Prologue
Valinor - Year Unknown
"Lhinnor! Lhinnor!" A small boy in bright livery ran into the large room. Tall bookcases ran from the floor to the high vaulted ceiling. A glass window graced the ceiling allowing natural light into the clean room.
The small boy came to a stop in front of a desk where there sat a tall but slender man. Well, not so much a man, as a male elf, an ellon. He had long black hair the flowed freely down his back. There was a few splotches of ink across his shirt and a long black mark across his hand. He grimaced and his dark eyes rested upon the small boy. This was Lhinnor.
"Yes?" Lhinnor's voice was rich and deep, almost seeming to resonate among the room no matter how quiet he spoke.
"They are here!" Lhinnor stared at the small boy for a moment.
'They are here! At last!' He continued to stare, disbelief upon his face. Suddenly Lhinnor stood up and rushed out of the study. The small boy scrambled after Lhinnor. It would have been a strange sight to be remarked upon if any could see it, a tall lanky man dashing through the hallway with a much smaller boy on his heels. Lhinnor paused for a moment, outside the room that was used for tea and visitors. He smoothed his hair into place and grimaced at the ink stain upon his hands and shirt. Lhinnor took a deep calming breath counting down from ten.
Lhinnor opened the door to the Tea Room. There was only two people in the room. They contrasted like a fiery sun and a silver dawn. A silver haired ellon and a red haired elleth. They talked to each other in low voices while staring out the window. They held in their hands tea cups filled with the steaming liquid. The elleth with fiery red hair turned from the window, her dress spinning with her. It was gossamer material, clinging to portions of her body, but the material seemed to float and swirl like liquid movements of water. The blue dress that seemed to shiver like rays of light reminded Lhinnor of the Feanorian Lamps. The silver haired male continued to sip tea, ancient eyes regarding him.
"Lhinnor," she greeted, her voice low and musical. The elleth clasped Lhinnor's hands in greeting. Her hands were rough and callused, at odds with her beautiful appearance. The elves from Cuivienen were truly the fairest of elves, except for Luthien and some of her descendants.
"Karanisuri, Tarakano, it is a pleasure to see you again."
"Your tea is always pleasant," Karanisuri said.
"You are not here for tea," Lhinnor stated it outright, eyeing the couple.
"We are in fact here for tea. We have just returned from Tol Fainarad," Tarakano declared with a small smile. "We truly do enjoy the blends you create. My wife and I are not so talented in that arena."
This caused Lhinnor to laugh, "However I am sure you are truly curious about the state of my project."
"It is our family's tale you are telling. I do not mind the tale, for many know of it already. Still, I want to make sure it is right and that you do not embellish it," Karanisuri divulged.
"Your story is safe with me," Lhinnor promised. "Excuse me a moment."
Lhinnor escaped the Tea Room walking swiftly back to his study. He opened the draw and pulled out a large bound book. His fingers caressed the spine, his gaze lingering upon it. Lhinnor went back to the Tea Room with the book held carefully in his hands.
"Here," Lhinnor said presenting the book with a flourish. Karanisuri placed her tea cup onto the tray. She took the book in her hands and sat down settee. Tarakano sat beside her his eyes turned trained on the page she opened too. The two remained silent as Karanisuri opened the page. Karanisuri lost her composure and gasped, her eyes settling upon him.
"You…"
Tarakano read out a passage, "The stars are always constant, yet sometimes blackened storm clouds would block them out. Not even our fires and their smoke would ever block out the sight of that we, the Eldar love most, the stars. While I love the stars, as much as any other, what I have always loved most is the wind. It is even in my mother's name, suri. Wind."
"You used our words," Karanisuri managed to finally say.
"I thought it best. I have a great memory, always able to recall the exact words a person said on what day, even what they were wearing. It is such a small skill but it has greatly aided me, especially in casting your story in proper light. I desired to use your words, for what words could I say? None, for it is not my story but yours, your family's. I just arranged it and I hope that it is to your fancy."
"Will you give us time?"
"Of course. Would you like more tea, perhaps some lembas? I will bring you the rest of the books," Lhinnor said.
"The rest?" Tarakano asked.
"Yes, I split each book into each age."
"I see the reasoning behind that," Karanisuri stated. Karanisuri gazed at her husband for a moment.
"More tea please and lembas would be most welcome. Could we have some of those sweet cakes from last time? Karanisuri loves them," Tarakano said.
"It will be my pleasure," Lhinnor promised. Lhinnor quickly left and returned with more tea, the lembas, and the sweet cakes. He paused in the doorway of the Tea Room watching the couple. Karanisuri leaned against Tarakano, her head rested upon his shoulder. The book is between them. Tarakano's arm is around her shoulder. Lhinnor placed the tray on the small table and left the couple.
'I hope you like it,' Lhinnor thought, glancing back at the couple before closing the door.
- The Author's Note To Rule Them All -
I've decided to write my author's note at the end. This way, you can skip it if you want. Any future Author's Note will be in reference to any major changes.
If there is anyone who would like to be my beta reader and help me make this story better, I would greatly appreciate it. BWS as it stands right now is a raw story with little editing done. It is hard for me to edit my own story even when I read it out loud to myself.
So welcome to Beneath Wide Skies. This has been a long project for me and I have a great deal longer to go. BWS itself is divided into five books, each a different age. Beneath Star and Tree is concerned with all the Years of the Trees. It will follow the Silmarillion up until the Noldor finish crossing the Helcaraxë and the moon rises. BWS will follow various characters all the way into the Fourth Age. This story concerns itself with a cast of original characters, though some will interact with various famous characters at different points.
I have put so much effort into BWS, countless hours into research, countless hours in creating character profiles, family trees, world building exercises, and so much more. It was all to craft this story that dives deep into Middle Earth. I wanted to explore ME, its lands, its peoples. I wanted to explore the elves in their earliest culture and explore the major events and sorrows that shapes their people's lives. I wanted to attempt to solve the issue of Gildor Inglorian (and I believe I have nice Tolkien worthy explanation for this). Then there is also the Blue Wizards. My story will deal much with them. You'll meet them in Beneath Star and Tree, but their role becomes very major in the third book pertaining to the Second Age.
I have tried to stick with Tolkien canon as much as possible. Is it possible considering Tolkien was never finished with his work and kept changing it? Who knows? The one issues I have with Tolkien is, diversity. I don't believe for one second that the elves are mostly all of dark hair, slender, and tall. I am not talking about the supposed all golden-haired Vanyar here either. Thranduil has golden hair and mind you, it means Oropher had it and his mother had it and the mother clearly had to not be of the Vanyar. I have also focused on a more equal society, even if following the lines that females are given to 'ellith' activities. These are just a few minor changes I have made.
The last thing I want to mention is...my elvish is poor. It is a joke. I have tried to reason it out, but if anyone knows better, feel free to correct me on the naming of places that are unique. However in the creation of names, especially during the beginning of Beneath Star and Tree, names are created with a smorgasbord of Quenya, Sindarin, and primitive elvish. I have relied moreso on the primitive elvish and quenya aspect. My reasoning is that Quenya and Sindarin had an original language, but it split off. Quenya is not the more original in my eyes and a total different language of the Quendi from the beginning. But mostly I just relied on Primitive Elvish and 'Gnomish' or a slight modified form.
I have tried to avoid the use of Elvish sentences as it seems to me to be complete nonsense. There are of course in elvish, greetings, nicknames, titles, places, little things like Ai! As a greeting. Elves are speaking Elvish to each other and when Elves speak to Men, it would be either in elvish or the language of Men.