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Fiondil's Tapestry  by Fiondil

WANDERING: Found

SUMMARY: Compelled by a need he does not understand, an Elf leaves his companions to sojourn alone, little guessing at the import of his wanderings. Takes place in the First Age of Middle-earth.

****

He decided suddenly to leave his cousins to their hunting.

"Whither goest thou?" Maglor asked him in surprise.

Maedhros merely grunted, well used to his fey moods.

"I know not," he replied with a shrug. "Peradventure I shall wander south and east toward the mountains." Why he said that he could not say, for, until the words were spoken, he had had no inkling of his intended route.

And so he went. He took the Dwarf-road towards the shining mountains of the Ered Lindon, rising a darker blue against the azure sky, far in the distance. Eventually he crossed the Gelion at Sarn Athrad, and, turning south over the upper streams of the Ascar, he entered into northern Ossiriand.

He did not know where he was going, for in truth, he had no goal, only a burning need to be... somewhere. He slept under the stars and drank from the clear streams, eating berries, nuts and roots. Once or twice he met with a Nando or three. They exchanged news.

"There are rumors of strange creatures coming over the mountains," one of the Green-elves told him. "Some say they are yrch, but no one knows for certain."

The Noldo shrugged. "Perchance I shall see for myself," he said and on he went, heading towards the foothills of the mountains below the springs of Thalos. It was early evening, just after sunset, and the stars were beginning to blaze brightly across the heavens. He had been traveling all day and was searching for a place in which to rest himself and his horse when he espied the light of campfires in the distance. Leaving his steed to fend for itself, he made his way silently towards the light, his sword drawn in readiness. As he drew near he also heard singing and wondered, for no orch ever sang and the Nandor did not light fires in the night.

Then he saw them — strange creatures indeed! They were definitely not yrch but neither were they Elves, for they were not beautiful. They were shorter than the Noldor, shorter even than the Sindar or Nandor, though taller than Dwarves, yet some of the men sported beards that were almost as full as those of the Naugrim. Their clothing was rustic and their speech incomprehensible, though some of their words sounded oddly Eldarin to his ears. He gazed at them in wonder and suddenly he knew!

These were the Atani! These were the Secondborn of whom Morgoth had spoken and about whom the Valar had remained silent. These were the Supplanters, the ones whom it was said Ilúvatar created to take the place of the Eldar in Middle-earth. He well remembered the words of Melkor whispered in the streets of Tirion and half-believed even by him:

"The Elder King holds ye captive, not wishing for ye to grow mighty with your own kingdoms in Middle-earth. Indeed, Ilúvatar Himself hath decreed it so, for he will bring forth Men to supplant ye. They will be weaker than ye and short-lived, and thus the Powers will have greater sway over them. They mean to defraud ye of Ilúvatar’s inheritance for the Eldar."

He gazed upon the Atani as they sat around the fire, wanting to hate them, for here were the Usurpers, the Threateners of all he had fought for, all that he had gained these last three hundred coranári, just as Melkor had warned them. And yet....

He saw a young mother nursing her babe as a young man looked upon them both with an expression of mingled love and awe. He wondered at the sight of some whose hair was grey or white, their features wizened, yet they were treated reverently and with obvious love by those who appeared in the bloom of health and vigor. He watched them laugh and sing and dance in obvious joy and thanksgiving. He smiled at the children playing and looked fondly upon one girl-child cradling a rag doll as lovingly as the young mother cradled her nursing child.

He watched them through the night and in the process his hate abated. For the first time Finrod Felagund fell in love, truly fell in love with the ‘other’. He rejoiced in his heart for these Children of Ilúvatar, for so he recognized them to be, and he was glad.

Slowly, as the night deepened, the fires died and the creatures... nay, the people, fell asleep, leaving no watch. He waited for a time before slipping silently into the encampment until he reached the central campfire. There was a rudely fashioned harp which one of them had played with crude talent lying beside the fire. Finrod picked it up and, sitting on a log which had been used earlier as a seat by the harper, he began to play and sing. As he did so he began to understand the restlessness of his own heart that had sent him wandering far from his home until it had finally come to rest here among the other Eruhíni....

****

Manwë dismissed the Eagle who had brought him the news with a nod of thanks before turning to gaze at the others from where he stood upon a balcony overlooking the Pelóri. "He’s found them," he said, stepping back inside the throne room.

Námo was the first to stir, giving the Elder King a grave nod. "As it was foreseen."

Varda spoke next. "This is one pebble in the still waters whose ripples will echo down the Ages until even we cannot see the end."

"Yet all is as Atar wills," Námo replied. "The Children have found one another at last. Only good can ultimately come from this."

To that none could disagree. Manwë nodded, taking his seat once again. "Let us turn to other matters while we await the unfolding of this particular part of the drama. I believe Námo was explaining the order in which he plans to release the Reborn...."

****

Yrch: (Sindarin) Plural of orch: orc.

Naugrim (Sindarin) Dwarves, literally "the Stunted People".

Atani: (Quenya) Plural of Atan: Human (literally, ‘the Second’); in Sindarin the word would be rendered Edain, the singular of which is Adan.

Coranári: (Quenya): Plural of coranar: sun-round, i.e., a solar year.

Eruhíni: (Quenya) Children of Eru, Elves and Men.

Notes: The events described in this tale take place in the year 305 of the First Age. Much of the description of Finrod’s route and his first meeting with Men is taken directly from The Silmarillion, Chapter XVII, "Of the Coming of Men into the West".

The Ered Lindon (Mountains of the Land of Music) were also called the Ered Luin (Blue Mountains).

Melkor’s speech which Finrod is remembering is based on a description of his words which he spoke to the Noldor as recorded in The Silmarillion, Chapter VII, "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor".





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