#omaruin

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🎶+ 'constellations' by the oh hellos?

...ok so i know I've not talked about them At All, but. that one's perfect for one of omaruin's partners from before the darkening. they don't even have a name yet they're 90% vibes still lmao

#they're vaguely a vanyarin student i think? #i really don't know much abt his old partners besides that they exist and did not go to middle earth at all #but apparently they have one (1) song now lol #thanks friend! #ask games #man these two just. do not exist for the main helf story really. omaruin mostly tries not to dwell on them bc. he does not really believe #that they'll ever see each other again. or that they'd even Want to see him again sometimes #hmm i need to poke them still #sil & om #music tag

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oc-tober 2023! days 16-20 (featuring est, rani, helf trio, and glainyn)

16- seasons (est)

Only in winter do you regret your hair’s this short, neck exposed to the cold wind and wet snow that falls from low-hanging branches. You pull your scarf tighter and wait for spring, when the sun finally warms you and the world turns green. The summer draws near and you take a blade to your hair, grown down past your ears in the cooler months and almost- almost- too long for comfort. Late-day sun scorches the back of your neck but you can’t care, raising the small sail with fresh wind ruffling your hair with hints of the coming autumn.

17- myth (rani, silear, halthel)

“Oh, I’ve heard this one!” Rani says brightly. “We have one like this back home, with the glowing trees and the magic fruit and everything. Do you think we got those fairytales from you?”

Sileär’s mouth works silently as if she isn’t sure what to say. Halthel looks like he’s trying not to laugh. “Fairytales..?” She turns her bright eyes on Halthel. 

“We,” he says solemnly, “are old, my friend.”

“Fairytales,” she mutters. “I knew some things had been… dramatized, but really!”

“Do you know the Green-eyes story?” Rani asks innocently. Laughter finally overcomes Halthel. Sileär’s face only twists, confused.

18- hero (glainyn)

The wingbeat-thunder doesn’t reach him in his room in the keep, but the cold does. He groans as he stands on sore feet and takes up his axes again, running for the doors in nothing but padded training armor.

The drakes of the Frost-horde descend on Tharrazhâr again with ice and claw. Rangvald holds the courtyard, shouting orders at too-new recruits who have not faced assaults like this even when Vethúg descended on Erebor. They are holding, but they are fresh from hard training and as unused to fighting so weary as to the swooping drakes. Glainyn runs, battle-horn sounding.

19- feather (silear)

They run for their ships when smoke begins to rise across the bay. It grows thicker over the Havens like a swelling stormcloud. Sileär whispers desperate pleas to the waves, but for all Imroval’s speed the flames are faster, lighting the underbelly of the smoke with angry reds and oranges. Imroval creaks in sympathy beneath her feet, her blood louder than the wind in her ears. Not again, not again. How many times is enough?

From the tower overlooking the harbor there falls a white star, brilliant enough to pierce the thickest smoke. 

Afterwards, they find only feathers left behind.

20- boundary (lirulin)

The bounds of day and night are sharp, harder lines than there had been around the mingling of the lights. Lirulin stands on the docks where her father’s family had fought- where Omaruin had fought- and the daylight dies, leaving only the harbor-lamps to light the way back to the city, to the road beyond that leads back to Tirion and her mother’s home, a quiet shell full of those left behind. Histenna will be waiting for her there, to ask why she has come here yet again to dwell on things she cannot change, and she will not answer.

#lotro #my stories #oh i actually have enough commentary for these maybe i should've posted them separately. oh well #is rani fucking with silear? maybe a bit. it's still weird for sil to have history talked about like myths #glainyn's is a couple missions squished together + true heroics skill. it's a taunt for blue champ :) i run him red tho #lirulin is. having a time. she is trying to be calm about it but she's Really Not #est #rani #sil & om #glainyn

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oc-tober 2023! 23-25, feat. lendrain and lirulin & histenna

23- twilight (lendrain)

Emyn Uial is quiet in the dying light, the stones of Barad Rath painted deep purple by dusk. They walk as silently here as they do hunting in the hills, bearing their fallen and their gathered city-stones to their rest.

Urgency still presses at him, a constant prodding in the back of his mind. His hand ghosts over his face, fingers brushing the place where Amarthiel’s touch had burned him so terribly in Angmar. And she has not yet found Narchuil, he thinks with a sinking heart.

