Back to Middle-earth Month 2010 Stories by Dawn Felagund

Temperance

As tempers heat among the Finwions leading up to Fëanor's threat of Fingolfin, Finwë fails to appreciate the full weight of what is happening. A double drabble.

Challenge: Different cultures deal with their elders in very different ways. Write a story, poem or create an artwork where a society's view of old age is shown.

I was challenged to write this topic by Elleth as part of the Week Five collaborative challenge for B2MeM 2010.

Sometimes I listen to them squabbling and I smile. They are so young.

These questions are still new and raw for them: how our people shall be ruled and share our power here with the Valar. For Fëanáro, whether we should be here at all. For Nolofinwë, how succession should be determined in a deathless race in an undying land. For Arafinwë, how to best relate with others of the Eldar.

They knew not a time when these questions--the very same!--carried not merely the weight of rhetorical victory but the price of life or death. They crouched not on the beaches of Cuiviénen, near-naked and uncertain of the origin of their next meal, to fight over Oromë's proposition. They knew not the anguish of a loved one taken by the Dark, and the injustice that naught could be done. They knew not the exhaustion of the Journey; the relief of Valinor, of Light. They sleep without fear of shadow; host plush debates in ornate halls.

This is all new to them. They are so young! I laugh to hear them.

The fire in their eyes is fierce with sincerity, but time will bring with it experience and temperance.