Who would come for you in the end but your best friend? by Himring

Who would come for you in the end but your best friend?

Hear me / hear / come / follow, says a voice in Celegorm’s mind. It is not an elven tongue speaking, nor Valarin either. Celegorm has not heard any speech like this since before he died. He has been dead for a very long time.

‘Huan? Is that you?’

Hear me now / here / patience/ relief.

‘Were you here before?’

Celegorm discovers his eyes are tightly shut. He tries to open them and finds he does not know how.

‘Huan?’

He reaches out his arms, blindly, and his fingers encounter rough springy fur. It is not, perhaps, real. He is not sure whether his fingers are real. But he buries his hands in it, feels the warmth beneath.

Come / move / away.

Still blind, with his hands on Huan’s back, Celegorm follows as Huan slowly paces forward, step by step, as Huan begins to guide him out of the Halls.

Chapter End Notes

Originally written for Tolkien Gen Week 2021 on Tumblr.

Title adapted with permission from a comment by Keiliss, who read the piece while it was still untitled.