driftfleet | April System Mingle

Entry tags:

April System Mingle

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: Possibly!
Action: April System
When: Month of April!

[Welcome to the Belt, a huge asteroid belt that's been terraformed for life. Here you can explore the different asteroids, become a rock star, race on some ATVs, enjoy not being underwater.

In other words, it's a mingle! Get in everyone!

> System Info ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I am glad to know that. [ He smiles ]

Are you thinking of gathering some of these for your garden?

[She nods eagerly.]

Of course I'll have to build a special section for them, where it's nice and dark and cool, but don't you think they'll look lovely? Like a little bit of the stars, right inside the ship!

Very much so.

[ He agrees, and then adds wryly ]

When they grow, you will have to pry Fingon out of there with a stick, for he loves their light. Possibly, you might have to extricate Maedhros and I, as well.

I can imagine worse fates than three elves living in my garden.

You say that now... [ Maglor laughs softly ]

I ought to spend some time with them anyway. They are your family after all.

[ Maglor smiles and shakes his head ]

I am sure Nelyo and Fingon would like that, but do not feel obliged, just because they are family. Although I would be happy if you knew them as well.

[She links her arm around his.]

Why don't you tell me a little about them while we walk?

[ He smiles at her shyly ]

With good will - what would you know?

Well... I suppose first I should know exactly how they are related to you. [Her own smile is an embarrassed one.] Something I should have learned a long time ago.

[ Maglor laughs at that ]

Ai! Well fortunately the relationship is fairly easy. Nelyo - Maedhros - is my older brother, and the two of us are the eldest of seven. Our Father and Fingon's father, Uncle Nolofinwe, are half-brothers. Finrod's father Arafinwe is Nolofinwe's younger brother - they... well, it is a painful bit of family history, but father... never forgave Queen Indis for capturing Grandfather's heart, and thus ensuring that Grandmother Miriel would never return to Life. But we cousins got along. Fingon has always been following after Nelyo, since he was a small child! And Finrod and I ... when we were younger, things were easier, but we were very good friends, once.

[Fairly easily! To a woman who has always had a small family, this seems complicated enough.]

I don't understand. What do mean that your grandmother couldn't come back to life?

Mm, we elves... we are not truly immortal, not as the Valar are. [ Maglor frowns thoughtfully and tries to explain ]

But we are bound to the world, and it's life, to exist so long as it does. So although our bodies may be slain, our souls remain, and in time, we may return to Life again, to pick up the broken refrain of our previous lives. This is not a new life, as I understand some Men believe it, but the same one, only... interuppted, for a time. We go to the Halls of Mandos, there to heal, and to reflect, and to, hopefully, one day, be ready to pick up Life again.

But... marriage, for us, is more than a union of the body, it is also a union of the soul. That is why we wed but the once, and then never again. But... Grandmother Miriel... after she bore father, she grew weary, and ... she lay down one day and never got up. We call it Fading - tis something that is more common in Middle-earth, than Aman, when the soul grows so weary of life that the body can no longer sustain it. Grandfather... he waited for her, but... she was so tired, and he wanted family, and he worried over father. Father does not like her much, but... I understand that Queen Indis and Grandmother Miriel were friends, of old. She came to comfort, and they... fell in love.

They went to the Valar, to bring their situation before them, and Grandmother Miriel... she elected to never return to life, for she could not say when she might be ready to do so, and she wished her husband happiness. But Father... Father saw this as Grandfather forcing her to remain forever in Mandos' Halls, and he never forgave Indis. He had few issues with my aunts, his half-sisters, but his half-brothers he was forever angry and bitter with, Uncle Nolofinwe moreso, for Uncle Arafinwe was always the peacemaker, of the three.

[She squeezes his arm gently.]

I am sorry, for that strife within your family. Even for humans... it is not easy for our children, if they lose a parent and the other one finds new love. It was one reason I waited so long, after Jack.

I think it is probably never easy and... Father has... a lot of issues with ... well. People would talk, you know. About how Grandmother Miriel gave all her strength to him, how he stole the fire that should be hers. And Grandfather probably overindulged him, the only son of the woman he so loved.

[ He shrugs tiredly ]

Old history. [ He sighs softly ] But it marks all of us, in one way or another. Nelyo... when we were younger, he was always striving so hard for Father's love, to be worthy of being the eldest son of Feanaro, who excelled without barely trying at all he set his hand to, or so it seemed. Fingon and Maedhros' friendship... it was hoped that with the firstborns being friendly, the fathers would also, but it only seemed to fuel their rivalry.

And you? How has it affected you?

[ He smiles wryly ]

I was lucky - as the second son, my duties were lighter. And once it became clear that my talents lay in music, I was released from areas where I would have to compete with father or Nelyo. Father and I... I never doubted his love, but he was a harsh taskmaster, at times, for he demanded perfection from all, himself not the least. I always got along better with Mother.

And your Mother? What was she like? Was she a musician like you?

Mother was a sculptor. [ Maglor smiles in memory ]

She was so good that they said that it was always as if her creations might come to life at any moment. It was her who first set my hands to harp, and her also who taught me my first songs. She was as stubborn as father, but different - where Feanor was the fire, burning fierce and unstoppable, Nerdanel was the mountain, unmovable, but steady and strong. They were a fearsome force when they stood together! But their fights were bitter and terrible.