#finvain

It’s storming.

Maitimo usually quite likes it when it storms - there is something truly comforting to inside with a blanket, a book and a hot drink while the rain pounds the outside of the house, knowing you are quite safe and secure inside.

And of course, this does not account for when you are stuck inside with your cousins and your parents are nowhere to be found.

It had initially been a good idea: while there was a party at the palace and their fathers, in particular, were at that, they could have their own mini party at their house between their cousins.

That had been three days ago and the storm didn’t look like it was letting up anytime soon.

There is a loud crash and a yell of anger.

Maitimo sighs. He is quite comfortable here in this little secluded window seat, curled up in Findekáno: he doesn’t want to use up some of this precious time he has to unabashedly spend time with his beloved reprimanding one of his brother or cousins.

“Maitimo!” About three people yell at the same time, followed by the sound of footsteps thundering over wooden floorboards.

He supposes there is nothing for it.

Very unwillingly, he throws his legs over so he is sitting up and pushes himself to a stand.

“Yes?” He calls back. “I’m up here.”

“Nelyo,” Findekáno mumbles sleepily. “‘S it time to wake up?”

“No, no, go back to sleep Finno. It’s just-”

“Maitimo!”

“-brothers. What is it Curufinwë?”

Curufinwë’s cheeks have gone pink and he glared angrily, his hand in Ingoldo’s. “Tyelkormo broke our puzzle. We’d nearly finished it and it took us hours!”

Ingoldo nods in agreement. Tyelkormo looks furious. “I didn’t break anything! You were the one who knocked the table.”

“No! You were running up and down the corridor and it was making the table wobble!”

“Then maybe you should get a better table! My-”

“I don’t want to hear about your fucking boyfriend again Irissë.”

Irissë rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to reply, but Maitimo beats her to it.

“Tyelkormo, Irissë, you can play outside if you’re going to be playing running games or else you do something else, so long as it is quiet.”

He turns to Curufinwë and Ingoldo as the other two hurry outside at Maitimo’s scowling. “You two can either start a new puzzle or restart the one that was broken. I know you don’t care much for the puzzle part anyway, so please just...” He waves his hand vaguely and they get the idea to scarper.

He sighs as the disappear around the corner. “Sorry about that Finno.”

Findekáno smiles indulgently and reaches out, making grabby hands to him. Maitimo is just about to curl up in his lap again when Turukáno and Carnistir turn a corner, deep in conversation about economics.

“No!” Carnistir stops short and looks aghast. “Why would you think that a reasonable economic system anywhere? It would fall apart in days Turko, days!”

Turukáno looks rather indignant. “How do you know that?”

“Other than the fact it’s in every economic theory book with Do No Try is big, bold letters? Common sense.”

“And how is that common sense?”

Maitimo shares a bemused look with his husband. The other two have stopped right in front of them but don’t seem to have noticed they are there.

He coughs politely and they both stop arguing to look over in his direction.

“Are you going to do that right there?”

“Well,” Carnistir starts but Turukáno frowns and hits him on the arm.

“No, we’ll find somewhere quiet.” They walk off, restarting their argument as if they hadn’t been interrupted at all.

Findekáno and Maitimo stay still for a very long time, waiting for another distraction to make itself known, and when it doesn’t, they relax. Maitimo turns to go curl up in the window seat.

There’s a loud crash. “Alright!” He yells, spinning on his heel. “Where’s Makalaurë?”

“In the music room.” Maitimo nearly jumps out of his skin at the sight of Findecurë tucked up in a little cranny just a few metres from the window. “He’s been playing for nearing the whole day now.”

“Oh Eru!” Maitimo pinches the bridge of his nose. “And did you know what that was?”

“Probably Angaráto and Aikanáro. They were playing ball with Findelaurë and Fanyanel last I checked and they were the ones facing the window.”

“And what are you doing about this?”

“I’m drawing flowers. It’s not my house.”

Maitimo takes a few deep breaths as he stops himself from cursing her quite roundly. “Right. Well then, is better stop some people from killed themselves.” He turns to his husband. “I’m sorry Finno, I know I said-”

“It’s alright Russo.” He stands and takes a step forward to press a gentle kiss to the edge of his mouth. “I’ll go back to your room and then the bed will be warm when you return.”

