Transmitting Chapter Twelve; Wanted: a King and some Lords.
I'm on a roll - hopefully I will keep it up now even though we have finished July at picowrimo, but having written, I've now sat for about 15 minutes trying to think of a name for this chapter, because the rest are named! This name will have to do!
Transmitting, Chapter 12, Wanted: a King and some Lords
Word count 2,050
“Naneth!” Tindómë was relieved to hear her daughter’s voice almost as soon as she started to dream. She had worried before the first ‘Giant Leap’, and knew it had been successful, but it did not stop her worrying when she knew Ithilienne was going to try again.
She knew that Nithdur had not exactly had to stop Ithilienne drifting too far, just support her as she returned to her hröa, but that he had been prepared to do so if it had been required. And she wondered if everything had gone well on the night after midsummer or if he had needed to do more this time to rouse Ithi from her waking dream.
“Naneth! I did it! I asked Elrohir, the first time, to bring Elladan. But I was not sure if he had heard me. He had, and they went to sleep in the one bed with their dream paths already linked.
“And it was easy! You know how the first time I tried with you, after Legolas, it was like a shout in your mind? Well this was like that. Because they were both together, both waiting, and they can always talk to each other silently, and, and - whatever it was, I could reach them so much more easily than when it was just Elrohir. Elladan definitely ‘pumped up the volume’ and I am sure, now, that they will choose to come.”
Well that was a relief. Tindómë had worried that perhaps trying to reach two fëar would be twice as draining, even those of the twins who always said that they were one fëa that had split just after conception and formed two hröar rather than the way Tindómë had been taught, as Dawn; one fertilised egg splitting and so, in effect, one hröa that had developed two fëa after the split.
“This time I could do what I do with both you and Legolas, and show them what I wanted them to see. I showed them their Naneth and their Adar joining our midsummer feast and then dancing together once the bonfire was lit.”
“Was Her Ladyship there, too? And Lady Ferveren?”
“Yes, Naneth. Both of them. The Els were so happy to see their parents looking well and happy, and also Her Ladyship because, they said, she had looked…’diminished’ when she sailed.”
“She did,” Tindómë remembered well. Galadriel had looked as if she hardly had the energy to mount her horse by the time she set off for The Havens. “But did they notice Lady Feveren? Did they recognise her? They are older than Legolas, after all, so perhaps they knew her before. Then they could tell King Thranduil and…”
“Naneth,” Ithilienne interrupted her. “They did not mention recognising her, and she had said she would not wear a crown of flowers until she is truly a Queen again, so there was nothing to mark her out.
“I did wonder about pointing her out and asking them to tell Legolas’ adar, but I still want to try to do that myself - show him like I showed them, then he has to believe. If I can’t do it then I will talk to one of the Els, or both, again and ask their help, before they sail.”
“I guess… If they had known her well, of course, they would have probably recognised her. And if they didn’t know her well, I guess His Royal Stubbornness might think that they had it wrong, even if he actually believed that you had shown them in their dreams.”
Ithilienne smiled. “And have you found a place where you think his ’Royal Stubbornness’ might be happy yet? Perhaps he would be more likely to come if I could show him trees…”
“We have celebrated midsummer on the shores of a beautiful lake, with old pines, and bright new ones, birch and rowan, aspen, juniper, oak… all spreading out behind us as far as we could see. Although we know there are mountains not too far away - the water in the lake is still the cold of meltwater.
“It is not the lake that Lady Ferveren and Haldir and I awoke beside this time last year, but just as beautiful. We could be very happy here. So could King Thranduil, as well, I think. But I have a feeling he would prefer to have the Ithilrim as a buffer between himself and any adventuring Noldor, or possibly even between his folk and the Galadhrim!
“And I think that if do not claim this area as ours we should look for that other lake, or a similar one. I think Orophin was quite serious, back when we had not been in Alqualondë very long, when he said that he quite fancied spending his time fishing; he might prefer sea fish, but he was discussing boat building and preserving fish by drying it or smoking it a couple of days ago.”
She paused, then added with a grin, “Talking of waking beside that other lake, I think Haldir hoped to join Lord Oromë’s midsummer hunt again. But I am sure he will another time. I wondered if Nessa might join us, to be honest, but I don’t think she did either.”
………………….
“Who would have thought of Adar and Naneth settling into a home beside the sea?” asked Elladan.
“Well he lived beside it as an elfling,” his brother pointed out, “and again when he was at Gil-Galad’s side.”
“But I wonder if Naneth chose the place and had a home made ready for him arriving? Or did he choose the place when he got there? I had not thought of Naneth wanting to be anywhere but amongst trees.” Elladan was still in the mood to ponder this, it seemed.
“She seemed very happy there. Maybe, once she was well, she simply preferred to be nearer her Telerin relatives than her Noldorin ones… But, if we join them, we can simply ask her, El.”