“I am sorry I could not do more, Tadan,” he tells the cairn.

24- empty (histenna's yet-unnamed son)

He watches his father closely sometimes, watches the change that comes over him like a passing shaft of moonlight when Lirulin visits. There is something strange between them. He asks his mother about it, on an evening when there is festival in the streets and Lirulin drags his father dancing into the night. 

“It’s his tale,” she says, thoughtful, “but I will say a little.”

It makes more sense, after, the way they are together, and the way they follow the steps of an unfamiliar dance, a space left open beside them as if they are waiting for a third.

25- loyal (histenna, lirulin)

“Will you not come back to the cities?” Histenna asks, frowning. Lirulin spins him about and pushes him away to the beat of the distant drums.

“Not soon,” she says. “For now I will follow something less fickle than our hearts.”

“Unchanging is not the same as steadfast,” he says, and does not add that Omaruin was as predictable as the course of the stars. Lirulin turns furious, star-bright eyes on him.

“You excuse him?” 

“I know him,” he replies. “It was no whim that led him. It never has been.” Lower, adds: “Do not mistake understanding for approval, Lirulin.”

#my stories #sil & om #lendrain #lirulin and histenna are slowly growing more personality #and lendrain occasionally pokes me to say 'hey so about that solo au i definitely don't want to be the main character of-'

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5, 10, 15 and for omaruin 👀??

5. What is the song you most associate to them?

setting sail, coming home by darren korb!

10. What is their favorite thing in the world?

i think he and silmeniel have a two person book club and have been sending things back and forth for the last two ages. he's contributed a not-insignificant number of books to her library. (silear is not a huge reader- not like these two anyway. they'll start talking and she will either leave or fall asleep bc this is very much Not Her Thing)

15. Now you give them some life advice.

waiting is absolutely not going to help anything. it may not change much in any direction after this long, but it's certainly not going to help. just get on the boat

#ask games #sil & om #thanks friend :D

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oc-tober 2023! day 1: promise (lirulin & histenna)

The first setting of the sun casts long shadows out over the harbor, the great braziers set at the ends of the docks casting ruddy light over the waters. The wreckage and the bodies have been cleared away, but Lirulin can still imagine the blood and the ships. Omaruin’s promises are broken with the fledgling bond between them. Only Histenna stands beside her now, his thoughts troubled enough she can feel them like an echo of her own.

“He may be in the Grey Halls.”

“No,” she says. “He went east.”

“You are certain?”

“Yes.” In her bones she knows.

#my stories #sil & om #(they're halthel's partners from pre-darkening) #i told myself i'll do a challenge to make them 100 words even #partly to keep myself concise lmao. i need to practice that #i expect this to last about a week #anyway. happy october lol

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lions 6, dogs 2 & eagles 6 for omaruin 👀

oops. i rambled

lions 6- Are they good at helping others to master their fear and able to encourage them to be brave in the face of danger or anxiety? What is their strategy for achieving this?

you might think, for someone who's technically been a captain for two ages! when he is, it's not really something he's trying at- i think it works better for him that way. overthinking things never really gets him anywhere, and while not entirely thinking things through has gotten him in his fair share of trouble too, it does also get him some positive outcomes. the overthinking route not so much

i think he was a proper captain- of more than like. five people at once- for all of one battle. some people will address him by rank, but it's not usually like... he's not a giving speeches and waving banners type captain. he's more of a red line/lead the charge jumps headfirst into the fight and trusts or hopes someone's following guy. good for small groups, should not be put in charge of any significantly sized force, really

anyway! that's not the question. honestly i think if he is encouraging, it's because he looks at the situation with all the information they can get and goes 'yeah :) we can take it :)' and just goes all-in on it. he's confident that you can, in fact, win this, and makes it seem downright reasonable to charge in behind him. you see the very competent guy with the giant sword run in and it's just. sure! this will be fine! we've got this :). it's also pretty rare to see him legitimately and obviously worried, which helps with buying into his confidence. if it comes to actively trying to encourage people? i think silear is far better, but halthel/omaruin is just reassuring to have with you

dogs 2- Is your OC loyal to their friends or their family, regardless of the rights and wrongs of a specific situation? Or can they set aside personal loyalty when judging a person's actions or behaviour?

