Transmitting Chapter Four... At Last!
picowrimo has suddenly prodded me into writing again and I am really pleased to have finally overcome the Lockdown Lethargy where I really couldn't write, even though I tried. But since July 1st I have gone back to Transmitting and written the next chapter. I promise chapter five will also be done by the end of this month, too.
To refresh yourself if you are still interested, the first three chapters can be found here at Faerie, or Here at TtH
Chapter 4
Word count- 2, 420
Rate - PG 13
Chapter Four
‘At last!’
Four people had the thought almost simultaneously, and another would, oddly, follow over the next few hours.
‘At last!’ Haldir thought, ‘I am sure I could have travelled between the Noldor town and this point faster if I had been walking backwards carrying my horse!’
But he refrained from saying so.
The party had gone over the highest pass three days before and were descending, slowly. Last night they had finally reached the point where he and Tindómë had spent the night, on that previous journey, when there had been what she called an ‘earthquake’. They had spent the past few hours following the same small stream as last time, through increasing numbers of pines and thicker undergrowth. And now they rounded a bend in the little valley and the hill dropped away, their small stream forming a waterfall, and spread in front of them was open land.
‘At last!’ thought Legolas.
Just as Tindómë had predicted last night, they could now see soft rolling hills and grassland dotted with trees in small woodlands. Light glinting off a couple of distant patches of water; and in the distance were snow-capped mountains.
Tindómë had told them that she had been disappointed by the size of the land in front of them, the first time they had come this way, and Haldir had admitted to feeling the same. But, now that they knew that they would have to climb those distant mountains before they got to their own land, they could take pleasure in these green lands first and then climb over the far range refreshed.
‘At last.’
The first range of mountains had been interesting, and he was the first dwarf to ever see them, but they belonged to the Noldor. Their mines ran through them and under them. Fine mines. Well-crafted mines. And fine elves, too; much more polite than the Noldor he had met in the city. They had been courteous, and interested in his opinions, and both he and Tharhîwon had learnt from them some of their ways of working the stone here.
But now, in the distance, were new mountains. The sun glinted on them in places, as it was still before noon and, although even with his spyglass these old eyes could not see them clearly, he was aware of the height and the breadth of the range.
And these were new mountains, unexplored mountains, mountains that Lord Mahal and his kin had kept veiled from the eyes of anyone travelling this way before Haldir and the lass… Their mountains!
He would not deny, though, that both his own legs and those of his pony would benefit from some time on the gentle slopes, and more level ground, he could make out between the two ranges. It was not just his eyes that were old.
‘At last!’ thought Rumil.
Before the day was out they would be walking on soft ground and beneath trees. Tonight they could sleep to the sounds of branches; shivering pine branches and newly greening birch and oak ones. Not that he planned to sleep much.
There would be a turn on watch; no matter that there were no threats from men, or yrch, or warg. No matter that Haldir and Tindómë had said these forests contained no large predators; no bears, no big cats, no great wolves or, they had said, anything much bigger than a rabbit. Elves of Middle Earth could no more sleep without someone on watch than they could breathe without air.
Being on watch also filled in some of the hours of darkness, for none of them needed more that two or three hours to sleep. But Rumil planned to fill more of them in sharing his body, and his pleasure, with Tindómë. Cold stone and sparse grass on the mountain passes were not conducive to being ‘swayed by the desires of the body’!
He shared the idea with Tindómë through their mental link. She grinned and then he ‘saw’ a series of mental images that clearly showed she agreed with him.
……………..
‘At last!’
Ithilienne had spent most of the day being gently tutored in household management by Ladies Celebrían and Ferveren.
In the weeks since she had moved into the main house of ‘Imladris-on-Sea’, as Legolas and all Ithilienne’s family had left Alqualondë to go adventuring, both the older ellyth had, as planned, taken her under their wings. Lady Ferveren was not only getting to know her, but also quietly ascertaining that Ithilienne’s education had included not only the history of the Sindar but also of her, Silvan, people.
