From That Rubble - Chapter Six
Jun. 7th, 2026 01:22 pmRating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter
There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sink through fading colors deep
To the sub aqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.
- “Sonnet” by Elizabeth Bishop
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From That Rubble - Chapter Five
May. 29th, 2026 05:31 pmRating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter
…for his father was dearer to him than the Light of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands; and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth?
- The Silmarillion, “Of the Flight of the Noldor”
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From That Rubble - Chapter Four
May. 22nd, 2026 11:24 amRating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter
Heart,
I implore you,
it’s time to come back
from the dark
…
Let the world
have its way with you,
luminous as it is
with mystery
and pain—
graced as it is
with the ordinary.
- “Summer Morning” by Mary Oliver
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Reading Wednesday
May. 20th, 2026 03:48 pmOathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe – How Charlemagne's Dynasty Fell and Why It Matters for Understanding Political Collapse, by Matthew Gabriele & David M Perry
For all my interest in medieval European history, I know very little about the Carolingeans, so this was really fascinating, especially coming off of reading The Dark Queens, which was about the Merovingians a few generations before Charlemagne. I enjoyed it a lot.
Add Another Stone - Chapter Five
May. 19th, 2026 03:13 pmRating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter
the plot bunnies are breeding
May. 18th, 2026 09:54 pmThe township also repaved our road today, so that smelled great whenever I stepped outside. BUT my peonies are starting to bloom!!
A friend of mine is expecting a baby come fall, so I found some nice cotton/acrylic yarn that's a very pretty shade of purple that I can't remember when or why I bought, and started a baby blanket for her. It's very nice to work with, and it's helping me out of my reading slump--I finished an audiobook I'd stalled out on months ago, and started another. And in looking for the yarn I found where I put the sock yarn I got ages ago with a vague aspiration of learning to knit those, so maybe there are badly-knit socks in my future? We'll see how confident I feel.
After over a year of having a very hard time focusing on anything except one single story, I'm finding myself being smacked in the face with new ideas with shocking frequency. There's the silly Crablorandom crossover I've been poking at, as well as From that Rubbles and The Fire of Life--both of which I had hoped to focus on once I was finished with Desert--but also Finrod showed up in my head and wouldn't leave until I wrote Add Another Stone, which was originally "if I could make Celegorm/Finrod work, how would I do it?" and turned into, well, that plus a character study of Finrod. Also part of it is set by Ekkaia, because I wrote it so of course it is.
And now Celegorm won't leave my head, and this fic is going to be much longer and I'm not even sure how to describe the idea, which came to me with shocking clarity while I was shampooing my hair last week--and then stayed in my head until I could get out of the shower and to a place where I could write it down. Canon-divergence AU where Celegorm survives Doriath but massively injured, and also with amnesia due to a combination of a curse from Dior and a head injury, and then somehow we get to Kidnap-Fam-But-Slightly-To-The-Left when Daeron ends up having a very weird day, and also the Els 1.0 are there (and no one's actually kidnapped* but you get the vibe, right?). I'm not really sure where it'll go from there, which is of course most of the fun, but I had hoped to be focusing on a very different Feanorian.
*an argument can be made that Celegorm is the kidnappee in this scenario
I did, I think, fix the problems I was having in getting Plot Things moving in The Fire of Life, so there's that. At least I've gotten Maedhros out of Rivendell and it doesn't feel as forced as the last three times I tried. I am also again struggling with foreshadowing things on purpose because, uh. I know everything so it's hard to tell if I'm being more obvious than I want to be or not. I don't mind at all people guessing or seeing where things are going, but I do also like to have some reveals be surprising, you know? I somehow threaded that needle exactly how I wanted to in Desert, but I don't want to get overconfident here.
There are a couple of other much vaguer ideas that need to simmer on the back burner of my brain for a while, which is honestly a relief. I don't think I mean to complain about having so many ideas, but it remains as I said very weird after being so hyper-focused on one story for so long.
I'm also thinking I probably won't claim anything for TRSB. The gallery is incredible, as it always is, but there's nothing that really leaps out at me--or at least nothing that I'm immediately confident that I could write 5000 words for. I might write a couple of treats for some artists that I recognized, but we'll see.
Add Another Stone - Chapter Four
May. 18th, 2026 11:27 amRating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter / Last Chapter
( Read more... )
Add Another Stone - Chapter Three
May. 17th, 2026 11:20 pmRating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter
( Read more... )
Add Another Stone - Chapter Two
May. 15th, 2026 11:50 pmRating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
First Chapter / Next Chapter
( Read more... )
From That Rubble - Chapter Three
May. 15th, 2026 04:34 pmRating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter
One need not be a chamber—to be haunted—
One need not be a House—
The Brain—has Corridors surpassing
Material Place—
Far safer, of a Midnight—meeting
External Ghost—
Than an Interior—confronting—
That cooler—Host—
- “One need not be a chamber—to be haunted—” by Emily Dickinson
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( Read more... )
Add Another Stone - Chapter One
May. 13th, 2026 06:59 pmRating: T
Characters: Finrod, Celegorm, Curufin, Fingon, Turgon
Warnings: (past) Character Death, general Doom of the Noldor, some violence
Summary: The thing about forgiveness, he thought, was that it was so much easier when the object of it was far away—or dead. It was so much easier to let it all go when those responsible were far away and unable to do any more harm.
AO3 / SWG
Next Chapter
Hello, my old heart
It’s been so long
Since I’ve given you away
And every day
I add another stone
To the walls I built around you
To keep you safe
- “Hello My Old Heart” - The Oh Hellos
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( Read more... )
From That Rubble - Chapter Two
May. 8th, 2026 10:42 amRating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective.
