A New Day by oshun

As you know, I love your loquacious Noldorin guys, and the dialogue between Maitimo and Findekáno in this latest chapter reinforces my affection for these fellows.  

Your treatment of their strategic planning in the midst of their adoration for one another is well-executed.

"I'd like to kick your crippled arse..." and Káno's ensuing remarks made me smile - a lot.  And this...

"Don't whine, sweetheart. It's unbecoming in such a gallant champion. And, don't always be so competitive. I think of the two us I rather have the corner on spectacular mistakes."

Oh, man, that is great stuff!  A very appropriate response to Káno. If Maitimo doesn't mind, I'd like to co-opt "spectacular mistakes" and add it to my daily lexicon.   

As I noted in my "favorites" comments, you've written a story in which the relationship between M & F feels very real and vital.

Keep those chapter coming! 

Ah, yes!  A satisfying chapter is served: an entree of Noldorin politics, a side of drawing room banter (I love your dialogues - very "Masterpiece Theatre") and for dessert - sweet, sweet eroticism.

I like what you're doing with Nolofinwë.  Even such a simple sentence as "I will not be a token King for you, Nelyafinwë" conveys his acumen and strength.  Then we continue to the solemnity of the oath and...

Káno sneezes!  The irrepressible Káno.  Another bit of humor that made me snort was Nolofinwë's (!) extremely dry remark:

"I have watched the two of you sparring. In fact, it's become quite the popular spectator sport around here these days."

The description of the crown and diadems and then Maitimo's plan to hand the crown to his uncle is well done, i.e., concrete symbols of the primogenitary Finwëan succession which Maitimo is about ready to abdicate.

Post-Angband Maedhros is dear to my heart. I love him!

I adore Finrod in this story. His characterization is excellent; spot on, as far as I am concerned! 

If I might make one little suggestion: if it were me, I'd make the gift ponies/horses older horses, not "nearly, but not full-grown". My yearling Sinner reminds me everyday that no matter what, he's still just a baby horse himself and won't be fit for a beginning rider or a child for many years. (Heck, even after years of riding horses and working with them, the next horse *I* buy will be a dead broke gelding!) :)

Hi Oshun,Just started reading this series and quite liked the opening.  I appreciate that you gave enough information to fill in the background.  Poor Fingon, I can really feel his pain and pity for his beloved.  (And yeah, I have a hard time learning the Quenya names for everyone, but you gave enough clues that I figured it out.) The details you give about the care for Maedhro's injury, cutting the hair and so forth really let me see the scene.    

Oh yes, this is great.  I love the image you present of clan Feanor taking the oath:

"He would never forget looking through eyes, bloodshot and itchy, upon Maitimo’s handsome, determined face illuminated in the red glow as he and each of his brothers drew their swords and, holding them aloft, joined in swearing their father’s oath. Beautiful and terrible they all had been in their fierce majesty. Findekáno had been enthralled and horrified in equal parts, as though seeing them as near-mythic in potency, forgetting for a moment that these fearsome seven had long been closer to him than his own brother."

And I quite like your characterization of Maitimo, especially his need for reassurance that he is still desirable, said in the "lost-boy" voice.  And all these descriptions of him, his body "overwhelmed by its uncharacteristic fragility, its alien angularity. Maitimo no longer reflected the perfect exquisiteness of form and face that he recollected, but nonetheless appeared magnificent to him, if stark and disturbing, like this heretofore unknown way of being."  And his scars as "magnificent and appalling."   Good stuff, m'dear.  

This feels so much like a family - all the brothers each with their own personality come through well and that is hard to do with such a crowd of people.  I also really like the dialogue.  It is mature and intelligent and interesting.   And the little sexual interludes are quite lovely.  I really like that you have them speaking to each other throughout with the same voices and that the love scene becomes just a continuum of their relationship. 

This feels so much like a family - all the brothers each with their own personality come through well and that is hard to do with such a crowd of people.  I also really like the dialogue.  It is mature and intelligent and interesting.   And the little sexual interludes are quite lovely.  I really like that you have them speaking to each other throughout with the same voices and that the love scene becomes just a continuum of their relationship. 

"while the shadows on Maitimo's spirit seemed to have only begun to reveal themselves."

Yes, Findekano's constant scrutiny of Maitimo, worrying, is very understandable and convincing. I like that they get mad at each other as that is very realistic, especially Maitimo not wishing his lover to see all his scars - both the physical and the psychological ones.  Findekano seems to be handling him just right, but who is helping Fingon through his own demons?  "And a hand"  yes, indeed that has to weigh on him, even though there was no other choice.  Such a dramatic situation and to think that story is buried deep in the Silm.  Have you seen the wonderful picture that CK Chmiel did of the rescue? It's here: http://www.theonering.com/images2-8565/RescueofMaedhrosfromThangorodrim  

Again, I really like the sense of family you portray here.  The familiarity and easy joking is just right.  I also like the sense of political maneuvering under some of the jostling.

