singlelogbridge | Inbox: Ximilia

[ her answering smile is bright — there is no objection to calling her lady, either, for that is how most would have, back home, and there's a nice familiarity to it. ]

So do I. [ she breathes a laugh. ] I confess I should not be aware of it, however, for dwarves are terribly secretive of their customs... but my father enlisted their help in building our home, and so we had much contact with them over the centuries.

[He is on the cusp of asking what a dwarf is, entirely unfamiliar with the people (because they can only be a people from what she's described though whether they are human or something else entirely remains to be seen) when the rest of her words click into place.] Ah, did you say centuries?

[Well then.] Have I been speaking so casually to a celestial immortal, Lady?

Hardly celestial, [ comes her answer, with a tinkling laugh. ]

But elves do not age, nor are we touched by illness. My years reach back thirty centuries, and yet it pales in comparison to many in Doriath.

[Thirty centuries. He looks dumbstruck for a moment, his jaw fallen open just a little before he realizes and slams it closed. His cheeks tint pink.]

I. Um. [Sorry Luthien, usually when he teases beautiful women about being celestial goddesses, they aren't actually. (She might not be a celestial goddess, but it's certainly the closest he's ever come to one.]

It's me the star shines upon then, Lady Luthien, for the honor of meeting you. [He gets himself together finally and offers her a boyish smile.]

Is everyone in your world so long lived?

[ in all truth, she is more celestial than the other elves — her mother is, after all, one of the maiar, a being of divine origin.

quickly, she reaches out, touches her fingertips on the back of his hand, as if to reassure. ]

Please, forgive me if I startled you. I forget not everyone is used to the elven ways.

[ however — ] Nay, it is only us elves, the firstborn of the One, who will not yield to time. The race of Men will pass beyond the borders of our world once their time comes.

[It's impossible not to smile back at such a sweet face and gesture and he quickly waves off her entirely unnecessary apology.]

In my world there are mortal men and women who may ascend to immortality, and there are the immortal gods who govern the realm, but there are no elves. [He pauses.] That I know of! It's a vast world with all sorts of unknown wonders, so who knows!

Men who may ascend to immortality?

[ her face does something complicated at that, shifting from surprise to hope to sorrow — if only those in her world could, too! if only they could have begged the valar to grant beren a life like hers, so they would always be reunited in the halls of mandos. but his spirit has now left middle-earth, and she may never follow it. ]

The differences are great indeed, then, [ she says eventually, with a small smile. ]

[There's a sadness in her face at what he's said that his heart aches to see. It isn't his place to ask after though, so he holds his tongue and reaches for a distraction instead, gesturing at his flute.]

I've been playing on my own for so long, Lady Luthien. If you're inclined and don't have anything else to do right now, I'd be honored if you'd join me for a few more songs. I can accompany on any song you sing if you give me just a few moments to listen.

[ she sees the distraction for what it is, but is glad to take it — a fool turns away from kindness offered, after all. ]

Yes, I would love to. [ and so she sings — songs of delight, made when the world was young and the trees still stood; songs of lament, for those lost, for the darkness covering parts of her homeland. songs of respect, for the stars, for the valar; songs of healing, ones that make the soul feel rested.

and through all of them, the sound of dizi, beautiful and haunting, sings with her. ]

Inbox: Ximilia

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

puts a bow on this