A Sense of History: Straight Road
The next in a series of articles about ships passing to and from the West, Simon uses "The Fall of Númenor" to attempt to arrive at Tolkien's reading of the exordium to "Beowulf."
Nerdanel, Fëanáro, Maitimo, and Káno go on a picnic. Rated General.
Thanks to Elleth for the beta.
Nerdanel leaned forward, brushing the last crumbs of the seed cake off the red and white checked blanket into the green grass. She sat back and looked at her husband, who watched Maitimo reading a book of poetry while resting his back against a weeping willow. She sighed and said, “Why are you so concerned? He's young yet, Fëanáro. Leave him be; not everyone can be like us.”
Fëanáro turned his face to her. “You are right, of course.” He gave her a swift kiss on the lips and stood up. He waited until he was off the blanket to brush his pants off before swooping down and picking up Káno from where he played in a patch of dandelions gone to seed and singing softly to himself. “Time to teach you to swim.”
Káno giggled, grinned, and then laughed outright when Fëanáro tossed him into the air. Maitimo looked up then, shot his mother a grateful look, and went back to reading. Nerdanel, after watching her husband and her younger son toddle about in the shallows of the nearby pond, lay back on the blanket and gazed at the fluffy clouds scuttling across the sky, listening to the laughter and splashes of water, smiling.