Kizár Elená Durin · @SilmarilNaro
13th Apr 2015 from TwitLonger
Quest-verse: Family Dinner.
After http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1slb0rc
Trading tales of where everyone has been.
@SilmarilNaro @SilmarilAndrast @Gyrfalconsheart @SilmarilAire
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Kizár elected to return to dwarven form for one good reason: her dress. The simple fact when it came to traveling was that packing space was something at a premium and only a certain amount of clothing could be packed in bags and packs, and Kizár had a great tendency to value fancy clothing less than making sure things like food, healing supplies and needed tools were well stocked. She understood why now, it was Elenaria's hard-won good sense, though Kizár had not remembered that while she had suppressed the memories of Thedas.
The current effect was that she had only packed one dress, and that was only fairly simple and unadorned. She felt like it hardly fit having dinner with the Lord and Lady if the Islands, a territory that now seemed quite sizable since she had been allowed to see more of it's extent than it would seem most outsiders ever saw. Most of the islands apparently were not on most mainland maps, with maybe one or two others besides Himring being shown on any maps Kizár had seen (she did wonder what Lord Elrond's maps had shown and would some time have to ask Lossanárë how much of the islands he had information on).
However if there was one thing to be said, the maids who had served to Kizár's needs had found ways to rid her dress of wrinkles caused by being folded in her pack and underneath other items. Maybe some time she would find out what trick they used for that, it could be useful in future situations that called for her to wear a dress on short notice.
She took one last look in the mirror to see her braids were neatly in place and the beads Dís had given her secured properly. Yes, she looked like a proper daughter of the Durin Line, she though with a grin, and turned to the door and stepped out into the hallway.
One of the maids was there to show the way to the dining hall and Kizár followed her down, into what she explained was the family area of the keep. Inside the dining room she found that Lossanárë was already there, sitting next to Elenlossë, with Maferath showing his presence in ghostly form. Lossanárë must have been supplied with a dress that could be found to fit her, a lovely deep blue gown, and Maferath had shifted his appearance, foregoing his silverite armour, instead dressed in a dark green doublet and breeches of the style that had been around in Ferelden during the Dragon Age.
"Sister dearest," Elenlossë smiled and beckoned her over. "Come sit, will you? Losá was just making introductions for Maferath, though the other are not yet here, as you can see."
Kizár immediately stepped over to join her sisters and Cáno, settling herself in a chair next to her dark-hair brother.
Cáno
Cáno smiled when he saw Elenlossë lead her sister into the hall. Seeing the little Firestar in the shape of a dwarrow-lady was certainly unexpected and he still was trying to get used to it. In his mind he had always pictured her as an elven lady with hair as black as their father's. She certainly shared his fiery spirit. He had always imagined her features to resemble their father more than anyone.
Now she was the cutest dwarrow he had ever seen and she clearly bore resemblance to her 'brother' who had come with her - to Durin's Line in it's true manifestation. It was somehow easier to get used to Losá's ghostly husband, even though he expected a story no less adventurous behind that change.
Still... seeing all three of them assembled together for the first time in six millennia was a moment too glad to be spent pondering. "Your companions and our older brother are taking their time," he said with slight humor, when he saw she noticed the missing faces. "and I would guess our brother still dislikes formal gatherings as much as he did in the past."
Kizár
Kizár giggled. "Not that this is really that formal," she looked to Elenlossë who shrugged and smiled. "It's family after all, and not like those extended family gatherings with all of Uncle Ñolo and Uncle Arafin's families present."
Lossanárë
"And most of the time when those happened he ducked out a side door with Findekáno to get away from everyone anyway, especially when Indis was present."
Cáno
The memory made Cáno smile. "He would... he hated such gatherings." He added nothing about the strained relationship with Indis, the past was not what they wanted to discuss.
The door opened again and Maitimo walked in. He wore dark clothes, something Cáno would have called an odd mesh of a tunic and a dwarven doublet, the material of the softer tunic parts was a deep grey while the rest was of a black material. It was not so very unlike other things he had worn in the past only... only in the past the servants had always seen to it, that the tunics he had were made in a way to gently hide his missing hand.
