A Crash Course in History by Himring

Chapter 1

How many times did I have to replant that vine? There are far too many things that I did far too many times in your absence. And yet the leaves are shading your eyes now as you read, almost exactly as I envisaged it when I first planted it.

You recline in the shade, the book propped up on your knees, your heels on the seat of the bench. Beside you—a stack of half a dozen volumes, another three or four on the ground below. You are doing the Third Age today. You started skimming through the early annals of Gondor and Arnor after breakfast. Now it is mid-afternoon and you are reading a more detailed report on events towards the end of the Age. It seems to be a page-turner.

I had a hard time finding some of these books. Not much call for that kind of information in Tirion these days, the bookseller said.  But I knew that, if they ever released you, you would not be content with some Valinorean abridgement, you would want to study the records first-hand.

I remember that I am allegedly engaged in balancing the household accounts. I add up a row of figures in my head, tick a column on the page before me and go back to watching you.

You look utterly absorbed, your lips parted as if you were trying to inhale the subject matter as you read. Unconsciously, you are flexing your toes. Suddenly you frown a little, puzzled. Our eyes meet and you wonder:

‘What is a perian, Findekano? What are they like? Do you know?’

Chapter End Notes

Oshun's biographies, just in case you are having trouble finding them on the SWG site, are here (or check the site map under "Periodicals").

Also, there's a story by Cirdan in which Maedhros has already met a hobbit during the First Age: Frodo the Super-Small (obviously not compatible with this one!).