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This is a lovely story, Dawn. It makes me want to send you the draft I am working on at the moment, which has a long section on a holiday spent on a beach near Alqualonde of Finwe's sons and their wives. I didn't have anything quite as explicit as this relationship between Aerwen and Anaire, but your story still could fit seamlessly with it as a back story and their comfortable and long-standing friendship.

I was swept off my feet by the vivid the descriptions of the city of Alqualonde and the cultural aspects of the Teleri. I adore comparison of cultures in general and especially in this case. I loved the young, shy and awkward Nolofinwe--what a hottie. I really developed quite a crush on this version of him. Again he could easily be the younger version of the Nolofinwe in my current story draft.

I loved your description of Feanor too, but, of course, you were kicking in an open door with that one.

We're hopeless! I think Feanor is in two sentences, isn't he? When I realized that I'd devoted more description to him than any other character in that passage--a whole three adjectives, iIrc--I had to beef up some of the others so that it didn't look so ... biased. I'd wondered if you would comment on it.

Of course, the opening part of the story, with the oppressive heat, comes from RL experience this past week that I know you can relate to. ;)

The passage about the friendship between Anaire and Earwen as Anaire's reason for remaining in Valinor has always been a "really?" for me, as in, "Really, your husband went off to another land but you stayed behind for your bff?" It's always suggested to me a little, ummm, something extra in there. Both of them grew on me in writing The Work of Small Hands, and while those stories are in different verses, it was nice to spend time again with the characters. Nolofinwe--I am trying to be fairer to him than I was in AMC. I liked him here too.

Alqualonde is based very loosely on my beloved vacation spot, Ocean City. Everything is colorful there in a way that would be grotesque another five miles inland. You have the Hilton right across the street from a motel that rents rooms for $60 a night in-season. When I was a kid, a lot of the hotels used colored lights on outdoor walkways, and I used to like to stand on the balcony at the hotel where we stayed--always on the 8th floor--and look down Coastal Highway at all the lights.

Thank you for reading this--it was outside my usual realm, so I'm glad you liked it. And if you were serious about sending that draft, please do. :)

Those descriptions! If you wrote the publicity material for the Alqualonde-Tirion package tour, it would sell out immediately! And the description of the heat made me feel even hotter than I was...

It's sort of ironic that Nolofinwe and Anaire bond over Avarin linguistics, I guess, although in its immediate context it's very Noldorin and believable and I like the way her Telerin experience actually helps her to deal with him with a confidence she would not otherwise have had. But also, one notices, in retrospect, that while Anaire may think she's told Earwen her life story, apparently she must have left out a huge chunk of what her life in fact seems to have been focussed on up to that moment. Apart, possibly from the absence of the mysterious mother and how it seems to have skewed her relationship with her father...

Last week was ridiculously hot on the East Coast--and humid! The unofficial motto of Maryland summers is "It's not the heat, it's the humidity, hon." So I was definitely pulling on immediate experience for that one!

I'm glad that descriptions of Alqualonde worked. This story is much more plot-driven than most of my writing, so it felt rather less poetic and descriptive than most ... except for the description of Alqualonde. Which of course made me nervous and wonder if it was out of place. As I noted in my reply to Oshun, Alqualonde in this story is loosely based on my beloved vacation spot, Ocean City, Maryland: the colors, the mingling of various social groups, and even the lights are based on three decades of memories from there! :)

The irony you note was not unintentional. ;) What I wanted to do with Anaire not talking about her work during her time in Alqualonde was, of course, to show the depth of her distraction, but also to highlight the difference in the cultures, in that Earwen et al would not have thought to even ask about it. It is central in Anaire's life, but so distant from the Telerin culture that, even in Earwen's well-bred consideration of an outsider and trying to help Anaire fit in, she doesn't think to ask about it. Of course, when Anaire meets Nolofinwe, she finds that she connects with him in a different way than she connected with Earwen because they share an intellectual (versus emotional and physical) connection.

I meant to do more with the mother and hinting at her fate, but this story ran off with me. I think I need to revise it and rework it a good bit.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting! :)

Reading your exchange above:

when Anaire meets Nolofinwe, she finds that she connects with him in a different way than she connected with Earwen because they share an intellectual (versus emotional and physical) connection.

In my own head, I picked that up also and made a big deal out of it, thinking great relatiomships have been built on far less and Anaire, for as much as she enjoyed Alqualonde, et al., is a Noldo at heart.