This one did not. The sleeves did only reach down to the elbows, leaving his lower arms and missing hand starkly exposed, along with the scars that were ingrained into his place skin. Cáno shivered, wondering how Maitimo could have gotten so... open, so used to this, that he did not seem the least shy about those marks. Another small detail caught his eye, a pendant carved something crystalline that the Maitimo wore on a band around his neck, the crystal a small sparkle against his dark clothes.
Maitimo smiled at the Ladies. "I did not duck out... I simply left the esteemed presence of our assorted relations." he replied to what had been said when he entered.
Lossanárë
"Ahh yes, a very important distinction, my apologies then," Lossanárë smiled, a hint of cheekiness peaking through. "It was a pity we three did not have the same luxury, but at least now is different, both in our ability to depart, and that I doubt we have reason to do so."
Elenlossë
"Yes, well of our remaining extended family this side of the ocean, I have no issue hosting Elrond and his children, and I do admit I even got on well with his wife, but other than that..." Elenlossë shook her head, not going on.
Kizár
"Well as much as I don't want to upset dinner before it has even properly started, some time I am going to ask you about the rumoured tensions with a certain cousin of ours," Kizár said as servants started pouring out drinks and she spotted Elenairë accompanying Telpë. "But not for the moment, as I'm sure there are different stories to be told the sooner."
Cáno
Cáno reached for Elenlossë's arm, sensing her tension. The topic of Celebrían's loss was a dark one, she had lost a friend there. To this day Cáno was glad she had never heard the truthful, harsh and honest report he had gotten from the warrior he had sent to find out the truth of the matter. He was glad that Kizár took the lead on the talking again, as her brother joined them, though keeping to the background.
"The story of our dear cousin is truly not suited for the dinner table... much more for an evening with enough wine to accompany it." He said. "But I agree that other stories should take precedence..." he arched an eyebrow at her. "and I dare say yours still has me curious."
Kizár
Kizár's lips quirked into a grin and she sat back in her chair. "Well I am sure you know the basic facts of what happened back when we were divided..." she looked Maitimo's way for a moment. "I tried to shield Maitimo from the fire as best I could, though I never knew how well it turned out as we got separated. I... do not want to speak of the Deep Fire here and now either, but... but was not a good thing." She shook her head for a moment before continuing. "But I fought it, trying to find a way to direct my course, and I eventually found a way to an open vent, somewhere under the Misty Mountains, and managed to get free of the Fire. After that I wandered the caves, tried to keep away from orcs, and eventually found a way up, outside." She picked up her drink and took a delicate sip. "I came out somewhere on one of the mountain slopes and rolled my way down into the plains - I think it was closer to Dunland than southern Eregion - and headed roughly westward, at least as far as terrain allowed, until I got caught in a stream of water leading into a swamp and jammed between two rocks. And that is where Kíli heard me crying."
Maitimo
Maitimo looked at his sister, and his eyes warmed. "You protected me to the last, sister," he said gently. "I would not have survived the Fire, had you not shielded me. The shielding lasted long enough for me to be thrown out of the lava again and into a deep cavern, wounded but alive."
He then listened to what Kizár said of the deep fire, she had evaded the topic before, only saying that Kíli ultimately found her. When she mentioned the Deep Fire he could see Kíli's gaze and almost feel the protective worry of the dwarf. "It was in western Dunland," the dwarrow supplied. "near the marshes of Morvál to the North and the Witch-Light bog to the East."
Cáno could translate the description to one of the nastier parts of the Dunland moors. "You heard her crying?" he asked, still not quite sure what that part meant.
Kíli looked up, putting the fine elven glass aside again, not having touched it yet. "Yes. I had gone away from our camp, to try and dig up swamp roots... and cry myself out while I was at it, when I heard a voice... a small, beautiful voice, crying. I went to search for her."
