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tolkienshortfanworks2021-06-09 12:51 am
hhimring) wrote in tolkienshortfanworks2021-06-09 12:51 am
A Restless Night in Armenelos, by Himring
Author: Himring
Title: A Restless Night in Armenelos
Characters: Tar-Palantir
Pairing: background relationship (Tar-Palantir and his wife)
Text type / Format: sequence of five half drabbles
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: General
Warnings: Warnings for dysfunctional family and canon-typical late Numenorean issues (tensions between the King's Men and the Faithful, etc.)
Word Count: 250
Summary: Tar-Palantir, king of Numenor, at some point in the later part of his reign: night thoughts and a dream.
Author notes: For the community's June challenge; also for an image prompt for the current SWG challenge.
He wakes up. The incense Miriel insisted on adding to the braziers to aid restful sleep seems to fog his brain. For a moment, he does not know whether he is Tar-Palantir or Inziladun. Then he remembers they are the same: himself, at different times, caught up in different interactions.
Maybe he should go to Oromet again—climb the tower stairs and look out westward. Maybe the cloud that veils Avallone will part, allowing him a glimpse of white towers he has never seen or of a swift elven ship approaching. Even if none comes, he will sleep better there.
He resisted his father’s command to wed among the King’s Men, only to be estranged from his wife, nevertheless, disagreeing over policies. She fears a backlash will make things worse for the Faithful. She may be right. But how can he share his conviction it is, already, almost too late?
Oromet is far from the unceasing strife that is Armenelos, that Armenelos has always been. It is lonely there, perhaps, but he can think himself back into his mother’s stories of a better time. Does he even think a ship might yet come? Or is he resisting what he knows?
He dozes off again. He dreams he is in Oromet, but as a young boy, as Inziladun. His mother holds him by the hand. They go up the winding stair together. They should have reached the top by now, but they go on climbing, up and up into the sky.
Title: A Restless Night in Armenelos
Characters: Tar-Palantir
Pairing: background relationship (Tar-Palantir and his wife)
Text type / Format: sequence of five half drabbles
Source / Fandom: The Silmarillion
Rating: General
Warnings: Warnings for dysfunctional family and canon-typical late Numenorean issues (tensions between the King's Men and the Faithful, etc.)
Word Count: 250
Summary: Tar-Palantir, king of Numenor, at some point in the later part of his reign: night thoughts and a dream.
Author notes: For the community's June challenge; also for an image prompt for the current SWG challenge.
He wakes up. The incense Miriel insisted on adding to the braziers to aid restful sleep seems to fog his brain. For a moment, he does not know whether he is Tar-Palantir or Inziladun. Then he remembers they are the same: himself, at different times, caught up in different interactions.
Maybe he should go to Oromet again—climb the tower stairs and look out westward. Maybe the cloud that veils Avallone will part, allowing him a glimpse of white towers he has never seen or of a swift elven ship approaching. Even if none comes, he will sleep better there.
He resisted his father’s command to wed among the King’s Men, only to be estranged from his wife, nevertheless, disagreeing over policies. She fears a backlash will make things worse for the Faithful. She may be right. But how can he share his conviction it is, already, almost too late?
Oromet is far from the unceasing strife that is Armenelos, that Armenelos has always been. It is lonely there, perhaps, but he can think himself back into his mother’s stories of a better time. Does he even think a ship might yet come? Or is he resisting what he knows?
He dozes off again. He dreams he is in Oromet, but as a young boy, as Inziladun. His mother holds him by the hand. They go up the winding stair together. They should have reached the top by now, but they go on climbing, up and up into the sky.
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It was partly inspired by your bio. It refreshed my memory about that passage about the tower on the hill of Oromet and it stuck in my mind!
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Good to hear it came across as interestingly liminal!
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I'm happy to hear that it evoked those late Numenorean issues well!
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- Erulisse (one L)
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