The Embalmer's Apprentice by

I think he'd turn to Eru directly (it's what the Unfinished Tales suggest to me), but yes, he is certainly lucky - and grateful - to have met them. I'm very glad that you like Amraphel, who is pretty much the driving force in their relationship. Yes, they're supposed to complement each other; neither could achieve as much without the other.
Thank you for your lovely comments! I hope you continue to enjoy this story. I'm finally finding the inspiration to work on it again!

Yes! They had to, eventually!
I'm enjoying it way too much, too. I'm afraid there's a lot of Britanny in Andúnië... except for the ceiling! I certainly wish I could see that in real life as well! I can't even hope to manage a painting of it (though I might try at some point). But a girl can dream...
As always, thank you for commenting!

I rewrote this chapter about three times (seriously, I never produced so many cut scenes in my life! I hope I can use them at some later point!), so I'm glad you liked the background detail about those two - I dithered a lot on whether to leave that in or cut it out. Yes, she is quite brave, though presumably, she only really showed it after the events related here, when she found out just how different her new lifestyle was to what she was used to and what she had expected.

Well, Azruhâr only has to keep the dead from rotting. In that respect, the caterpillar's a winner. (Oh good! I figured I couldn't have a trip to Andúnie without touching upon this issue...)

Can't have the characters get too comfortable, though! So yes, the idyll must come to an end, and Azruhâr has yet another obligation to worry about.

Thank you for your comment, as always!

Yes, it's a culture shock in every sense! A very educative one, though.
Yeah, I have to admit that I'm such an unashamed Aragorn (also Elendil and Isildur) fangirl, it's more or less bleeding over to the entire line.
They can't easily relocate, unfortunately! Azruhâr has his duties in Armenelos, after all, and he's still only alive under condition of working as an embalmer. But I do picture it as a kind of safe haven. Which is precisely why Ar-Pharazôn later forces Amandil and his family to relocate to Rómenna!
Anyway, I'm very glad you enjoyed the city and the lords and ladies. I feel a bit uncertain about depicting Andúnie in general and the noble family in particular too one-sidedly positive - grim-dark and deconstructive sees to be the fashion of the day - but I just can't help it. So it's nice when others turn out to like that too. :)

You think so? :) Once again, I'm thrilled you're liking the details. Since the writing bug has bitten me again, I've been rather eager to get stuff written (and published) in quick succession before it wears off. It's good to know that the result is nonetheless enjoyable! Thank you for your lovely reviews!

I have made him very bitter, for a variety of reasons (the ones discussed in Andúnië among them). It must be annoying (aside from everything else) to wait and wait, and know that previous kings would long since had handed matters on to their sons, while the future Tar-Telemmaitë has to wait until his father's death (this is only the second time in history that this happens, so it probably rankles still!), which in itself is probably not something that he is eager for. So that's a dilemma, and yes, it makes him very volatile.

He is certainly a wild card, since he hasn't been taught any of the rules of politics and thus can't well stick to them. And yes, the Crown Prince is very observant and trying to stay on top of the game, of course. Not an easy place for our poor protagonist!
Thank you for your lovely reviews! I don't know whether I'll be able to keep up the fast writing interval, but comments like yours certainly motivate me to try!

It was spectacularly stupid, but on the plus side, it was a public occasion. Otherwise, who knows? (I had a couple more unpleasant events planned but they aren't realy feasible anymore after these developments - this story just won't behave! - so in fact, Azruhâr got lucky. ;))

Well, darn! Here I was trying to make my villain a bit more sympathetic, but the paint's already peeling off again... ;)

You're right, of course! He doesn't mind this development, but he didn't actually plan on it. I don't think he's that kind of speculative mastermind; he is really more interested in the person than in that person's usefulness. Not a perspective that makes sense to the Crown Prince, though, and not one that Azruhâr is familiar with, either...

It is indeed!

Well, both of them have the problem of having neglected to make a plan B. ;) I also wanted to contrast them a little; for all that Azruhâr thinks very little of himself, he has learned from his youth to adapt and compromise, which is serving him better than he realises. Balakhil's had certainty all his life, so he is feeling quite helpless now that it's been taken away. I don't think he realises how much pressure he's putting onto Azruhâr, though. Rather, he feels that that guy saved his life, so he's responsible for it. Nor does he understand Azruhâr's situation at all.
As always, thank you for commenting!