With that promise fresh in his mind, Maitimo strides off to find the worst of the damage and mitigate the effects as quickly as he can.

“How flammable do you think it is?” Artanis’ quiet voice asks from a room to Maitimo’s right, the door open just a sliver.

“Oh, it probably won’t explode.”

“No!” Maitimo slams open the door to the surprise of the five youngest in the room. “Whatever you are planning is not being done and you are going to bed now.”

“What?” Ambarussa exclaims to the outrage of everyone.

“Anyone discussing fire or burning or explosions needs to go to bed. It’s getting late anyway. Come on.”

He herds them out of the room and down the stairs to where Ambarussar’s bedroom is and where they have all been camping the last few days.

There is another crash as he has just convinced Finróna to put on his pyjamas and Aikanáro skids past.

“How much do windows cost?” He asks, catching the doorframe to stop himself.

“The one you just broke would be around three hundred gold pieces.”

“Hey!” Aikanáro calls, skidding back the way he came. “Where would we get 1200 gold pieces?”

“Twelve...Aiko! How did you break four windows?”

Maitimo just about manages to pull off his clothes before he falls onto the bed beside his husband.

Findekáno looks up from his book - one that Maitimo thinks was taken from his bookshelf - and raises an eyebrow. “How was that?” He asks.

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”

Findekáno laughs, turning the lamp off and snuggling down beside his husband. “I’ll deal with it tomorrow,” He promises, snaking a hand around Maitimo’s waist and tucking his head into his shoulder.

So Findis is the eldest daughter of Finwë and Indis called Laurinalma by her mother (meaning Golden Flower) and Lintafinwë by her father (meaning Soothing Finwë) (and maybe Finwë is a male name but I believe -wë is a gender neutral name ending and I like the idea of different families keeping a naming tradition of sorts). The name Findis is actually her Cilmessë.

She dislikes Tirion immensely because of their general attitude to remarriage and everything really.

I have this headcanon that the children of Finwë were all very close until they really got into society and rumours and other people’s opinions really tore them apart - Fëanor to Formenos or Aulë’s halls; Lalwen to the wilds where she spends most of her time with her Maia girlfriend/wife (they aren’t sure which); Fingolfin to the isolation of court; and Finarfin to Alqualondë.

And Findis goes to Valmar and the Vanyar.

She takes on a healers apprenticeship there, returning only a few times a year to her family home where tensions are rising between Fëanor and literally everyone else - not yet about anything important, more about really insignificant things. (I think this post sums up my thoughts on Fëanor and the way I see his relationships with his half-family quite well)

And for her graduation, she goes to the Tirion library before returning to Valmar (this is as much to cool down after arguing with Fëanor over something inconsequential as it is to find resources for her theory exam/essay/things) and meets Rilyanixë.

Rilyanixë (a name meaning Sparkling Ice) is the quiet, middle child of the chief archivist of Tirion Archive. His father is a Vanya hunter (because, really, Findis isn’t going to marry someone who isn’t at least a little Vanya) and his older sister takes after him. His younger sister went down to Alqualondë to learn sailing because she refuses to take after either of her parents, but that’s another story.

They meet because he too is looking to get away because his mother - a staunch supporter of the crown and it’s ability to make sound decisions (thus trusting Indis) - threw someone from the archive for making snide comments about the royal family and Rilyanixë rather disliked the raised voices. It is technically his day off but he came here to put books away because that’s what calms him.

So they meet and get on well: Rilyanixë quite likes this slightly scatter-brained healer and Findis likes the quiet librarian with a small smile and brown hair that shines gold when the light hits it just right.

She agrees to meet him again when she returns the books in a month or two when she comes back to town.

And they go out for coffee and learn that they are both half-Ñoldo, half-Vanya. And they sort-of fall into each other, meeting up in Valmar and in Tirion and eventually they are courting and then betrothed and then they are married, three years after first meeting.

