'Star People' & 'Orc' by Himring

In the depths of Angband, a mother is trying to soothe her screaming children.

They have claws, these children. They have pointed teeth. Their voices would grate on the ear even if they were not screaming their heads off, as they are now. They are more orc-like than her, just as she is more orc-like than her parents were.

In the depths of Angband, a long struggle is gradually being lost, but children still need to be lulled to sleep. The dark that she no longer remembers is dark, the pain that she no longer remembers is pain—they weigh on her mind. But, with difficulty, she remembers the word.

‘El’, she croons. And repeats:  ‘El...el...el...’

She’s never seen a star. Her children never will. But the savage little creatures curl up and go to sleep.

Chapter End Notes

This is how I remember it: El is the first word the first Elves said. In primitive Elvish, it meant "star", in later Elvish it is a base rather than itself a word and from that base both the words meaning "star" and "elf" are derived. Initially, all elves were "star people", not only those that undertook the journey to Aman.

'Run, you idiot!' bellowed his mother and dealt him a heavy blow across his shoulders that sent him stumbling forward and, as the Great Mind faltered in its battle against the Host of Valinor, loosening its hold over the Pits of Angband just a little, the impetus released him into flight, striking out at anyone who came close enough to be within reach, but onwards, onwards, through fire and water, leaving his mother behind to die, running as the earth sank beneath his feet.

Panting, he climbed the slopes of the Blue Mountains and, as the Dark Will slowly faded at the back of his mind, succumbing to the final onslaught--as Thangorodrim tottered and fell, crushing whole armies beneath its weight--for the first time he glimpsed the green land of Eriador lying serene beneath the stars. It was then that he first sensed his emptiness, like a physical ache, unable to be filled.

There were others who had escaped, like him. They banded together for survival. Their language was snarls and blows, all hands against them and their hands against all. It was all they had been taught, and that teaching held them still. But he did not quite forget--not that moment of freedom nor how it had hurt.

Sometimes, alone in the night, he would bare his teeth hungrily, longingly at the stars.