It would be overstating matters a bit to say this letter relates to exploration and new lands (as per the prompts for Day 2), but the author of the letter has just taken up a new post in a new location. She is Edhellos, the widow of Prince Angrod, recently a refugee from Dorthonion.
Edhellos, now Warden of White Horn Tower, to Cirdan, Lord of Eglarest and Brithombar.
Thank you again for all the gracious assistance you have lent us! I am happy to report that all is going well so far in this our new venture. Although the previous warden you had installed was evidently very glad to be away—I gather Carallim had greatly missed serving you on a ship, which is his true vocation, and being stuck in a tower staring out over the sea was a poor substitute for him—we found everything in Barad Nimras in extremely good working order and I trust we will succeed in keeping it so.
I have put up the naltalma apparatus in the pavilion on the viewing platform and turned the largest room on the floor below into my room of records. Your people are viewing these manifestations of Noldorin newfangledness with some scepticism. Captain Feinnen, in particular, may have something to say you about this, when you next meet. As the plan is for him to be stationed here regularly with me, when he is not patrolling the coast, I hope I can convince him that I am not more eccentric than he can tolerate!
I will write again soon, when we have settled in a little more. I wish to be useful to you, my friend, and not only by freeing up Carallim for other duties closer to his heart.
Edhellos
With thanks to Chestnut for the names of the two Falathrim characters.
Finrod pushed, because he needed to be with Nelyo.
He pushed, because he loved Nelyo selfishly, irrevocably, to the death.
He pushed, because in Aman he and Nelyo would forever be doomed to hide away, until duty would force them to perform acts they both had no love for.
He pushed, because his malcontent would never be extinguished in Aman, where nothing ever happened – just the same beautiful day, over and over, and the spirit rotted away without knowing true life, living.
He pushed, because despite the hunger, the cold and the despair, this was the first time he truly felt alive – going into the unknown, and crashing head-on against all of its terrifying, exhilarating possibilities.
Well, I'm a little sad from the last thing I wrote, so imma do something happy to cheer me up.
I still live in the version of the Silm where Tyelco and Curvo were good friends with Ango and Aico, to the point that they brought those sons of Arafinwë along, and Náro didn't say anything about it.
So crack semi-AU (I say "semi" cause it technically happened in a different version, but still): Tyelco and Curvo bring their two blond friends along - they leave Ingo for some reason; maybe he's being a bit of a jerk like Galadriel or something. Náro notices them, but Tyelco says something like "I can't believe you forgot Findefinwë (Hair-Finwë; Angrod) and Lócefinwë (Curly Hair-Finwë; Aegnor)!"
And poor Náro, who's been in the middle of a mental breakdown for, like, ten years, just believes he has two extra sons, and daughter-in-law (Eðellos), and another grandson (Orodreth).
Noldorin Portraits pt2: Fëanor, Nerdanel, Anairë, and Eldalótë.
Alrighty, here’s the man himself! And some famous ladies too! I adjusted Eldalótë’s colours from her old portrait since I didn’t quite like the original; her hair and dress are darker here, and I’m much happier with her palette now! :D
I also made some adjustments to Nerdanel’s colours, most notably her hair! It’s described as a sort of ruddy brown in canon, as opposed to the copper-red that I thought she shared with Maedros ... Ah well! So I darkened her hair and added some brown to it. Hopefully it works XDDD
Number 23 (Going from a hot tub/sauna into snow/cold water), Galadriel and Celeborn (romantic or pre-romance, up to you)
For the modern AU holiday prompts! Here you are, Anon: ~1100 words of Galadriel meeting a cute boy at her 19th birthday party. (I received this same prompt for another couple, so there will be a part 2 of this with more actual snow jumping😉).
Warnings for several f-bombs, some other swear words, and a millennial writing Gen Z. Sorry, besties.
Knotting her plush white robe loosely around her waist, Galadriel led the parade of her girlfriends onto the flagstones of Nevrast Nordic Spa.
Her friends chattered behind her.
“Yo, this place fucks.”
“For real.”
“Ahhh! Gal, it’s snowing!”
“Ugh, this is so boujee. I can’t believe I’m here.”
“Hey, sis,” Galadriel whirled on the last speaker. “No bad vibes, remember?” The other girls laughed. “Yeah, my rules, cause it’s my b-day, bitches!” She threw her arms out in a V-shape and struck a pose.
Edhellos lifted the phone dangling from her hand by a gold finger-loop and snapped a photo. “Ahh queen! You look so cute!” she said, looking at it, and hurried over to Galadriel to show her. Then she gestured to the others. “Come on, come on, babes, let’s get one of all of us.”
All four of Galadriel’s best friends huddled around her while Edhellos held her phone out as far as possible for a selfie.
“Okay, okay,” Galadriel said, and they all hushed. “So the way it works is you go hot, then cold, then relax. Hot pool or sauna, then cold pool or cold shower, then chill for fifteen minutes. And we're supposed to be quiet.”
They all nodded, except Nellas, who was a little removed from the group with her arms crossed over her chest. “I think I’ll just sit and read.”
“Oh come on, Nelly!” Edhellos whined. Evranin shushed her.
“No, it’s fine, Nel,” said Galadriel, and smiled. “Join us whenever.”