(The marriage does cause tensions to rise between Rilyanixë and his Vanya family who see Findis as too Ñoldor and have issues with that so they don’t end up spending much time with them - there’s a reason Rilyanixë’s parents don’t live together anymore)

Now, Rilyanixë married into this family so he is as veritably crazy as all of they are - except no-one notices until he tells Fëanor that his latest creation was ‘passable, he supposes’ because Fëanor insulted Findis and you just don’t do that. Basically, Rilyanixë is very uncrazy unless provoked at which point he will just provoke whoever’s closest, however ill-advised that is (if that makes any sense).

Anyway, they get a house halfway between Tirion and Valmar (because they can’t be completely separate from politics but...they don’t want to be anywhere near it at the same time) and live fairly peacefully, with occasional siblings just appearing or nephews and nieces and the like (from Rilyanixë’s side too it should be noted).

Everyone is beginning to think that they are not going to have children as Arafinwë is already married and with a baby when Findis declares that she is pregnant. A year(ish) later, she gives birth to a girl that Findis calls Findecurë (Tress of Skill - weird name, but I was trying to come up with a translation for Finvain) and Rilyanixë calls Nofernë (Under Beech Tree). Of the two of them, Rilyanixë’s naming is actually a bit more prophetic than his wife’s (because I find it odd that only women have prophetic visions and while I still think that women are almost always the parent (if either parent does have prophetic name-giving), I thought that men must even just a little).

Before Fëanor pulls the sword and everything finally collapses in on itself, they have three more children. A boy who she calls Findelaurë (I’m using this variation on Glorfindel’s Quenya name for the sake of familial consistency) and who Rilyanixë calls Indiltur (Lily Lord). Another girl that Findis calls Fanyanel (Daughter of the Clouds) and Rilyanixë calls Iþilmolótë (Flower of Starlight - and apparently the Vanyar still used the letter thorn? I might be wrong). And finally another son that Findis calls Finróna (Hair of the East) and Rilyanixë calls Aþumolor (Good Companion in Dreams). In order of birth, their Sindarin names (and the names I shall be referring to them by) are Glorfindel, Finvain, Faniel and Finrun.

At the darkening, Glorfindel follows Turgon (with whom he is close), Faniel follows Glorfindel (with whom she is close), Finrun follows his elder siblings and the other Finwean babies (Galadriel, Argon and Ambarussa), and Finvain follows her siblings.

When her children and family leave, Findis disappears into the wilds (very good fic about this here) and Rilyanixë, with no family, returns to his mother’s house in Tirion.

So Glorfindel we all know goes to Gondolin and dies and gets re-embodied, etc. I would like to add a bit to his story to say I am a big Glorestor shipper and they definitely end up married and they adopt Lindir and his sister Lindis (because no-one can stop me).

As of Erestor, he’s an Avar in my mind who ends up with Gondolin because the Avari keep being pushed from their homes and he knows he would be safe there. (He does initially say he’s a Sindar to try and avoid the general distaste everyone seems to have for the Avari and only tells those he really trusts). Also, he would get on so well with Rilyanixë and it’s such a pity that they don’t meet until the fourth age.

Finvain leaves ME because her brothers and sisters are going, not from any particualr desire of hers to go. She is protective at heart - even if she seems very cold - and loves her brothers and sisters a lot. She does a lot of what she does only grudgingly and eventually swears off killing even orcs as her actions at Alqualondë haunt her that much (she acts as a behind the lines medical assistant due to her knowledge of plants and herbs and is killed because of her oath when the camp is overrun).

She loves gardening. If she’s sitting in a patch of flowers, she’s happy (she would really love hobbits if she had lived). She had a garden in her family home between Valmar and Tirion but when she left it got overgrown, despite Finrun’s best attempts to keep it cared for (he’s busy and the garden reminds him too painfully of his absent sister). She can’t keep a garden in ME (she’s a messenger for Fingolfin, moving around a lot) but she does have a habit of planting flowers in odd places wherever she travels.

She does fall in love, if that is what you would call it. She and Morwen (and I have this headcanon that Morwen and Húrin were really good friends who were both hella gay and both really wanted children so got married for that while agreeing that they could see other people) spend time together and it would have developed further if Finvain wasn’t always being called away and she hadn’t died at Nirnaeth.