I quite like the politics, the fact that there is more going on in your story than just the love affair.  I liked Maitimo's admission: "Being my father's heir, the oldest grandson, meant something to me."

And of course F & M's lovely relationship, the sweet tumbling affection.  This was so like a man:  Findekáno did not think of himself as vain in the abstract, but he did admit to expedience-"   lol. "In fact, better yet, get rid of the trousers."
I do love their conversation as Kano is pushing Maitimo towards the bed, playful,loving, and yet it feels fresh, NOT the same cliches read many times in such  encounters. Hard to do.  

Also a note about your language.  It feels very appropriate - a little formal with no jarring modern vernacular and yet definitely not so formal, old-fashioned and stilted that it makes for difficult reading.  A good balance there.   

Wonderful love scene, the right balance of hot and not too explicit.  (I'm guilty of sometimes being too detailed in my descriptions I think, lol).

As I said before, I do love the interactions of the brothers. The Feanoreans do do oaths well, don't they?  The language of Macalaure's oath is perfect.  Love the playful banter that actually is covering up tension, the way Maitimo used Macalaure's support to lever the support of others, the joke about heirs, and especially the jibe at Curvo's ambitions, a reminder of his being 5th in secession.  That last bit about the mathmatics very well done, "Ah yes, Curvo, nor is politics yours."  Very good.

I enjoyed this a lot. I like that Fingon is more of an equal than a lesser being than Maedhros. Maedhros in here is obviously the beloved elder brother and it shows that the sons of Feanor did have feelings and that some of the deeds they did were hard choices for them. It makes one sympathize with them more. The way you showed how Maedhros held conflicted feelings about passing on the kingship was perfectly done. My favorite part has to be when Maedhros sees his cousin Finrod and compares themselves. It is very easy to understand the transformation Maedhros has undergone since his departure from Eldamar both mentally and physically with the sentence.

 Have to say that I'm glad that you included Finrod.  

This whole series is great! I love the way you present the whole extended family, with all their complexities and past history driving the politics in the last chapter.

My favourite line (at the moment) is this: "He alternated phrase-by-phrase, first in Quenya and then in perfectly accented Sindarin..." In half a sentence you have Maitimo being an accomplished and very professional political leader, and an indication of all the tensions he has to deal with.

Very glad I found this!

I have thoroughly enjoyed every chapter of A New Day, but I have to say this is (fittingly) the most powerful of all.  Through your superlative wordcraft and story-telling, you've brought forth the satisfying culmination of Maitimo's recovery from the ordeals of Thangorodrim to the famous abdication through fabulous dialogue (your trademark!) and vivid scenes.

I've fallen in love with your guys (as you know) and can't get enough of them (thank goodness for the forthcoming "Fingon's Heir) but I am also very taken with your supporting cast.  Findaráto, Turukáno and Artanis are so well drawn here - very distinctive personalities!

Throughout the whole of A New Day, you've painted a vivid portrait of the complex House of Finwë, but in this chapter you've outdone yourself.  The scene of Maitimo walking through the crowd with Finwë's crown (and his uncertainty), the actual speech (like Moreth, I liked his adroit use of Sindarin to make his point), and the reactions of the Noldor - all ring true to me for this magnificient family and for this powerful but fractious tribe of people.

I loved the celebration, i.e., the dance and the reactions to it. I think we're very much on the same page here. :^) And this Tadiel - I like her a lot!  I hope we will be seeing more of her?

The scene between Nolofinwë and Pilimor is poignant - realistic and sympathetic.  Then for dessert, ah, yes, sweet, sweet eroticism which you handle so well and as I have said before, with authenticity, i.e., between two men.  Their declarations of love are incredibly moving.

Many thanks for sharing your creativity and your passion for these wonderful characters.  You've succeeded in creating "elvish drama" as Tolkien would put it, and pulled me inexorably into your secondary world.  Looking forward to more!

