A/N: This chapter will be about how the children learn of the Silmarillion and goes into Aulenmir's family a little more.
Enjoy and please review!
A large weight of history surrounds our world, one that must be understood before any specific inquiries into our past can be made. For example, without any knowledge of Fëanor, how can one talk about the Kinslaying? The Elves were quite good at summarizing this wealth of knowledge, but even then it is quite difficult to get through it all, and that knowledge is so general that it leaves many readers with a near inaccurate view of what occurred in those times, to say nothing of how the Elves already have a remote perspective from ours!
I, however, am not the man to undertake the task of properly summarizing the Silmarillion, having not made it may task. My focus is even more specific, on the history of our great island and its inhabitants. For anyone who does try to summarize the Silmarillion, I recommend that they take the Elves' version and embellish it slightly, or else they may find themselves embarking on a life-long quest to write their summary!
Or better yet, skip the summary entirely! Talk about your specific subject and pray that the audience already knows of this large background of information. Assuming any knowledge of your audience is a dangerous thing in any profession, but here I fear it cannot be ignored, and on this Vanilmara and I quite agree!
-From the Abridged Journals of Arnuzîr
"Wait, you can't just start there!" Aulenmir shot Telimperion an icy glare, for it was she who interrupted his tale. "Who's telling this story, you or me?" he growled.
"Sorry," she muttered, "but if you start at the real beginning it will take us months to get to the actual story."
"Believe me, I know what I am doing," said Aulenmir. "Anyways, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," he paused to glare at Telimperion, who slunk down in her chair, looking ashamed. "At the dawn of time…."
With that said, Aulenmir launched into a vivid description of the history of the world up through the First Age. He told of how the world was created, of Eru and the Valar, and of Melkor, the enemy. He told tales of Valinor, and of the Elves living there and of the Two Trees. Of Morgoth's treachery and of Fëanor and his oath.
He talked about how the Noldor came to Beleriand, and of their interactions with the Sindar. He talked about the princes of the Noldor and how the struggled to survive. With great detail, he discussed the many wars that occurred, and showed how Morgoth was winning, until the War of Wrath and the destruction of Beleriand.
The children listened to him, utterly enraptured. Aulenmir found a way to express stories that they may have otherwise found boring exciting and amusing. They loved his strange analogies, beautiful metaphors, and insights on the decisions that were made at that time. Although Aulenmir drew most of his story from the tales that he had learned from the Elves when he was younger and had explored Arnor, he also drew from other sources, written by mortal men long after those events had taken place.
Occasionally, they interrupted him to ask questions, until Aulenmir finally put a stop to that practice in the interest of finishing this part of his story in one night. He wanted to finish this part all by tonight for two reasons. First, he wanted Telimperion to hear all of it again, since he knew she loved his story telling. Second, getting the story all out of the way in one night gave him more time to tell the real story.
Most of the children's questions had to do with things they didn't believe or where shocked by. Sirilfa questioned why Vana and Estë seemed to have very few powers among the Valar, and was shocked by the Kinslaying in Alqualondë, asking how Fëanor could do such a thing. Peladin, for his part, wondered why there were so many different kinds of Elves, and asked why there were so many different names for all the places and people. He was fascinated by the idea of Quenya and Sindarin, and all the other different Elven languages, some of which Aulenmir promised to teach him.
The children were revising their opinion of Aulenmir. While at first they had been unwilling to stay with him, his skill at telling stories was beginning to win them over to him. He seemed to be a very funny and clever man, from their perspective. Aulenmir was also changing his mind about having them stay. While he had at first definitely been very opposed to the idea, he loved having someone to tell his stories to; it wasn't the same with Noldolma.
Aulenmir hoped that he had told the children enough to understand what he was going to be telling them the next night. The Tale of Aldarion and Erendis made very little sense without an idea of the background behind it. Aulenmir knew he was going to have to spend a large part of the next night explaining the history of Númenor up to when Aldarion was born.
However, the sun had long since gone down (not that Aulenmir could really tell, what with the blizzard, but he had an instinct for this sort of thing), everyone was getting quite sleepy, and Aulenmir liked to wake up early in the morning. So, he reached his conclusion and told the children that they would continue in the morning.
