𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 | Aragorn (LOTR)

2- Recalling the Past

Her love of drinking undoubtedly called for many feasts and parties, to the point where Elrond banned her from celebrating. One day, when Indilwen was around the age of what humans would call a late teenager, Arwen returned home from travels. This is when it all started; her father favored Arwen greatly and always looked down upon Indilwen being the lesser daughter. This caused Indilwen to hold much jealousy for her sister who was never restricted by rules and always got what she wanted.
   Arwen was everything Elrond wanted: a fair, gentle lady who was kind and well mannered, respected and praised by the people. Naturally, he let Arwen have more freedom, and took out all his frustration on his other daughter.

It was on this day that Arwen had come home after being away for several moons, something Indilwen was rarely allowed to do. She was lying in her room staring idly at the ceiling in boredom when a messenger came through her door.

"Your sister, Arwen, has returned from Lothlórien. Lord Elrond calls a feast." He informed her.

"What?" She sat up. "A feast?"

"Yes, my lady," the messenger replied.

In her burst of anger, Indilwen shoved past him and stalked out to the entrance gate.

A feast?! She thought. He never hosts a feast for anyone unless it's a splendid and important occasion! I've never had a celebration for me in all my life.

She looked out upon the road leading out of Rivendell and saw her sister in the wide, welcoming arms of her father.
   Guards were placed by them, smiling widely and welcoming the returned princess.
   Indilwen could barely make out Elrond's words as he walked with Arwen.

"My precious child has returned, yes? I have already prepared a celebration for your arrival! Won't you feast with us, my dear?"

Arwen chuckled slightly. "Oh, Ada (father). I do not desire a feast for myself, it is not a special occasion!"

"Ah, but it is!" Elrond grinned. "My daughter has returned home, and this day is just for you!"

Indilwen gazed at them sadly before turning away, her long robes flying out behind her. She would have no partake in this feast if it was dedicated to her sister.
  Her feet sent her back to her room where she sat crossly on her bed.

After a while, Elrond entered and looked at her disapprovingly. "Won't you even rise to welcome your sister home? Do you not even acknowledge her return?"

Indilwen remained silent and did not meet his eyes.

"You may come to the feast, this time. It's for Arwen." Elrond tried to appease her.

"For Arwen!" She turned around to face him. "Yes, it's for precious Arwen," she spat. "When did I ever get a feast or be praised in front of the whole assembly of our people? When did you welcome me home from travels or bid me farewell? Why you rarely even let me attend feasts! And now you ask me to go to one that is specifically for my sister? But not for me."

"Arwen has been out traveling in the wilderness for moons, visiting her other relatives and possibly in danger, and you receive her with selfish, heedless words! Why is all you can think about yourself?" Elrond raised his voice slightly, but the tone of disapproval was obvious.

  "I think I have a right to be selfish when all you've done is treated me lesser and favored Arwen all my life," Indilwen replied sulkily.

"Maybe you would receive feasts like your sister if you wouldn't be so ungracious and scornful. Maybe if you would listen to me for once you could be as proper and reverent as Arwen!" Her father said coldly.

Indilwen scoffed and looked away. "Listen to you? Your-  your practices? Your standards? No. I won't listen to your biased standards that force me to be some other person- like I'm clay that can be shaped any way you like! You try to force me to be some perfect figure or model of what you want your children to be, but that's not who I am! I try to listen to you but I think you need to listen to me!"

"You have no right to tell me what I should do, Indilwen." Her father scolded her, his voice unloving and cool. "I order you to attend this feast for your sister."

It hurt to hear him like this, speaking to her as if she were an outsider. Maybe to him she was..

"I refuse to obey it." Indilwen held her head high and stared at him with a stubborn, flaming gaze.

"You dare disobey a direct order from your ruler?" Elrond asked, infuriated.

"Ruler?" Indilwen scoffed. "What happened to father? Are you not that to me anymore?" Her lip curled into a snarl. "You have no right to rule if you treat your own daughter like some outcast-if you treat her lesser than her siblings! If you love one daughter more than the other, how can you love your people equally?" Indilwen now stood up and faced him with a quivering voice. Her temper was rising; the temper that Elrond fueled continuously through years of discipline.

Elrond's own temper was rising as well. His eyes were alight with anger and frustration. "You're naive," he spat. "Foolish. Childish! Ignorant and selfish! So tied up in your own misery and self-absorbed world that you can't be gracious or even acknowledge others!"

"Nadorhaun! (Cowardly dog!)" She hissed, striding toward Elrond. With swift movements, she grasped his hand and reached for his Ring of Power, and tore it off his finger.
  The jewel clattered to the ground and spun there for a moment. The father and daughter stared at each other in shared outrage.

"You don't deserve to wear that ring," Indilwen growled, her voice quivering.

"You don't deserve to be standing in my presence," he spat, not breaking his gaze. "How dare you-"

"How dare I?" Indilwen yelled. "How dare you!" Her body was quivering with anger. "I WISH I wasn't in your presence! I wish I never was your daughter!"

Elrond, in a burst of rage, clutched the sapphire pendant on Indilwen's neck and snapped the chain off. A gasp escaped her lips as she felt the warmth of the gem leave her. Elrond held the sparkling pendant and dropped it to the ground.

"Then you no longer get to bare this jewel," he snarled.

Indilwen was too in shock to react, her heart torn in two as she was separated from her mother's love.

"If you are no longer my daughter then you have no place here." His words came out slowly and piercingly, like sharp daggers slicing into her heart one by one. "I banish you from Rivendell and all the lands of the Elves for disobeying a direct order from the Lord Elrond. I do not permit you to be in my sight again." Elrond finished smoothly, without any doubt or sadness in his words. His coolness only made Indilwen's heart ache more, as the indifference of her father's words sliced through her more painfully than any weapon could.

Hate. Spread by lust, and frustration, and greed. Hate: what drove Indilwen's family apart and the only thing that could bring it back together was a little bit of love.

a/n: Elrond and Indilwen and all the elves would have been speaking in Quenya/Sindarin but I did not have translations for every little thing they said 😂 so I added some bits here and there but put it in English so we can understand.
Also, if you thought this was out of character for Elrond, one, I am changing parts of his character to fit his role in this story. Two, this was years and years before the Fellowship of the Ring. Years before Aragorn was even born, so Elrond changed over time and realized his mistake with Indilwen, but didn't know how to find her again. :) thanks for reading!