How it all began in my servant Nolofinweans AU:
Finwe is dead in this AU, and that’s when the trouble started.
Developmentally (I’m not getting into elf aging this post) Fingon was around 8 years old, Turgon was around 4, and Aredhel was a toddler. The younger two don’t remember what things were like before, but Fingon does a little.
Finwe knew that Feanor was insecure about how much he was loved, so Finwe made sure that his will left the throne and all political power to Feanor. That way Feanor wouldn’t feel threatened, and wouldn’t have any need to lash out.
Yeah, that didn’t work. Feanor kicked most the royal family out of the palace. He ordered Nolofinwe to stay and serve him. Nolofinwe had no idea what Feanor was going to demand, and agreed - presumably this would be a political adviser of some sort. (Finwe’s will had personal messages to all his kids. The one to Nolofinwe had been about how Feanor will need a lot of support as he suddenly deals with governing a city, and Nolofinwe should stand behind him while they’re both grieving.)
(This is when Anaire exits the picture. She thinks Nolofinwe is chasing a sunk cost here.)
Nolofinwe can justify a lot of how Feanor treats him at first. It makes sense that ‘the rooms for the king’s children’ go to Feanor’s sons now, and with all the hubbub Nolofinwe just got put in whatever crappy rooms were empty, he’ll deal with it later. Digging through old records and looking up laws that haven’t been used in centuries isn’t glamorous, but it needs to be done and Nolofinwe knows how to do it. Same with exercising the horses, and cooking lunch for all the children.
Mucking out the stalls is a bit much though, and Nolofinwe confronts Feanor about setting aside their petty grudge.
Feanor explains that the whole point of Nolofinwe still being at the palace is for him to realize how superior Feanor is to him. And Finwe must have realized it to, otherwise wouldn’t he have left some restraints on what Feanor could do to Nolofinwe?
Nolofinwe says he’ll leave rather than stay and be humiliated, and turns around to walk out of the throne room. He’s going to take his children and go back to his house in the city, he’ll send someone to pick up his things later.
Feanor says he didn’t grant Nolofinwe permission to go.
Nolofinwe keeps walking.
Feanor has the guards stop him, and this is about when Nolofinwe realizes this isn’t a normal spat between them, and the power has shifted quite a lot.
'Frog-marching one of Finwe’s sons to the royal suite' is actually something that the guards have done quite a few times, when Feanor and Nolofinwe had gotten in a huge fight and Finwe didn’t want to yell at them in public. The guards aren’t at all suspicious of Feanor ordering the same.
The bedroom is one of the rooms deepest into the suite, maybe Feanor just wants to be assured of privacy for the obviously imminent screaming match.
Feanor says tells Nolofinwe to never contradict him in public, it undermines Feanor’s authority. If he has an issue, he should wait and bring it up in private.
Nolofinwe says “You've never had time for to speak with me in private before.”
Feanor says “I will now.” He offers Nolofinwe a cup of wine.
Nolofinwe drinks it, because Feanor appears to be trying, and also yelling makes his throat dry.
Feanor drugged the wine.
Nolofinwe is conscious, but not able to move much.
Feanor explains that Nolofinwe and children are his to do with as he pleases. Nolofinwe’s house in the city has been sold with the money going to Feanor. The Noldor legal system is built on ‘the king makes the laws,’ so literally whatever Feanor wants is legal.
(I might write their ‘first time’ in detail later, but I don’t feel like it at the moment. Suffice to say it’s unpleasant for Nolo.)
It’s a couple day later when Feanor unties Nolofinwe and tells him to go back to his rooms. Someone will have a list of chores for him tomorrow morning.
“And don’t forget to come back to my suite tonight. The only thing hiding will do is put me in a worse mood.”
Nolofinwe goes back to his new crappy rooms. The kids are there, as is another servant. Feanor told them to babysit as Nolofinwe would be busy for a couple days, so the kids are confused and upset but clean and fed.
(Feanor didn’t tell Nolofinwe what was happening with Nolofinwe’s kids, just said a dismissive “they’ll be fine" when asked.)
Babysitter elf also mentions that the gardeners and grooms and such mostly just have their kids all play together, and they can show him where the daycare is, right by the courtyard.
Nolofinwe accepts. He picks up Aredhel, takes Turgon’s hand, and tells Fingon to hold onto Turgon’s other hand so no one gets lost.
Nolofinwe is hoping to walk right out the door with his kids.
He can see the daycare, but the guards have been given instructions to stop Nolofinwe in particular from leaving the castle, even as far as the courtyard.
He can’t fight and hold onto three small children at the same time. And even if he did, where would he go? Feanor is absolute monarch of the whole country.
Nolofinwe says he’ll drop the kids off at the daycare tomorrow. He spends the afternoon playing with them and reassuring them that he won’t leave them alone for days again. He has an errand to run after dinner though and they need to be good and go to bed a little bit early. He promises Turgon that he’ll back in the morning for breakfast.
Nolofinwe goes to Feanor’s room.
Feanor is in a good mood at how quickly Nolofinwe is learning obedience, and it’s a fairly straightforward rape without any whipping or additional pain. It’s also far quicker, and Feanor kicks Nolofinwe out of the room at the end.
This gives Nolofinwe time to weep in despair (quietly, so as not to wake up the kids) for awhile before falling asleep. He falls asleep fairly quickly; it’s not like he got much sleep while Feanor was breaking him in.
Nolofinwe does the chores he’s assigned the next morning. It doesn’t make sense to protest them as demeaning when he’s walking into Feanor’s bedroom every night.
The first few months, Nolofinwe tries to think of ways out, but nothing looks likely. There’s some things with a chance of working, but nothing where it won’t be obvious he was trying to escape if he fails.
Also, for at least the time being, Feanor is ignoring Nolofinwe’s kids. They’re not getting a full royal education but they’re otherwise okay.
Feanor hasn’t explicitly threatened anyone beside Nolofinwe, but there’s still room for things to get worse if Feanor wants them to.