went with option no. 1 since I reasoned it's hard to look at someone 'absently'.

F. Caeveneth + an absent look/touch | AO3

💚 Jealous

Jealousy is a messy emotion for Caeveneth because when she wants certain qualities in another person or certain aspects of their life, her kneejerk reaction is to tear them down mentally, finding some sort of flaw that will make her feel better about whatever has provoked her jealousy. Usually it's a very internal thing, as with most of her emotions, but there are instances where it manifests outwardly when she's forced to interact with the person.

She was jealous of Denethor for receiving more attention from their father (bearing in mind how low the bar is, this isn't a huge brag on Denethor's part), which manifested in her relentlessly baiting and bullying him when they were children. She was also jealous of him and other men of their generation who got to go out and fight against the Haradrim and the forces of Mordor. Not because she craved glory, but because it would have been a way to feel even slightly useful, and certainly more straightforward than the soft, cloying politics she grew up with as a child. She spent a lot of times hanging about on the edges of war councils and battle preparations, making herself sick on what she couldn't have. She was also very jealous of Thorongil for his apparent equilibrium and confidence within himself (she could smell the lack of parental issues on him and boy did it annoy her), resulting in her being short with him, while simultaneously wanting to study him like a bug under a microscope and work out what his deal was. Cue a lot of very uncomfortable, awkward conversations where Aragorn was never quite sure whether she was going to threaten to have his throat cut at the end of it.

Hello, finally getting round to answering this! Thank you for asking about our no. 1 hater, I do love talking about her!

🌟 What’s something small they did as a child that hinted at who they’d become?

As a kid she would constantly run off to play outdoors, seeking out gardens, woodland, anywhere that was green and full of natural life. The fewer people the better; she did not play well with others. Throughout the rest of her life she is happiest in green, outdoor, quiet areas and she struggles with large cities full of people (Minas Tirith is not great for her). This foreshadows the way she consistently removes herself from court, politics and the expected responsibilities of the Steward family to make herself useful as a healer in war zones on the edge of Gondor. She consistently, from her childhood, removes herself from the theoretical, moral concerns of ruling Gondor and the tangled up mess of emotions surrounding her family, to throw herself into the physical, tangible outside world where she can feel a sense of real control. Even if it is spending a day desperately trying and failing to save the wounded, Caeveneth would pick that over sitting in the Tower of Ecthelion wringing her hands over what could have, should have happened. And also, at the end of the day, it foreshadows where her life will end. Her first ten years are spent in the woodlands of her mother's home in Lebennin and her last ten years are spent in the woodlands of Ithilien, except this time she is finally content.

🧋 What food/drink do they hate that everyone else loves?

Dates. They're popular in Gondor, particularly as trade with Harad becomes more and more restricted and difficult, but Caeveneth loathes them. She's not a fan of dried fruit in general, but dates are the greatest culprit in her eyes.

🧣 What texture/clothing item makes them feel safe?

Blatantly stealing from my own mannerisms, Caeveneth has had a habit of fiddling with her wrists and pinching her skin ever since she was a kid. It's a stress response that is both inbecoming of a woman of her age and stature and also results in lots of small bruises and peeled skin. So when she becomes serious about becoming a healer, a position that she knows will put her under a lot of stress, Caeveneth buys herself a pair of heavy black bracelets that she proceeds to wear for basically the rest of her life. They're clunky and somewhat ugly but they're reassuringly heavy and it's better that she tug and fiddle with them than with her own skin.

Thank you for asking about her!!! My best beloved 'exists by implication' woman of maybe all time!

🩷 Super relaxed and happy

Caeveneth doesn't exhibit happiness in an obvious manner. She tends not to get more smiley so much as less frowny. Relaxed and happy Caeveneth mostly tends to come out when she's with people like her nephews or Ivriniel or the few other people who she would call friends. As someone who's pretty high-strung and busy most of the time, either with family politics and drama or avoiding family politics and drama by getting involved in warfare, she tends to sort of collapse when she's given a chance to relax, just spending an afternoon lying about her garden or Ivriniel's, or maybe going for a walk somewhere that no Lord of Gondor can find her or getting a drink at a tavern where no one will know her.

With time, she also manages to carve her niche among the soldiers that she works alongside, after making it very clear that she is not their mother/grandmother/aunt or any other female relative they might see as their carer but she will tell them how to avoid STDs and she is down for a drinking game, so her nephews have also had to get used to occasionally finding her hanging out with soldiers playing cards or adjudicating wrestling matches. It's the sort of scenario neither younger Caeveneth nor anyone who knew her would see her fitting into but the fact that no one there has known her as a child and that she can reply to their idiocies by yelling that she will fuck their mother/father/fiancée without worrying about causing a political incident actually really helps her chill out. Who knew.

When she is happy/relaxed does noticeably loosen up a bit, she tends to sit less dramatic/looming/rigid and more slumped all over the place like some long-legged spider that's taking the day off. And she jokes a lot more, hence why Faramir, Boromir and Ivriniel can all attest that she does, contrary to popular rumour, have a sense of humour. She's also more open to giving and receiving physical affection when she's in a good mood. (Boromir: Why are you squeezing me with your body? Caeveneth: It's a hug Boromir. I'm hugging you.)

ooh, thank you for asking about Caeveneth in particular!

☀️ What’s their happiest childhood memory?

Finduilas: A day out in the summer when she was about thirteen with both her siblings, swimming in the sea, watching the whales off the coast, clambering on the rocks to look for crabs, going up on the cliffs so that they could dry off in the sun and make flower crowns and watch the fishing boats and distant trading vessels out to sea. And then they walk home as it gets dark, with Ivriniel carrying Imrahil on her back because he's fallen asleep. It's just a perfect day with the people she loves most in the world and after she leaves home it's a memory that she holds close like a talisman and constantly returns to when things get rough, even when it hurts to think back to it.

Caeveneth: When she and her siblings were younger they spent most of their time at their mother's home in Lebennin since Ecthelion was not at all close with his wife and was not eager to get attached to children who might die young anyway (he was the only one of his siblings to make it past ten, for context). Although she was far from feral, Caeveneth did still get away with wandering off alone a lot of the time and she remembers one summer in particular spent exploring, climbing trees and playing with a cat that she befriended. She distinctly remembers walking home in the evening with scratches and bruises on her legs and hearing the local farm workers singing as they went home.

😂 What’s the dumbest thing they’ve ever laughed at for way too long?