Wonderful to see this up at last! Just splendid and so engrossing as always. An " impossibly high standard " :)

Alright, I read this yesterday (I saw it on your lj, but came here to read it because I wanted to reread the past couple chapters), and didn’t have time to review then, but now I am here.  And you have left me pretty much speechless.  With stories that I like as much as this one, I am always terrified that they’re going to be abandoned and unfinished forever.  So while I’m sad to see it drawing to a close, I’m glad that you went through with it.  What makes me like it so much?  For one thing, your elves aren’t just humans with pointy ears – but they’re not completely untouchable, either.  One can identify with them, but they are still recognizably elvish.  And that can be difficult to do.  And of course, I am in love your Maitimo (although what Maitimo do I not love?) – you’ve characterized him very well.  He is quite an amusing (and somewhat adorable) drunk, and his relationship with Findekáno is plausible, realistic, sweet, cute… hot… and pretty much just perfect.  I look forward to the epilogue.

First, I must apologise that it has taken taken me all week to write a review - but I wanted to read in depth and not just skim the surface!

I am awed by the Angband section - the straight-forward, 'this is what happened to me' narrative makes this very convincing. Not at all easy to write, I think, so very well done!

And then you manage to move them on to a point where they can take their relationship forward, and the reader (otr this one at least!) is left with the image of Maitimo and Káno together. Yay! The world is as it should be for them - at least for now...

As an aside from the main plot line - I just love the image of Fëanor's sons having uncontrollable, argumentative 'discussions' - no wonder Maitimo passed on the kingship! Good lord, just imagine running that rabble...

Hi Oshun,

I thought I'd repeat my review that I put in your LJ here:

Beautifully written. So completely and utterly romantic. I love their relationship. The scene at Angband was so well done. Often it is the small details such as slipping in some unnamed substance or trying to keep from lying against a fetid wall with open wounds that are truly horrific. His friendship with the elves very poignant and all the details of lying in a corridor and no need for locks in Angband. I could just see and feel and smell it.

It is good that Maitimo is opening up. The love scene was just perfect. Hot and emotional with such good dialogue. "Their minds were both wide open. Findekáno was aware of pockets of obscurity and shadows within Maitimo. Yet there was nothing sinister about them. It was like watching a mixture of light and dark clouds drift across the summer sky in Formenos, as though the contrast made the blue bluer and the light more precious than they ever could have been in the unvarying perfection of Tirion. For the first time since they had come back together, Findekáno felt he wasn’t reaching for or pulling at Maitimo for something he could almost but not quite attain." Gorgeous and “Let go now, Káno. I can’t hold on any longer.”
So well done, my dear. *smooches*

Firstly, I want to congratulate you on your well-deserved MEFA win!

You almost don't need to have read the earlier story to understand this one - I enjoyed it! The pairing was well-written and believable, as were the political machinations - and the care these two show for one another was just lovely.

Congratulations again!

It is a wonderfully spun pic. I was touched by the depth of the relationship that you showed here. Well deserved, the win at the MEFA!

 I rarely read anything other than JDE and Dawn here, dunno why that was so. Dawn's canon true and deeply researched works are always a delight to read(Another man's Cage). And JDE has an innate storytelling talent that just deposits the reader into the middle of her plot, (The song of sunset and the Journal).

But I finished this in one sitting. It was jsut wonderful. I loved your Fingon.

great story!!! i loved the description conference of power to nolofinwe at his begetting ceremony. cool gift, to be a king for yr b-day! one thing id love to hear about is how he(nolofin) found out about fingon and maitimo and the ensuing reactions/fights/feuds. tht'd be very cool

I am not exactly sure which chapter I reviewed first, Oshun, but I will put this here; and just to add, that my views on your writing are the same now as they were then.

I cannot believe no-one has reviewed this as it is truly excellent. Honestly, sometimes I come across Silmarillion based fanfic that knocks my socks of and humbles me completely. And this is one. I can't praise it enough. My verbosity has deserted me in the face of it, [ a rare occurance ] although probably because I am about to be off to bed, so I will continue this in the morning. :) with greater eloquence, I hope!

I kept reviewing and then deleting to add more, I remember. :)

~~

Wowowow! O.O, with extra wow.

I love your characterization, and the way you write - I could be there! I have not read an awful lot of Silmarillion based ff, but I have yet to find a bad one, simply because people who write it seem to have absorbed the Silm, UT and HoMe [ and don't whine about them being * boring * or hard work ] and that knowledge allows them to write easily within it. This is outstanding, you swim in the Elder Days as effortlessly as a dolphin, and your writing is elegant and passionate. I love to see the fire of the Noldor come across, it makes me weep when I see Elves portrayed as ethereal, angelic beings and the Noldor deserve this - how can I put it? - they deserve this door opened on them. It's like entering a room blazing with flickers of fire, both dark and bright, and pulsating with energy, love and hate, grief and sorrow. And that feels absolutely right . I could cheer.