ah! the fun one for the feanorian soldier :)

it does depend a little bit on when exactly you're talking. i mean- ultimately, yeah, he'll break away from someone if they're doing things he disagrees with, it just takes him a lot longer to get there in some cases. he very much did fight at alqualonde, and stayed with the feanorian armies up through the fifth battle. he likes to think he'd have turned on them for kinslaying2 or 3 even if he hadn't ended up at the havens for so long, but honestly? he's not really sure what he would have done. his opinions on maedhros and everyone are Complicated lol. like. he's very aware of Hey, That's [kinslayings] Fucked Up, but he does also generally think well of most of them. he spent a long time at himring- it would be a lot less tolerable if you didn't at all trust your commander. honestly, he has a hard time reconciling maedhros as his commander with the guy he fought briefly lol at the havens

anyway. point is, yes, he'll set aside personal loyalty. eventually. it might just take awhile to get there in some cases

eagles 6- What does "nobility" mean to your OC? Is there a moral or social code by which they live? What values drive them? Are there some that they reject?

most of it boils down to 'are you doing murder? are you causing massive harm to people? no? ok.' as far as... hmm... i don't know all his thoughts re:valar yet, but. he's definitely lacking in reverence for the most part. fear or wariness? that's a different question entirely. he doesn't talk about any of it a whole lot tho. a whole lot of him is 'everyone's good at different things- i'm good at the fighting bit, so i'll just keep doing this :) that way people who don't take to it naturally don't have to worry about it :)'. there's a bunch of other stuff underneath that, but that is a significant thing. dark lords keep not being entirely removed from the world, so he keeps jumping back in

nobility... he finds a lot of nobility in fighting for something even if you don't have to- if there are others who would instead. he finds a different kind in fighting because you do have to. his thoughts on service run similarly, i think

#ask games #sil & om #oma's easily the most contradictory guy i've got lol #i don't even know half his thoughts yet #(between this and three new first age thoughts falling out every time i touch helf trio it's no wonder their thing hasn't moved forward :/) #anyway ty friend haha #is it coherent? honestly not sure

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hey, can u tell me some things abt ur ocs? pretty please?

i would love to tell you things about my ocs

helf trio helf trio so many thoughts

-step one: unlock high elf and immediately make a captain Because I Can. also a mini bc i don't have one yet

-step two: oops they're getting personality but i don't remember Fuckall about the silm

-step three: reread silm

-step four: hmmm....

-really though, the three of them are just. all over the place. some of it's just the natural outgrowth of having characters who're like 8k+ years old, but they're also just in so many different places

-omaruin- halthel, and i really need to get into the habit of calling him that bc it's what he uses by far the most, whatever the alt's name in-game is lol- was one of maedhros's soldiers. was garrisoned in himring and got to see a whole bunch of the worst parts of the battles there up close. he ended up separated from the garrison and heading south after the nírnaeth

-(yknow the fire wights in i think the third fornost instance? i think there were some of those around after dagor bragollach- not as much near himring as elsewhere, but definitely Somewhere)

-sileär spends a lot of time esp early first age pointedly ignoring anyone who tells her what to do if she disagrees w it. she holds on a lot to 'I'm a citizen of alqualondë and you're not the boss of me' for. quite awhile tbh, but she decides she likes círdan eventually and, as far as she ever does swear herself to anyone, it's to him. i think she and halthel end up as a counterpart to the spears of lindon when the havens really hit their height up thru the last alliance

-silmeniel lived in gondolin. [disclaimer: i haven't. haven't actually read anything gondolin beyond what's in the silm] she was a scribe in the court(s) and ended up knowing Lots Of Things just by watching and listening. she's not really part of the Politics™️, but she definitely knows a lot of it

-she also has a library. the first- well her First first wasn't even a proper library. it was just one of her rooms in tirion. that was all personal stuff tbh. in gondolin she started smth similar, but it started picking up a lot of her notes and court stuff

-silmeniel first started in no small part out of spite. assholes in chats (assorted) were doing what they do, global chats and the average population of lotro being what they are. i was making a baby minstrel alt to run around w some friends and went 'ok :) sileär has a wife now :) fuck off' bc i sure was in Some Mood and uhhh yeah. silmeniel is level locked at 15 w scholar maxed out not really an adventurer and a lot more static than sileär and halthel as part of that. she spends a little bit of time in eregion before anything gets bad, then moves on to lothlórien and kinda just chills for the most part there til sileär wakes up and they sail

