A Sense of History: Straight Road
The next in a series of articles about ships passing to and from the West, Simon uses "The Fall of Númenor" to attempt to arrive at Tolkien's reading of the exordium to "Beowulf."
This is part of a story I have outlined but haven't begun to write yet. Prompts: slate-grey, frayed, glass, egg.
The egg was almost spherical and larger than a melon. Frayed tendrils reached up from the surface, waving as if in a light breeze through the meshes of the sturdy net. The Elf shifted the burden, holding the net at arm's length from her body.
Alatáriel still could not account for how difficult it was to focus on the details of the egg. Shiny as spun glass, at the same time it seemed to emanate a slate-grey shadow.
"This is it?" she asked the Elf holding the net. "This is the secret?"
"This is where it starts," replied the Elf.