Anneth has long clung to her dreams, though sorrow has threatened to murder them again and again. There was a time when sorrow made her hopes only sweeter, but as Sauron grows yet stronger in the East, she feels everything she has ever held dear fal...
"You are good, sister. I like you a lot. How do I be good like you?"
The older elleth smiled widely and laughed, gathering her little sister up in her arms. A kiss she pressed to Amarwe's forehead, twirling around gladly. Smiles were on both the ellith's faces, and the younger perceived then that her sister was the most beautiful elleth in the whole of Ennorath, even the entirety of Arda.
But Anneth was not beautiful. Pretty, yes, but her beauty did not turn heads and demand attention. She was simple, muted, imperfect. If she had been a lady of the court, she would have been the simplest of them all, in beauty and desires. There was little Anneth longed for, and at the height of her longing was the desire to find love.
Amarwe never doubted for a moment that her sisters were the most beautiful ellith to walk the earth, even when her oldest sister's years grew long and her hope for love slid through her fingers. Amarwe saw as Anneth, called now Authiel, smiled in spite of it, rejoiced in her joy and in Laineth's joy. She had cried with happiness when she saw her first niece, and wept for joy when she beheld her nephews. Then the nieces and nephews were given children of their own, and still she rejoiced. Still her eyes spoke of contentment, and her words of optimism and hope.
There was still hope, Anneth would cling to it. Deep in her sister's eyes, Amarwe began to see the long years, the loneliness, and the beginnings of despair, though Authiel pushed aside anything that might bring her to lose heart. Amarwe wanted to weep for her sister at times, other times she felt terrible that her responsibilities caused her to neglect her friendship with her older sister, but each time she voiced these concerns, Authiel assured her that all was well, even as it was well for others but not for her
If even her sister's face was not eye catching, Amarwe knew that Authiel's character was beautiful at the very least. Nothing should ever change that.
Amarwe knew her sister could only grow more admirable.
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"Why do you convince yourself that you do not when any could see that you do?"
"Nana, for what I believe is the thousandth time, I do not fancy him! Why do you question me as if I were a barely of age elleth?"
Nana sighs, shaking her head at me in her complete disbelief. "Because you are acting as one."
"Yet how, Nana! I have spoken to him on five occasions, that is not nearly enough time for one's feelings to fly from friendship to attraction!"
"Oh, but it is, my dear Anneth."
In my chair I lean back, closing my eyes. Oh, how greatly my young self would have rejoiced to live as I am now, and in this moment I dread and despise my experiences.
Or so I tell myself, for I do welcome the friendship of any, save many ellyn of whom the prince is exempt from, and friendship is all I can seek here. It is all I will seek.