"Well, this seems like a fine place for us to stop. Let's get to bed and we'll continue tomorrow night. Aulenmir set up cots for the children to sleep on, promising them more permanent arrangements later on, but that the cots would have to do for now. Telimperion was to sleep on the only other bed in the house, and Aulenmir slept on his own bed.
After Telimperion and Aulenmir had settled the children down in their cots, they returned to the table to clean it up. "So," said Aulenmir, "When do you plan on heading to Minas Tirith?"
"As you know, my plight is one that must be resolved soon, or else we will all lose most of our money, or worse, starve. I will leave as soon as this blasted blizzard abates, and I will press on to the White City, resting as little as possible. Hopefully, King Elessar will receive me and hear my plea, or I don't what I'll do."
"Couldn't yer husband help?"
"Torenor, as you should be aware, is away on a long scouting trip to the East. He is scooping out the recent acquisition and is helping the surveyors determine the location of the regions capitol. He will not be back for years, and even if I were to try to communicate with him and ask him to return it would be months before he got back."
Aulenmir grunted, but didn't say anything else. He got out Telimperion's letter again and looked at it. "I notice you say you want to bring us all back together. What do you mean by that?" They both knew whom Aulenmir was referring to by "us".
"You remember how we parted, right?" Telimperion made sure to check that Aulenmir remembered; she knew that he didn't have the best memory at times.
"Of course I do," said Aulenmir. "How could I forget?"
"Well, then you will remember how we all promised to go our separate ways. Parthekos said he would head to the East, I decided to stay in the Vale, Altariel headed up to Arnor, Mermacil went to Minas Ithil, you came here, and Liriel headed south."
Aulenmir nodded. "Yes, I remember."
"Well, I was thinking that we really should try to bring this family back together. We've been feuding for almost a decade now, and it's driving me insane. I just want us to act like a normal family!" she said exasperatedly.
Aulenmir frowned. "Not everyone shares your desire to reunite. I have no particular wish to see Altariel again, nor do I wish to see Mermacil. Eru knows I wasn't even entirely willing to accept you here, at first! Give up your wish, Tel. Do not seek out Mermacil in Minas Ithil. Leave this family how it is.
"Can't you see it's hurting you?" Tel asked passionately. "Can't you see that you miss them, and that every second that passes and we are split, you grow colder inside?"
Aulenmir was silent for a minute. "I suppose I can't tell you what to do," he said. "But, let me say one thing. You are trying for the impossible, and will not succeed. I will take care of your children until the first day of spring. After that, they are on their own."
Telimperion's eyes went cold. "So be it. Good night, Aulenmir."
"Good night, Telimperion." They both fell asleep, angry at each other and at their lives.
As usual, Aulenmir woke early in the morning. The blizzard had finished its tantrum at some point during the night, and he was now free to go outside. He brought Noldolma with him, just in case. He checked the snares and was relieved to see that some food had been caught. Aulenmir also was lucky enough to find some edible plants that had been undisturbed by the snow. He had the Valar's blessing today, it seemed. He opted not to check out the greenhouse, saving those plants for later on.
Aulenmir and Noldolma returned to the house to find that the others had just woken up. He began cooking some of the meat and storing the rest of the meat in the icebox outside. He also prepared some of the vegetables, but saved the rest for later. Meanwhile, Telimperion talked with Peladin and Sirilfa, minding them to be on their best behavior.
Aulenmir brought the food over to the table. "So, are ye leaving us now?" he asked Telimperion.
Telimperion swallowed her food. "Yes," she said. "I must try to get to Minas Tirith as quickly as possible, and I will try to get back as soon as I can. Will you be all right without me?" she asked.
"I should be fine," Aulenmir said. "Hopefully, the Ephûl will be wiling to help me out again, or we may run low on food, but even then are odds are pretty good." Both of the children, being used to excellent and regular meals were more than a little perturbed by this news, but Aulenmir hoped they'd get over it.
After breakfast was finished, Aulenmir and the children waved good-bye to Telimperion, who set back down the mountain path. Aulenmir was able to put his disagreements with her beside while he said good-bye.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Peladin.
