Slight Air and Purging Fire by mainecoon

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Fanwork Notes

This story is also published on AO3, but I felt that it belongs here, too. Huge thanks to Papertigress for both a critical betaing eye and a fun discussion!
The title is taken from Shakespeare’s Sonnet No. 45:

The other two, slight air and purging fire,
Are both with thee, wherever I abide;
The first my thought, the other my desire […]

Narvi's canonical gender leaves room for interpretation. Much as I love slash, I chose to portray her as a dwarf lady because we meet too few of them in Tolkien's works. Besides, I like how a dwarrowdam clashes violently with elven (or human) beauty ideals.
Oh, and this is a crossover with the Hobbit movies, which I love for their depiction of Dwarven culture. (Not tagging crossover because it's still Tolkien.)

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Celebrimbor the Ringmaker was tortured to death and could not heal in the Halls of Mandos. His dwarven companion Narvi saw the unthinkable and never found peace. Maglor Fëanorion forgot about the world, but not about the blood on his own hands.
At the dusk of the Third Age, two broken elves and a dwarf ghost set out to fight the Enemy. They mean to find the Rings of Power, but their adventures take an unexpected turn...
Contains Celebrimbor/Narvi established relationship (old-married-couple) romance.

Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Maglor, Narvi

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Adventure, Drama, General, Het, Romance

Challenges:

Rating: Creator Chooses Not to Rate

Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn, Violence (Moderate)
Chapters: 15 Word Count: 61, 161
Posted on 23 May 2018 Updated on 5 September 2019

This fanwork is a work in progress.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15

Comments

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Oooh! I already loved the premise of this, but I hadn't even considered the possibility that Celebrimbor and Narvi might come across Maglor! Looking very much forward to reading the next chapters. I love how you paint the relationship between Narvi and Celebrimbor, and Celebrimbor's rawness also feels very real.

Thank you! Maglor fits beautifully into this story because his issues complement Celebrimbor's so nicely. Both need to heal, but to do so one will have to let go of his responsibility and the other will have to face it. I love established relationships, so I'm glad that works! And Celebrimbor's characterization, too.

I love how you've interwoven Celebrimbor's quest with the events of The Hobbit. This one with Narvi as the main character was especially exciting - I really liked how you showcase the limitations, but also the possibilities (*shudder*) of her bodyless existence. The meeting with the Elven spirits was haunting and very effectively written.

Poor Celebrimbor! I'm glad he didn't go fully Túrin and kill Narvi along with the Orcish body she possessed! Now I'm equally excited and worried about their journey through Khazad-Dûm...

Thanks :) ! It was supposed to be a proper crossover, but then Celebrimbor ran off to chase the Nazgul, which was not the original plan. Well. Erebor will have to wait. He couldn't kill Narvi because she's already dead and a Valar-approved spirit - unlike other characters in this story. And yes, poor Celebrimbor! I started this mainly because I wanted to get from Poor Celebrimbor to Happy Celebrimbor at some point, but so far I'm not making a very good job of that.

Oh. My. God. Are they gonna run into Thorin?? They're gonna run into Thorin!!! And the others??? Fili and Kili??? GANDALF??? Holy shit!!!

*coughs* Ahem. I am very excited to see where this goes in the next chapters. Your take on Celebrimbor's torture and death are giving me some juicy inspiration for the many different ways in which I could write my own when I get to that point, and I'm so excited to compare and contrast how you and I handle Narvi and Khel's relationship and the prospect of Dwarf ghosts in general. And ohhh I can't wait for the looks on the faces of every elf who knew Celebrimbor before he died oh my GOSH. Consider me totally hooked, I've gotta go read chapter 2!

AAAAAAAA THIS IS SO GOOD. I love the detail of Groin (lmao) and Varli as you said in the end notes, I didnt recognize Groin's name so thank you! I really really really can't wait to see how this continues, I'm so in love already and have been from chapter 1.

Thank you so, so much!!!

I hate to admit that this work is not finished and hasn't been updated in years. Yes, it haunts me. And yes, I plan to continue it. It'll just take... as much time as it needs.

It's not that I've moved on to another fandom: I haven't written a single word since Covid started. Mainly because everyone's still in home office and I've lost most of my privacy. But I just wanted to say: please don't be disappointed, this fic is still loved and it's not dead. Just on hiatus, for real life reasons.