Elrohir ended on what might have been a note of impatience, but Elladan would know that he was teasing - mostly.
“We really do have to think of the practicalities of sailing, now, don’t we?” he continued. “Before, it was a vague thing in the future, but now we need to confer with Círdan; I do not see us building our own ship as Legolas did. And we need to discuss everything with the household; who does not wish to sail, what we will take with us, and so on. Although, first, we need to tell Grandfather what we have seen.”
“He will be very happy to know that his Key has now provided the key to our new certainty,” Elladan said with a smile. “And as happy to know Naneth is so… alive, and that Grandmother looks well too.
“And Glorfindel. We must tell Glorfindel. I think he will be as happy as Grandfather, in all honesty. Perhaps he really will find an elleth who has been waiting all these long years.”
“Talking of ellyth,” Elrohir began, “there was one who drew my eye, dancing near Naneth and Adar. She had…”
“Black hair,” Elladan said. “And a dress of…”
“Deep blue, and tiny stars…”
“Twinkled in her hair,” Elladan finished their sentence.
“I wonder who she is?” Elrohir said. “I would like to get to know her - actually it seems that we would like to get to know her!”
“I might even be prepared to don multi-coloured Silvan splendour and wear the ribbons for the chance of a kiss. Although she looked more Noldorin…”
“Well she seemed happy enough to be up there dancing,” Elrohir pointed out, “How much do you want to wager on which of us can kiss her first?”
………………………………
Legolas really had not minded that Ithilienne had tried to dream across the Sundering Sea to Imladris rather than Eryn Lasgalen. He had seemed to be troubled more that she had not told him she might be able to do it.
It had taken a couple of conversations, where Ithilienne began to think Naneth had a point when she had once, jokingly, said it was Legolas who was still too young to think about binding, before things felt ‘right’ between them.
Dream Legolas almost pouted when he first realised that she had discussed the possibility of being able to reach those left in Middle Earth with Naneth, who would, of course, have then discussed it with Adar (and possibly Orophin, Lithôniel, Haldirin - maybe even Haldir and Tharhîwon…), but had not mentioned it to him.
When she told him that she had discussed it with Nithdur as well there was a definite pout, even though he was glad to know she had made sure there was someone who could make sure her fëa did not get lost. It had taken a description of all the different reactions she and Nithdur had imagined, if anyone noticed them spending time in Legolas’ bedroom together, to finally make him grin. That and her pleasure at reporting that she had accepted more ribbons at the midsummer celebrations than Galanthir’s sister Brethiliel, or Merilwen, and so had won her wagers with them both.
“I had good odds,” she told him, “because I was thought to either be pining for you or, at least, be holding back from indulging the desires of the body as much as I might!”
In truth, he acknowledged, he would have been so worried had he know what she was going to attempt, that he would have been distracted from what he was doing himself; especially whilst waiting each time through the days between her ‘reaching out’ and having enough mental strength to contact him to let him know she was undamaged by the attempt.
It occurred to Ithilienne that her mother must have felt like that but had managed to appear cool and untroubled apart from making it clear that there should be someone with her. Adar, she realised, probably had had to do a lot of calming in the background.
Since then, when she walked the dream paths with Legolas, as well as enjoying ‘the desires of the body’ and learning more of where he was, they spoke sometimes of reaching out to Eryn Ithil, but her first attempt had not succeeded. She found it difficult to mentally place the King, even though Legolas had ‘shown’ her where his father slept.
And now it would soon be midwinter. As she joined their dream paths together, Legolas showed her where he was.
“I feel that this is a place where my Lord Adar would be happy,” he said.
Ithilienne recognised that this was the Prince of Eryn Lasgalen speaking of The King, not just Legolas speaking of his father.
“And this land, and these trees, would welcome him joyously. I feel as if they welcome me as his son, rather than as their future lord.”
Well, that was new. He had never said anything like that before.
“There is still so much we have not seen, Tindómë and Haldir say, but this would be the right place for my Lord Adar to build his new home I think, and others can explore further as the yearning to go further touches them.
“For myself and my own folk, the land we passed through to reach this point calls me back, and I think we should begin there. Especially as Gimli tells me there are metal deposits close by so that we would not need to rely on Noldorin miners. And there is a deep, wide river that flows into the very lake that the Valar showed Tindómë, Haldir and Naneth.
“But, once we have spent time celebrating the longest night, we are going to leave these places for a while and head south towards the land where Haldir is sure there are mellyrn.”
Ithilienne touched her forehead to his in their dream. “Once we have celebrated midwinter, I promise that I will do all in my power to find a way of letting your Lord Adar know that Lady Ferveren is here, and that there are trees that crave his presence. And, if I cannot reach his own dream paths, I will ask Elladan and Elrohir to pass on a message before they sail.”
