Drabbles: The Silmarillion, part 2 by Zdenka

Rose Red

Aerin of Dor-lómin and the gift of a rose. (Aerin/OFC. Implied character death.)

Read Rose Red

That last summer before the battle, Meril plucked a red rose from a bush and dared to give it to Lady Aerin, seeing her smile and blush. Meril’s hands are a thrall’s now, rough and calloused; the roses only for them, her masters. But still she leaves daisies or a bunch of violets in secret for Brodda’s unwilling wife.

Túrin comes and goes, leaving a trail of blood and ruin. Aerin’s face is set; a torch is in her hand. Aerin is her beloved lady; though afraid, Meril will not leave her. Fire blossoms from the roof like red roses.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for Tolkien Femslash Week Bingo, for the prompt:

Language of Flowers: Red Rose: True Love (O44)

Love Greater Than Fear

Aerin catches Rían on her way out of Dor-lómin. (AU. Aerin/Rían)

Read Love Greater Than Fear

Aerin almost misses seeing her slip away. It is early evening, and the trees are dark shapes against the skyline. She finds Rían closing the gate; desperate, Aerin catches and holds her.

“I must go,” Rían says softly. Her face is a white mask in the darkness. Aerin feels her trembling like a bird in a snare, her spirit straining to be gone.

Aerin presses her face against Rían’s hair, trying not to weep. She is terribly afraid, but Rían has held her heart since they were children. “If you must go seeking word, then I will go with you.”

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for Tolkien Femslash Week Bingo, for the prompts:

Four Words: early, skyline, almost, mask (N27)
Formats and Genres: AU (O44)

The Spider and the Bat

Thuringwethil's intended tryst with one of Ungoliant's offspring in Nan Dungortheb goes awry. (Shelob/Thuringwethil.)

Warning for giant evil spider (and the whole concept, really).

Read The Spider and the Bat

Thuringwethil was snared in a blinding web of shadow. The spider’s legs stroked eagerly over her body; unresisting, Thuringwethil admired the many-faceted eyes gleaming with pale deadly fire, her legs adorned with sharp claws--perhaps worthy of an alliance.

But sudden malice and hunger bloomed in the spider’s eyes, her intent now to devour her captive. Thuringwethil gave an indignant screech and sank her own fangs into the spider’s leg; the spider scurried backwards, glaring. Thuringwethil’s iron claws rent the clinging webs, and then she was aloft. Pah! The spider’s poison could not harm her, but her blood tasted foul.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for Tolkien Femslash Week Bingo, for the prompts:

Crack Pairings: Shelob/Thuringwethil (B7)
Four Words: bloom, devour, blinding, alliance (B7)

Pray, Love, Remember

Nellas seeks Nienor and finds her too late. (Nellas/Nienor. Canonical character death.)

Read Pray, Love, Remember

Only a humble grey stone, carved with her name. Nellas traced the linear shape of the runes: NIENOR NÍNIEL. But what use would it be to build her a tomb of marble? She was not there. The river had taken her, and she was lost. Lost too was their joy among the leaves of Doriath in the spring, their love brief and bright as a comet.

Nellas stood apart in silence while Mablung and the others sang their lament. But before she departed, she gathered wildflowers such as Nienor had most loved and scattered them into Teiglin’s cold rushing waters.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for Tolkien Femslash Week Bingo, for the prompts:

Four Words: humble, linear, comet, marble (I16)
Language of Flowers: Rosemary: Remembrance (B7)

Title from Ophelia's speech in Hamlet.

Wildflowers

Nienor loses; Níniel finds. (Nellas/Nienor)

Read Wildflowers

Facing the dragon’s malevolent gaze, Nienor fights to hold each memory: her mother, standing tall and proud; Nellas, her hands twined in Nienor’s hair as they lie among the flowers; her very name. But they are torn away one by one, and she falls into darkness.

Níniel loves the wildflowers of Brethil. There is one that delights her especially, a low-growing plant with purple flowers. The flowers are another thing she lost and has found again; why then should they make her sad? But when the women of Brethil teach her their names, she weeps and does not know why.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for Tolkien Femslash Week Bingo, for the prompt:

Language of Flowers: Lobelia: Malevolence (B9)

Morgoth's Harvest

After Nirnaeth Arnoediad. (Húrin, Morgoth, Orcs. Warning for character death, aftermath of battle violence, and desecration of corpses.)

Read Morgoth's Harvest

They have bound Húrin fast to a tree. He watches the Orcs labor like ants, hauling the bodies of the slain into a great heap. The heads are piled to one side, their hair yellow as corn--a terrible harvest.

An Orc holds up one head by the hair. The face and beard are streaked with blood, the eyes open and staring.