-silmeniel's also ending up as the main method for talking abt things like all the exciting things people have come up with around like. how to make your elves more queer and such. that part's been fun

-sileär is buddies with the númenóreans, and will continue to blatantly ignore anyone telling her she's not allowed to go somewhere and shows up anyway, though mostly she meets them at sea once the elves are loudly unwelcome in númenor

-halthel spends so much time at ports for someone who's so afraid to get on a boat (on account of doing some kinslaying at alqualondë)

-i think the helf rings you get- the ones that scale as you level to some extent, minor rings of power- silmeniel made. they weren't Rings Of Power™️, even minor ones, not in the way i think a lot of the rings of tham mírdain were made. silmeniel got simple rings, finely made but nonmagical, and engraved them herself in beautiful, super fancy calligraphy. they don't have any major or noticeable power to them, but they're very very pretty

#i think. that might be enough for one post lmao #sil & om #a lot of this will probably not make it into their Big Thing in any significant way but #many thoughts lol #lotro #thank u friend :D #so many thoughts to throw everywhere 💚

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1, 2 & 5 for the ask game?👀 

1- do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road?

varies wildly! est's stories were easy just bc it was all companion to the already-written epic. isena & isedd was... i knew where they needed to end up and was mostly wrestling plot/timeline to get them there- and i don't think that really worked, honestly. the strongest parts of their story were ones where i stopped trying so hard n just kinda let them hang out til they discovered a plot. helf trio right now is... hitting more of a happy medium now i think, but it's still early

2- talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

lendrain originally was just Vague Babyranger So I Can Play Angle Onlevel When It's Out but. every time i start questing with him he has more opinions on the epic and extra backstory. he decided he was going to take the spot of 'mystery ranger i'll pick eventually for stoneheight' and run lots of in their absence stuff with silear and omaruin- despite insisting loudly that he also wants his own solo au where he does the epic. i walked into aughaire and he decided he had a boyfriend which never happens to characters for me. what the hell, ever and it was time to do halls of night. what the hell is up w this dude

5- have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son

usually the playlist-project link is incidental; what i turn on while writing is just whatever my current list is. helf trio actually kinda got their own for once tho! is here

#ask games #thanks friend :D #the playlist is funny tho bc you can absolutely see when our chat started trading music lol #it's also disproportionately 1- puscifer and 2-starset #which probably says a lot abt my taste in music on its own #anyway. i don't usually use spotify #but i grabbed that list quick

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5 & 21 for est, and/or 45 & 17 for omaruin?

5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets? [est]

i already did pockets, but for stuff in her bag specifically, we've got: a bunch of rocks (some carved some not), a few chisels (the one she'd been using for several years pre-epic, one from moria that may or may not have some amount of mithril alloy in it, and one that's just a piece of sharp metal she picked up in isengard), a bunch of random papers squished up at the bottom (old ref sheets, a couple sketches, at least one shopping list, her letter from théodred), and a few other random sentimental things (star from radanir, probably the little grass crown horn made her before it falls apart completely)

21. If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others? [est]

hm. she doesn't usually spend a lot of time on blame really, especially if there's an immediate crisis that needs dealt with (there are a few notable exceptions- in isengard there's not a ton to actually be done about anything for awhile, so she's got plenty of time to stew). causing, sometimes, deserving, not really. especially with a little bit of distance she can look at things and see how she may have caused some of it, though in the moment she's more likely to sit and brood a bit (or run). she doesn't really think much in terms of deserving though. there's things she wants and things that need done and things that have consequences, but it isn't usually about what she thinks she deserves

17. What was your character’s favorite toy as a child? [oma]

baby halthel :D i think he had a stuffed animal- something wolf or dog shaped maybe- that he loved a whole lot. kept it even after growing up a fair bit, though it didn't come to middle-earth with him

45. What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them? [oma]

oh this one is fun for him lol. when he does think about it, he thinks he's going to spend a very long time waiting. if he falls in battle or doing something noble, he thinks maybe it will earn him some form of grace- and that scares him more than a boring or ignoble death and a longer wait sometimes, because then he has to consider what exactly going back will mean and how he's going to deal with being here again, with talking to some of these people again- some of whom he hasn't seen in seven thousand years and more

#ask games #est #sil & om #ye oma is terrified of any version of going back #didn't leave on good terms with uh. lots of people. he feels real bad about alqualonde still #tho. all things being relative he's not all That bad #i mean he very much did still kill people there but yknow. comparatively #sil definitely gets on his case about this sometimes but it doesn't really help #she Does think about deserving sometimes and she's of the opinion that spending the next several thousand years fighting- actively #protecting the havens too- should earn him a smooth journey home #she doesn't know what will happen when they get there either tho #anyway thanks friend :D

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"nightfall" for the helf trio from the microstory prompts?

nightfall- sileär and silmeniel (omaruin did not want to come on the boat)

The cabin is still dark when Silmeniel shakes Sileär awake, Imroval rocking violently beneath them.