It was very clear that both Celebrían and Ferveren expected her to eventually bind to Legolas. The good news was that they both seemed to regard it as a good thing. But, at last, she was able to gather her supplies and head out to Legolas’ favourite tree as she did, after dinner, every second or third evening.
If ‘their ladyships’ noticed, and they almost certainly did, they approved of her spending time with trees. Ithilienne had even overheard Celebrían say that, as long as Ithilienne was not pining for Legolas, she thought that the way in which she always chose that tree to think in was rather sweet.
It was her own personal time. Just as Naneth’s time was the first light, so Ithilienne’s name-time was now. Ithil had risen over the sea, the silver light illuminating a broad path from the horizon to the land that made Ithilienne think of ‘The Straight Road’, for it had been like this on the last nights at sea aboard ‘Heart of Eryn Ithil’ when the helmsman had simply followed the path straight to harbour. And now Ithil was almost overhead.
Naneth had explained that Ithil was simply a very large ball of rock that moved around the world because of gravity. But Adar and Haldirin had told her that when Naneth had discussed this with Lord Celeborn he had said that this was, ‘of course’, known to Elvish scholars. But it did not mean that the light of Telperion had not given the ball of rock its sheen, nor that Tilion was not responsible for ensuring it kept its course.
Legolas had told her that Naneth had also been very sceptical about Vingilótë being a sky-ship with the twins’ grandfather at the helm, but had finally admitted it was the case when she saw Vingilótë set sail the first time.
He had also added that California had had a lot of things he didn’t understand either, during his short visit, but if it was possible for The Key to exist, and it was possible for doors to be opened with it between worlds, then he still didn’t understand why Naneth had found the idea of Vingilótë so difficult!
Which train of thought brought Ithilienne back to her reason for sitting here, in Legolas’ favourite tree, as midnight approached.
The Key. As she had done a number of times, she focused her mind and concentrated firstly on the feel and sound of her blood travelling around her body. Then, still aware of her own blood moving, she let her mind drift into waking dreams.
Now, as she reached the point of calm where she could mentally leave the tree and walk a dream path to anywhere, she thought instead of being curled up in this place, but with her head on Legolas’ chest. ‘The Key is in the blood….’ Think of her own blood moving through her body and then think of the sap moving through the tree. Think of her own heartbeat, think of Legolas’ heartbeat…
“Meleth!”
And suddenly there he was.
They were neither in this tree nor anywhere else, for a moment or two, but they were sitting with her head on his chest and his hand on her hair.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Wait and I will show you”, Legolas said.
Now when she lifted her head and looked around she could see they stood on grass, in a clearing. Around them were trees, mainly deciduous and just being touched with the bright green of new leaves, but with some pines and, in the middle of the clearing, a stately spreading cedar.
“I am sleeping on a branch of the cedar,” he said. And it felt as if the world reoriented itself for a moment and now she was sitting in the tree, on a broad branch, her back to Legolas’ chest.
“Elo!” said Ithilienne, “and I didn’t even have to start by dreaming of us joining!”
“I would have no objection…. After all we are on a dream path, not really together in my tree, where it might be a little awkward,” he paused, “although certainly not impossible.”
“Mmm…” It was tempting. “But not just yet,” she decided. “There are things I want to know. Like why did this work this time when it hasn’t the last three or four times?”
“Perhaps I was not asleep, meleth.”
Somehow something quite so simple hadn’t really occurred to her.
He continued, “In the town of the Noldor, and as we climbed over the mountain passes, I slept little. There was little to tire me in the town, and over the mountains I took third watch, sleeping in the fourth. Tonight Galanthir and I took first watch, knowing there were some who would take advantage of being on grass, below trees, to enjoy each other’s bodies once the fire dimmed a little - and Gimli slept! And then this tree called to me to sleep in its branches, so here I am.”
