"Tengwar" ficlets by chrissystriped

Unque - hollow

Idril descends into her tunnel.

Idril walked down the steps that had been hewn into the rock, lamp held high. It was cold and damp under the earth, little rivulets ran down the stone on each side of her. She didn’t like to be underground, it made her heart race and her hands sweat, but she needed to see how far they’d come.

She had a bad feeling, nightmares plagued her and Tuor was restless also. Something was coming.

The tunnel narrowed, rock turning to earth the further she walked on. Wooden planks were stabilizing the walls and ceiling.

She wished, she could have asked Maeglin for help. He and his people were miners and the best at building tunnels. But she didn’t trust him. Something was wrong with him, apart from his unfortunate infatuation with her.

“How is it going?” she asked when she reached the end of the tunnel. There was always an engineer with the workers, making sure it was safe and keeping track of direction. Teluril spread out her map.

“We’ve made it to about halfway across the plain”, she said, pointing at a dot dated to yesterday.

Idril bit her thumbnail. She’d wanted the tunnel to reach the Echoriath, but that had been when she thought there was time. Her feeling told her they needed to be finished soon.

“It will have to be enough. Prepare to delve towards the surface again and concentrate on making the tunnel wider.”

If they had to flee, she wanted to make sure that as many people as possible could walk through this tunnel.

“As you wish, Lady.” Teluril looked at her with worried eyes. “What is going to happen?”

“I don’t know.” Idril sighed. She wished Ulmo would send her a dream as he had to her father so long ago. But he had sent them Tuor and her father had refused to listen. She would do what she could to reduce the impact of that mistake. “Whatever happens, we will be ready”, she said firmly.

Chapter End Notes

OC's name is from Chestnut's awesome name list