Friends of Nimrodel: Tapestry of Dreams - Discussion

[Elora]

*Screws eyes shut and tries valiantly to forget the cold. Opens eyes and finds self still shivering*

"Ah well, at least its a tropical southern hemisphere winter," Elora's writer sighs with a wry smile.


Folks, I'm in the process of drafting up an opening post (thanks to a much needed prompt from lmp ). I was a little bashful and hanging back so that I didn't trample in too early and spoil things.


Being a thick head - I'd like a cue as to when to post, so I do not become a veritable fly in the creative ointment *buzz buzz*


*lmp throws his hands up, sighs and wonders what else he needs to do - apart from bellow "POST NOW!!!!!!!" in his best drill seargent impersonation*

[mark12_30]

Drill Sgt lmp, ten-hut-- Bellow on three.

One... Two....

(actually, Elora, you can always post it here on the discussion thread, and then we can decide where it'll go inthe flow of things.)


THREE!


ps.:

What place(s)would you live in Middle Earth and why? Simple, that one. Ithilien. Has the best library around.

It does? I didn't know that! Who gets credit for that? Faramir? Does he rebuild Osgiliath...?

[Elora]

Oooopppps!


My bad..... I did a copy and paste for the formatting of an earlier response (being essentially lazy and not wanting to retype all the questions as well as my answers.) I must have skipped over Ithilien in my haste and tiredness (being a late night post and me overdue for my bedtime). I meant Imladris, as I have always been torn between deciding where I would spend most of my time there - Hall of Fire, the Library of Elrond or skipping about the Gardens making a nuisance of myself with those Elves who sat in trees serenading Bilbo, Thorin, Gandalf et al....


OK, based on sketches by email between lmp and I, I've shaped up an entry point. Uien and Falowik, having departed Mirkwood (a necessary journey associated with events of the Hills of Evendim), draw close to Uien's childhood home around the time the search party leaves Lothlorien (and day before or after). Uien has started having dreams that trouble and confuse her. She cannot decide if they are her own memories and dreams, or those of another, given the similarity and contrasts. By those dreams Uien shall be guided towards the search party, and perhaps they to her.... but that is just a concept at the moment (imho = in my humble opinion)

It's a draft, of that you can be sure, so I am not emotionally attached to it in any way. In fact, I may emphatically disown it later on.

So let me know what you think.


Opening Post for Uien and Falowik

Uien stood, watching the eastern horizon colour with the ascension of the Sun, arms wrapped around her. It was quiet; the world paused as if holding its breath as it moved from night into day. It was a time of peace, introspection, and not unruly strange musings. Her brow furrowed as she attempted to right the disorder she had woken into, straight from another uncannily vivid dream. Elf, she was familiar with the way memory and dream entwined. But not this…. It was tangle…. Too clear to be dream, yet too foreign to be her own memory. Or was it? Uien sighed, brow furrowing and gaze unfocussed as she tried to recall. Abandonment…. Chill despair…. The sensation of being lost, a terrible thing. Lost so that no one could find you, beyond all redemption and recall…. The horror…. Yes, they were her memories alright. Uien’s arms tightened around her. She knew those things and more still. But her dreams were different. There was restlessness in them… and… a madness? She had thought herself mad in the pits. She had abandoned her senses and her reality in a last desperate defence to survive the torment….

But survive she had. She had been brought out by the unlikeliest of rescuers. That was long ago now. Since then she had slowly reclaimed, piece by piece, herself. Indeed, she had gained so much more than she had lost to Caradhras and the orcs. She could hear Falowik’s soft breathing, still regular in sleep, behind her. She had gained her Lauréatan. She turned back to look upon his sleeping face. He was dreaming, she saw. May his dreams be fairer than hers. It made no sense for her to be dreaming as she was. They were not her dreams, not her memories. She was happier than ever she had been. She did not know from whence they came, or what they meant. She would have to find out if they were to stop. Uien unfolded her arms and returned, kneeling beside where Falowik slept and dreamt. He was far from where they were. Where did he wander? Her face lost its pensive cast and softened into a smile of startling tenderness. She brushed golden hair from his brow and he stirred in his sleep, eyes drifting open lazily, the echoes of dreams still in their blue depths.

Uien bent over him and pressed a kiss to his brow, softly, her pale hair falling in rivers around him.

“Good morning, beloved,” she said. Falowik’s answering smile sent her heart soaring and the uncertainty and confusion that woke her was forgotten in its flight. The dawn light danced delicately around them, through the trees in a soft glow. “I slept too long,” he said. “Nay,” she replied, “You have woken just in time for dawn to greet you.” Falowik pushed himself up to sit, rubbing his face. He saw that already their small camp fire had been lit once again. He looked at Uien in question, his mind as quick as ever. “How long have you been awake,” he asked. It was not the first time Uien had been up and about before him. A pattern was emerging. Uien demurred, “Not long, Lauréatan. Look the water boils already.” She rose and crossed to where water bubbled, removing the tin and pouring out two steaming cups of tea. Falowik was not so easily put aside.

“Are you having trouble sleeping, Fair One?” Uien sighed, unhappy to have worried him over a trifle such as her dreams. “It is nothing, truly. Besides, I love well to watch you sleep.” She handed Falowik a hot mug of tea, its herbal scent refreshing and rousing. She sipped at her own, sitting down by his side. Falowik looked closely at her as she did so. Uien smiled, but not before he saw the remnants of her early morning wonderings in her face. “We will reach Lothlórien soon, my love.” Her joy was clear, at least. Perhaps, Uien thought as she sipped, her dreams were nothing unusual. After all, she was returning home at last. All these years she had stayed away, shamed by the pits, and thought lost. Memories would be dredged up, and perhaps she forgot some things to protect herself. Falowik’s arm wound around her shoulders and she nestled into him. The dreams would stop once they had come to her home. Yes, they would stop then. Between the comfort of Falowik at her side, and the long ached for return to her childhood home, Uien’s unrest melted away into the sunrise.

[mark12_30]

Elora,

I finally had time to read and think! Your opening post is lovely, and weaves well; good work.

She's golden-haired, eh? Any relation to Galadriel? (Just kidding!!!! I'm not a hair-color-nazi!!! As long as her hair isn't red, I'm happy!)

Once you've determined the date (you can get to a timeline from my sig, PM me with any questions) go ahead and post it . We usually try to put the date and location in the title (especially when it's changed) and if a writer has more than one character we put the character in the title too.

What path have they taken towards Lorien? Did they cross the mountains? If they had come down from the mountains and followed the Celebrant, it would be fitting if the dreams began when they neared the Nimrodel. Or if you want the dreams to go back further than that they could have travelled along the Nimrodel (maybe even from its birthplace in the mountains) with both the dreams and the stream growing in strength and intensity.

Once again, lovely work. Welcome to Tapestry!

[mark12_30]

...waiting with baited breath...

Elora...?

[Nurumaiel]

I'll try to come up with something, Helen, but I have to study the timeline for a bit... I've found myself confused as to where the Rohan group is and what day it is and what time of day it is. Are we still on the day of the fiddle lesson, or have we moved on? If the former, are we travelling yet or are we still stopped there?

[mark12_30]

The Rohan group is on Dec 20. The fiddle lesson was at lunchbreak, and they are riding south along the river again. You can put the time anywhere from midafternoon on. Feel free to take the group to the 21st!