Story: Nai Etelehtuvanyet

[elvses.livejournal.com]

(This was posted in my journal and on the HASA May birthday forum on Friday, so some people may have already seen it in those places.)

Nai Etelehtuvanyet. Post-Mandos Finrod with Amárië, vignette sequence, PG. Some emotional gooeyness. This is an absolute departure from my usual style. I cannot say with any authority what came over me.

Comments

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

I think it's beautiful, and kudos to you for involving Amarie and Olwe, who must be two of the rarest voices in fandom. It's a refreshing change to the instant memories of elves when released from Mandos, and the way Finrod is still living in the past is very poignant. I'm rather sad that you say this isn't your usual style, since I'd like to read more like that. What does the title mean?

[elvses.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I am a fan of the minor characters, and do try to include them in my writings whenever possible (Amárië in particular, along with Gilfanon and Ingwion). Unfortunately, my usual style is far more... uh... direct and straightforward in a this-is-what-happens-in-the-story kind of way. Except when Glorfindel gets high and starts thinking about invisible Maiar (at which point things start to weave rather this way).

As for the title... I told someone else that if it were any good, I would have written in English. ;> Quenya translation instantly disguises a lame story title. But if you do want to know, lame or not, it roughly translates as 'may it be that I will save thee'.

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

I've forgotten, if I ever knew, but who is Gilfanon? *is sheepish* The title in English is sweet, but I agree that it works better in Quenya, being shorter and all. (I'll remember the advice about Quenya hiding lame titles... I could probably rename a few of my fics in Sindarin) :)

Except when Glorfindel gets high and starts thinking about invisible Maiar - ooh, what's it called? I'm intruiged.

[elvses.livejournal.com]

(Please forgive the lateness of this reply, but I've been unnaturally busy lately.)

Gilfanon is an Elf from the Lost Tales: one of the exiled Noldor who eventually returned to Aman. He's not mentioned elsewhere (that I know of). And I've done the Quenya-title-hiding trick before... It can be very handy when the story's English title is sappy.

Glorfindel getting high and thinking about invisible Maiar can be found in the last chapter of this story (http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/chapter.cfm?stid=6682), which is a sequel of sorts to this story (http://www.henneth-annun.net/stories/chapter.cfm?stid=6515). Both are dark, character-AU slash with warnings for all kinds of things, as a preliminary caution in case you'd rather avoid that.

[toastedcheese.livejournal.com]

I really liked this! The gooey is good. :)

[elvses.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I think the gooeyness is tolerable here, myself.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

This is really really well written, I just had to read it again and again... Very poignant, you capture both sides - Amarie and Finrod - incredibly well with very sharp writing.

Fav bits

Amárië, who cares too deeply, watches with a pain in her ribs: a hollow niche where the memory of her husband used to live

It is a while before he turns to her, but when he does, she nearly gasps at the look in his eyes. Her hand jumps to her cheek. In that second, in that blue-laced moonlight, the old Findaráto stares back at her, and her heart pounds louder to shout out to a thing it has not seen in so many years. There is her husband, as plain as if he had never gone.

He has never seen Alqualondë by the light of the sun, but Eärwen has, and she does her best to champion its beauty.

I'd love to see more of this :)

[elvses.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and I am very glad you think so. I don't know if there will ever be more of this (because, while I don't plan to continue it now, I can't say no for certain on account of how I have a tendency to write things I had no intention of ever doing). But there will be more of Amárië and Finrod some day. I'm working on the necessary 'first meeting' story, though this one is done in a very different style and from Amárië's first person POV.

[angelica-ramses.livejournal.com]

After reading your lovely story, reembodiment doesn't seem to be such a good idea anymore. And yes, Amarie does speak and can think. I also liked the idea of Finrod dreaming in Sindarin. What does the title mean?

[elvses.livejournal.com]

The title... Everyone wants to know what the title means. And here I thought I'd be able to hide my pathetic title-making attempt behind some fancy Quenya. Honestly, it's not a very good one. More or less translates as 'may it be that I will save thee'. Much better in Quenya, I think.

I think reembodiment would be a long and awkward process. Tolkien writes that the reembodied Elves eventually regain their memories and take up their old lives, but how long does 'eventually' take? I think it could take a considerable while to reconcile past and present, especially when traumatic events and death occurred. There's plenty of room there for frustration and hardship on the part of the returned one's family.

[periantari.livejournal.com]

interesting-- i need to go back to that when time allows. ::memories this entry::