Lindelea · 14 November 2025 · Chapter 1: Look to the future, always look forward
MM! I'm so glad to read this new tale from your pen, er, keyboard! Edenithil, a Sindarin phrase meaning the renewed moon, seemed an apt name for what they were asked to create in Ithilien under the King’s edict. What a lovely thought! Is this from the Professor, or your own idea, or from somewhere else? (I admit that Sindarin and I have only a passing acquaintance. If one can call it even that much.) ...Éowyn had helped him through it... Of course she did. How wonderful a couple they make. ...ever amazed that she was his... This sounds so true to Faramir's character. Even after several years, he can hardly believe this future that has come to pass, a future he probably could not even imagine before the Ring went into the Fire. (I love the ribbon flowers... they remind me of the poppies my parents wore on November 11th when I was very young. My mom would always recite the poem she learned as a young child: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / between the crosses, row on row..." I also imagine that though Éowyn winces at the results of her craft-making, those who receive her flowers must see them as rare and precious treasures.) ...and it also gave Éowyn an idea... I love seeing Éowyn as having fully come into her identity as a healer at this point in time. We saw glimpses in her younger years, but it's wonderful to see her now while understanding all she came through to reach this point. I love Faramir's instant recognition, and how he and Éowyn both perceive Lornion's pain as if their shared thoughts and impressions and feelings connect them in an uninterrupted flow of information. ...and dropped a small child-ladened curtsy. I love the word-picture you've painted here. Beautifully done! ...and of his father, a man he had never truly understood. Isn't it interesting how children who are "very like" a parent can have a hard time understanding that parent? I've seen this phenomenon in real-life families. The ceremony and the part that the candles play is moving. Of course Éowyn wasted no time the next morning! (The lodging for new arrivals is a thoughtful touch.) Alas, poor Gelneth. No doubt she has her own share of PTSD, along with sharing her beloved husband's suffering. Carpenter and shipbuilder by trade, soldier only by necessity. A man of loyalty and courage, for certain. "But I cannot get him to talk about it." Nor could the women in my family who welcomed husbands home from WWII. And oh! I have seldom seen a gapfiller about the Men whom Aragorn released during the march to the Black Gate. Aragorn looked at them, and there was pity in his eyes rather than wrath; for these were young men from Rohan, from Westfold far away, or husbandmen from Lossarnach, and to them Mordor had been from childhood a name of evil, and yet unreal, a legend that had no part in their simple life; and now they walked like men in a hideous dream made true, and they understood not this war nor why fate should lead them to such a pass. You've done a good job of personifying (is that a word?) one of the Men who lived this experience. Bless Éowyn and her understanding heart, along with her quick and deft action to deal with this tragedy. Calling on the aid of the Healer-King is exactly the right course of action, I should think. I started crying from the moment fear seized Lornion's heart, and I kept crying and sniffling all the way to the end of the chapter. Poor fellow. But healing is at hand, and hope will, without a doubt, follow upon its heels. Elessar, the wise and merciful King, whose words form a healing balm: You did as I asked. You rode and cleared Cair Andros of the foulness that had besieged it. You did your duty and need not be ashamed. Look to the future! Wise advice for all of us. Lovely story. Thanks so much for this hopeful vision. (((hugs))) Lin p.s. I will save the latest chapter of Destiny's Child to savour tomorrow, something to look forward to as the weekend begins.
Author's reply
Lin! Yeah! It always cheers me to see your name in the reviews! Glad you loved and were moved by this! "Edenithil, a Sindarin phrase" I used a Sindarin dictionary on online to piece this together. Knowing that many place names and personal names in Gondor have Sindarin roots I extended that to this place name. When thinking about this I realised that Ithilien is derived its name from Minas Ithil, Tower of the Moon, which unfortunately became Minas Morgul, Tower of Sorcery. So much much depth to the Professor's work. I tried to mirror it. "This sounds so true to Faramir's character. Even after several years, he can hardly believe this future that has come to pass, a future he probably could not even imagine before the Ring went into the Fire." Exactly. This is a running theme throughout my stories about early in their relationship. "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / between the crosses, row on row..." Ah my prescient friend! That is exactly what I am referring to. I lived in England for eight years, I think I may have said earlier, and every November poppy appeal would happen. We would buy little poppy pins from Royal Legion volunteers stationed in the places where you see Salvation Army people here at Christmas. The Royal Legion is a charity set up to support the armed forces in the UK. As I told Shirebound in her review response I remember one year while living in London my friend and I went to the Cenotaph in Central London to attend Remembrance Day commemorations. It was very moving and the solemnity of the day has stayed with me. I hope my story reflects a little of that. "those who receive her flowers must see them as rare and precious treasures.)" I like that idea! "I love seeing Éowyn as having fully come into her identity as a healer at this point in time." Exactly. she is paying forward the healing she received. "I love Faramir's instant recognition, and how he and Éowyn both perceive Lornion's pain as if their shared thoughts and impressions and feelings connect them in an uninterrupted flow of information." Yes! They are bonded mind and soul! "...and dropped a small child-ladened curtsy. I love the word-picture you've painted here. Beautifully done!" Thanks! "...and of his father, a man he had never truly understood. Isn't it interesting how children who are "very like" a parent can have a hard time understanding that parent? I've seen this phenomenon in real-life families." So very true. I always say that my mom and my brother are so alike in ways that keep them apart. I, who have a wonderful relationship with my mom, am lot more like my dad in many ways. "The ceremony and the part that the candles play is moving." Thanks! You know me. I love to create ceremonies and rituals that are unique to the peoples involved. "Of course Éowyn wasted no time the next morning! (The lodging for new arrivals is a thoughtful touch.)" I just thought for refugees trying to build a new life the lodgings could be a place of dignity where they can get their bearings. Would that life could reflect art. *sigh* "Alas, poor Gelneth. No doubt she has her own share of PTSD, along with sharing her beloved husband's suffering. Carpenter and shipbuilder by trade, soldier only by necessity. A man of loyalty and courage, for certain." True on both counts. But she so busy trying to keep the family together that she can't recognise it in herself. But Eowyn having been through her own share of troubles can now recognize it in others. ""But I cannot get him to talk about it." Nor could the women in my family who welcomed husbands home from WWII. Exactly. The professor often said that Middle Earth was actual a "second world that exists in the mind." Within this world I figure all the attendant emotions would mirror ours in some way. "I have seldom seen a gapfiller about the Men whom Aragorn released during the march to the Black Gate." True. Lornion and Gelneth sprang organically out of the writing process. I wrote he was ashamed but did not quite an idea of why. So many horrible things happen in war. Then I was watching on YouTube a guy reading LOTR for the first time talking Aragorn and the men of Lossenarch and that gave the chapter and Lornion and Gelneth focus and made them real. "Bless Éowyn and her understanding heart, along with her quick and deft action to deal with this tragedy. Calling on the aid of the Healer-King is exactly the right course of action, I should think." Eowyn through her own pain and grief and experience of the Black Breath has development even more compassion and empathy. She has become a healer but also she seeks the best healing path and this time it was to call on Aragorn as both Healer King and the leader that Lornion felt he had let down. Who better to speak to him the healing words of compassion and understanding than the leader who he thinks he let down. "I started crying from the moment fear seized Lornion's heart, and I kept crying and sniffling all the way to the end of the chapter." All the feels! In Lornion's state of mind he naturally assumes the worst happening. But hope is at hand. Quite literally. :-) "Look to the future! Wise advice for all of us." Yup! heeding my own advice not always easy but we move ahead in hope. Thanks so much for finding the time to write. (((hugs))), (((hugs to the fam))) MM