Ithilienne smiled. The old dwarf’s hearing may not be as good as it was, but she knew from experience that sounds of others joining too close at hand made him go red up to his ears and huff a lot.
“So… if it really is that simple perhaps I should try to ‘visit’ you at first light rather than this time of night? Should we make a time in advance? I thought maybe you had to be in trees for it to work…”
“Perhaps I do. We will not be able to tell until our next mountain climb.”
Yeah - well that was logical, but she wanted to know now.
That thought must have reached across, through the ‘door’ that her version of The Key opened, because Legolas asked “Why? Are you worried about us crossing the mountains, meleth?”
‘Drough er!’ she thought, quietly. “Um… no. I… er, I kind of want to know all I can about doing this. I mean, it’s nice to be able to visit you when we are apart, like this, but I want to know more about how it works and what I can do with it.”
She hoped she hadn’t said too much and given him ideas. Quickly she went back to the idea of arranging ‘dates’ as Naneth called them.
“I…, err, I get pretty tired when I do this, so I’ve not been trying every night. Is it better, when I do try, to make it early morning so you can sleep as you usually do?”
“How tired?” He sounded worried. Well it had distracted him, anyway.
“Oh, just ‘I need something to eat and a lie down’ sort of tired, not ‘prostrate on my bed for a week’ sort of tired.”
“Well if it tires you, meleth, it would be better if you slept afterwards.”
That was ‘very sensible Legolas’. What Naneth called his ‘big brother setting’. Not really ‘Legolas the lover’. But he was right, of course.
He went on, “I will be sure to sleep during second watch every third night. It matters little if I take first watch, or third or fourth.”
Neither spoke for a few minutes as Ithilienne looked around her. She was pretty sure she was able to see what Legolas could see through his sleeping eyes. Naneth slept with her eyes shut, like a mortal, it wouldn’t be possible to do exactly this with her.
Now it was important to…
Legolas licked her ear and his hand began to curve around her breast. It felt so solid that it was amazing to think that she wasn’t really in that clearing in the forest, on a branch of an ancient cedar. Perhaps she should have thought of herself in something other than tunic and leggings, perhaps next time she… whoa!
“Mmm - wait a minute. I want to explore a bit.”
“I was thinking about exploring this bit…” his hand moved down over her stomach.
“Just….mm… just…” Naneth was right - ellyn often seemed to think with their grond! “I want to explore this Key thing!”
His hand stayed where it was but stopped stroking.
“I can see where you are - it looks like a good place. I want to know if I can show you things like this too.”
She tried to concentrate again on her blood flowing through her veins, her heart pumping it… and where her hröa was. Now they were both in the tree in Lord Elrond’s garden.
“You look well my friend,” Legolas said.
The leaves near them danced a little.
“She knows I am here,” he said.
“Mkay… that’s… good. I think. But weird.”
Was it the real tree that was acknowledging him or was it a version of the tree on the dream path? Did it matter?
“I want to know if I can show you things that I have seen or done. I mean that might be really useful,” she said. “Just sit still and don’t distract me. I’m going to concentrate on being with you, but on what I did earlier, as well.”
The Key is in the blood… the Key is in the blood… the blood is in my veins… the Key is in me… This morning I sat with Legolas’ naneth…
“Naneth!” Legolas said from behind her.
“She can’t hear or see us,” Ithilienne said. “This is just her and me reading this morning.”
“Even so,” he said, “I still want to smile whenever I see her.”
Inside Ithilienne felt like smiling too. It had worked. All the practice even when she hadn’t managed to reach him seemed to have helped. But she was beginning to feel tired.
“You are tired, meleth, I can feel it. It would be better for you to rest now. We can leave any other exploring until three nights away… second watch.”
He was right. She turned her head towards him, she felt him kiss her - and then she slept.
............................
“Elo!” - "Wow!" Sindarin
‘Drough er!’ 'Bother!' Silvan
Meleth - Beloved Sindarin
Grond - Battering Ram - one of many slang terms the elves have for the penis!
