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."
Prompts: dust, brighter, untouchable, world.
Eärendil climbed the giant hill, remembering the name his mother had given it in stories: Túna. Somehow he had expected it would be a brighter, lost, untouchable place, more in keeping with the sad tales his mother had told him of the Darkening. Then his eyes fell on Tirion, the largest city in the world, more achingly beautiful than anything he had ever imagined. Graceful arches soared from tower to tower, innumerable fountains of stone and silver plashed in green plazas. Star-white dust clung to his feet as he moved in wonder through the silent boulevards planted with fragrant trees.