"Well, that depends on you two," Aulenmir replied. "If yer up fer it, I could teach you guys some more of living up and the mountains, because that will make the next couple of months much more enjoyable for all of us. Or, you tow could slack around between meals and story time."
Sirilfa opened her mouth and was about to say that slacking off sounded nice when Peladin elbowed her in the ribs and, trying to be a good guest, said "Oh, we'd love to help, Uncle! What would we start with?"
Clutching at her side and glaring at Peladin, Sirilfa muttered, "Yeah, sure, I'd love to help."
Chuckling at their antics, Aulenmir said, "One very important thing to have out in the mountains in the midst of winter is heat. The best of source of that is fire. And, in order to make fire, we need lots an' lots of wood. So, I'm going to teach y'all how to chop would. How's 'at sound?"
Although Peladin and Sirilfa looked doubtful that chopping wood would be fun, they nodded their heads and went with Aulenmir. He spent most of the day showing them how to properly doing it, pausing temporarily to eat lunch and then ending when the sun was almost sunk all the way below the horizon. He told the children to stop what they were doing and to come in for dinner. Dinner was mostly the same as breakfast, and though the children ate it uncomplainingly, it was clear that they were unused to eating meals of this variety.
Once dinner was finished, and everything was cleaned up, Aulenmir launched right into story time. Today, he would be talking about the beginnings of Númenor, and if he had the time he would start the Tale of Aldarion and Erendis.
"After the War of Wrath, the Valar decided to reward the three houses of Men who had fought alongside the Elves in the First Age. Eönwë taught them knowledge that none of that race had ever been privy to before, and they were gifted with life and power beyond any others of mortal fashion. These Men were called the Dúnedain, or the Númenorians.
"A land was built for the Dúnedain called Númenor. It was shaped in the fashion of a five-pointed star. The northern point, or promontory, was called Forostar. It was rather rocky and barren, save for the moors of the western regions. In this region, great cliffs rose from the sea, and many eagles dwelt there.
"The eastern promontory was called Orostar. Orostar was quite cool, but was protected from the coldest winds by its highlands, and grain was grown in the warmer regions.
"The southeasten promontory was called Hyarrostar. Hyarrostar was the land of many beautiful, colorful trees. Much of the wood used to build the ships starting in Aldarion's time was gotten from here.
"The southwestern promontory was called Hyarnustar. Many fisher folk dwelt in this region, and there were also many vineyards to be found here. The final promontory was called Andustar. Many beautiful trees grew here also, though it had many mountainous regions.
"Finally, the middle region was known as Mittalmar. Here, the grand mountain Meneltarma reached towards the heavens. Here also was the capitol, Armenelos.
"Númenor was first settled in the year 32 of the Second Age. The first king there was Elros, who, as you'll recall, was half-Elven and chose to follow his mortal side, and so was gifted a long life. Elros took the name Tar-Minyatur and ruled Númenor for 410 years, laying down his life in the year 442. After Tar-Minyatur died, his son, Vardamir Nólimon should have taken his place. However, Nólimon chose instead to give the sceptre to his son, Tar-Amandil. Nonetheless, he is still counted among the Kings of Númenor.
"Tar-Amandil ruled for 148 years, before handing the sceptre to his son, Tar-Elendil. Tar-Elendil was a large student of lore, and published many books on the subject. His daughter, Silmarien, should have been Queen after him, but the law had not been yet changed to allow for this possibility, and so Tar-Meneldur became king. Of Silmarien's line would come Amandil and Elendil, two men who would allow for the survival of the Númenorians in Middle-earth. His son was the man upon whom our story centers: Anardil, known better to us as Tar-Aldarion."
Looking around, Aulenmir guessed that there was still plenty of time in the night. "All right," he said, speaking to Peladin and Sirilfa. "If you two want, I can start the story know. However, we will still have to wake up at the same time, and you may be very tired. Or we can stop now and continue tomorrow night.
Aulenmir could see in the children's eyes which option they preferred, as evidenced by their vehement head shaking when he mention his second option. So, he cleared his throat, took a sip of water, and launched into his story.