I have to say here - and without shame - that after virtually eating the Silmarillion and UT for years before I read HoME, that I read LACE, and just went something like: '' Pfft. '' Since trying to equate the sedate boredom of those Laws and Customs with how the Noldor are portrayed in those books - how they burn off the pages even in the very succinct mode that Tolkien used in the Silm - was/is impossible. I felt like a child trying to fit one of those star shaped blocks into a square or round hole, and in the end I shook my head. It made no sense to me, it seemed almost as naive as stating seriously that every Mortal on earth lives by and obeys the Ten Commandments. I could envisage some world leader telling a visiting delegation of aliens that all humanity lived by these Laws, knowing damn well every-one bent to suit themselves!

And then I read that Tolkien had added that Aulë was the '' lover of Fëanor ''. [ Just a few words in Morgoth's Ring that people could easily miss ] I thought; That seems far more likely... I am obsessed by Tolkien's works and his world, and to me it feels like history, not myth, but certain things I disagree with as just being very unlikely and most of LACE comes under that. It does not feel correct to me, it almost feels like something patched over the truth of the matter to make it acceptable. [ Only my own view, but I go by my gut instincts and feelings, and won't argue the toss with absolute purists. Beauty is truth and truth is beauty and all that.]

I thought Maedhros and Fingon were lovers when I was a dewy-eyed 16 and like many parts of the Silm I wanted desperately to read the story behind the story. Therefore I will ignore LACE as being '' How- things-were-supposed-to-be-rather-than-t he-way they-were. '' in the matter of marriage, loosing the sexual imperative, homosexuality etc, even though I do know canon. If those who did not follow them had ''strange fates'': all the better for fanfiction writers. [I'll state my views are AU to stop purists turning flamethrowers on me.] Such Laws seem to emasculate the Noldor in particular, straightjacket them. To read stories like this is like opening a locked part of the Silmarillion, reading what Tolkien did not write about these passionate, fiery, emotional, doomed, tragic and fascinating beings. To me, this feels, as I said, * right *, it is how it was, to me. I feel that they are the true stories that were lost, or deliberately hidden.

I applaud the way that you seem to understand the Noldor and what drives them. You write as if you are one of them. Some people have posted on various Tolkien sites that the Oath of Fëanor, his sons swearing it with him immediately, [ not wandering off to have a brotherly conflab about what they would do ] Fingon rescuing Maedhros, Fingolfin challenging Morgoth, Finrod aiding Beren, Eol, Maeglin, and basically all of these acts, and the people who perpetrate them, are impossible to understand since their actions are too illogical, too intense, too over the top, too dramatic and unrealistic. Ergo: unreadable. [Such people are usually avid supporters of the Edain and big fans of Númenor and Mannish history and are rather glad that the Elder Days are over, it seems. Boo!] But the power and the flame of the Noldor, valiant, doomed, blazing, yet, to me not unknoweable and alien, sucked me in from the moment of reading. You are one of these rare people who aren't singed by that intensity and fire and are not afraid to prise between the pages of the Silmarillion and open them to what lies within. And I am thrilled by the way that you have written what - to me - sounds so real. This is how it was! is how I think of this work. It allows me to *watch* and visualize exactly what I have imagined over 20 years. Before I read any Elder Days fanfiction, I read on other sites what I would call advanced '' role-play '' which were interactive stories, some set in the First Age. But the writers were so determinedly canon-pure that they managed to make these characters dull as ditchwater, bland and clipped their wings entirely until one could not imagine them fighting balrogs, challenging Morgoth, or indeed having enough oomph to bother to turn up for a battle in the first place. All of which I would have said was impossible. I was almost afraid to read any Silmarillion based ff when I discovered it, in case this was a common trend.

This is what I want to read!

The Nirnaeth Arnoediad, you will be writing of that obviously. I will bawl. :( the way you write of Maedhros and Fingon's love... when Fingon dies, it will be traumatic for you. I want to read it, but I will be crying, I wager on it. Absolutely fabulous, thank you! I'm really floored by your writing!

Re; your response. Yes, I did not really notice that you wrote with contractions etc. If I get pulled into a story I tend to * see * it in my head, and it's no longer about words, it's a full vision.
I write elder days people in archaic fashion because I am a parrot, >.< and reading the Sil every day for 20 years it sort of sinks in.
I don't write '' later '' Elves in that fashion [ with one exception ].
But no, I honestly did not notice, in fact I came back and read it again for the fifth time after reading your response because I thought '' Eh? ''. But that happens, as I said, if I'm submerged in a story, it plays itself in my head like a film.