“What’s happening?” Sileär asks, rubbing her eyes as she joins Silmeniel before the wide stern window. “It’s… oh.”

Beyond the window an awesome storm rages, the winds screaming even through the tight-sealed boards of her ship. Never has Sileär seen waves like this, not even that night on Falarië. Imroval is strong and steady, wrought with the songs of both the Falas and of Alqualondë, but it is dark as nightfall though it must be near dawn and Imroval will be hard-pressed to weather this.

“Is this…?” Silmeniel begins, still watching the storm. Sileär slowly shakes her head.

“I don’t know what this is.” But she thinks of the great fleet they saw in the distance a week past, sailing west. “I need to get on deck.” Silmeniel nods, but she remains staring out the window well after Sileär has left.

#am i ever gonna have a good reason to talk about numenor in their main story? #i don't know #but sil sure did tell me her opinions on it #thanks friend :D #ask games #my stories #sil & om

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🎶 + a year ago by birds of bellwoods? [sort of related, how long are ask games open after the game is posted?]

(oh honestly, as long as you mention which list it's from or something i'll take them whenever tbh)

hmm. that one could be a rani song, but i have helf trio on the brain still so. gonna say omaruin and his partners for that one, lirulin in particular!

#ask games #sil & om #thanks friend! #oma's partners from the beginning have names now! and then they immediately got complicated lol #but yeah as long as i can tell which question you mean i'll answer whenever #i will. try to make a specific tag for the lists #music tag

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🎶+heading home by alan walker?

omaruin/halthel post-last alliance i think?

#ask games #ty friend! #sil & om #he is having. a very bad time after that #music tag

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oc-tober 2021 day 11: truce with @oc-growth-and-development

sileär and omaruin (halthel, here) meet! well. they’ve seen each other before, but this is their first conversation

===

“We are too far upriver for my tastes,” her second says.

“One more day,” Sileär says. “If we have still found nothing, we turn back.” Helegthir lets out a long breath but nods and returns to the helm.

They find the survivors at the end of the day, as the stars begin to shine, battered and scared but defiant. Sileär crouches on the rail as her crew loads them, men and elves of all houses, onto the ship, watching the shadowed woods just beyond the riverbank, until she chances to look back and see the last of them still on the shore. She draws her sword.

“You!” Her crew jumps to alert, and the scattered soldiers of the Fifth Battle already aboard try to match them when they see Sileär’s blade at the last one’s throat. This is a face she knows, remembered beyond flames, though many others from that burning have since fallen in the long battles. “How many others of your lot are among these? I will not suffer them on the Imroval.”

“Sileär,” Helegthir starts. “What-”

“Quiet.” The last elf backs away from her, his hands raised. “How many?” His eyes search her face, her ship, the sails. He knows what she means.

“I am the only one,” he says. She presses her blade closer. “On my life, I am. I was separated from the last remnants of the garrison from Himring and joined this band. Please, I will stay without argument, but do not let it keep the others from safety.”

“I will decide that for myself,” Sileär snaps.

“Please, he says again. “ It is hardly more than tales to most of them.”

“Captain,” Helegthir whispers. “We cannot stay here.”

“Very well.” Dark is coming on fast, and with it many dangers this far north. “Raise the gangplank and bring us about!” Her sailors jump to order and the warriors they rescued cry out in protest.

“Surely you cannot mean to leave him here?” one shouts.

“He has fought for us for months!”

“We owe him our lives.”

“I do mean to,” Sileär says coldly. “I will not bring Kinslayers onto my ship, no matter their noble deeds since. Raise the sail!” Even her crew are giving her long looks now, in judgement but not without understanding. Let them. She remembers the flames.

Something howls in the trees and Sileär curses. “You have the wolves after you?”

