Daily Drabble--"The Price of Succor"

[dawn_felagund]

succor \SUH-kuhr\, noun:

1. 1. Aid; help; assistance; especially, assistance that relieves and delivers from difficulty, want, or distress.


2. 2. The person or thing that brings relief.

transitive verb:

1. 1. To help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve.

Examples
"In Asakusa, a crowd sought succor around an old and lovely Buddhist temple, dedicated to Kannon, goddess of mercy."
-Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire

"Ever since I was five, I have inserted myself into every movie I've seen and gratefully, humbly found succor there."
-Laurie Fox, My Sister from the Black Lagoon

"There was some talk about the perils of the sea, and a landsman delivered himself of the customary nonsense about the poor mariner wandering in far oceans, tempest-tossed, pursued by dangers, every storm blast and thunderbolt in the home skies moving the friends by snug firesides to compassion for that poor mariner, and prayers for his succor."
-Mark Twain, "Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion," The Atlantic, November 1877

"He honors the old, succors the infirm, raises the downtrodden, destroys fanaticism."
-Alan Jolis, Love and Terror

Etymology
Succor derives from Latin succurrere, "to run under, to run or hasten to the aid or assistance of someone," from sub-, "under" + currere, "to run."


"The Price of Succor" goes with the notion from The Silmarillion that the Noldor helped to build the Telerin city of Alqualondë. Fëanor uses this as his rationale for asking for the Telerin ships. In Felak!verse, Olwë has a son who is killed in the Kinslaying.

The Price of Succor
He'd stood just in this place: Finwë, the King of the Noldor.

“I asked not for this succor!” I’d laughed, spinning amid my splendid city, upon a square iridescent as with pearl. “I can never repay this.”

“Think not of it that way,” said Finwë, hand on my arm.

He’d stood just in this place, where now lays the body of my son, with bloodied footprints tracing a path to our ships.

“One does not repay the gift of a friend.”

So he’d said; the footprints of his son, of Fëanaro, say otherwise.

I’d made my reparation, in the end.

Comments

[ann-arien.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is a bitter one... but beautiful nonetheless. It's another blank, in my mind, what Feanor&Co left behind in Alqualonde, after the kinslaying, because I always follow the Noldor, instead of pondering on the loss of the Teleri. But yes, they paid a heavy price for the help of Finwe's people and the reparation was of the most painful and bitter kind. Even 100 words open a window to the madness and the grief of those days. Well, done.

I'm off to write my own, plus the one with yesterday's word.

[dawn_felagund]

I'm actually really fascinated with what must have happened in Aman after the Noldor left. I have that partially-complete novella project about Earwen, Anaire, and Arafinwe that seems to have stalled for the moment. (Too many projects, too little time!) But because I prefer boring, interpersonal moments to big conflicts, I like to ponder the reconstruction of Alqualonde (and Tirion!) and the restoration of the relationship between the Teleri and the remaining Noldor. Actually, this is one of my favorite topics not to do with Finwians...that and re-embodiment.

Thanks for reading! I'm working on Tarion's bday story at the moment, but I will check in a few minutes to see if yours have been posted yet. :)

[digdigil.livejournal.com]

Ahh! I just got back from lunch and found the daily drabble! Before I go off to write one, let me say that found yours to be quite heart-wrenching and bitter, with Olwë being reflective and accepting fate in the way that he did in AMC Ch. 46 last Friday. This and that chapter have really awakened my interest in the Teleri, as Alina mentioned. It would be an interesting area to explore, and attempt to follow the lives of those left behind: Amarië too.

I'm sorry that you've put aside your Eärwen/Finarfin story, and I feel bad that I heaped a load onto you this week, but let me know if you can't manage the rest of it. It'll be okay.

Incidentally, do you like this icon for one of the ones I'm considering for Celinna? Juno has offered to make me a specific one with her name on it that I've chosen from an art site. I took a few of girls that had red hair and some with dark hair. I think I see her as looking more like Meryth than Talban, so I will probably use a dark-haired pic.

[dawn_felagund]

I actually kinda like that one for Ravalote! But it's up to you. It could work for Celinna too! Either way, it's really purdy. ;)

I think I've always been mixed as to what Celinna's hair color was in the past. (Ravalote too; I think she might be both blond and dark in the NaNo novel. Worsethan Tolkien, I am!) But I've since decided that for my noveling purposes, Ravalote is dark, dark-haired and rather dark-complexioned too because I like the idea that Elves aren't necessarily all fair and porcelain-like. And my Meryth icon has quite a nice suntan, and he got it from somewhere. (Ironically, I guess Talbie gets his paleness from his father. *giggles*)

ANYWAY, about the drabble, thank you! As I said to Alina, I am quite fascinated by the notion of how the Elves adapted after the Noldor left...both the Teleri and the remaining Noldor. (Aside from the psychological trauma and the problem of the lack of light, I don't see the Vanyar as being as affected.)

I set aside my Earwen story because of my own myriad of writing projects, btw, not because of anyone else's. :) I am careful to always allow time for my own writing. I could get betas done in a day or two every time, but I'd have to give up my own stories. But it came to the point where I had to choose: I'm writing one novel, revising another, doing regular gift stories, and writing a novella. One had to go. It was the novella.