“Is this thy brother?” Morgoth asks disdainfully. “There are so many.”

It is his cousin Indor, Aerin’s father. Húrin feels his heart burn within him. He remains grimly silent; it is all he can give the dead now.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for tolkien_weekly, for the prompt: "Signs of Autumn: harvest"

Memory

Morgoth cannot steal Húrin's memories of the past. (Húrin; implied Húrin/Morwen)

Read Memory

There is mist here sometimes, among the black jagged rocks, and Húrin remembers Dor-lómin. He cannot close his eyes, or look away from what Morgoth wills him to see. But Morgoth cannot stop him from seeing also what his memory brings him.

He liked to go outside in the early morning, leaving the warmth of his bed where Morwen still slept, and watch the mist drifting in the hollows of the hills. The chill in the air was pleasant, and finally he would go back inside to the fire-warmed hall.

The cold has long settled into his bones. Húrin waits.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for tolkien_weekly, for the prompt: "Signs of Autumn: mists"

Blood in the Snow

Curufin is dying in the woods of Doriath. (Warning for canonical character death, blood.)

Read Blood in the Snow

They have carried him outside on an improvised litter. The air is chill, and a dusting of snow drifts down from the evergreen boughs above.

Curufin raises his hand, trying to grasp for something, but he is distracted by the blood on his fingers, where he was pressing them against his side.

He does not fear death; but to die with the Oath unfulfilled-- A shudder runs through him.

“We will find it, father,” he whispers. “We will find them, I swear it.”

He lets his hand fall, seeing where droplets of blood scatter, bright as jewels in the snow.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for the December 2016 challenge at the drabblechalleng community on LJ. The prompt was this image (a photograph of a bright red ball-shaped ornament hanging from a snow-covered evergreen, with snow in the background).

Live Forever

A moment of defiance. (Nellas/Nienor)

Read Live Forever

“My father rode to war and disappeared.” Nienor leaned backwards on her branch to look at Nellas upside-down, her golden braids dangling near Nellas’s face. “My brother came to Doriath and disappeared. But I will not!” she said with a determined expression. Smiling, she continued, “Perhaps I will master fate and live forever, Nellas!”

Nellas, perched on a lower branch of their tree, could have said that Nienor would live forever in Elvish memory -- balanced just so, the sunlight caught in her hair -- but she could not bear to think of Nienor gone. Instead, she leaned forward and kissed her.

Poet's Crown

Elemmírë leaves her bed in the middle of the night to finish a poem. (Elemmírë/Lalwen)

Written for the drabblechalleng LJ community. The prompt was this photograph (a close-up of a person's hands holding a pen and writing in a journal).

Read Poet's Crown

Lalwendë awoke to see Elemmírë writing busily at her desk. It was a fair sight: Elemmírë's eyes shining with inspiration, her lips moving silently, her golden hair silvered by Telperion's light.

Smiling, Lalwendë slipped from the bed. She took a jeweled hairpin and twined it into Elemmírë's hair, then another. Caught up in her writing, Elemmírë barely noticed.

At last Elemmírë straightened and set down her pen with a sigh. She blinked and put her hand to her hair. "Lalwendë, what did you do?"

"A crown of stars for you, my poet!" Lalwendë said laughingly. "Now come back to bed."

Astray in the Wood

Aredhel fails to find her way out of Nan Elmoth. (Warning for Eöl being creepy.)

Read Astray in the Wood

The forest paths divided and divided again among the close-growing trees. Aredhel grimly pressed on. Her sense of direction was normally unerring, but no matter how long she walked, she seemed no closer to the edge of Nan Elmoth. At last, frustrated, she determined to return to Eöl's house and demand that he guide her out; but now none of the paths would lead her back.

Weary and bedraggled, she stumbled out onto Eöl's doorstep just at twilight. She pounded on the door with more force than courtesy.

"It seems you must spend another night here," Eöl said, and smiled.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for the drabblechalleng comm on LJ. The February 2017 prompt was this picture (a photograph of a path that divides into two, surrounded by green trees and grass).

Anfauglith

Rían crosses the Anfauglith to find the Hill of the Slain where Huor lies.

Read Anfauglith

Puffs of dust rose up with every footstep as Rían walked. The dust caked her hair and clothing; her throat was dry and her lips cracked with thirst. Once this was a plain of lush grass, they said, where the High King’s horses roamed in a thunder of hoofbeats. But it was only a story to her; this land had burned when she was a young child.

At last she saw it: one spot of bright green in the dry lands. Rían stumbled toward it and fell to her knees on the green mound. “Huor,” she whispered. “I am here.”

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for the drabblechallenge community on Dreamwidth for the June 2017 challenge. The prompt was this picture (a photograph of a man crossing a line of sand dunes in the desert, leaving footprints behind him).