I'm not sure if anyone still reads the Returnverse stories here, but I will post this chapter at TtH and Faerie tomorrow.
To refresh yourself if you are still interested, the first three chapters can be found here at Faerie, or Here at TtH
Chapter 4
Word count- 2, 420
Rate - PG 13
Chapter Four
‘At last!’
Four people had the thought almost simultaneously, and another would, oddly, follow over the next few hours.
‘At last!’ Haldir thought, ‘I am sure I could have travelled between the Noldor town and this point faster if I had been walking backwards carrying my horse!’
But he refrained from saying so.
The party had gone over the highest pass three days before and were descending, slowly. Last night they had finally reached the point where he and Tindómë had spent the night, on that previous journey, when there had been what she called an ‘earthquake’. They had spent the past few hours following the same small stream as last time, through increasing numbers of pines and thicker undergrowth. And now they rounded a bend in the little valley and the hill dropped away, their small stream forming a waterfall, and spread in front of them was open land.
‘At last!’ thought Legolas.
Just as Tindómë had predicted last night, they could now see soft rolling hills and grassland dotted with trees in small woodlands. Light glinting off a couple of distant patches of water; and in the distance were snow-capped mountains.
Tindómë had told them that she had been disappointed by the size of the land in front of them, the first time they had come this way, and Haldir had admitted to feeling the same. But, now that they knew that they would have to climb those distant mountains before they got to their own land, they could take pleasure in these green lands first and then climb over the far range refreshed.
‘At last.’
The first range of mountains had been interesting, and he was the first dwarf to ever see them, but they belonged to the Noldor. Their mines ran through them and under them. Fine mines. Well-crafted mines. And fine elves, too; much more polite than the Noldor he had met in the city. They had been courteous, and interested in his opinions, and both he and Tharhîwon had learnt from them some of their ways of working the stone here.
But now, in the distance, were new mountains. The sun glinted on them in places, as it was still before noon and, although even with his spyglass these old eyes could not see them clearly, he was aware of the height and the breadth of the range.
And these were new mountains, unexplored mountains, mountains that Lord Mahal and his kin had kept veiled from the eyes of anyone travelling this way before Haldir and the lass… Their mountains!
He would not deny, though, that both his own legs and those of his pony would benefit from some time on the gentle slopes, and more level ground, he could make out between the two ranges. It was not just his eyes that were old.
‘At last!’ thought Rumil.
Before the day was out they would be walking on soft ground and beneath trees. Tonight they could sleep to the sounds of branches; shivering pine branches and newly greening birch and oak ones. Not that he planned to sleep much.
There would be a turn on watch; no matter that there were no threats from men, or yrch, or warg. No matter that Haldir and Tindómë had said these forests contained no large predators; no bears, no big cats, no great wolves or, they had said, anything much bigger than a rabbit. Elves of Middle Earth could no more sleep without someone on watch than they could breathe without air.
Being on watch also filled in some of the hours of darkness, for none of them needed more that two or three hours to sleep. But Rumil planned to fill more of them in sharing his body, and his pleasure, with Tindómë. Cold stone and sparse grass on the mountain passes were not conducive to being ‘swayed by the desires of the body’!
He shared the idea with Tindómë through their mental link. She grinned and then he ‘saw’ a series of mental images that clearly showed she agreed with him.
……………..
‘At last!’
Ithilienne had spent most of the day being gently tutored in household management by Ladies Celebrían and Ferveren.
In the weeks since she had moved into the main house of ‘Imladris-on-Sea’, as Legolas and all Ithilienne’s family had left Alqualondë to go adventuring, both the older ellyth had, as planned, taken her under their wings. Lady Ferveren was not only getting to know her, but also quietly ascertaining that Ithilienne’s education had included not only the history of the Sindar but also of her, Silvan, people.
