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Many fruitless victories by perelleth	4 Review(s)
Nilmandra	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 6/28/2005
As I was thinking of Estel here, I thought they better hope that when Arda ended the rest of the solar system did not! I am with the humans - better to die than see it end, and I am glad that Cyrus did. It is interesting to think of the fate of the elves beyond Arda, but I especially liked the way they faced it, as an inevitablity and something met gracefully. Author Reply: Yes, good point! :-) With Tolkien's more than mythical cosmology it was very difficult to find a credible trasposition of that prophecy of the end! That's why Thranduil was so irked with Pengolod and artists' mystifications! All in all, the sun did come down indeed and the moon was as good as gone, with all that dark cloud covering the atmosphere....:-)

Redheredh	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 6/27/2005
Oh perelleth, there were tears in my eyes, both happy and sad, as Cyrus lived out his final years. I am so glad things came to some clarity for him and he was able to see that the cycle of life and death in which he found comfort would go on. That the cause he had fought for and worked towards all his life was simply moving outward and was not lost. Now, I understood why he could not suspect the ultimate goal of Greenwood Great until the time was right for the story to unfolded it. However, as a fan of Dr. F, there were times I wanted to shake him and say ‘Think, man!’. Oh yes of course, he was focused on his duties and there was no concrete evidence to make him really suspect anything more until his talk with Silvertree. I know he had to find out the way he did... but geewhiz... The other people around him seemed tuned into it. Well, perhaps he proved more courageous then they to keep going without knowing what he should hope for. Nonetheless, I am still not sure myself whether it would have been morally wrong or not for Slivertree and Greenwood to offer their solution before there was the best odds of it happening. Cyrus did make up for not catching on by confronting Slivertree and asking for the truth. That was great how you wove together the collective-unconsciousness and consciousness about music and harmony in science - and faith. Their conversation was very satisfying to someone like me. You have to know already that I liked that remark about Celeborn being more than a king. ;) Cyrus actually helps us all come to terms with so many things about his and our lives and the world’s coming End. For someday it shall in either ice or fire. By our swift, careless hand or God's slow and sure touch. With Cyrus, you made me think of how the Numenorean kings were given the privilege of choosing their time to let go. For in my eyes he was a long-lived, courageous and noble heir to what had gone before, one of the best of Men. His people, those who kept the friendship of the elves, boarded their ships and sailed before the storm of destruction that engulfed their former land to start anew, carrying their legacy with them. The events of long exodus was a grand closing to human life on Earth. We can only hope that mankind will show such dignity in its actual demise as you allowed the inhabitants in your tale of the End. Clarke’s influence with you really showed here in the way things happened as future history. The regeneration of humanity with its new myths was nicely described. Neat how the elves were commemorated in the names of things and how that lends the object some of their power. And so the four of them were remembered along with Cyrus after all. ;) Also, imho you never went too far with your Notes on a story such as this. Most of us needed the quick education. "This way, the myth dissolved into daily use and embedded itself in the deepest layers of human conscience, to remain there as a familiar and indescribable feeling, as part of an atavistic memory that had once been truth and was now but the stardust of a legendary past." A moving, cautionary tale with a lovely, poetic ending. Now, all that’s left is the epilogue. I wonder what it all looked like from the moon... Author Reply: I'm glad you liked it, Redha, although I'm not sure if I must apologize for bringing about tears, but, as Gandaff says, not all tears are bad, aren't they? (this,fom the woman who more often than not stops rereading LOTR at "the steward and the king"...) As for Dr. Feldman's blindness.. well, it may not be very clear in the story, but the thing is nobody knew. New Future was devoted to tracking the world's environmental state and work in the soil regerneration. It served many purposes, but resettling in the moon was not all that clear then. By the time Cyrus dies, the generation of scientists who would direct the Great March was yet to be born. Greenwood Great had been helping spread the zero ecological footprint experiment, in the hopes that it would help stop or slow down the process, and to crete a solid background of experience and proven knowledge in case moving was needed. In chapter 3 "Silvertree" is "away to Paris and other unknown destinations". As the midyear report showed a pre established alarm threshold, their next step had to be set in motion, and Celeborn began a tour of the facilities that were separately working in logistics, zero gravity building, and so on, to urge them. Their ecological settlement network did not yet know that they were to provide shelter, food and soil for the new home to human kind. THey did not know yet that they would be in time with the energy project. So Cyrus was quite shrewd to guess with the only clue of the type of experiments he had been conducting and the hopeful words Silvertree was feeding him... ;-) But this was probably only clear in mind, so apologies there...:-) It's nice that you comapared Cyrus' death with the gift of Numenorean's king's, for it was somehow in my mind. In draft n+1, of their conversation, Celeborn hinted to Cyrus they might even be related. After all, it was said that the line of Luthien would be never be extinguished... but in essence, yes, I think that, his longevity being artificially granted, the gift of graciously surrendering his long life was something Cyrus had earned. I've always seen the numenorean gift, not exactly as choosing when to leave, but clear-sightedness to understand and accept without bitterness when their time had come. As we move further from our nature, and become estranged from the pulsing of our natural being, we become unable to recognize some signs... And yes, Clarke's is there, from the title of the chapter to the dignity of the final years. Some things simply come out unexpectedly when they're most needed, I suppose. This story was a shameless attempt to purge some frustrations out of my system and find meaning in apparent meaningless day-to-day situations while enjoying myself, of course! and Clarke's "Songs", as well as "End of Childhood" came to visit, I'm sure. Depicting the father to child's tale of the magic that had saved humnakind and giving their names to common things was for personal amusement, I loved the idea... And yes, I knew you would like that line about Celeborn. See, I had never thought much about him until I began reading fanfiction last year, and it struck me as one of those "movers" of things: he had always been there, but the tales did not talk much about him. The true power usually lies there...and, as one of the reviewers said, it was as if he was the presence that gave cohesion to the whole thing. That's how I see him. Thanks for your kind and supporting reviews, Redha, I'm so glad that you enjoyed the story. ON my part, I enjoyed each of your thoughtful reviews! ;-)