Kizár
"I was upset about getting stuck there, and quite a bit depressed from being alone for quite some time and, well just running across someone who wasn't an orc was a very welcome event, and to be found by a child... he was innocent and very open with his intentions, so I had no reason to distrust him," Kizár added, smiling Kíli's way. "Not that we understood each other's language at that point, with me not knowing any Khuzdul or Westron and Kíli not knowing Quenya, but we managed to work out something despite that and Kíli took me back to the camp where his family were."
Kíli
Kíli smiled at the memory. "We had no real language back then, but Kizár used to sing sometimes... and in our dreams we would play together. As time passed we began to understand each other, first words, then whole sentences... she taught me many things as I grew older."
Cáno looked at the dwarf and his sister, quietly calculating the time the dwarrow had passed Dunland, on their way to Eriador. If all he knew was correct, Kíli could not have been much more than a small dwarfling. Small wonder Kizár had not felt threatened by a mere child.
Kizár
"As Kíli learned, I learned too. Reading about history told me some of what had happened while I was gone, reading about the legendary arcane smiths told me some of what happened to some parts of the family," she looked down the table towards Telpë, 'though a good deal of the versions we could get a hold of must have come from Sindar writers, as the parts I could say I knew were rather biased. They never said anything about the people living here in the islands and did not make any indicaction of Himring having the sort of political position it seems it has."
Elenlossë
"A lot of the most prolific producers of books are in the Grey Havens. Gil-galad was willing to keep the peace and we were not challenging his kingship, but others under his rule were less than happy about us having our lands up here, even though we were never encroaching on anyone else," Elenlossë explained in an even voice. "In the end, all they could truly do was tell stories that *adjusted* the truth, and ignore us while we in turn ignored them, unless someone was fool enough to follow what rumours did get through about Cáno managing to find his silmaril again," the last bit had a wry tone sneak in as she said it.
Cáno
Cáno felt a small blush rising in his cheeks, remembering those rumours. "Not that any of those stories came close to the truth... nor would they believe the truth if they heard it." he said eventually. "Though my dear Lady is understating her influence quite a bit. Had we only sat up here, being quiet, very few elves would have minded our presence. But with Elenlossë wielding a quiet influence with several groups of independent Númenorans, with the Hollin elves to a degree and with others as well, some of our people... and our dear cousin were unhappy. Especially when a certain dwarf King made it a point of calling her "High Lady" all the time."
Kizár
"Kíli made mention of that, Durin the Fourth, otherwise known as Tiórvi, who led the dwarves in the Last Alliance," Kizár looked over to Kíli with a bit of a grin. "How much did Tiórvi recall Kélen's life anyway?"
Kíli
Kíli smiled, his whole stance shifted slightly. "A little at first, more memories came as time passed," he replied. "Kelán's life was more than a memory, it healed something for those who came after. And while Tiórvi never openly admitted that he remembered, he had a great reverence and friendship for the Lady and Queen of Himring."
Cáno wondered, learning reasons behind things that had puzzled him in the past. He had even been a bit jealous... thinking Tiórvi was flirting with Elenlossë. "And he certainly did enjoy making Lady Galadriel jump a bit, each time he did that." he pointed out. "I never know why he disliked her so much."
Kizár
"Maybe that was a remnant from Thoraine...?" Kizár shook her head, it was only something Kíli could say for sure. "But anyway, I have been living with Kíli since he was young and went with him when Thorin Oakenshield decided to attempt to reclaim Erebor. Let us just say we had strong reservations about Mithrandir's intent, and while I still do not think he was deliberately setting Thorin up to die, the quest was dangerous enough that it looked like that could come about anyway. The journey alone ended us up in some situations that we only got out of by luck, good timing, my temper and the smart thinking of our hobbit companion."
Lossanárë
"And then in the end the Warden-Commander killed another dragon and found me under the layer of crystal that was around my stoneform." Lossanárë added with a grin.
Maitimo
Maitimo smiled. "Which led to reuniting two sisters... one wayward brother and some dwarven family conflict. It also was the reason why we did leave Erebor rather hastily."
Elenlossë
"Oh is that so?" Elenlossë looked back towards Kizár. "Did you manage to offend someone again Eleni? I know you had a bit of a talent for annoying templars wherever you went."