A blast from the past! I hope it still makes sense in the light of the more recent chapters. The story keeps on doing what it wants (I should know by now!), and I haven't yet dared to go back to check for continuity errors.

Glad to hear that this chapter makes you curious for these people's future roles. As you know by now, they become quite important pieces of Azruhâr's life, so they should be (at least vaguely) interesting from the start. :)

Oh, good! I was beginning to worry that the most recent chapters were a bit boring, so I'm very happy they aren't as tedious to read as they were to write. Balakhil is certainly not happy, although it could definitely have gone worse for him. You might well be right about his role in the future, although as yet I am very much uncertain what that future is going to look like! It'll all work out in the end (I hope)!
As always, thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts and feelings!

Wow, thank you so much for your reviews! I squeed when I saw that there were three new comments. As always, I'm delighted to hear that you keep enjoying this story, which keeps getting away from me. (I hadn't planned on any princely intervention in the matter of Master Amrazôr, for instance, but as I continued to turn things over in my head, it made a lot of sense. So Amraphel and you are very likely right.)
Yes, Prince Alcarmaitë will in time become Tar-Telemmaitë. I'm afraid to find out what else he has in store myself. He is quite scary, and unfortunately very powerful as well. Fortunately, Azruhâr isn't without friends, nor is he quite as weak and foolish as he believes...
You're exceedingly welcome - thank you for your continuing support!

Yeah, it wasn't easy to write.

I hope that wasn't too surprising/unbelievable? I needed to illustrate that Târik's fears aren't all that unfounded, since the king is being rather mercurial at this point. So I hope it was shocking because of its harshness, rather than because it came entirely out of the blue. >_>

Azruhâr is growing (more than just sideways ;)). I can't really say all that much since a) I no longer dare to believe that I actually know where the story is going and b) I don't want to spoil you for future chapters (as currently envisioned), but FWIW, we know that Azruhâr is going to recount the whole tale much later, so he's got to survive long enough to develop senile dementia. Isn't that reassuring! (Well, under the current circumstances, it might be? He's only around 60 now, which is really no age for a Númenorean.)

Indeed, I would never have written the story of Azruhâr the Horse-dealer, although that might also have been an interesting one! As always, thank you so much for your thoughts and your support.

I can't be certain, but there might be others. They will probably play only a minor role, just like the embassadors here. Originally, I had planned for Azruhâr to be sent off to Middle-earth for a while and meet Gil-galad and Elrond, but it no longer looks feasible at this point. So the Elves are not going to feature in any major way. Sorry!
He will, by and by. He does want to trust them, he just needs to let down his guard bit by bit. It would be harder if the Crown Prince were around! He is indeed very lucky.

You and me both.

Glad you did! I'm trying to introduce more "normal" (for a given value of normal ;)) people...

Me too! And I'm glad you're glad. I know I'm violating the writerly "more conflict" rule, but neither I nor my characters can fight on all fronts at once...

Aaah, once more you're making such good observations and I can't properly respond to them for fear of spoiling things! Suffice it to say that yes, Lady Arancalime is very much in her father's confidence - actually, slowly preparing to take over the "family business". Atanacalmo is younger than Ancalimon, but not by that much - two or three decades? So he isn't expecting to make any great breakthroughs himself, he just stays in the game to pave the way for future generations. Which is, of course, where his daughter comes in...
You're right that he doesn't embarrass easily. He has adopted cynicism as a shield against disappointment, so to say, so most things slide right off him. Even Azruhârs criticism, or so one must assume.

Yes, Azruhâr's education is progressing - even though he's still taking things too literally! The "swimming", for him, probably consists in moving more confidently among the upper crust... and understanding people's motivation a bit better, perhaps! ;)

Thank you so much for your comment!

So thrilled that you're enjoying it! And I'm even more thrilled that you liked the slightly heavy-handed chess analogy. I'm afraid that the best we can aim for is a stalemate, but that's still worth something, right? ;)
Thank you so much for your comment!

