Who will pity the candle and the moth? by Himring

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Fanwork Notes

Written for a prompt by Sappho from a challenge at Poetry Fiction:

You will flitter
invisible among
the indistinct dead

From: Rich as you are

Fanwork Information

Summary:

A very brief encounter between Andreth and Aegnor after death.
Maybe Nienna had her hand in it, allowing Andreth to linger for a short while among dead Elves. Or maybe not?

Major Characters: Aegnor, Andreth

Major Relationships: Aegnor/Andreth

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Romance

Challenges:

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 196
Posted on 28 August 2022 Updated on 28 August 2022

This fanwork is complete.

Who will pity the candle and the moth?

Read Who will pity the candle and the moth?

Invisibly, she drifts among the indistinct dead. She cannot distinguish the Eldar she once knew in Dorthonion from the rest. Finrod might be here, but she would never know…

But then she spots him and recognition is instant: Aegnor.

At the same instant, she sees him seeing her. Aegnor alone perceives her and for him, too, recognition clearly follows immediately.

Andreth.

Whatever she looks like here and now, it cannot be like an elven princess with a star in her hair.

And so, the pressing question whether he ever truly saw her, Andreth, or only an elusive reflection in a lake, someone who never existed, answers itself and the fear that he is insisting on immolating himself on the altar of an empty dream is allayed, too.

They are all out, both of them, the Candle and the Moth. Neither of them knows yet—in this in-between moment—whether there is anything beyond the bounds of Arda, for either of them. What they do know is that if there is a place where they can meet again, they will find each other without erring.

Only that one instant of certainty—then, again, sight winks out.


Comments

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I really love the way the question is answered with such forceful clarity for both of them.

Reading this again, it strikes me that even if there's nothing more after this, this moment exists, and it feels enough in itself. At this point, it's everything, and all that matters.