Taking Readings I by Himring

The Earth, Singing

Aule designs Durin's brain.

B2MeM 2012 prompt: O-72: In what furnace was thy brain? (W. Blake) [card: Snippets of Verse)

Characters: Aule, Durin, Feanor

Warnings: none

In his longing for students to teach the unbounded wealth of the minerals of Arda, Aule takes great pains to calibrate the brains of his dwarves exactly to their task. The dwarven bodies he designs are sturdy and solid, thoroughly functional like a well-balanced hammer or a mattock; later ages will—mistakenly—call them crude. But Durin’s brain is an intricately damascened blade. It is a fine instrument attuned to the tectonic rhythms of Arda. It is a set of chimes that resonates with the song of granite and gneiss, quartz and malachite, jasper and basalt. Aule is proud of Durin’s brain. Even after suffering Eru’s reproof, he still considers it his best piece of work.

Until the day Feanor walks into his forge—and Aule discovers that the triumph of the teacher cannot be complete until he is taught a lesson by his student. Feanor does not resonate, not for long. Feanor rewrites the song.

Chapter End Notes

Written in gratitude to Elleth and Lyra for their B2MeM ficlets on Aule and Durin: Out of the Dust and Birth.