In the Hills of Emerie by

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Fanwork Notes

B2MeM 2018 Prompt: Initial prompts: no. 21. It was hushed and without music, as if one had died there not long since; for in Númenor in those days it was the part of men to play upon instruments, and the music that Ancalimë heard in childhood was the singing of women at work, out of doors, and away from the hearing of the White Lady of Emerië. (Unfinished Tales, “Aldarion and Erendis”).

Middle-earth Museum prompt: Paddle doll (The Met, Egypt, Middle Kingdom).

Now completed to coincide with the first day of Legendarium Ladies April.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Ancalime in the hills of Emerie.

And music.

Major Characters: Tar-Ancalimë

Major Relationships:

Genre:

Challenges: Akallabêth in August, B2MeM 2018, Middle-earth Museum

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn
Chapters: 3 Word Count: 1, 406
Posted on 25 March 2018 Updated on 1 April 2018

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Mouth Music

Young Ancalime sits and thinks about music and other things.

Warnings for dysfunctional family.

Chapter 2: No-Man, Whom I Prefer Above All Others

Ancalime in the aftermath of Hallacar's declaration of love and the revelation that he is in truth a relative of hers, who had assumed a false identity.

Epilogue: Her Son

Ancalime's son Anarion has not learned anything of his mother's recent humiliation at his father's hands.
But the effect on her does not pass him by.

This chapter uses the following prompt of the SWG's Middle-earth Museum challenge:
Headdress
(alternative link: Queen Puabi’s headdress).

The relevant B2MeM 2018 prompt is: Initial prompt no. 20: Nocturne: a night-piece, music that evokes a nocturnal mood

Comments

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Oh, this is an amazing story. It is filled with great things. I love the way it introduces the family drama, the woman question(!), and the use of the artifact and music. You really set the backdrop for how Ancalime grows up to become the person she does.

I love how she talks to the doll. It is realistic and believable.

Thanks so much for giving the link to the mouth music. Lovely!

Thank you!

I think it may have been one of the virtues of Nuneth the doll that she was disposed to be uncritical! Ancalime could always supply the criticism herself.

It does sound to me as if Ancalime not only was kept away from male company but everyone surrounding her at Emerie was likely to be older (although this would have been not so intentional).

I think she made sure she had at least some female musicians, later on, if not perhaps precisely those two bands!

 

You made Ancalime very relatable in these pieces, and I really enjoyed that. Her thoughts concerning Hallacar's deceit feel so raw and true! And I was relieved that you gave her and Anárion a normal-ish relationship - not without strain, and unquestionably coloured by the quarrels between his parents, but not neglectful or downright cruel. What a family! That Finwean blood! ;)

Oh I love how you wove the music through all three parts.  The headdress you chose for part 3 is beautiful!  The doll was almost sorrowful, to be an only companion in a ways.

I had to go refresh myself on the characters and their story, and you did a wonderful job incorporating into it!

Thank you very much!

Yes, there is an element of sadness to the doll, here. Ancalime, without doubt, had a difficult childhood, caught in the conflict between her mother and father, even if she didn't want for anything physically. But she is also resilient and I wanted to associate the doll with her independent thinking and strength of character, too.