Back in the Jurassic period, gwenniel requested a fic about Sauron and Thuringwethil interacting. Gwenniel, you are under no obligation to even notice let alone read or like this fic after literally a year of waiting, but I have now written it.
*****
Her memories of the West were mostly of painful, searing light. No matter where she went, it was inescapable. Telperion was better, she could just about bear it, but when Laurelin took over, she would find the deepest shadow she could to escape the burning gold.
She met Mairon, Aulë’s apprentice, just once in the west. It was during Telperion’s hours, and he had come looking for her.
‘Fire’s alright,’ she told him, grudgingly looking at his lantern. ‘But it’s the rest of the light. It blinds.’
‘It reveals things which would rather be hidden,’ said Mairon, gazing into the small flame with an unreadable expression. But she shook her head.
He was looking at her now, as he extinguished the lantern with a careless hand. The heat didn’t affect him, apparently.
‘In the darkness, the playing field is levelled.’
She clicked her tongue. ‘Hardly. It’s tilted in the other direction. I know most are as blind in the dark as I am in the light.’
You think I want to hide because you perceive me as ugly, and weak. I’m not, and that isn’t why.
‘Then why haven’t you fled to the east?’ Mairon asked. She shrugged. ‘Perhaps because you don’t wish to be any more lonely than you already are.’
‘Perhaps I am not currently as lonely as I’d like to be,’ she said, crisply. Why are you here, if you think so little of me?
‘I don’t think so. It’s just as you say – you keep your own company because you favour darkness. The way you see – in the dark – has you at a disadvantage, here. And why should you have to flee the light and be alone? Why should you be at a disadvantage? Why shouldn’t things be turned around?’ He was keeping his gaze on her with unnerving accuracy, considering it was now pitch black without the lantern. ‘At least,’ he said, finally looking away to toy with the hot lamp wick. ‘That’s what Melkor says.’
She straightened up. ‘He sent you?’
‘He’s very interested in you,’ said Mairon, with a twitch of his mouth.
*****
She didn’t like people to watch her arrive. Although she always arrived in darkness, she was exhausted after flight, and her landing often felt ungraceful. Sauron was always waiting, watching as she hit the stone, panting.
So when her feet touched the cold stone of the high balcony and nobody was there, she knew the reports were true.
She found Sauron hidden away in a far wing of the fortress, and locked in. It wasn’t too much trouble to get in.
‘I have flown over Tol-in-Gaurhoth,’ she said. Her voice was soft, but it was the loudest thing in the room. Sauron tensed. He looked up, for a second his face a mask of bitterness – then he remembered who it was who stood there. His expression went immediately blank. For a moment, he’d forgotten she could see him perfectly in the dark.
‘Take your report to Gothmog, I have no interest in it.’
She gently folded her cloak over the tips of her wings. ‘Who was there?’
‘I was,’ he said, archly. ‘Now I am not, as the whole world has heard.’
‘You know what I meant.’
‘Why are you here, Thuringwethil?’ he demanded. ‘If Morgoth wanted me dead, I would be dead. I’m not. Therefore, be assured I won’t be hiding in the dark forever. And you should think about what you’re saying to me-’
‘I need to take a report, and I’ll say the imprint of an incredible power still lies there. This much is true. I’ve no interest in taunting you or trying to wrestle power from you. Power means constantly fighting to defend it, and the risk of…’ she waved a lazy hand at him. ‘…complete humiliation. I’m a messenger, and a reliable one. All I want is to know what I’ve just seen.’
Sauron looked at her shrewdly, for a long time.
‘As you have probably heard, Orome’s hound arrived. We fought.’
Orome’s hound and Morgoth’s hound, she thought, but didn’t say.
‘More reasons I wouldn’t trade wings and darkness for fire and power,’ she said, leaving the chamber.
*****
In her last meeting with Sauron, war raged and stone crumbled far beneath her. She was far from alone in the air. Tumbling down into the caverns, she no longer cared who saw her crash to her knees.
‘What are you still doing here?’
She looked up, shaking her hair out of her face. Sauron stood there. He was almost unrecognisable.
‘I have a message,’ she said.
‘The 57th has fallen. The 41st is lost.’ He shrugged. ‘What do you have to say that will help?’
‘Nothing,’ she told him. Her legs were shaking – she hadn’t slept in days. ‘He wants to know-’
‘Why haven’t you fled? It might already be too late-’
‘Why haven’t you?’ she snapped.
Sauron shook his head. ‘It was too late for me the day I left the west. They’ll never let me go.’
She couldn’t keep looking at him, after that.
‘You can go though. You might still make it.’
It was strange to hear the things she’d been whispering in the darkness said so matter-of-factly, out loud.
‘You think I have no loyalty, no ties to him?’
Sauron shrugged. Thuringwethil said nothing. He watched her for a moment, and then very suddenly smirked.
‘You work by an entirely different set of rules, Thuringwethil. It makes it terribly difficult to predict what you’ll do. It has…been interesting.’
‘I can’t leave yet,’ she said. ‘I’ll fall out of the sky and be eaten alive.’