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 6/27/2005
Oddly, I'm glad Cyrus didn't survive until the absolute end. And there was a lot of promise in his death - reunion with loved ones in the knowledge that he had done all he could. And the imagery - the puma and the albatross - was beautiful. I'm glad, too, that Celeborn told him all that he did - and that he was given the gift of their true names. And somehow, I'm not surprised that Thranduil and Celeborn were determined to and successful in cheating their way round the complete destruction of the human race. The idea of them being tied to the fate of Arda whilst freeing the secondborn to move beyond it ties in very well with their vision of power and sacrifice. Author Reply: Cyrus had realized that he didn't want to be there, and was granted a peaceful, hopeful death, I think. I'm glad too, he had fought so much, it seemed too bitter to have him witness the end of his world, no matter the hopes and expectations for thee new moon settling. And Celeborn was eager to grant him his last hope. He was so compassionate...and in the end Cyrus was able to simply let go.

French Pony	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 6/26/2005
Well, of course music is fundamental to human understanding and perception of the earth. I know that; that's why I'm an ethnomusicologist. (Sneaky way to answer one of your questions, that was.) But seriously, folks, I once heard a record that was an attempt to make the "music of the spheres" literally audible. Back in the days when electronic music was still a new and exciting thing, a composer (or a committee of composers; it was a while ago that I heard this) came up with a way to translate equations about the movements of the planets in the solar system into sound waves, and recorded them. The result is a chorus of different electronic voices going "BWAAwaaWAAwaaWAAwaa" at varying pitches and intervals. Very weird, very mid-sixtes, and kind of cool. So I guess I can say that I've heard the music of the spheres. . . or at least the arranged version. But there's so much music of the earth as well. One of the rewards of being an ethnomusicologist is the feeling that, if you listen to enough music from enough places, you might get a little second- and third-hand taste of what the Song of Arda might sound like. I have to say, I am impressed with the calmness and collected-ness with which the people faced the destruction of the Earth. It seems, though, that the moon's orbit and stability was not affected by the environmental collapse, so that's good. And I'm glad that Cyrus finally learned about his friends before he died. Author Reply: Ethnomusicologist!!Woah! let me put that down in my list of "things I want to be in my next life" Wonderful! See, what hooked me when I first read the Silm at sixteen was the first chapter, the Ainulindale, wow! a world sung into being! that made so much sense to me! And it's still one of the things I most admire in Tolkien's works, (as you may have perceived...) Yes, listening to traditional, popular music from different parts of the world makes you think, doesn't it? Differences, but, above all similarities. I'm so glad, then, that you were able to pick up the reason for Daeron and Maglor settling down in Central Asia! I believe that Cyrus deserved to know the truth, and Celeborn being Celeborn was ready to let him know, he knew he would understand and feel better for it. Maybe they were related, after all, who knows where Arwen's blood ran? ;-) The moon is fortunately too far away to be disturbed by earth's "domestic" pollution and environmental collapse. In this case, not even the earth's orbit was altered, it just became impossible to survive due to environmental conditions. And the collectedness of people before the ultimate doom seems... quite possible to me. Of course there would have been suicides and violence, but the superior good of the endeavour before them might have brought about the best qualities of humankind, I like to think... Thanks for your kind and interesting comments, FP!

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