Postcards from Arda by Elleth

Decision Point

Again, many thanks go to GG and the Lizards for their help.

Defiance is defined as the willingness to contend or fight. Write a story or poem or create artwork where the characters defy authority in some way.

For B2MeM 2011, Day Two. A young Gil-galad draws a conclusion about his future.

The helm sinks quickly. Content with the offer, the surf blurs its contours where it lies among the sea floor rocks, almost like a great clam in colour and shape. The boy who cast it in has a piece of fabric in his hands, too; blue, silver, torn and threadbare, that his fingers twist into before he turns back to the two waiting men and his mother.

"Tell me of my father," he says to the sole unlooked-for survivor of Fingon's guard who brought tidings, cloven helm and bloodied banner from the North. Already the boy has asked the same of his mother and of Círdan, and received two different answers: The valiant prince and the husband, the king and steadfast ally.

The guard says, "The king stood defiant of the Enemy until the last."

The boy nods. Valiant, steadfast, defiant, he thinks bitterly, and for all of that, he now lies dead. I will be more prudent, rule for longer, and I will not die as he did.