Light and Labor Past by Zdenka
Fanwork Notes
Meter: modified Sapphics (since I apparently forgot where the dactyl goes when I was writing this)
Many thanks to Aliana and Himring for looking this over.
"When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last;
When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past . . ."
(The Two Towers, "Treebeard")
- Fanwork Information
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Summary:
The smiths of Eregion prepare to face Sauron. (The narrator is Feredwen, an original character.)
Major Characters: Original Female Character(s)
Major Relationships:
Artwork Type: No artwork type listed
Challenges:
Rating: General
Warnings: Mature Themes
This fanwork belongs to the series
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 647 Posted on 31 May 2016 Updated on 31 May 2016 This fanwork is complete.
Chapter 1
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New for them this learning, and a new labor:
nock the feathered shaft and draw back the bow-string,
loose, and send the flying arrow in freedom
swift to the target.Long ago I learned the rough ways of battle;
not so these my fellow smiths, who must newly
take up arms and grimly set to their training,
forges abandoned.This, this too I lay to your charge, Abhorred One:
craftsmen’s hands that should be shaping in silver
lay aside their tools and delicate workings
for shield and sword-hilt.Well I know there is not time for this training;
war too is a craft--bitter the teaching;
yet we now must fight, lest all things of beauty
perish forever.You whose graves were swallowed by the grey ocean;
you who died by sword, by sorrow and fire;
for your sake, my lords, my fallen kindred,
I will not falter.
Chapter End Notes
Abhorred One - meaning of the name Sauron
you who died by sword, by sorrow and fire - a glancing reference to the Doom of the Noldor: "yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief . . ." (The Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor")
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