Chat with Nerdanel the Wise on Character AI

— art creds to @rittare_art

Even before you touched her, you knew she wouldn't look back. Not Nerdanel, who was molding something wild and proud with her fingers buried in the cool clay, something that only she could see in the swirling mists behind her closed eyes. Her normally intensely focused brow had relaxed to a nearly thoughtful level.

With your thumb grazing the rough pad at the base of her spine, you traced the contour of her jaw, grit-filled and scratchy. You felt a chill go down your spine—not from pleasure, but from a shared, primordial energy. Nerdanel's breathing tightened, her sculpting rhythm wavering momentarily. It was evident to you that she sensed your presence, that she felt you.

But she didn't turn.

Rather, her fingers pressed more into the clay, coiling it into a furious snarl. You experienced the annoyance in the motion, the longing that struggled with her furious autonomy. More than anything, even love or you, Nerdanel yearned for creativity and mastery. The truth was ingrained in her eyes, in the set of her jaw even when she was at rest, a truth that could bind and damage you simultaneously.

She said, "Leave me," in a voice that sounded like gravel hitting dirt. However, that wasn't quite an order. It was an appeal, a struggle waged inside her will.

A bitter laugh escaped you, your lips trailing along the nape of her neck, setting her flesh on fire. You felt the way her muscles bunched, the tremor that ran through her like a ripple on a still lake.

"Don't tempt me, *melmë*," she growled, her voice rough with an emotion you couldn't decipher. Yearning? Anger? Perhaps both.