*
“I can’t believe we’re all nineteen now,” Lindis said a loud whisper as they lounged in the largest of the hot pools. “We’re so old.”
“Oh, please, spare me. You have no idea what old is,” said Evranin, who was all of twenty-one.
“Hey, I’m still eighteen for two weeks!” Edhellos protested. This time, Lindis shushed her.
Galadriel examined her pruny fingertips. “I don’t know. I’m kind of excited to get older. Maybe my dumbass family will stop treating me like a baby.”
At the mention of her family, Edhellos’ eyes lit up. “Oh hey, how’s Angrod?”
“Oh my god, Los,” said Lindis, “stop thirsting for her brothers!”
“Brother,” Edhellos corrected.
“I dunno.” Galadriel shrugged. “Maybe just ask him out already.”
Edhellos sputtered. The other girls giggled.
“I think Finrod is hotter,” Evranin said casually.
“He is way too old for you!”
“Isn’t he gay?”
“What? No! Galadriel said he had a girlfriend in Valin, remember?”
“The one he dumped?”
“No, she dumped him.”
While her friends debated the relative attractiveness and past relationships of her older brothers, Galadriel sank lower, rolling her shoulder blades back and forth over a water jet. She hummed contentedly and let her eyes fall shut. She’d been all nerves the last month with final exams and papers, but she was finally able to relax.
Just that morning her grades had come in: four A+ and one A (at least she was well above class average the last one). She’d also been taken off the waitlist for a seat in The Paranormal Mind. Thank fuck.
Everyone at Ondolindë University wanted to take that course, but Galadriel needed it if she was going to have any chance of doing her honours thesis with Melian Goel. Evranin, who was President of the Psychology Student Association, said that that Dr. Goel was planning to retire soon and might not be taking new students. Oh pleasepleaseplease, Galadriel thought, please take me.
She exhaled slowly and intentionally released the tension building in her neck. This wasn’t the time for worrying.
Then her eyes flew open and she bolted upright as a surge of water splashed over her.
“What the fuck!” she shouted, swiping the backs of her hands over her eyes.
“Celeborn, you dumb shit!” a male voice cried from behind her before breaking up into laughter.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry.” The person who’d narrowly missed tumbling on top of her rose from the water with an expression of sheer terror. “I’m so, so sorry. Are you okay? Oh god, I’m sorry. I slipped, we were racing from the…" Catching the look on Galadriel's face, his nose crinkled sweetly. "I guess that’s a pretty dumb excuse, huh?"
“Yeah, it is.” Galadriel smirked and bit her lip. He was her type: tall, slender but well-toned, and a little timid. Which was far preferable to the blustering arrogance that most guys her age — no, scratch that: all ages — liked to use to hide their emotional incompetence.
“That’s a sick tattoo,” she said, gesturing with her chin to the elegant tree climbing its way up one bicep.
“Oh, really?” he said. “Thanks. It’s a beech. There are a lot of them where I grew up, and— never mind, doesn’t matter. Thanks. Hey, by the way," he held out a hand, “my name’s Celeborn.”
“Galadriel.” His handshake was firm, but not too firm. Long fingers, too. A little spark of excitement shot down her arm as she pulled back. “So, you were racing—?”
She was cut off by a whoop from his friend still standing on the flagstones behind them, which prompted Galadriel’s friends, who’d huddled by the small waterfall at the opposite end of the pool, to finally take notice of the interaction.
As Celeborn’s friends — the first now joined by two more — slid into the pool, Galadriel’s group drifted over like a train of ducklings lured by breadcrumbs.
“Hey, I’m Galathil,” the loud one said, “and this is Mablung, and Beleg. Celeborn here is my little brother.”
Galathil attempted to ruffle Celeborn's silver-blond hair, but it clung wetly to his head.
“Hi,” Galadriel waved coolly, then dragged her eyes from Celeborn to the empty space beside her, beckoning him to sit before someone else did.
He picked up on the cue, seating himself at a respectable distance; but to his right, Edhellos slyly shuffled over so that he too was forced to scoot closer to Galadriel.
“Yeah,” he said, in answer to her interrupted question. “We thought it would be fun to, you know, go from the sauna into the snow,” he pointed to the snow banks around the spa area, “and then from the snow to the hot tub.”
“Oh really?” Galadriel’s eyebrows shot up, and Celeborn looked sheepish. “You know you’re supposed to ‘relax’ in between the cold and going back to the hot?”
Several of Galadriel’s friends giggled.
“Huh?” said Celeborn.
“You’re supposed to go hot, cold, then relax for fifteen minutes.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Galadriel smiled and smacked his arm lightly. “But the snow thing sounds fun.”
His face split into a dashingly handsome smile that dimpled his cheeks. “Yeah,” he said. “It is.”
“Hey fam,” she called to her friends. “Wanna jump in the snow?”
“What!” shrieked Lindis.
“Hell no,” said Evranin.
“Ahh so fun, yes please!” Edhellos squealed, and levered herself out of the hot tub. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
“Lit,” said Galathil to no one in particular, and followed her.
“Come on,” Galadriel said to Celeborn as the others squirmed and scurried out of the pool in various states of enthusiasm. “I’ll hold your hand so you don’t slip this time.”