It was very clear that both Celebrían and Ferveren expected her to eventually bind to Legolas. The good news was that they both seemed to regard it as a good thing. But, at last, she was able to gather her supplies and head out to Legolas’ favourite tree as she did, after dinner, every second or third evening.
If ‘their ladyships’ noticed, and they almost certainly did, they approved of her spending time with trees. Ithilienne had even overheard Celebrían say that, as long as Ithilienne was not pining for Legolas, she thought that the way in which she always chose that tree to think in was rather sweet.
It was her own personal time. Just as Naneth’s time was the first light, so Ithilienne’s name-time was now. Ithil had risen over the sea, the silver light illuminating a broad path from the horizon to the land that made Ithilienne think of ‘The Straight Road’, for it had been like this on the last nights at sea aboard ‘Heart of Eryn Ithil’ when the helmsman had simply followed the path straight to harbour. And now Ithil was almost overhead.
Naneth had explained that Ithil was simply a very large ball of rock that moved around the world because of gravity. But Adar and Haldirin had told her that when Naneth had discussed this with Lord Celeborn he had said that this was, ‘of course’, known to Elvish scholars. But it did not mean that the light of Telperion had not given the ball of rock its sheen, nor that Tilion was not responsible for ensuring it kept its course.
Legolas had told her that Naneth had also been very sceptical about Vingilótë being a sky-ship with the twins’ grandfather at the helm, but had finally admitted it was the case when she saw Vingilótë set sail the first time.
He had also added that California had had a lot of things he didn’t understand either, during his short visit, but if it was possible for The Key to exist, and it was possible for doors to be opened with it between worlds, then he still didn’t understand why Naneth had found the idea of Vingilótë so difficult!
Which train of thought brought Ithilienne back to her reason for sitting here, in Legolas’ favourite tree, as midnight approached.
The Key. As she had done a number of times, she focused her mind and concentrated firstly on the feel and sound of her blood travelling around her body. Then, still aware of her own blood moving, she let her mind drift into waking dreams.
Now, as she reached the point of calm where she could mentally leave the tree and walk a dream path to anywhere, she thought instead of being curled up in this place, but with her head on Legolas’ chest. ‘The Key is in the blood….’ Think of her own blood moving through her body and then think of the sap moving through the tree. Think of her own heartbeat, think of Legolas’ heartbeat…
“Meleth!”
And suddenly there he was.
They were neither in this tree nor anywhere else, for a moment or two, but they were sitting with her head on his chest and his hand on her hair.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Wait and I will show you”, Legolas said.
Now when she lifted her head and looked around she could see they stood on grass, in a clearing. Around them were trees, mainly deciduous and just being touched with the bright green of new leaves, but with some pines and, in the middle of the clearing, a stately spreading cedar.
“I am sleeping on a branch of the cedar,” he said. And it felt as if the world reoriented itself for a moment and now she was sitting in the tree, on a broad branch, her back to Legolas’ chest.
“Elo!” said Ithilienne, “and I didn’t even have to start by dreaming of us joining!”
“I would have no objection…. After all we are on a dream path, not really together in my tree, where it might be a little awkward,” he paused, “although certainly not impossible.”
“Mmm…” It was tempting. “But not just yet,” she decided. “There are things I want to know. Like why did this work this time when it hasn’t the last three or four times?”
“Perhaps I was not asleep, meleth.”
Somehow something quite so simple hadn’t really occurred to her.
He continued, “In the town of the Noldor, and as we climbed over the mountain passes, I slept little. There was little to tire me in the town, and over the mountains I took third watch, sleeping in the fourth. Tonight Galanthir and I took first watch, knowing there were some who would take advantage of being on grass, below trees, to enjoy each other’s bodies once the fire dimmed a little - and Gimli slept! And then this tree called to me to sleep in its branches, so here I am.”
Ithilienne smiled. The old dwarf’s hearing may not be as good as it was, but she knew from experience that sounds of others joining too close at hand made him go red up to his ears and huff a lot.