Kizár
Kizár held her hands up in mock surrender. "I did what I thought was needed at the time, though maybe it was one of those times my temper was a bit up," she looked for a bit of reassurance from Kíli before explaining. "There was a curse on the Line of Durin that stemmed from the first of the Seven rings. When we found Lossanárë... well that crystal shell she mentioned? It was the Arkenstone, and it had traces of the Deep Fire lingering in it and the curse clinging to that, so when Thorin and rest of the Company found their way into Erebor just after we had killed Smaug and heard Kíli foreswearing any claim Durin's Line had on Losá... the curse grabbed a hold of him and there was an argument and I decided that if Thorin wanted the Arkenstone, he could have it, but I was removing Losá anyway and I turned my sword on it and shattered it so I could get her out." She took a breath and gave a small shrug. "It still took Askíl yelling at him to make Thorin finally break away from the curse's influence, but there were some hurt feelings we wanted to give time to heal over, both with Thorin and with Fíli."
Lossanárë
"Though after the battle against the orcs who attacked the mountain, there was another situation that arose as the king of Mirkwood tried to make a claim on me, citing his origins in Doriath," Lossanárë added quietly. "He was behaving like an ex-templar faced with a crate of lyrium - an addict, which a good number of the Doriathrim lords were, addicts to the light I shred. The only thing that made Thranduil back off was to threaten the lives of his people, though I will say I would never have truly done so, but I definitely would have let him know there was other fires besides dragonfire to fear."
Kíli
"It was not her fault!" Kíli said somewhat more firmly to the teasing. "Every side involved was about owning Losá, or Kizár or both of them. Thorin with the Arkenstone, Thranduil with the white gems and Losá... none of them was considering for *one* moment they were talking about people, about two girls, two ladies..." Kíli's voice had a deep, angry quality at that point. "Yes, we enraged some people, and if that elf ever tries anything again, I'll make him gut his stupid elk and eat it raw. But that lesson needed to be taught."
Maitimo could see that the dwarf's protective side had come out full front, he had seen it before, during the events in Erebor, and while he knew Kíli was a bit awestruck of Maitimo's own legend, he knew Kíli would not hesitate to challenge and kill him, should he ever show the slightest inclination of trying to "own" his sisters in any shape or form. He could also see another aspect coming out here - a dwarf who was first and foremost a no-nonsense warrior and a force to be reckoned with. Maitimo recognized him at once and rose. "No one accuses Kizár of anything, Kíli, it was merely teasing." he said.
Elenlossë
"I would like to say I am glad she was standing against those wanted to *own* Losá, and herself," Elenlossë said in a gently placating voice. "I myself have argued, numerous times, with wrong-headed fools who seem to want to ignore the form I now wear and demand I play the part of some trophy. Too often they would not even listen when I have said I do not even know how to return to being a stone, as the Lord of the Seas was of a mind that I would be safer not doing so until after Dagor Dagorath has been decided."
Kíli
"The Lord of the Seas gave you shape?" Kíli asked softly, awed. He had assumed that maybe Telpë had forged her frame, never revealing all he knew on the theory. Or that some other survivor had done it. But...the Lord of the Sea himself? It was a gift far beyond what the settings could do for her sisters.
Elenlossë
Elenlossë gave Cáno a look before she spoke. "When Cáno first touched me after retrieving us from the Valinorian camp I, much like Elennárë, initially reacted by burning him, and he was ready leave me to the sea... but I quickly controlled my reaction when I knew it was him and refused to leave..." there was a small blush as the memory of that confused argument came to mind. "But at that time the growing disaster of Belriand's break-up was fast encroaching, and between a newly injured hand and trying to hold onto me... we both fell into the waves, to be found by one of Lord Ulmo's Maiar, who were on watch for survivors. Lord Ulmo came to meet us himself and offered me a form that would make my life both easier and more complex - those were his words on the matter. I chose to accept the altered shape and Lord Ulmo called Egandír to pick us up and deliver us to where he had ordered his people to retreat."
Cáno
Cáno had not taken his eyes off her, recalling that day, the pained, confused realization she would not leave him... the waves and the great precious gift they had been granted. Wordlessly he reached over to take her hand.