You're right, of course, Tolkien did make the '' earlier '' version of the Elves less '' sanitized '' than the later ones. Like I said, I always look at it as a history, and as we know, history is replete with lies, cover ups, consipracies and innacuracies, which no-one can prove without going back in time and witnessing events.
So I look at it as Tolkien wallpapering certain aspects that he thought were too '' juicy '' for the time and society he hoped to publish in. Not deliberately lying, but prettying things up, and if it was being published now, it would be more '' raw '' and truthful.
I don't argue the points, since if people want consider the Sil and HoMe and UT as almost Biblical then that is up to them, I've always been one to read between the lines and think '' okay, what was behind that? '' and so forth.
My own effort on Fëanor and Fingolfin is utterly AU and non canonical, [ apart from the setting ] but I just thought the idea was interesting. I do say it's all AU, purists don't have to read anything like that if they absolutely wish to stick to rigid canon.

But you bring the Noldor to life just as I imagine them to be. I've always said it was not simply beauty or strength or brilliance of the Noldor which hooked me, but also their faults.
I've never had the slightest interest in the Vanyar for instance, as they seem too '' Holy ''. Ingwe seated at the feet of the powers - what does that leave any-one to imagine or write of?
The Noldor are beautifully flawed, and I call Fëanor uniquely flawed, they are not '' fairies '', or ethereal beings and you show their passions and feelings wonderfully.
I don't understand why you are apparently not a popular author, but you can only write what inspires you and what the Muses tell you, and if people don't like it - well they don't have to pay to read you. Possibly I'm older and I do know damn good writing when I see it, and since I view Middle-earth as a history [ which I also love ] I know just how much history is hidden, ignored and changed over time. This is like discovering the hidden records.

I can imagine you are not looking forward to Dagor Nirnaeth. :( And it is indeed doubly tragic since Maedhros did expect to win, and really should have.
Was he close enough to witness Fingon's death, do you think, he had Elven sight , but in all that conflict.. although a professional '' soldier '' can read a battle even if it just looks like chaos to ordinary people.

Again, I love the characterization, so very real, spectacular!

Absolutely superb, as always. Your characterizations of these most complex, yet most fascinating people of the Silmarillion is so realistic that I felt I was observing the evening as an invisible bystander who was invited in for the duration of the read.[ Fortunately and magically able to understand the language! ]
It really was like a total immersion into that time, so realistic and intense and so very real. Brava! You are another one of these true tale-weavers and word-smiths who are so very rare.

I've said it before and will again; no-one writes these two as you do, no-one writes the Elder Days Elves like this, with the depth, the characters, so vivid and so very real. The interplay and relationships between all of them is so elegant and quicksilver, so complex and each one different. It's a truly amazing edifice you have built with Maitimo and Findekáno, it's more canon than canon, in my eyes, or what canon should be. The best of the best. I always wanted to read this story,, and it took me over twenty years to find it, but it's so rich, so beautifully created, I couldn't imagine another story of them, or see it any other way, after this. Some fanfiction simply spoils me for any other interpretation, not many, just a bare handful, but this is one. I am so in love with this pair, and their relationship, they must be awfully proud of you :)

I was hoping you would put up the MEFA banners. :) They were not there the last time I looked. I really whooped! when this story won First Place in such a broad category - Longer Works, General. I was thrilled. Silmarillion-based, M/M, but at last recognized as the masterwork it is!

I have been in such a grumpy mood the last few days, and today I really wanted to read something First Age, which would just engross me and take me out of my mood. I could not find any story which drew me at all, so I came back to read this. :)

I still think no-one writes the Finwions and their complexities as you do, no-one writes these these two characters as you do, with such richness, such realism. They are so vivid it is almost startling, like seeing a splash or red paint on a snowy mountainside.

Although I've read more First Age since first finding this, I've never read anything that fitted all my criteria, XD lol, well, I did wait ages to find a story of Maedhros and Fingon in particular, so I had formed a very specific picture in my mind. This is still a delight to me, still as enthralling and fascinating as the first read.

I also love Mereth Aderthad in exactly the same way and for the same reasons. I just had to comment again, as re-reading this (again!) has really made my day!

This was probably the first fic I read coming back into the Silm fandom.  So  yes, just a thank you. <3

I can't remember if I've ever reviewed this story - probably ages ago, but when you mentioned it on your blog I had to tell you that this is sort of the definitive story to me for this particular part of the Silm.  I love the idea that they bring in Sindarin healers (it seems so obvious, that they would need healers who had some experience, but at least to that point, I'd never seen anyone write it).  And the scene - I think it's the next chapter - in which the Fingolfinians and Fëanorians meet again and exchange news, with all the confusion and especially Fingon's reaction - just kills me.

this is a joy to read. Your Findekano is wonderful, who could not love him?