“So… if it really is that simple perhaps I should try to ‘visit’ you at first light rather than this time of night? Should we make a time in advance? I thought maybe you had to be in trees for it to work…”
“Perhaps I do. We will not be able to tell until our next mountain climb.”
Yeah - well that was logical, but she wanted to know now.
That thought must have reached across, through the ‘door’ that her version of The Key opened, because Legolas asked “Why? Are you worried about us crossing the mountains, meleth?”
‘Drough er!’ she thought, quietly. “Um… no. I… er, I kind of want to know all I can about doing this. I mean, it’s nice to be able to visit you when we are apart, like this, but I want to know more about how it works and what I can do with it.”
She hoped she hadn’t said too much and given him ideas. Quickly she went back to the idea of arranging ‘dates’ as Naneth called them.
“I…, err, I get pretty tired when I do this, so I’ve not been trying every night. Is it better, when I do try, to make it early morning so you can sleep as you usually do?”
“How tired?” He sounded worried. Well it had distracted him, anyway.
“Oh, just ‘I need something to eat and a lie down’ sort of tired, not ‘prostrate on my bed for a week’ sort of tired.”
“Well if it tires you, meleth, it would be better if you slept afterwards.”
That was ‘very sensible Legolas’. What Naneth called his ‘big brother setting’. Not really ‘Legolas the lover’. But he was right, of course.
He went on, “I will be sure to sleep during second watch every third night. It matters little if I take first watch, or third or fourth.”
Neither spoke for a few minutes as Ithilienne looked around her. She was pretty sure she was able to see what Legolas could see through his sleeping eyes. Naneth slept with her eyes shut, like a mortal, it wouldn’t be possible to do exactly this with her.
Now it was important to…
Legolas licked her ear and his hand began to curve around her breast. It felt so solid that it was amazing to think that she wasn’t really in that clearing in the forest, on a branch of an ancient cedar. Perhaps she should have thought of herself in something other than tunic and leggings, perhaps next time she… whoa!
“Mmm - wait a minute. I want to explore a bit.”
“I was thinking about exploring this bit…” his hand moved down over her stomach.
“Just….mm… just…” Naneth was right - ellyn often seemed to think with their grond! “I want to explore this Key thing!”
His hand stayed where it was but stopped stroking.
“I can see where you are - it looks like a good place. I want to know if I can show you things like this too.”
She tried to concentrate again on her blood flowing through her veins, her heart pumping it… and where her hröa was. Now they were both in the tree in Lord Elrond’s garden.
“You look well my friend,” Legolas said.
The leaves near them danced a little.
“She knows I am here,” he said.
“Mkay… that’s… good. I think. But weird.”
Was it the real tree that was acknowledging him or was it a version of the tree on the dream path? Did it matter?
“I want to know if I can show you things that I have seen or done. I mean that might be really useful,” she said. “Just sit still and don’t distract me. I’m going to concentrate on being with you, but on what I did earlier, as well.”
The Key is in the blood… the Key is in the blood… the blood is in my veins… the Key is in me… This morning I sat with Legolas’ naneth…
“Naneth!” Legolas said from behind her.
“She can’t hear or see us,” Ithilienne said. “This is just her and me reading this morning.”
“Even so,” he said, “I still want to smile whenever I see her.”
Inside Ithilienne felt like smiling too. It had worked. All the practice even when she hadn’t managed to reach him seemed to have helped. But she was beginning to feel tired.
“You are tired, meleth, I can feel it. It would be better for you to rest now. We can leave any other exploring until three nights away… second watch.”
He was right. She turned her head towards him, she felt him kiss her - and then she slept.
............................
“Elo!” - "Wow!" Sindarin
‘Drough er!’ 'Bother!' Silvan
Meleth - Beloved Sindarin
Grond - Battering Ram - one of many slang terms the elves have for the penis!
I'm not sure if anyone still reads the Returnverse stories here, but I will post this chapter at TtH and Faerie tomorrow.