……………………..
On midwinter morning, in Alqualondë, a ship was sighted.
...................................................
Transmitting, Chapter 12, Wanted: a King and some Lords
Word count 2,050
“Naneth!” Tindómë was relieved to hear her daughter’s voice almost as soon as she started to dream. She had worried before the first ‘Giant Leap’, and knew it had been successful, but it did not stop her worrying when she knew Ithilienne was going to try again.
She knew that Nithdur had not exactly had to stop Ithilienne drifting too far, just support her as she returned to her hröa, but that he had been prepared to do so if it had been required. And she wondered if everything had gone well on the night after midsummer or if he had needed to do more this time to rouse Ithi from her waking dream.
“Naneth! I did it! I asked Elrohir, the first time, to bring Elladan. But I was not sure if he had heard me. He had, and they went to sleep in the one bed with their dream paths already linked.
“And it was easy! You know how the first time I tried with you, after Legolas, it was like a shout in your mind? Well this was like that. Because they were both together, both waiting, and they can always talk to each other silently, and, and - whatever it was, I could reach them so much more easily than when it was just Elrohir. Elladan definitely ‘pumped up the volume’ and I am sure, now, that they will choose to come.”
Well that was a relief. Tindómë had worried that perhaps trying to reach two fëar would be twice as draining, even those of the twins who always said that they were one fëa that had split just after conception and formed two hröar rather than the way Tindómë had been taught, as Dawn; one fertilised egg splitting and so, in effect, one hröa that had developed two fëa after the split.
“This time I could do what I do with both you and Legolas, and show them what I wanted them to see. I showed them their Naneth and their Adar joining our midsummer feast and then dancing together once the bonfire was lit.”
“Was Her Ladyship there, too? And Lady Ferveren?”
“Yes, Naneth. Both of them. The Els were so happy to see their parents looking well and happy, and also Her Ladyship because, they said, she had looked…’diminished’ when she sailed.”
“She did,” Tindómë remembered well. Galadriel had looked as if she hardly had the energy to mount her horse by the time she set off for The Havens. “But did they notice Lady Feveren? Did they recognise her? They are older than Legolas, after all, so perhaps they knew her before. Then they could tell King Thranduil and…”
“Naneth,” Ithilienne interrupted her. “They did not mention recognising her, and she had said she would not wear a crown of flowers until she is truly a Queen again, so there was nothing to mark her out.
“I did wonder about pointing her out and asking them to tell Legolas’ adar, but I still want to try to do that myself - show him like I showed them, then he has to believe. If I can’t do it then I will talk to one of the Els, or both, again and ask their help, before they sail.”
“I guess… If they had known her well, of course, they would have probably recognised her. And if they didn’t know her well, I guess His Royal Stubbornness might think that they had it wrong, even if he actually believed that you had shown them in their dreams.”
Ithilienne smiled. “And have you found a place where you think his ’Royal Stubbornness’ might be happy yet? Perhaps he would be more likely to come if I could show him trees…”
“We have celebrated midsummer on the shores of a beautiful lake, with old pines, and bright new ones, birch and rowan, aspen, juniper, oak… all spreading out behind us as far as we could see. Although we know there are mountains not too far away - the water in the lake is still the cold of meltwater.
“It is not the lake that Lady Ferveren and Haldir and I awoke beside this time last year, but just as beautiful. We could be very happy here. So could King Thranduil, as well, I think. But I have a feeling he would prefer to have the Ithilrim as a buffer between himself and any adventuring Noldor, or possibly even between his folk and the Galadhrim!
“And I think that if do not claim this area as ours we should look for that other lake, or a similar one. I think Orophin was quite serious, back when we had not been in Alqualondë very long, when he said that he quite fancied spending his time fishing; he might prefer sea fish, but he was discussing boat building and preserving fish by drying it or smoking it a couple of days ago.”
She paused, then added with a grin, “Talking of waking beside that other lake, I think Haldir hoped to join Lord Oromë’s midsummer hunt again. But I am sure he will another time. I wondered if Nessa might join us, to be honest, but I don’t think she did either.”
………………….
“Who would have thought of Adar and Naneth settling into a home beside the sea?” asked Elladan.
“Well he lived beside it as an elfling,” his brother pointed out, “and again when he was at Gil-Galad’s side.”
“But I wonder if Naneth chose the place and had a home made ready for him arriving? Or did he choose the place when he got there? I had not thought of Naneth wanting to be anywhere but amongst trees.” Elladan was still in the mood to ponder this, it seemed.
“She seemed very happy there. Maybe, once she was well, she simply preferred to be nearer her Telerin relatives than her Noldorin ones… But, if we join them, we can simply ask her, El.”
Elrohir ended on what might have been a note of impatience, but Elladan would know that he was teasing - mostly.