“I thought we slew them all, Halthel!” one of the fighters cries, fear in her voice.

“We did,” says the Kinslayer from the shore. “This is a different pack.”

“If they were not after you before, they will be soon,” Sileär says. Halthel draws a shining greatsword and takes up a guard on the sand.

“Sail swiftly then, Seasheen. I will guard your rear.” Sileär almost pauses.

“May your blade find victory,” she says, and only begrudges it a little. She turns away as the howls rise over the protests.

She looks back as the Imroval comes about, and he still stands in guard. She finds Helegthir staring at her and groans. 

“We will need every sword we can get in the coming days,” he says quietly.

“Oh, fine!” She gathers a coil of rope and winds it around her. “Pull on my signal, and pray nothing goes wrong.” She thrusts the rope into his hands and leaps for the shore, landing in shallow water with a splash. The Kinslayer looks back.

“What-”

“Quiet. This truce is not for your sake.” She drags him back into the river by the straps of his pack until she has enough slack to grab him under the arms and shout for Helegthir.

She sees stars as the rope pulls tight around her and yanks her back, hitting the side of the Imroval hard and nearly losing her grip before they are dragged aboard and the ship gathers speed. Red eyes glint in the trees and she begs Ossë silently for speed. Halthel eyes the waters as if he expects creatures of Morgoth to rise up from the depths.

“Thank you,” the Kinslayer says, sheathing his sword. He unbuckles the whole thing and holds it out. “If it would ease your mind, take it.”

It would. She eyes the trees again, rubbing the soreness from her chest where the rope had dug. “Keep it. You may yet see a fight this night.”

#oc-tober #lotro #hmmm no not tagging it for silm #sil is entirely unable to not be dramatic about everything she does #(also funny: she's classed as a minstrel. oma's the captain) #should it be omaruin? omaruinë? i don't know! also he rarely ever goes by that name so. #est verse stuff #sil & om #silear seasheen #omaruin #my stories

[aurore-parle-de-ses-idees]

oc-tober 2021, day 31: home with @oc-growth-and-development !

had a ton of fun with this again this year. thanks for running it friend!

(in which i once again go on about helf trio...)

===

At the waning of the Third Age, on the shores of the Great Sea, Sileär Seasheen builds a ship.

“I left the Western Shores on my own ship,” she says, “and that is how I will return.”

It is no white-timbered swan-ship like Falarië, nor the echo of them in Imroval, but she claims a corner of Mithlond with Círdan’s blessing (and no lack of amusement) and builds a small ship.

“Will you and Silmeniel sail alone?” Halthel asks once, watching her work.

“Even this ship would struggle with only two to man her,” Sileär says, lathing a board with long, smooth strokes.

“Who else will you take, then?”

“I thought to ask you.”

Halthel looks sharply her way. “Me?”

“Why the shock, oh captain mine?” she asks with an ill-hidden smile. Halthel looks to the harbor in the distance and the gulls above, and does not answer. The rasp of blade on wood stops and Sileär leans forward to find his gaze. “They have welcomed back worse than you,” she says softly.

“Are there so very many of those?” he murmurs.

“More than enough. I do not think you would be turned away, nor the ship that bore you consigned to the depths.” Halthel finally turns to her.

“You would test the love the Lords of the Waters hold for you against their hatred for me and my kind.” He wonders if Sileär can hear the strain in him, the echo of a long-made offer he still dares not accept.

“I would,” she says evenly.

“And Silmeniel?” he challenges. Noldorin she may be, but no Kinslayer. “Would you risk her, too?” Sileär’s brow bends. 

“I do not believe their wrath will be turned on you, with or without my company. Silmeniel does not believe it a risk, either.” She returns to her work, and Halthel watches in silence.

“Do you not wish to sail?” she asks eventually.

Halthel breathes deeply. “It is not a matter of wanting, but of deserving.” Sileär and Silmeniel both have been true friends for two long Ages and more. They should not be denied this last homecoming.

“Deserve,” Sileär muses. “Now there is a curious thing, and one we could argue for a very long time. Silmeniel probably would. Deserving, and balance, and justice. I am asking you, as one friend to another, do you want to go home?”

Many places he has called home are lost forever. Even in the Undying Lands change came. “Yes,” he says. “I want that.”

“Then sail with us,” she says urgently. “Sail, and we will all go home together.” Halthel laughs weakly.