Ah, I'm so sorry about that! It will make sense as events progress (I hope!). I'm glad that you're not begrudging Azruhâr a respite from the high tension of the past chapters. He needs it!

Thank you so much for enjoying and commenting!

Eee! Thank you so much for calling it a treat - and for being such an observant reader! You're absolutely right, of course - it very much is an assessment/stress test. Atanacalmo has an agenda of his own, and he wants to know how (if) Azruhâr can be made to fit into it. Glad that you liked Azruhâr's growth... and that of his family, too! Again, thank you so much for your enthusiasm.

He's expected to live up to impossibly high standards! And it's his lack of aggression that makes him look cowardly to people who associate strength with violence, or a very proactive stance at the very least. He does have his own kind of strength, and it starts showing once he no longer has to struggle to put food on the table. I'm glad that you see it shining through, whatever Azruhâr says! He is not always the most reliable judge of character, least of all of his own! ;) (See also: losing faith in the wrong place or at the wrong moment! Though, as Lord Eärendur observes, it's been building up for a long time, and probably came out at the right moment, before it did any more damage. In all honesty, I'd planned to keep the question - is it really friendship or is it just a business relationship? - open until aaaalmost the end of the story, but the story maneuvered me into a corner that I could only get out of by settling it right now...)

I hope so too! As always, thank you so much for your thoughts and encouragement.

Glad you like Lady Arancalimë! I hope she's going to make further appearances. As this isn't relevant to the future plot, I can safely say that she and Lord Atanacalmo aren't actually on the same page with Lord Eärendur on that topic - they think that it's a useful tool to keep people in their place, teach them a lesson, etc., while he feels that it's incompatible with people's dignity in general and should preferably not be done at all. Similarly, the nobles of Armenelos are not so much concerned with the daytalers as such; however, they do realise that they make up a large part of the citizenship, and that it's dangerous to let them grow too desperate. Fortunately, that results in some policies that do help the daytalers' well-being!

I am so excited that you'd like to see Arancalimë's conclusions! It's sooo tempting to explain her (and her father's) thought processes and motivations, because Azruhâr is completely unaware of them (and misinterprets them, too). Sadly, I'll have to keep him - and the gentle reader ;) - ignorant for the time being. If I ever finish this story, maybe I'll be able to write the author's commentary on that - or it won't be necessary because they explain themselves at some point. Who knows!

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments! I love reading your observations. <3

Azruhâr wasn't expecting it either, just then! It was harrowing to write, too.

They could definitely use a massive overhaul of their legal system. I've actually toyed with the idea of mapping out their laws, along with explanations of how and when these laws came into existence -- I'm assuming a lot of them are more like customs and legal habits that were codified at some point, rather than something that was fully mapped out from the start. It would make some thrilling reading, I'm sure. *facepalms* Trust a Tolkien fan to write fanfic that needs its own appendices... (Probably not going to do it.)

Hmm, whatever makes you think that? I'm sure he has only the best for his people in mind! >_>

Yes, Lord Eärendur is prepared for desperate measures, although he certainly prefers not needing them. Lord Atanacalmo is playing his own game, of course! And you're certainly right that Azruhâr's little victories are not going to endear him to the Crown Prince at all.

Glad you enjoy the Day-talers' Welfare Society stuff! It jumped on me out of the blue, so I'm a bit worried how it's going to work with the rest of the story, and it's good to hear that you're enjoying it so far. Thank you!

Curiously enough, the Crown Prince is actually okay with this reward - he expects that it will put Azruhâr at a serious disadvantage, since (as you observe) he is now out of his familiar and friendly neighbourhood, and a big house like that needs a lot of money just to maintain. (Not sure I should be telling you this, but I'm hoping this is not going to become a plot point in the future so it should be fair game...) Glad you're continuing to enjoy my clumsy chess references!

I very much indulged myself with that house! XD It's not the most recent version of Architectural Digest, but it's definitely a very nice place. Not sure about the pivotal scenes! It may be more of a backdrop than a major setting. But we'll see! I really shouldn't predict anything at this point! Good point about the neighbourhood, too. He's brought some of his friends along, but he's pretty much isolated on that street...