Extended Family
Ned and Lily moved in to the other half of Sindo's smial, with a sturdy barred door made of the best available driftwood between them. It was the best door on the hillside. Lily tended the gardens, and Ned helped her, and hunted small game, having grown quite skilful with a light bow. He hung the quiver over his pony's left shoulder. His fame as a mushroom gatherer grew despite Noldo's efforts to keep it quiet, and he made rather good money selling mushrooms downriver when the woods were moist. But he always made sure Noldo's clan had enough to satisfy them before he took the rest to market.
Lily grew in respect for Sindo, and then in appreciation of him, and then she came to love him. When Sindo turned thirty, Ned gave him permission to marry Lily three years early, and Noldo agreed. The spring ceremony was also attended by Adaron's family, who happened to be visiting, including Mirthlûn and Thorontir. After the ceremony, Lily joined Sindo next door, and Ned stayed where he was. After they married, Sindo slowly began teaching Lily Osanwe. It was difficult; she had almost no natural talent for it. But she was willing to learn, and he delighted in working with her.
Lorien's second child was a girl, delivered that same spring, with Lorien's eyes and hair, very slender and tall for a hobbit-baby.
Mirthlûn started to comment how amazing it was that Lorien had delivered two children in just four years, but Adaron suddenly descended upon him like an avalanche and subdued him immediately. Afterwards, Mirthlûn sheepishly confessed to Noldo that he had only meant to remind him that Feanor had had seven sons. Noldo laughed merrily, reaching up and slapping Mirthlûn's shoulder.
Noldo considered various hobbit-girl names while Lorien was expecting, but three days after the child was born she still had no name. Finally Noldo approached Lorien and asked her, "Would you consider naming her Mallorn, after my mother?"
Her long silence puzzled him, until finally she turned her October-blue eyes on him and said, "I've been afraid to tell you this, Noldo. But you never did ask me about my own birth name."
He waited.
"Do you want to know my name?" she gently prompted.
He thought long and hard, and finally said, "Yes, darling, I do."
She stood, and took him in her arms, and kissed him, and then to his surprise she released him and stood back.
"My name is Mallorn, " she said.
She had known it would be difficult for him to hear, but at least several years had passed. He paced for quite a while, and then returned to her, and took her hands.
"Darling, I can't call you that."
"I know."
"I'm sorry."
"I know. It's all right."
"Does Sindo know that that is your name?"
"He does. He asked me right away, as soon as I knew."
"And you both chose not to tell me."
"Yes."
He nodded. "You chose well." He sighed. "If we call the child Mallorn, she will be named after both of you... three generations in a row." He pondered, and she waited. "But no one would know that except Sindo, you, and me."
"And the elves."
He nodded.
Lorien said, "Remember that Adaron named his child both Lothlorien and Lothrin?"
Noldo smiled. "Do you have a nickname in mind?"
"We'll think of one. Or perhaps Mirthlûn can come up with one."
Thunderstruck, Noldo gasped. "Mirthlûn promised that he would name our smial! He never did! Did he?"
She laughed. "Of course he did. I refused to let him tell you the name. He was crushed."
"Lorien, what was it?"
"Absurd. That's what it was."
"Oh, but you've got to tell me."
"It's totally ridiculous."
"I'm sure it's overly ambitious."
"Outrageous. It's outrageous."
"I want to know. Please."
She oscillated between indignant refusal and suppressing the rising giggles. "He-- he called it-- Little Valinor!" She burst out laughing hysterically.
Noldo shrugged and chuckled. "Well, we knew it would be grandiose."
But she was laughing far too hard to have even heard his comment. He wandered out the backdoor into the woods and found Adaron.
"Did Mirthlûn tell you that he named our hillside 'Little Valinor'?"
Adaron cringed and groaned, and hid his face in both of his hands, shaking his head. How long would his dear friend continue this horribly embarrassing indulgence of hyperbole? Would he never be reasonable? Adaron was suddenly thankful that Thorontir and Mirthlûn were deep in the woods with his wife, his son, and his two daughters, and only Noldo was present to witness Adaron's discomfiture.
Noldo gently took Adaron by the arm, and as Adaron looked down at him quite surprised, Noldo said, "Have you noticed that no matter how he is laughed at for his grandiosities and exaggerations, Mirthlûn never gets angry? Never acts injured or annoyed?"
Adaron looked surprised. "This is true." He gave Noldo his attention.
"Sometimes, I wonder if Mirthlûn doesn't make up his wild names to be intentionally funny. Don't you think so?"
Adaron looked rather uncomfortable, and Noldo thought it was unusual for Adaron to be at a loss for words.
"One of these days, O Mighty Father, I wonder if you could reward one of his grandiose names with a chuckle."
Adaron looked so astonished Noldo half expected his jaw to drop, but his dignity didn't fail him that badly.
Laughter sparkling in his eyes, Noldo reached up, and as he so often did to Mirthlûn, he clapped Adaron's shoulder. "Perhaps you could lighten up... just a little."
With a huge effort, Adaron dutifully and magnanimously received Noldo's advice, and, looking extremely thoughtful, rather like Naurloth usually did after one of his father's lectures, turned and slowly walked into the woods to find his family.
Noldo, after considering Adaron's retreating back and thinking how well he loved his staunch friend, quietly chuckled a few more times.
Then he turned and wandered alone downhill to the water's edge, and in the bright noon sunlight, stood by the river, and then turned to look up at his hillside, glowing in the sun. Lily and Ned were working in the garden, and Sindo, flirting and dallying near Lily, was showing Lundo how to pull radishes. Lundo had more than he could carry (and more than the clan would eat that day) but he was still pulling more.
Up above Noldo's front door, Lorien was standing at the edge of the woods, holding little Mallorn. Her cream-colored dress glowed white in the sunlight, her eyes shone, and her hair was fiery gold; meeting his eyes, she turned with a proud smile so that he could see his daughter's face. He smiled as he studied them, deeply content, and thought how very happy he was.
Little Valinor. Noldo laughed out loud. He rather liked it.
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