“All this time, and still you are trying your hardest to get me aboard your ship.” Sileär’s own laughter is bright.

“As I have been since the day we met,” she says.

“Only after everyone on the Imroval gave you terrible looks,” he points out.

“Yes, well, what can I say? They were right and I was wrong. But much has changed since then; what do you say?”

He breathes out and watches the sunlight dance on the bay. “Very well. Very well. I will sail with you.”

Sileär finishes her ship and they make their many farewells with those who cannot or will not leave the Hither Shore, and as Mithlond empties Halthel boards a ship willingly for the first time since the First Age, Sileär at the helm.

“Time to go at last,” she whispers to the waves. Halthel and Silmeniel push Cabhuin from the shore under Sileär’s direction, and as the wind fills the sail, Halthel catches the faintest of sounds- a harp, impossibly familiar and unheard by him since before the Nírnaeth. In another breath it is gone, and they leave Middle-earth behind them at last.

“Farewell,” Halthel whispers.

Days pass, and they have nothing but favorable winds and calm seas. They pass the mist-shrouded isles under the stars, and come with dawn in sight of the Lonely Isle. There is singing on the wind as they draw near Alqualondё, and Sileär and Silmeniel share a smile and take it up. Halthel knows the words well by now, but he has never dared to join. But we have come safely this far. He takes a breath and sings with them, of safe harbor and coming home at last.

#oc-tober #lotro #still having a great time #yknow i've been tagging all their stuff lotro but really. they've got a tangential relation to the game at best #oh fuck it we'll tag it for the last day #silmarillion #a falmarin sailor a noldorin scholar and one of maedhros's soldiers walk into a bar- #sil & om #silear seasheen #omaruin #silmeniel #(technically) #est verse stuff #my stories

[aurore-parle-de-ses-idees]

high elf who has seen the end of multiple ages: .......sure, random lady in rohan. continue

#lotro #it's unreasonably funny to me rn #also i forgot about that one quest where you now technically own a house in edoras #that's fun #omaruin

[aurore-parle-de-ses-idees]

oc-tober 2021, day 13: burn with @oc-growth-and-development

i’m still on about the high elves, unfortunately

===

They came to her in the starlight, in reverie aboard Falarië, shaking her urgently as they cleared the ship of what little store of supplies it still held.

“Lord Fëanor has ordered the ships burned,” they told her. “You must come to the shore.”

“I will not!” All else dear she had lost, her home now shut to her, and at the last they would take this, too? “I will burn with my ship.” They begged her, wishing still not to add her death to their crimes, but she would not be moved, and instead heaved alone at one of the long oars even as the fires were set in the timbers of the white ships, until Falarië drifted from shore on calm waters.

The fires burned too hot, and for all her efforts she could not douse them, and drifted ever farther from the shore. She looked up, but the smoke obscured the stars. When only the highest deck remained amid the ash of Falarië, Sileär at last cried out, to Uinen and to Ossë, and to the Lord of the Waters, and when the last of the ships of Alqualondë was ash, she was borne away south.

---

They took all that could be of use from the ships, and even if they thought ill of it they obeyed. He looked up, but his own lord stood aside, looking towards the far shore in horror and grief. They took their torches at his father’s command, though, and set them to white wood.

Omaruin watched, though many others could not or would not, and he saw, among those that floated, burning, back into the firth, one figure, alone, standing proudly on the deck of their ship, aflame. Their shadow was dark against bright fire, and at the last they were hidden by smoke and waves. He nearly pled mercy for them from the lords of the sea, but fearing any prayer from him would doom them instead, he at last turned away from the water.

---

She ran, like the rest, to see the great light on the horizon. The light of great fires, blazing beyond their reach.

“The ships, the ships,” the whisper spread all through their host, and they knew, they knew. Betrayal.

We should have expected no better, Melassë thought bitterly, and almost she returned then, to her library and her calligraphy and her beloved shining city, but when Fingolfin turned instead north, she found instead a curiosity and an anger too great to do anything but follow, towards the ice.

#oc-tober #lotro #you know. i've thought Entirely too much about these guys for as reluctant as i am to touch silm #alas #melasse is silmeniel. calantiriel is also silmeniel. she has too many #est verse stuff #sil & om #silear seasheen #omaruin #silmeniel #my stories #someone else's turn tomorrow