Finvain holds guilt over her brother’s death as Finrun died at Alqualondë and Finvain saw him die, still confused as to what was actually going on; and Lalaith’s death (who she thought she could save with her medicine but who died anyway).

When she is re-embodied - before her sister but after both her brothers, she returns to her family home - left abandoned by her mother who had vanished soon after the Darkening; her father, who had returned to his mother in Tirion; and her brother, who was now living almost permanently on the outskirts of Alqualondë. She fixes it up the best she can and tends to her garden as slowly, one by one, her family returns.

Faniel is the sort of person who has everyone wrapped around her little finger but doesn’t seem to know. Hella strong, hella kind, hella oblivious - a summary of Faniel’s character.

Faniel and Ecthelion are both bi (when Ecthelion was younger, there was a time he and Glorfindel were courting before they decided they were better as friends). She and Ecthelion have three children: a son, Elemmakil; a daughter, Meleth; and a child, Enerdhil. Meleth ends up as Eärendil’s nurse and marries Elwing’s nurse Evranin which is all I really have for her and I have next to nothing for the other two. But they exist.

Anyway, Faniel fights with a spear and actually lives to escape to the havens but she dies in the Third Kinslaying.

She is the last of her siblings to be reborn and ends up being the one to initiate the search for their mother.

And finally, Finrun. He dies at Alqualondë when he and a few others go into the city to see what the confusion is all about and gets caught up in the crossfire before he can really tell what’s going on. With no blood on his hands and practically no trauma, he gets re-embodied within a few years but everything is really different: all his family has either gone to ME, gone and secluded themselves somewhere, are exceptionally busy or Finrun thinks they hate him. As someone who thrived off of the familial love of his family (being Aro/Ace, this is one of the main forms of love that he experiences), it’s a jarring experience to say the least and ends up with him being really, really lonely.

He decides to deal with this crippling loneliness by throwing himself into his work. The only family who really talks to him is Finarfin but they mainly talk about work and he’s like, if it makes him happy then it’ll make me happy. (It is making neither of them happy, they’re just avoiding the problem). So he ends up in Alqualondë working towards restoring relations. No-one here particularly likes him (Maglor’s wife, Cantasië, does occasionally come and keep him company to be honest to her).

He is here he meets Elwing, singing and miserable who he promptly adopts. (It is not only the Fëanorians with adopting people on the spot issues). The rest of the Teleri are a bit sceptical of this girl however much they like her and she’s uncomfortable in palace having lived nearly her whole life in near poverty despite being a princess. And Eärendil, when he appears, reminds him of his cousins due to being Turgon’s grandson. There’s a bit more nuance to it, I guess, but basically he sees these two children with no family anymore and as he knows how they feel, he decides to give them that family.

It’s at the end of the First Age that Finrun realises that the Valar intend to keep the Ñoldor in Mandos and he basically becomes the advocate for their release. In his house by the sea, he is slowly collecting war orphans who lost parents far too young and came to these shores to try to heal hurts of their souls and Finrun houses them and loves them and tries to get the Valar to release the families they have lost (not realising that in the process he has become part of that family and the loneliness he has been feeling is lessened somewhat - not gone completely because his family is a different entity entirely but lessened).

Eventually, he convinces them and one-by-one, his family and the others trapped in Mandos are released upon their healing, rather than being kept there forever.

(When Glorfindel is reborn, Finrun is not told and meets him on the docks by pure chance before he must go to Middle Earth. And before he can really get over the shock and bundle of emotions, Glorfindel is gone again. Finrun genuinely thinks that this was a hallucination for a long time.)

It is one sunny day soon after Glorfindel has returned to Valinor that Faniel gets them together to go after their mother, who, despite everyone coming back and a tentative happiness and peace beginning, has not returned from wherever she ran to. During their search, they get to catch up for the first time really since they were all reborn.

Findis has just sort of made camp in a cave, not hiding but decided that society sucked and she didn’t want to go back. Her children convince her otherwise and they return and everything is good and happy.