Medium Dawn Felagund of the Fountain

Ohmyword. I am so far behind in this ramble thing. This has been the weekend of challenges ... meaning fandom challenges! (Also it's spring, which means more outside chores than usual.) The SWG's Woman's Sceptre challenge was due at the end of last week, the new Hero's Journey challenge went up today, and MPTT's "Back Garden of a Dream" challenge was revealed today. So I have a lot of balls in the air at the moment, and I kinda forgot about the rambling m-thing I'm doing this month.

Anyway. Thankfully no one likes hearing me talk enough to have requested a topic for each day, else I'd be screwed! As it is, I'm two days behind, both from dreamflower, so I'll tackle one today and one tomorrow. dreamflower asked:

Do you think Finrod Felagund ever got to meet Bilbo and Frodo?

In short, yes, assuming that he was reembodied by the time they arrived in Tol Eressëa. (I think he would have been. After all, if the Glorfindels are the same, then Glorfindel was reembodied by the end of the Third Age, and for all his awesomeness, I don't think Glorfindel eclipses Finrod.)

I really don't see how Finrod could have resisted. Throughout The Silmarillion, we see him interacting joyfully with people from other cultures. He worked with the Dwarves to build Nargothrond, managing not to get into any battles over jewelry/murdered in the process. They even gave him a name, Felak-gundu, which was Sindarinized into Felagund. (I bet they gave Thingol a name too, but it was probably of the four-letter variety.) The Dwarves are notoriously stingy with sharing their language ("Of the Sindar"), so I've often taken their giving him a Dwarvish name as a mark of honor and respect.

Likewise, he was the first to welcome the Edain to Beleriand. None of this is particularly surprising: His family is quite cosmopolitan, and Finrod had Telerin, Noldorin, and Vanyarin blood. Even within those groups, he moves with ease, befriending Maedhros and Maglor even as he is Turgon's BFF, a guest of Thingol, and the eventual companion of Beren. Only Finrod could manage those treacherous relationships with ease. He seems more comfortable than many of his kinsmen in crossing the ethnic lines that the people of Arda draw around themselves and seems to enjoy doing so.

I don't see how he could resist the Hobbits, given that tendency. I imagine that when word came to him of the arrival of a new people, a people he'd never met, who drew back from the brink of destruction the world he'd once loved and suffered exile to inhabit, then he would have been on the first ship to Tol Eressëa to meet them. And pompous-ass-Finrod of the Athrabeth aside, I prefer to imagine that meeting as him listening hungrily to Bilbo's stories (though I imagine Bilbo would have picked his brain a bit for old lore) and showing the same tender care and grace to Frodo as his sister Galadriel did when the Fellowship passed through Lothlórien.

I participated in Sultry in September this year, and it was my very first ficswap. That seems kind of crazy, as I have been playing in this fandom for eight years, but I usually can't commit absolutely to getting anything done that isn't related to teaching, grad school, or the SWG, and of course, absolute commitment is a requirement for a ficswap. With the summer more or less free this year, I decided to do SinS and am glad that I did.

First of all, I want to pimp like crazy Zeen's Be more cruel, Love, and so be kind, the story that was written for me. I requested Finrod/Caranthir in a story that included an explanation of the hatred between their houses. Zeen's story is everything I could have wanted and then some. It is poignant and dramatic and erotic, and it is very funny in places, so much that I lol'ed quite a bit while Bobby was fixing supper tonight. It was one of those stories where you look at the word count, think, "Oh, I'm going to be a while reading this," and then it's over way too soon. I could have read a novel's worth of her characters and her vision of Valinor. Go read it!

I've also posted my own, for Urloth, The Sovereign and the Priest. You nerds of English usage might have noted the italics ... yes, it ended up 40,000+ words, safely in the territory of a novella. Go ahead and throw rotten things at me. I know I am long-winded and an overachiever. ;)

Anyway, here is the summary:

Long ago in Valinor, Finrod and Celegorm faced opposing expectations, one a symbol of Eldarin potential and the other abandoned to a life of leisure, and neither fully certain of his place among the Noldor. Now, after the Dagor Bragollach, their fates collide when Celegorm and Curufin, fleeing the destruction of their realm, take harbor in Nargothrond. As both work to mend the myriad hurts between their houses, each discovers a secret about the other and, most surprising of all, the desire that grows between them. But as each of their oaths begin to call, their growing love might not survive the inevitability of their fates.

This is very much an adult story (Finrod/Celegorm) and also contains elements of dubious consent, so if either of those are likely to bother you, you'll probably want to skip this one.

The Sovereign and the Priest is on the SWG and AO3.

'Tis the season for joy! Light! Celebration!

Therefore, I must write and post dark and depressing poetry.

This one has been tickling my brain since early December when I first started writing lines of it during my classroom observations. I've worked on it bit by bit since then and decided to finish it today as a New Year's treat for myself.

The summary I gave on SWG and MPTT: Left behind by Finrod, Amárië considers the paradox of her situation: her wish for his return and the only means by which her wish would be granted. A sonnet.

Comments are, as always, welcome. My best wishes to all for a joyous New Year! :)

( How I Wish )

Tarion asked for a meeting between the sons of Finarfin and Caranthir, preferably with a bit of angst. As I came into this story after writing a lot of the heavier stuff, this story turned into something of a funny affair, but it talks about teenaged first love quite a bit, so angst is guaranteed, although hopefully of the funny variety.

(alassante, you asked how Caranthir can possibly star in a comedy: Here ya go! :^D)

Here, a young Caranthir discovers the foolishness that pretty girls inspire in teenaged boys and falls in love with someone most inaccessible. This story is rated general, although I can't guarantee that Caranthir's ramblings don't border on sickeningly saccharine and inane at times and that he doesn't make the occasional boob comment. He is a teenaged boy after all.

( When the Stars Smile )

I wrote this piece for fun, about a year ago, while feeling frisky and more than a little satirical. It is still a work in progress--although, honestly, I haven't worked on it in months--but I hope to resume it sometime soon. If you can't bear to not know the ending...well, read The Silmarillion because it is basically a retelling of the whole Nargothrond fiasco, only in overwrought, syrupy prose with a touch of stupidity.

As always, I appreciate any and all comments on my work. Or just read and enjoy!

( Author's Prologue )
( Chapter 1: Finrod Has Visitors )
( Chapter 2: Celegorm and Curufin Lounge in Nargothrond )
( Chapter 3: Nargothrond Reigns )
( Chapter 4: Finrod Finds Celebrimbor )
( Chapter 5: Finrod Meets with Orodreth )
( Chapter 6: Celegorm and Curufin Take a Walk )
( Chapter 7: Celebrimbor Speaks at Council )