Bequests

[altariel]

Some drabbles from Ithilien, on the theme of:


Bequests

He will remember it ere the end

He found the will last, a document that seemed now to come from a different age. Everything was as it should have been – signed and witnessed, the papers completed with the great care that Denethor had brought to all the tasks that had consumed his life.

Gondor was for Boromir. Faramir had known that was the case for as long as he had lived. But in between the lines the gifts were given, and while they were not substantial, they were enough – due compensation for coming second, material offerings in place of something more intangible. Grave gifts; meticulous and just.


Blue-eyed boy

The second son receives his share of gifts. His grandmother’s fair face and his grandfather’s shrewd mind. His father’s quiet wit and his mother’s restless spirit. The dare of his uncles and the best of their luck. He fits in anywhere, flits out again unseen. He is the king’s elusive servant.

In Harad, Léof breaks hearts and gathers secrets. At the falls and the fords he lights candles, says a prayer. On the far fields of Rhûn, he dices with warlords and runs for his life. In Khand, he is captured – by a dark-eyed girl who is longing for adventure.


Mettle

Elboron receives the father-sword. It is a battered thing, bloodied – but unbeaten, in the end. Its tale is one of loyalty and endurance. It will be heard. It speaks of living beyond hope to forge a new and better age. It speaks to him of peace.

Morwen has the mother-sword. It is a new-made thing, for the steel striking the pale king splintered, and the blade was mended, with a gentle touch. Its tale is one of courage and determination. It will not be silenced. It speaks of forging one’s own course despite reproof. It speaks to her of freedom.


Starry mantle

Once the cloak was his mother’s. Now it is hers. He thinks she still looks fair and queenly wearing it.

Then Elboron gives his heart to a shy sweet thing of nineteen. She is here from the northern kingdom; far from home and hearth, star-struck by her young man’s fabled family. Éowyn is conquered. She gathers up the girl; cloaks her in the mother-mantle, shields her with love.

A boy-child follows, and when his turn comes to marry, the mantle is passed on. The bride wears blue and stars: the gift from the mother to the wife of the son.

Comments

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Ah, these are lovely, full of tenderness and thought.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

They are indeed.

And the second one did a good job of subverting my expectations as to whom it was about.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I wondered whether that misdirection would work! I'm glad it did.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

It worked very neatly, sneaky you. (Is Leof yours? I can't find him on Encyclopedia of Arda or HASA, though I think I've figured out who he is...)

I love all these, but especially the sword and the starry mantle.

So much fascinating depth about the different generations in the families of Middle-earth is hidden away in the Appendices - it's easy to miss some great plot-bunnies about inheritance and heredity; thanks for digging these out for us!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yes, Léof is my invention, and Morwen too. Elboron is named in HoMe. "Léof" means "beloved" (it's also an epithet for one of the kings of Rohan, Brytta Léofa). Morwen is named for Éowyn's Gondorian grandmother, who I figured must have been an important influence on Éowyn when she was adopted into her uncle's household.

Glad you liked them!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I do love writing about this family.

[kathyh]

All of these were lovely but I particularly liked the second one and the way I thought it was about one person, and then it turned out to be about another. Leof's future sounds most interesting :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was thinking of other blond-haired second sons (Peter Wimsey, Lymond) and thought gentleman-adventurer might be the way to go...

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

That sounds like yet another pebble on the "why I really need to read the Lymond Chronicles" side of the scales...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I've only read the first two: they need so much brain-power! But those two were amazing.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

I know greylin disappeared out of LJ circulation for weeks/months while she was on a Lymond jag. Maybe I need to time this carefully...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I worry about that too.

[wormwood-7.livejournal.com]

These are really delicately written. I like them all, especially the first one.
I like Leof, the elusive servant. ...fits in anywhere, flits out again unseen, and a master spy in the making perhaps?
The idea of the starry mantle being passed down by/to women who lived happier lives than the first one who bore it, is lovely. A bequest becomes what one makes of it.
Thanks for sharing :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yes, I think Leof is a spy in the making, or at least a gentleman-adventurer. I had two other blond-haired second sons in mind, Peter Wimsey, and Lymond (although I haven't read all the Dorothy Dunnett books about him yet). It seemed to work for the boy character I'd described!

the starry mantle being passed down by/to women who lived happier lives than the first one who bore it

This story, of one generation bringing to an end the unhappiness of the previous generation so that the third generation can be happy, is one that I come back to again and again, and I think this drabble sequence follows it - but I hadn't seen how the final drabble by itself enacts that line of transmission through the starry mantle. Thank you so much for this insight!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

These are beautiful drabbles.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Your drabble series are like a master class in how to write drabble series...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I think of individual drabbles as being like practising scales or arpeggios, while sequences are more like études or preludes. A more complex exercise of skill.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

These are amazing - now I want to read more about the life of Léof, gentleman-adventurer, and Elboron's sweet bride. But my heart mostly belongs to these lines:

Its tale is one of courage and determination. It will not be silenced. It speaks of forging one’s own course despite reproof. It speaks to her of freedom.

<3 <3 <3

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Léof really seems to have tickled people's fancy! Elboron's sweet bride is slightly unclear in my mind as yet, I'll have to find a name for her. She's from a really old Arnorian family, I do know that.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And I'm particularly glad those words about Eowyn's sword hit the mark: that drabble was extremely difficult to shape, and at one point I thought I was going to have cut elements. Then all the sentences fell into place.