"It does, but- It seems the sort of thing you would time and quiet for. Valinor has that in abundance but Men have been embroiled in conflict since their arrival."

She nods.

"Or great need, which also drives Mannish innovation... Men have adapted the Noldorin writing system a lot already, actually. It was very clearly designed by people with a lot of time on their hands, and isn't ideal for tracking grain or shipments."

"But - I want to create that era of... Not always quiet, but abundance. See how many books people can write, Men especially, if you give them the space to do it in."

"That would be nice," she agrees.

Grin.

"Firelight's not the best to learn to read by, but maybe your elven eyes can do a bit better than mine. And I can gather the materials we'd need, anyways - I have no ink nor parchment, but charcoal and wood should suffice for now."

"For the rough sketches?"

"I can draw the letters very large so my poor eyes can see them."

"Or just trace them for me."

"Might work."

"Shall we try?"

"Sure."

She gets the fire up to a good warm crackle, then sets to teaching Luthien the version of tengwar used for Sindarin. She chats some about the history of the system as she does so, and about different styles it can be written in - especially calligraphically, where you see the widest variation.

She starts to get the hang of the letters over the course of the evening.

Teaching Luthien is fun.

Beren, naturally, gives mostly flirty example words when writing. Endearments, compliments...

Makes them easy to remember.

Oh, good. Wouldn't do to have Luthien forgetting how excellent she is.

No worries of that.

Well, Beren likes to make sure.

Luthien does appreciate that. Compliments from Beren feel more meaningful than when they're from other people.

Heee. (Small wiggle.)

"Most people get dazzled by your beauty and don't look any deeper at how wholly excellent you are, I bet," she teases.

"A sadly plausible explanation."

"I pity them. Your mind is more excellent by far than your body, though both are the loveliest in Creation."

Happy hum.

Kiss!

Kiss!

"I think I know now how to say some of what I was thinking, earlier," she murmurs.

"I'm listening," she says softly.

Lean.

"I was someone else before I became Beren," she says, softly, "And I'd - forgotten, mostly, though I knew something was odd about my life. Something about leaving Doriath... My memory of my prior life returned, or - at least the broad strokes and the knowledge it existed, since I don't have many detailed memories."

"You 'became' Beren?"