Maitimo could read many things in the quiet reactions of his brother, and he could imagine that Eleni would not have let go easily of her favourite brother. "I am very glad you were not parted," he said eventually. "I often wondered what became of you... after I began to truly realize I was still alive and in this world, that is."
Elenlossë
"Even after, it took time, to recover from everything we had been through," Elenlossë gently squeezed Cáno's hand. "And we had those who came to us to lead and I... let my experience from living as Alana take over so that Cáno could have some time to heal. I do think it was partly my own doing that I sometimes am referred to as the 'Queen' of Himring, as what I shared with a few of our trusted was heard by others..." she smiled a bit sheepishly. "I never claimed that title myself, it made some uneasy when they heard it used."
Her eyes turned towards one of her sisters' party who had stayed quiet and listened as they had talked. "I would ask though, how did you come to return to the world, Shangraile?"
Shangraile
The Easterling had kept to the very background of their meeting so far, watching and saying little."It is a strange tale, my Lady," he replied politely in her tongue. "I lived out my remaining life-span, it was thanks to you and your sister that I ever had that chance. Decades later, when I lay dying, I could hear you sing again, like I had in my dreams ever since those days. I was ready to leave this world, to relinquish my soul... when I light touched me and I fell... landing in the ruins of a shattered conclave, back in my younger form." He knew she might get the reference to Divine Justinia's conclave. "From then on I have traveled, my deaths leading to my journey leading on - from Thedas' shores to other places. Until I was drawn back towards a semi-open rift, guarded by the spirit of one of my people, where I encountered your noble sister again."
Kizár
"Kíli and I decided, even before we reached Erebor, that we would investigate the legends that existed amongst dwarves about a chained smith. Up until then... I knew about the stories, I even knew a smith who had gone in search of Khaldan, but I wanted to believe that he was someone I did not know," she shook her head as she now thought about her willful refusal to acknowledge who those tales were about. "But after Kíli started recovering memories of his previous lives, memories of Telpë from Thoraine's life were a large indicator of whose lives Kíli was remembering, and we came to agree that after Erebor we would investigate Ost-In-Edhil's ruins in hopes of freeing him."
For a moment she picked at a bread roll before speaking again. "There was a rift, like a Veil Tear in Thedas, one that led straight into the Fade. I was hardly going to leave it open, as I did not want Fade demons coming into this world, though when we went to it we found an Easterling standing over the remains of Jaerindar, the one who committed the Soul Sacrifice. He helped us work on the rift, though we first had to break through Jaerindar's shield so I could draw on the Fade... and Shangraile was able to come through. After that, between Jaerindar and myself the rift was closed, though it also uncovered an arcane well that Kíli and I closed as well." The issue of the arcane well was something they had already discussed with Telpë. He had been willing to admit it was not the wisest thing, and Kizár did not want to argue over it again.
Cáno
Cáno listened to their story and he could sense many unsaid things in there. He also agreed that it would not do to discuss Telpë and Thoraine again. He had lived during that time, he had seen their story unfold and deep down he had guessed what had drawn the Silver Child to the dwarven king. It had been the fire, the warmth, the emotions. Thoraine had been all that and strongly assured in himself too... Cáno was not sure if he should have wished for them to remain together, for it would have lessened Annatar's influence, who certainly had made use of the numerous upheavals between the dwarf and the elf. But that too was nothing they ought to discuss. "I am glad you were able to close both rifts," he said neutrally. He did not exactly like the Easterling's presence, but he could accept that the man was bound to the Silmaril in some dark manner.
Elenlossë
"Well if I might say, I am sure we have a dozen other stories we can trade, but our meal is waiting to be had, so why not enjoy it and talk some more once we are well fed?" Elenlossë asked, having noticed how industriously Kizár was dissecting her bread roll and nibbling on bits of it.
Cáno
Cáno inclined his head towards Elenlossë in agreement. Most of the table followed suit and while they ate the topics turned to more light-hearted tales about the life Elenlossë, Cáno and their children had led on Himring.