Fic Rec Fridays 2019 - part 38

Both the Sweet and the Bitter (1948 words) by determamfidd
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Aragorn/Arwen, Gimli/Legolas Greenleaf
Characters: Arwen, Aragorn, Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli, Eldarion
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Gigolas Week 3, outsider pov, arwen is amazing and I love her a lot okay

Summary:

Elves do not need words.

...

Legolas watches Gimli; Arwen watches Legolas. Time watches how they change.

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When I read this a few years ago, I left a comment saying “I can’t find angst here”, and now, looking back, I cannot help thinking: oh, you sweet summer child, how could you sample this delicate treat of sweet-bitter pain, and not appreciate its full flavour?

Because this story is to angst what confectionery is to sugar: the poison is served in a condensed, attractive shape with a promise of surprise delights within, and it will go down deceptively easy, for all that it will still gnaw your bones hollow.

Let me elaborate. First: condensed. The story covers a span of some 120 years in less than 2 000 words, yet the pace is perfect, with well-chosen turning points. And I wouldn’t want to read any more of the same, for the fear of my old dodgy heart bursting.

Or how about attractive: the prose is author’s trademark quality, with the added bonus of Arwen’s voice that’s at turns contemplative, wry and profoundly sad. (I have too many feelings about Arwen, all right, and I think Dets has captured her so well here ♥)

And finally: the surprise filling. For me, the use of an outsider’s POV into the central relationship is what gives this story its special flavour, with a wonderful intermingling of internal and external observation. And of course, the pain that sidles up to you almost unnoticed. Yet it is always is counterbalanced by love that is even greater, and that is what truly hurts the most. That is the knife’s tip that will break off and lodge itself in your heart, a lasting reminder of time and its brevity, and the mad, marvelous things people are willing to do for love.