First Chapter / Next Chapter
I was the match and you were the rock, maybe we started this fire
We sat apart and watched all we had burn on the pyre
…
Do you understand that we will never be the same again?
The future’s in our hands and we will never be the same again
- “Things We Lost in the Fire” - Bastille
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( Read more... )
Reading Wednesday
May. 6th, 2026 01:37 pmIt was a reread of Roverandom, which is of course all whimsy and delight, and I got an idea for a kind of cracky fic out of it--Crablor meets Roverandom--so I definitely had fun. I also started another nonfiction book that I've been chipping away at a chapter or two an evening. I won't say I'm out of my reading slump but I'm getting there.
From That Rubble - Chapter One
May. 1st, 2026 01:38 pmRating: T
Characters: Fëanor, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen, Sons of Feanor, various others
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived.
Note: This fic covers the same ground as A Hundred Miles Through the Desert, but from Fëanor's perspective.
AO3 / SWG
Next Chapter
'Cause from that rubble, what remains
Can only be what's true
If all was lost, there's more I gained
'Cause it led me back to you
- “From Now On” - The Greatest Showman
( Read more... )
Rating: T
Characters: Finwe, Original Characters
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: In the dark woods near the Waters of Awakening, Finwë's brothers are taken. In Valinor, when the Trees wither, Finwë is slain. In the Fourth Age, things take place long thought impossible.
Note: This fic takes place in my meanwhile the world goes on 'verse, but can be read standalone. The last chapter will contain spoilers for the end of A Hundred Miles Through the Desert.
First Chapter / Previous Chapter
So listen to the darkness, listen to the patterns
Listen to the breathing sea
Listen to the colors, carry them inside you
They will bring you back to me
Listen to the sirens, listen to the heartbeat
Listen to the turning tide
Listen to the murmurs, carry them inside you
‘til we’re on the other side
In the breaking light
- “The Breaking Light” by Vienna Teng
- -
Rating: T
Characters: Sons of Feanor, Elrond, Feanor, Daeron, various others
Warnings: n/a
Summary: After years in Lórien, Maglor and Maedhros are ready to return to their family and to make something new with their lives--but to move forward, all of Fëanor's sons must decide how, or if, they can ever reconcile with their father.
Note: This fic is a direct sequel to High in the Clean Blue Air.
AO3 / SWG
Prologue / Previous Chapter
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting—
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
- “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
- -
There's also probably going to be other spin-off fics in this 'verse because I'm really not ready to let it all go. But it's moving down the priorities list, which is both nice and weird and sad all at once.
Uhh what else. The asparagus is coming up! But we got hit with a very cold snap that included a freeze warning, so that killed some of the flowers that were blooming and also took out some of the asparagus stalks, but that's fine, there's a bunch more coming up. My peonies are also budding, which is very nice. And we had a red-headed woodpecker hang around the backyard on Friday! They're not usually found around here and I spotted him entirely by chance, so that was neat. Dad tried to get some good photos with his nice camera but there always seemed to be branches and things in the way.
I made a marble cake the other day that turned out very nice. I'm next going to try this zebra cake which is basically the same thing but in an actual cake pan and with a stripy pattern to it rather than just dropping the batter in random blobs.
Am still in a reading slump. If I could just. Finish a book? That would be great. I keep picking them up and even if I'm enjoying them I end up putting them down halfway through and just not picking them up again, and it's very annoying. I think in large part it's because most of my brain has been occupied with Desert, so maybe now that that's done I'll be able to focus on other things.
Rating: T
Characters: Finwe, Original Characters
Warnings: (past) Character Death
Summary: In the dark woods near the Waters of Awakening, Finwë's brothers are taken. In Valinor, when the Trees wither, Finwë is slain. In the Fourth Age, things take place long thought impossible.
Note: This fic takes place in my meanwhile the world goes on 'verse, but can be read standalone. The last chapter will contain spoilers for the end of A Hundred Miles Through the Desert.
First Chapter / Next Chapter
Will there really be a morning?
Is there such a thing as day?
Could I see it from the mountains
If I were as tall as they?
- “Will there really be a morning?” by Emily Dickinson
( Read more... )
Rating: T
Characters: Sons of Feanor, Elrond, Feanor, Daeron, various others
Warnings: n/a
Summary: After years in Lórien, Maglor and Maedhros are ready to return to their family and to make something new with their lives--but to move forward, all of Fëanor's sons must decide how, or if, they can ever reconcile with their father.
Note: This fic is a direct sequel to High in the Clean Blue Air.
Prologue / Previous Chapter / Epilogue
( Read more... )
Rating: T
Characters: Finwe, Original Characters
Warnings: Character Death
Summary: In the dark woods near the Waters of Awakening, Finwë's brothers are taken. In Valinor, when the Trees wither, Finwë is slain. In the Fourth Age, things take place long thought impossible.
Note: This fic takes place in my meanwhile the world goes on 'verse, but can be read standalone. The last chapter will contain spoilers for the end of A Hundred Miles Through the Desert.
Also written for the SWG's Everyman challenge for the prompt: "So it came to pass, some years ere the coming of Oromë, that if any of the Elves strayed far abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish, and never return; and the Quendi said that the Hunter had caught them, and they were afraid." - The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"
AO3 | SWG
Next Chapter
Loosen your hands, let go and say good-bye.
Let the stars and songs go.
- “Stars, Songs, Faces” by Carl Sandburg
- -
( Read more... )