"Tengwar" ficlets by chrissystriped

Arda - World, Solar System

Narvi and Celebrimbor have a discussion about the shape of the world.

Celebrimbor looked up at the ceiling, marvelling at the craftsmanship and beauty. Huge orbs of metal and preciou stones slowly rotated on circular tracks around a golden globe in their midst.

“Amazing, eh? It’s one of King Dúrin’s pet projects”, Narvi said and stroked her beard with a sly smile. She could see that her friend was trying to make sense of it.

“But… you think Anar is in the centre of Arda?”, he asked, sounding scandalised.

“Oh yes”, Narvi grinned at him. “I know it must sound like heresy to you, but some calculations work so much better that way. It must be true. Middle-earth is not flat, either, by the way.” She pointed at an iron globe inlaid with lapislazuli for the Sea, representing their planet.

Celebrimbor shook his head. “But… we were told how the Sun and Moon were made! You must have it wrong!”

“Maybe you just didn’t understand everything right”, Narvi said mildly.

It always felt a little strange to her to hear Celebrimbor speak of the Powers like someone you could meet on the town square.

Her people had had to make sense of the workings of the world for all their existence. She sometimes thought the elves were a bit limited in their explorations, because they tended to think of the things they had learned in Aman as absolute truth. But she didn’t want to get into a religious fight with her friend. She wanted him to see what they had learned.

“Let me show you some of our calculations.”