Kindness

Rían is received among the Elves of Mithrim. (Rían, Annael, infant Tuor. Warning for implied suicidal thoughts. Written for a prompt to write 100 words of second person.)

Read Kindness

The Elves have been very kind to you. Male or female, they are eager to hold your son, feed him, sing to him. He will be well-loved here.

You are welcome to stay, Annael assures you. Only rest, he says earnestly, until you have your strength back.

You smile and thank him. You will stay here for a little while, you think, rocking your son in your arms. You do not need very much strength. Only enough to carry you to the place the Elves have told you of, a single green mound in the midst of the barren dust.

On to Journey’s End

Aredhel comforts Elenwë after Turgon’s death on the Helcaraxë. (Aredhel/Elenwë. AU. Warning for character death.)

Read On to Journey’s End

When the Ice takes Turgon, Elenwë nearly follows; Aredhel pulls her to safety with a desperate effort. “I won’t lose you too,” Aredhel says fiercely, her tears already turning to ice on her cheeks. Heartsick and weary, Elenwë staggers along blindly.

But Aredhel coaxes her to eat, holds her close at night and shares what little warmth can be found between their bodies.

When at last the Ice ends and they stumble onto green grass, Elenwë reaches for Idril with one hand and Aredhel with the other. A silver light rises to greet them, and it feels like a blessing.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for Drabble Tag 8 in the femslash100 LJ community, for the prompt: "Aredhel/Elenwë - ice."

Heartbeats

In his cell in Gondolin, Eöl counts heartbeats. (Eöl; implied Aredhel/Eöl. Implied character death. Written for a prompt to write 100 words of poisoning.)

Read Heartbeats

Eöl’s hands are bound, in this cell they have put him in. He cannot press his hand over his heart, but if he concentrates he can feel the beats through his flesh, quick and strong like a smith’s hammer-blows.

He can feel another heartbeat also, like an echo. Like a ghost. This one is weaker, slow and unsteady.

He paces back and forth, five steps this way and five steps that way. He does not make his poisons to fail.

Just before dawn, he leans against the wall and pretends that the chill spreading through him comes from the stone.

Weaving Gold

Míriel is captivated by Indis’s hair. (Indis/Míriel Serindë. An AU in which neither of them marries Finwë.)

Read Weaving Gold

Míriel runs her fingers through Indis’s hair, smoothing out tangles, then deftly starts weaving the strands into a crown of braids. Indis is singing softly, and Míriel can feel the vibrations through her fingers as she works.

Míriel did not think there was anything more beautiful than Indis’s hair silvered by starlight, or patterned with light and dark in the flicking shadows of their fire. She has tried in vain to make her threads match it. In Valinor, she sees Indis in full light for the first time, her golden hair shining in Laurelin’s golden brightness, and is utterly dazzled.

---

Chapter End Notes

Written for Drabble Tag 8 in the femslash100 LJ community, for the prompt: "Míriel/Indis - golden."

Horns in the Forest

A young Ent is inspired by hearing the horn of Oromë.

Written for B2MeM 2018, for the prompt: Create a fanwork with rainy or stormy weather.

Read Horns in the Forest

The storm whipped through dark Beleriand, pouring down rain. Thunder rumbled in the sky and was echoed by hoofbeats on the earth, where Oromë rode to the hunt. His horse’s hooves struck sparks from stone as he passed, and lightning flashed above. The creatures of Morgoth, great beasts terrible with tooth and claw, slunk aside and hid when Oromë’s horn sounded long and sweet and clear through the shadowy woods.

As the horn’s echoes died away, a young tree, or what looked like a tree, stirred and shook rain from his leaves. “Hoom,” he trumpeted quietly in imitation. “Hrum, HOOM!”

---

Chapter End Notes

I recently stumbled across a note Tolkien made about the Ents: “The males were devoted to Oromë, but the Wives to Yavanna.” (Letter 247) That made me start thinking about the Ents and Oromë and what they might have thought of each other.

Colors

Maeglin chooses the colors of his House. (Maeglin, Aredhel. Implied/referenced character death.)

Written for 100words on Dreamwidth, for the prompt "gaudy."

Read Colors

They dismounted for a brief halt to rest the horses. Maeglin’s heart was beating wildly; he kept glancing behind for signs of pursuit. But his mother was smiling, her eyes fixed on a patch of bright red flowers. “I had almost forgotten, how much brighter flowers are in the sunlight.”

The lords who came to give their condolences for his mother’s death were dressed in bright colors, a dizzying profusion of heraldry, and glittering with jewels. To Maeglin’s eyes, they seemed gaudy and overdone. Since his mother was gone, for his own emblem, he would have no colors but sable.