“We really do have to think of the practicalities of sailing, now, don’t we?” he continued. “Before, it was a vague thing in the future, but now we need to confer with Círdan; I do not see us building our own ship as Legolas did. And we need to discuss everything with the household; who does not wish to sail, what we will take with us, and so on. Although, first, we need to tell Grandfather what we have seen.”
“He will be very happy to know that his Key has now provided the key to our new certainty,” Elladan said with a smile. “And as happy to know Naneth is so… alive, and that Grandmother looks well too.
“And Glorfindel. We must tell Glorfindel. I think he will be as happy as Grandfather, in all honesty. Perhaps he really will find an elleth who has been waiting all these long years.”
“Talking of ellyth,” Elrohir began, “there was one who drew my eye, dancing near Naneth and Adar. She had…”
“Black hair,” Elladan said. “And a dress of…”
“Deep blue, and tiny stars…”
“Twinkled in her hair,” Elladan finished their sentence.
“I wonder who she is?” Elrohir said. “I would like to get to know her - actually it seems that we would like to get to know her!”
“I might even be prepared to don multi-coloured Silvan splendour and wear the ribbons for the chance of a kiss. Although she looked more Noldorin…”
“Well she seemed happy enough to be up there dancing,” Elrohir pointed out, “How much do you want to wager on which of us can kiss her first?”
………………………………
Legolas really had not minded that Ithilienne had tried to dream across the Sundering Sea to Imladris rather than Eryn Lasgalen. He had seemed to be troubled more that she had not told him she might be able to do it.
It had taken a couple of conversations, where Ithilienne began to think Naneth had a point when she had once, jokingly, said it was Legolas who was still too young to think about binding, before things felt ‘right’ between them.
Dream Legolas almost pouted when he first realised that she had discussed the possibility of being able to reach those left in Middle Earth with Naneth, who would, of course, have then discussed it with Adar (and possibly Orophin, Lithôniel, Haldirin - maybe even Haldir and Tharhîwon…), but had not mentioned it to him.
When she told him that she had discussed it with Nithdur as well there was a definite pout, even though he was glad to know she had made sure there was someone who could make sure her fëa did not get lost. It had taken a description of all the different reactions she and Nithdur had imagined, if anyone noticed them spending time in Legolas’ bedroom together, to finally make him grin. That and her pleasure at reporting that she had accepted more ribbons at the midsummer celebrations than Galanthir’s sister Brethiliel, or Merilwen, and so had won her wagers with them both.
“I had good odds,” she told him, “because I was thought to either be pining for you or, at least, be holding back from indulging the desires of the body as much as I might!”
In truth, he acknowledged, he would have been so worried had he know what she was going to attempt, that he would have been distracted from what he was doing himself; especially whilst waiting each time through the days between her ‘reaching out’ and having enough mental strength to contact him to let him know she was undamaged by the attempt.
It occurred to Ithilienne that her mother must have felt like that but had managed to appear cool and untroubled apart from making it clear that there should be someone with her. Adar, she realised, probably had had to do a lot of calming in the background.
Since then, when she walked the dream paths with Legolas, as well as enjoying ‘the desires of the body’ and learning more of where he was, they spoke sometimes of reaching out to Eryn Ithil, but her first attempt had not succeeded. She found it difficult to mentally place the King, even though Legolas had ‘shown’ her where his father slept.
And now it would soon be midwinter. As she joined their dream paths together, Legolas showed her where he was.
“I feel that this is a place where my Lord Adar would be happy,” he said.
Ithilienne recognised that this was the Prince of Eryn Lasgalen speaking of The King, not just Legolas speaking of his father.
“And this land, and these trees, would welcome him joyously. I feel as if they welcome me as his son, rather than as their future lord.”
Well, that was new. He had never said anything like that before.
“There is still so much we have not seen, Tindómë and Haldir say, but this would be the right place for my Lord Adar to build his new home I think, and others can explore further as the yearning to go further touches them.
“For myself and my own folk, the land we passed through to reach this point calls me back, and I think we should begin there. Especially as Gimli tells me there are metal deposits close by so that we would not need to rely on Noldorin miners. And there is a deep, wide river that flows into the very lake that the Valar showed Tindómë, Haldir and Naneth.
“But, once we have spent time celebrating the longest night, we are going to leave these places for a while and head south towards the land where Haldir is sure there are mellyrn.”
Ithilienne touched her forehead to his in their dream. “Once we have celebrated midwinter, I promise that I will do all in my power to find a way of letting your Lord Adar know that Lady Ferveren is here, and that there are trees that crave his presence. And, if I cannot reach his own dream paths, I will ask Elladan and Elrohir to pass on a message before they sail.”
……………………..
On midwinter morning, in Alqualondë, a ship was sighted.
...................................................