It was likely true. Also, she wasn’t sure she’d meet him again. Whether she did give in and run off into the dark, and safety, or whether the burning light caught up to her, this might be their last chance.
‘I too will have to leave here soon,’ said Sauron, looking around the chamber. ‘It won’t hold.’
‘There are…very few places left to go,’ she warned him.
‘I know that.’
She wrapped her arms around her wings. ‘Give me a room, give me eight hours, give me maps. I’ll mark off everything I’ve seen for you.’
He started to say something, then stopped. Whether it had been sarcastic, doubtful, scornful, questioning, she wasn’t sure. ‘Why?’ he said, finally.
‘We have never been enemies, have we?’
‘No,’ he said, slowly. ‘Honestly, I often thought of us as rivals. But I’m not sure we’ve ever even been that.’
He could afford such honesty, now. What harm could it do?
‘I could never rival your skills, any more than you could rival mine,’ Thuringwethil agreed. ‘So get me your maps.’
He had sometimes saluted her mockingly, but the incline of his head now seemed – seemed, although it was near impossible to tell, with him – nothing but sincere.
gwenniel replied to your post:gwenniel replied to your post:i could go to bed...
Yess, prefect :D (*Gandalf voice* Sauron’s full strength is gathered. “Not only orcs but moomins as well, trolls from Moomin valley. All will answer Mordor’s call.”)
kanafinwhy replied to your post:Tagged by: hereff If you don’t know your...
YES I was reading that same list earlier (I got INTJ too) and just thinking wft??? about the presence of Manwë and Finarfin. And some of the others seem vaguely randomly shoved in there as well :/
gwenniel replied to your post:Tagged by: hereff If you don’t know your...
Just took the test myself, landing right between ISTJ and INTJ (S only 1% over N), so I looked at both lists. Don’t see why so many bad guys on INTJ. And it’s funny how for some series it’s basically the “enemy” of the ISTJ that’s listed in INTJ.
yeahhhhh. the problem imo, is that people see "prone to valuing logic and correctness over feelings and social niceties" and "not super interested in lots of close bubbly relationships" and activates their oMg mEAn eViL LONeR!!11! stereotype. and then they just stop thinking.
well, that and there's just lots of people who are really shit at character analysis but apparently like to do it anyway -.- (someone put Feanor in ENTJ??? lol.)
heh, it's interesting because I can kind of see how it might make sense to have INTJs opposite ISTJs - because (stereotypically speaking) if you had a law-vs-chaos conflict I could see why those characters would end up on opposing sides. it's interesting, and I think who ends up where really does depend on the story you're telling *shrug*
15: If you could be a superhero, who would you want to be?
Hard hard question....but I think I'll go for Thor. Swinging a hammer about and flying would be AWESOME, not to mention living in Asgard.
17: Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
Always lick. My teeth are far too sensitive to bite ice cream.
32: Would you rather live longer or be wealthy?
Depends how much longer I'd live, but probably be wealthy - mainly because if I were wealthy I'd probably be like the J.K. Rowling or Bill Gates of tumblr, and just donate people money to pay their vet's bills or college tuition and shit.
40: If you were paid one million dollars to spend the night in a supposed haunted house, would you do it?
Hell yeah. I mean I'd want pounds not dollars, but yeah. I'd probably lock myself in a cupboard and not sleep, just to be on the safe side, but yeah.
58: If they were to televise a live execution, would you watch it?
Hell NO. I can't understand why you'd want to - it's just morbid.
I Survived First Age Beleriand Week Roundup - Celebrimbor
Fics & Other Writing
The Kings of Eregion by gwenniel (Celebrimbor & Annatar)
Reembodiment by kanafinwhy (Celebrimbor & Nerdanel)
Irony by houseofhaleth (Celebrimbor & Narvi)
Laziness by ladybrooke
Art
by misbehavingmaiar
by heavenlyeros (Celebrimbor & Annatar)
by welcometolotr
by luaen
by kusuri2013 (Celebrimbor & Annatar)
by fifi0880 (Celebrimbor & Annatar)
Edits/FCs
by princemaedhros
by houseofhaleth
by hisohiso (Celebrimbor & Annatar)
*huuuugs* Same here, I feel you so much right now it's not even funny. You can do this dear, one thing at a time, you can make it! Best of luck at all your exams, and take care of yourself! We can do this <3 *sends good vibes*
princemaedhros replied to your post: “.”:
*hugs you* i'll keep all my fingers and toes crossed for youu! i'm sure you'll be fine with your exams just stay strong dear <3
lineargreen replied to your post: “.”:
hang in there <3 I know it's terrible, but in the end you'll be proud of yourself for having made it!
Thank you so much all of you, between this and that great fic that Jess submitted I'm just having a lot of warm fuzzy feelings right now even though my exam didn't go as well as I would have liked. STILL, I've got one tomorrow and the day after and then I'm free for a bit before more so I guess I should just concentrate on that. All my love to all of you and good luck with whatever exams/study/other stuff you have too!
