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It's beautiful and heartbreaking, Dawn. I really love it. Of course, I loved the descriptions of Fingon. Poor Fingon goes a little Lady MacBeth on us there, doesn't he? Makes perfect sense to me. The foreshadowing always works for me when you write this complicated family. And Arafinwe always reads best written by you, love your interpretation of him. Thank you so much for sharing.

I'd love to write more and perhaps I will another day. But at the moment am dying from the heat (the humidity makes it feel at least 10 degrees hotter).

 

Thank you, Oshun! I'm glad you read it, despite the heat. Think of those cool sea breezes (hopefully without pink-foamed waves) and the cold sand at night (half-naked!Fingon optional) ...

I thought of Lady Macbeth when I wrote that scene. I wondered if anyone would pick up on it. I figured you would. ;)

You know I love writing Finarfin. I started this story the first Friday I had free, with no schoolwork/planning to do; I go with Bobby to his ski patrol training and so basically get to sit around for three hours and do what I want. I picked this particular prompt because Finarfin is always a fun character for me. Fingon is a bit more of a mystery--I feel like I can never hold a candle to you and others who write him so well--but he took shape nicely too. In all, it was a fun story to write.

This is an incredible piece of writing, and on a time I've seen very little written about. You have a real talent for picking small moments but making them speak to so much more - the interaction between Fingon and Maedhros is only mentioned, but it still moved me to tears. And Arafinwe's effort to come to terms with what happened is movingly real. I think the moment that captures the complexity of his feelings best is his thought that the Teleri bodies can be distinguished from those of the Noldor by the fact that they are mourned - that provoked a tremendous amount of sympathy for the Noldor in my mind, which is painfully tempered by knowing what happened... 

In short, I think I felt a fraction of what Arafinwe did. Thank you. 

Thank you for your kind words! :D I love writing Finarfin. In the SWG's very early days, I even held an impromptu Finarfin Appreciation Month. Actually, the Elves who stayed behind in general capture my fancy. I certainly admire the ideals of those who chose exile (some of their ideals, anyway), but there is a certain quiet strength needed to hold a country together that was shattered like Valinor was.

I wanted those moments that you mentioned to work exactly as you describe. I'm glad to hear that they did. :) Thank you again, so very much, for reading and for commenting!

On a second read, the story is just as compelling, and I find that I really like the understated tone of Finarfin's description of meeting Fingon - it really matches the sort of controlled hysteria and not-thinking about what happened that was letting them all cope, or perhaps just delay coming to terms with it. But to be honest, I am mostly only reviewing again because there is no way to reply to reviews and I had to ask which month is Finarfin Appreciation Month. I have a couple pieces I will most certainly polish up for the next one...

I like to think about the psychological acrobatics the Elves of Valinor would have had to undertake in order to remain psychologically whole in the wake of everything that happened Darkening-and-after. A people who go from thinking themselves protected and residents of a deathless realm who not only experience complete reversals on both of those counts but, in many cases, become murderers themselves, or have loved ones become murderers. I think at this point, there was probably a lot of "just not thinking about it" because there was so much to cope with.

Finarfin Appreciation Month was unfortunately a one-time thing, on a whim, that we don't run regularly. :( Maybe we can gather support for another one? The original one was in January.

I have always liked your Finarfin. I have perhaps not felt so sorry for him before--in a way somehow distinct from a more general kind of sorrow inherent in the whole turn of events--as when he tries to smash that clay sculpture.

There are plenty of other things that could be said and I suspect others will say them!

I'll have to come back for another comment later, here or on LJ.

Beautiful and heart-wrenching, Dawn.  Wonderfully, nuanced examination of how these characters coped with the unthinkable slaughter of the Teleri.  Loved the way you described Arafinwe's loss of memory as a lacuna, pages missing in a book of history.  Findekano's moment of madness trying to scrub away the blood is a different way of trying to cope.  

Also liked your discussion of the effect of killing on people, especially a first time.

You have such a good feel for the complexity of relationships in families and how different people chose different sides. I appreciated your description of Arafinwe, seeing himself as having no particular skills other than the ability to soothe and attempt to hold together all the powerful personalities in his family and now he faces the irreparable snapping of those threads.  I also liked Arafinwe's sense of falling short of his illustrious kin and his recognition of leadership qualities in his nephew, more than himself.  It's a very human moment for all of them, where no choice seems right and loyalty to one member of the family means hurting another.  Well-done.  And a very auspicious beginning to writing dangerously. 

Thank you, elfscribe! I've always seen Arafinwe as a character whose primary role in his family was keeping the peace and who embraces this role because he lacks his older brothers' skills in other, more practical pursuits. Now he feels lost, without purpose, as does Fingon (the latter also coping with the personal distress of finding himself not in first place in Nelyo's mind). My Arafinwe in no way wants to be king. (I just realized I made a mistake in the succession too! Have to fix that. :) That he becomes one could be a whole novel. (Grrr ... how does a 3000-word story lead me to want to write another novel?! :D)

Thanks so much for your comments, both here and on LJ! (Which I'll be answering shortly.) I really appreciate it.

Oh I loved this! What a wonderful insight into such a hartbreaking moment. The exchange between Finarfin and Fingon is especially tragic, knowing the different choices each makes. I was especially moved by the description of Fingon washing the dishes, Finarfin's foresight. You captured that beautifully.

I always love when comments mention the reader's favorite moment. In this story, everyone so far has mentioned something different, some of them my favorite moments too and others that I thought of maybe editing out. :)

I liked this moment too because, since this story is part of my larger verse, I hoped it would connect it to older stories. But Finarfin's foresight I almost didn't put it because I worried it was overloading such a short story with too much, on top of characters personally coping with things and the family dynamics.

Thank you so much for reading, and for commenting. I really appreciate it. :)

As always, beautifully written with delicacy and insight, and passion. I have been looking for something that gave that depth to the story- so much happens and Tolkien almost skips over it. I love that you are continuing along the lines of previous fics. 

Thank you, Ziggy! Most of my stories I try to include in the "Felakverse" with the occasional diversion, mostly to write wild pairings. ;) This whole time period has always fascinated me for precisely the reason that you say: Tolkien barely says anything about it! And, according to some of the timelines, it took the Eldar 10 years to get to Middle-earth, so that's not exactly because everything happened so fast that there wasn't time for things to happen. It has to be one of the most psychologically interesting periods of Eldarin history. Anyway ... I am rambling. :) I very much appreciate the read and also the review!