But I will pick it back up. I shared it with Ellie from SWG since we're rabid Finarfin fangurls, and she liked it. (She also thought it was gross and spooky...big surprise! Dawn writing darkfic? :^P) Maybe I should post the first bit of it...I just always hated when people would post stories with no intention of finishing them anytime soon, so even though I'm a bit proud of it, I've kept it to myself. Having AMC finished will be a big help with finding more time. I'll still have a lot of revision for Draft Two, but at least no rewriting. That's been a big wrench in the cogs.

Wow, I'm rambling! I'm going to shut up now and try to post this comment. (The stupid network is flickering on and off again. Grrr.)

[fanged-geranium.livejournal.com]

I wanted to say 'Oh, how nice' or words to that effect, but it's hardly appropriate for such a topic, so I'll settle for saying that it's very profound, and an interestingly different take on the kinslaying.

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you! :) I know what you mean; most of the usual fallback adjectives for writing story reviews don't apply to stuff like this.

I've always been intrigued by Feanor's implication that he had a right to the ships because of how the Noldor had helped the Teleri in the past. If Finwe had known that his kindness and generosity toward his friend would be used that way, I wonder what he would have said?

Knowing Finwe, probably nothing.... :^/

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

Oooohhh ouch...Very...well, everyone else said it best, including the "I can't very well say 'nice'" part!
And now we wants to see Dawn's interpretation of what happens during/after the kinslaying...

Also, I eavesdropped on you writing my present. *So very excited!!*

[dawn_felagund]

Dawn has about twenty pages of novella about the situation in Tirion after the rebellion and the kinslaying, but since she can't finish it anytime soon, she's avoided posting it thus far....

But since people are interested, is considering it, if y'all promise not to kill her for leaving it hanging for a while, at least until AMC is finished.

She also finished your bday story about an hour ago.... ;)

(She will now cease and desist with talking in third person, since it's getting on her nerves! :^D)

[tarion-anarore.livejournal.com]

Tarion is interested (and also likes talking in 3rd person) and will promise not to kill anyone as long as there be a story to read, whether AMC or post-kinslaying or birthday present...

She also would very much like to read said birthday present and is anxiously awaiting tomorrow when she assumes Dawn will post her precious. ;)

[ssotknapsack.livejournal.com]

"succor", ehh? I was originally pronouncing it like "sucrose" (long U), and I think that's much better than "sucker". Thank you for your sucker! Your sucker was much appreciated, beyotch! :rolleyes:

[dawn_felagund]

That's how I've always said it too. "Sue-kor." It does sound a bit weird to say it as "sucker," insulting almost!

[levadegratchets.livejournal.com]

I love Olwë and the image of him spinning and laughing at seeing his city is beautiful. Chilling but the...is it dichotomy? of the two separate times and the same place is lovely. Sad, but ...well, he will see his son again. Which is more than Fëanor can say.

[dawn_felagund]

I was definitely going for a sort of parallelism or dichotomy (whatever you want to call it!) between the present and past. I'm pleased that it seems to be having the impact I intended. That's always a happy day for a writer. :)

And Feanor just winced and said "ouch"....

[levadegratchets.livejournal.com]

And Feanor just winced and said "ouch"....


You know, I love happy endings, or at least the kind where things work out to where someone isn't screwed, and others left miserable. So if that can happen, I'd love to see it, but Prof. Tolkien left it pretty darn bleak. I'm never one to celebrate families ripped apart and so am one of those fools who hopes that in Arda Unmarred there can be a happy reunion for the Feanorians. It would be well-deserved, and I, for one, would think the "Doom" paid, and then some.

[dawn_felagund]

Here's a cheesy admission: I like to think of some sort of reunion in the Halls of Mandos. I believe that LaCE said that the spirits avoided all but those closest to them, so maybe it's possible. Anyway, I see this scene like the end of Titanic when all the dead people are gathered together and it's all happy and cheesy and lame....

So, yeah, I'm a dork. ;)

[levadegratchets.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* Yeah, well count me in the dorkdom. ;D

Dork enough to even think Namo is there to help heal the fea and not torment them (though we see it enough). Which isn't to say he sits down to tea and crumpets with them, but yep, I can say I like the idea of them healed/healing and happy to see one another _{save Maglor}.

[dawn_felagund]

Yeah, I've never been fond of Mandos-as-a-sort-of-purgatory stories. I thought it was pretty clear that this wasn't the way of things, that it was a place for healing and forgiveness, but then, I don't take LaCE as canon, so maybe I'm a hypocrite for being bothered by this. :)

To each his/her own, I guess.

So you like the thought of Maglor still wandering around out there? I tend to believe that he did eventually die...although I look for him every summer, playing music on the Boardwalk in Ocean City.

[wolfwind-writes.livejournal.com]

This is chillingly lovely, Dawn! You've gotten me thinking about the aftermath of the Kinslaying for those who remained in Aman. Yikes. But this captured so much, in so few words. Gorgeous!

[dawn_felagund]

Thank you! :) The aftermath of the darkening, rebellion, and kinslaying are really fascinating to me. (I even have an unfinished novella about the remaining Noldor and how they coped with the loss of light, their king, and 90% of their people. Maybe one day it'll be finished...and posted!) I believe that it was a time when all the kindreds of Elves needed each other most...but the behavior of the exiles probably dampened relationships with the Teleri. At least, that's how I see it. :)

Also, Feanor's belief that he was entitled to the Telerin ships because of the succor the Noldor had give them has always baffled me. I love the guy and do my best to understand his motivations, but that's one moment where I want to give him a hard smack to the head!