[Open] Far from the commotion...

[arid_white_lady]

...a young mother is enjoying a moment of quiet while her daughters sleep peacefully. She's hemming a little dungaree, singing softly to herself.

She's available for anyone who wishes to visit, the door is slightly ajar. She might be waiting for her husband to come home.

[OOC: Primarily for relatives, though open post is open and anyone can wander in

Comments

[sweariwontdie]

It's partially out of concern and partially selfish, but when Armand is done being sick, he washes up and rinses his mouth several times and goes to see Irisse. He doesn't know who else has seen Feanor to warn her, and he's still shaken himself, very much so.

It's worse than the brothers who don't remember him. Looking into those cold gray eyes and not seeing any recognition or softening, Armand could very much understand anew why some considered Feanor a monster not much better than the evil Vala he opposed.

He knocks, one hand still clamped over his mouth as he expects to be ill again, though there's nothing left now. And he still has the issue of Jaenelle's ring. How can he tell her he was mistaken that it would help her? It would sound like the most terrible betrayal when an enemy far worse than Curufin has arrived.

[arid_white_lady]

Irisse's door is no longer ajar - having been warned by Celebrimbor, her husband and her brother, she's bolted herself in quite effectively. She isn't going to be caught unawares, and doesn't want to have to deal with Feanor without her brother's back up - and her husband.

When Armand knocks, she takes a moment to respond, trying to decide - but something about the way he knocked... "Who is it?"

[sweariwontdie]

Armand leans a bit against the wall by the door. "Tis Armand," he says through the door. He won't say 'Firyo' or 'Firyafinwe' out loud with Feanor around. Not until things are settled. "May I come in?"

[arid_white_lady]

There's no hesitation in the way she replies -- Armand, at least, she doesn't expect to be with Feanor, unless -- but the strain in his voice --- "A moment, please," and she unbolts her door, opening it slowly.

She's been crying, visibly, and she's shaking, but there is also resolve in her face.

[sweariwontdie]

Armand draws himself up and enters. He has been crying too but he did have a chance to wash his face. He's still quite pale from being ill. He closes the door behind himself and bows. Seeing her distress pains him, but he's half-glad she already knows. By the look of her.

"I see that you've heard..."

[arid_white_lady]

She nods, takes a deep breath. "I have."

[sweariwontdie]

"You are being protected?" he asks anxiously. "I saw him." Just the way Armand looks is enough to show that he wasn't remembered. "He asked where to find you. I lied to him." And that hurt to have to do, but he wasn't going to send Feanor to her door, not with her babies.

"And I have a confession to make." His chin drops.

[arid_white_lady]

Her eyes widen, she lifts her hand. "Should I sit?"

[sweariwontdie]

"I don't know. It couldn't hurt." He sinks to his knees anyway, still keeping his eyes down.

[arid_white_lady]

--- just -- what ---? She reaches to force him up -- "Fyrio -- don't -- you never were asked to kneel, you are my friend --- what are you doing?"

[sweariwontdie]

"No..." he protests. "I am not certain I can stand." He's spent most of the last half an hour feeling as if his insides were trying to be his outsides. He may allow himself to be pushed to a chair, but he won't stand.

[arid_white_lady]

He'll be pushed into a chair, then, and she'll sit across from him. "What is it?" She's already wringing her hands.

[sweariwontdie]

There's nothing to be done but spit it out. "The ring I loaned you. Jaenelle said that it wouldn't work for you. It was--oh what was the word she used?" He seems frantically upset over this as much as over Feanor's arrival. "It was keyed to me. I didn't know." And now Jaenelle is upset with him, and he hadn't even been helping Irisse like he'd wanted to. "Since it won't work, I may as well take it back, but... I'd like to visit a lot. If trouble comes, if I'm near you, you can share." He hasn't told Jaenelle that. "Unless she takes it from me. It was hers to give." And now he's run out of things to say and just bends over his knees to hide his face in his hands.

[arid_white_lady]

Her eyes widen, then she gapes --- "So all this time ---" her lip starts to tremble.

[sweariwontdie]

"I didn't know," he repeats, but the words come out like a sob. He hates that this news comes as Feanor, who is even more a danger to her than Curufin dreamt of being, returns. But would the illusion of safety, which would prove unworthy of the test, be better?

"I wished you safe..."

[arid_white_lady]

She takes a deep breath, and though she starts to cry softly, her head is high. "My uncle may hate me for my father's sake," she says with pride. "I refuse to believe he would kill a woman and her babes."