Yes! I was definitely going for that. *is happy*

Her father kind of represents the extreme of what I imagine are negative Noldorin quantities: a certain regimented way of thinking, obsession with order, that translates into more valuation of social/political hierarchies, and emphasis on book learning as a prerequisite for experience. Anaire tends toward that too, and her time in Alqualonde shows her it isn't the only way; that free spirit that she nurtures while there and brings back with her to Tirion is what attracts Nolofinwe to her. Or that's what I'd hoped to show. :)

Dawn, this was wonderful! I'd meant to read this story much, much earlier, but I'm glad I finally made time for it (all hail Elvie and her commenting week!) because, well... I'm blown away.

It's not even just the vividness of the descriptions of Ocean Ci-- Alqualondë, although those contributed a great deal I'll always love the image of Alqualondë in lamplight, and after just re-reading The Work of Small Hands seeing Alqualondë in better days struck a particular note with me that I'm finding hard to verbalize - it added a kind of wistfulness, except I know that the source of that is still ahead, chronologically - actually, a lot of this fic fits that idea, but I don't want to make it seem like I'm measuring one against the other, because I didn't while I was reading. This was wonderfully immersive, Eällindalë as much as Eärwen and Anairë made for compelling characters (irony aside, I squeed like a dork over her and Fingolfin's Avarin studies, given that I'm working on something related myself - originally intended to just let me build some names, but since then becoming much more protracted), and I enjoyed how neatly you aligned the cultural dynamics with the flow of the story and the character development. Anairë and Eärwen are a ship that's near and dear to my heart (I so agree on the little "something extra" despite different form it takes for me), so this was a joy to see, and thank you for sharing it! :)

Thank you so much, Elleth, for your kind comment! :) Alqualonde as Ocean City ... you all know me too well. ;) But it is one of my favorite places in the world (OC, although I'm sure Alqualonde would rank up there too, if I could actually go there!) and I am very much Elven in my sea-longing. I wanted to capture a place that feels both an escape to someone who works hard under intense expectations for herself, as well as a place that becomes the source of deep nostalgia. I'm really glad you got something of that wistfulness (even if it was in part due to TWoSH--I am not complaining that that story made a lasting impression either! :) because that's very much along the lines of what I wanted to convey, but it seems one of those impossible emotions to actually construct, being so subjective.

I'm fascinated by the idea of your work with Avarin!

You know me and my love for cultural dynamics in Silmfic. :) My first impressions of Tolkien's world was less the variety of geography/scenery that it seems many people take away from the story (I still have to check the maps for even basic locations due to have a spatial IQ of about 20) and more the variety of cultures. Seeing how the different peoples interact will never cease being fun for me.

Thank you again, Elleth--and yay Elvie for kicking off this comment week!

This is a wonderful story! I could feel the heat in the first section (not easy given how cold it is) and the blessed relief of the shore. Anairë and Eärwen's relationship is lovely.

I realized that I could conjure few specific memories, more a prevailing emotion: a sense of comfort and the joy of a journey embarked upon without fear. I was different, I realized, very different from when I had left Tirion three months ago, and that transformation had come with all the relief of opening my wings against a sky and flying, not falling.

These lines are my favorite.

Thank you, Indy! It was written in summer but is definitely nice to revisit now, when we could use the memory of warm weather! :) I think one of my favorite feelings in the world is going to the seaside in the summer, on one of those oppressively hot days when it almost hurts to exist, and the breeze off the sea is like sitting in front of an AC unit. *happy*   Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

After reading and discussing  The Sharpest and Sweetest of Recollections Narya sent me the link to Cradle of the Stars as a must read. I read it of coourse, but before I wanted to leave a review, I realised that I did not read your Ainare/Eärwen verse in the right order :D So off I clicked to read the - by now - famed the Sailing Forth. And what a gently brought coming of age story! In cannot help to think that much of Ainare here is also you, the introvert young woman with love for scholarship and language. At the other side of this spectrum you present a wonderful Eärwen. Free spirited on the surface, but more serious than people take her for. I just love to follow Ainaire on this road of self discovery and how she can apply that to help Fingolfin as he comes to his manhood. It still leaves me to wonder what happened to her mother :) Much you have probably heard from others, but I personally love the worldbuilding here, leaving me to wonder how Alqualondë will look like when both the Sun or moon will set. Now it is a city portrayed that is being alight with its own lanterns and a wee bit of light from the trees... Then of course there is the characterisation of young adults on the road of self-discovery and writing that with their own train of thoughts, observations that calls for a tight POV. You do this so wonderfully! But oh Dawn, that last line... that was so beautiful. This happy romantic felt so happy to read that!