[Maikadilwen]

"Well, I am sorry to have to leave you now, but, well, business calls."
Melost's words cut like a knife in her mind and Anwanelme looked away and let out an irritated sigh.
"Business!" she heard herself say, once again thinking aloud. It had become a rather bad habit.
"I will be back with you as soon as I can, beloved" she heard Melost whisper to her, but angry and hurt as she was, she refused to look at him as he left with his squire.

The silence around them was deafening and Anwanelme leaned back in her chair, gazing straight at Arthain, a satisfied smile appearing on her lips when she saw his obvious discomfort.
He struggled to find something to say, but finally he leaned in over the table, trying to appear relaxed.

"So...how did you and Melost first meet?"

Anwanelme blinked.
It took her a moment to regain her composure, surprised more than she would admit by Arthain's question, then her eyes narrowed and she seemed even colder than before.
How dare he ask such a question?
Her thoughts were rushing through her mind and she started feeling angry over this...Man's insolence and she was just about to tell him what she thought about his kind, when she heard Menelya's voice from another part of the room and she bit her tongue. That was exactly what her mother would do...

Turning her face in the direction from which she had heard her mother, Anwanelme saw her staring at her and knowing how displeasing it would be for her mother to watch, she suddenly flashed Arthain and Dorlas a bright smile and leaned a little closer.

"We met in Lindon, Master Arthain. I believe that was your name? I was very young when I first met Melost and he had just joined Lord Gil-Galad's army. I think that it was nothing more but a childish fascination of a shining armour and a glinting sword, but he soon became a good friend, someone I could turn to when my mother...."
She looked away for a moment and sighed, the thought of how long she had been in her mother's clutches making her sad.

"Eyeing a chance to better her own status, since Melost is of Lord Gil-Galad's kin, my mother soon made an arrangement, that Melost and I were to be betrothed. And he accepted."

Arthain's brow furrowed for a moment as he thought about what he had just heard, no longer feeling as uncomfortable as before, but curious as to why his friend had never spoken of this... An arranged marriage? Melost never told me that.

"And you? Did you accept?"

Anwanelme looked at him, surprised and a little confused by the concern in his voice. He seemed genuinely interested in what she was telling and that was something unusual to her.

"Our wedding should have been long ago, but then came the war and he had to leave. Not wanting to make me a widow just when he had made me his wife, he postponed the wedding. And has done so ever since."

Seeing the thoughtful look in Arthain's eyes, she suddenly smiled brightly.
"So tell me, Master Arthain, how and where did you meet Melost? I do not recall him ever telling me about you and yet you seem to be close friends."
In fact Melost had never told her that he had friends among the race of Men and she couldn't help but wonder if there was more he hadn't told her yet.

[ June 13, 2003: Message edited by: Maikadilwen ]