"People of the Noldor, hear me! The High King of the Noldor is slain!"
The crowd gasped at Fëanaro's words, although in truth almost all of them had known his news beforehand, rumour in Tirion being what it was. Meldon leant against the wall of one of the houses surrounding the square below the Mindon Eldaliéva, knowing that he had no chance of seeing over the crowd.
"Yea, by the treachery of Melkor Moringotto he is slain, and I claim the kingship of my father's people! Wilt thou have me?"
"Of course they will," Meldon muttered under the crowd's cheers. "They're eager for a hero while the Valar sit and do nothing."
"Oh, don't be such a cynic," said Cenirë. "Come on, let's see if we can get closer."
Meldon looked at the closely-packed Eldar. "How, by flying?"
Cenirë looked around. "Well, I-"
"Then I vow to you that I will avenge Finwë's death, if I give my life to do so!"
Meldon rolled his eyes at Fëanaro's words, but the need to comment was taken from him by another. "How can he do that?" asked a semi-familiar voice loudly. "Hasn't Melkor gone back to Endor?"
"That's King Nolofinwë!" Cenirë exclaimed. "Come on, Meldon, he's not that far away."
Meldon blinked. "So? Since when have you been friends with the king?"
Cenirë glared at him. "Who do you think he's talking to, brother?"
Meldon feigned thought. "Oh, well, perhaps his wife?"
Cenirë scowled, and Fëanaro continued his speech in the distance. " Why, my people, should we longer serve the jealous Valar, who cannot keep us, nor even their own realm, secure from their Enemy? If, indeed, he is their enemy. For though they call him foe, are not they and he of one kin? Vengeance bids me follow Moringotto, but even were it otherwise I would not dwell longer in this land with the kin of my father's murderer, and of the thief of my treasure. Yet I am not the only valiant in this valiant people! I ask you, Noldor, have you not lost your king? Do you not desire vengeance?"
Meldon groaned, but looked up in surprise at another, more familiar voice. "He's good at this. He's got their blood moving. I fear… Nolofinwë?"
"Ha!" Cenirë crowed. "I knew it. Come on, Meldon, we should go to Arafinwë."
Meldon shook his head in despair and pushed himself away from the wall. "All right, then. If you can find them."
Cenirë grinned. "Of course I can," she said, and ran into the crowd. Despite the packed look to it, she nevertheless managed to find a way through. Shaking his head again, Meldon followed.
X
"And what else have you lost, cooped up here in a narrow land between the mountains and the sea? Here, once, was light, that Middle-earth lacks, but now, now darkness levels all. Shall we mourn here deedless forever, a shadow-folk, mist-haunting, dropping vain tears in the thankless sea? Or shall we return to our home? In Cuiviénen sweet ran the waters under unclouded skies, and wide lands lay about, where a free people might walk. There they lie still! They await us, who in our folly forsook them. Come away! Let the cowards keep this city!"
At the foot of the stair, Varnë joined in the cheering exuberantly. This was what was needed, not the long councils of the Valar. The Eldar needed action.
"Too long have the Valar held us here in thrall, that they may supplant us in our Ilúvatar-given homeland with Mortals. The existence of these Secondborn, these weak Aftercomers, these Atani, they have kept secret from us, that we would never doubt that they kept us here for our own good. No more! Who will join me in reclaiming our homeland?"
"I! I!" Varnë cried, hearing the words echoed all around her. At her side, Makalaurë grinned, an expression that the woman was sure was matched on her own face.
"Fair shall the end be," continued Fëanaro, "though long and hard shall be the road! Say farewell to bondage! Say farewell to oppression!" The crowd cheered again, and again Fëanaro waited for them to still. When he spoke again, his tone was far less forceful, more thought-provoking. "But say farewell also to ease, for the Valar will no longer be there to show us the easy path, to hold our hands – as though we were children. Will you regret this freedom?"
"No! No!" called Varnë with all the rest, but at the back of her mind a small hint of doubt intruded. Even in Formenos, her life had been relatively peaceful. How would she handle a war?
"Say farewell to the weak! Say farewell to your treasures – more still shall we make! Journey light, but bring with you your swords! For we will go further than Oromë, endure longer than Tulkas, and we will never turn back from pursuit." Varnë's thought vanished as Fëanaro – her king – ripped his sword from it's sheath and stabbed it skywards. "After Moringotto to the ends of the Earth!" The light of their torches flashed from the blade, and as the crowd roared in response, Varnë wished she had a sword of her own that she could imitate him, as so many others were doing, Makalaurë included. Over the wild cheering, Fëanaro spoke again.
"War he shall have, and hatred undying! And we will defeat him! We will conquer! We will regain the Silmarils, and then we and we alone shall be lords of the unsullied Light, and masters of the bliss and beauty of Arda. No other race shall oust us!"
From the front line of the crowd, where Varnë stood with all seven of her king's sons, Morifinwë leapt up onto the step beside his father, sword in hand, and called the words that would be forever etched in Varnë's mind. "Be he elf, or orc, or demon foul of Moringotto…"
As he continued – "Be he Mortal dark that in after days on Earth shall dwell, shall no law nor love nor league of swords" – his brothers joined him, in ones and twos, until at last only Makalaurë was left at Varnë's side. "No might, nor mercy…"
"Nor moveless fate!" Makalaurë cried, chiming in at last, but his hand grasped Varnë's and he did not move from his place as the seven continued.
"Defend him forever from the fierce vengeance of the Sons of Fëanaro, whoso seize, or steal, or finding keep the fair enchanted globes of crystal whose glory dies not, the Silmarils. We have sworn forever!"
"In Eru's name we swear!" Pityafinwë cried. His twin Telufinwë waved his sword higher and added his own vow: "The Everlasting Dark be upon us if we keep not our oath!"
Morifinwë grinned darkly. "Manwë and Varda we name in witness, on their hallowed mountain of Taniquetil!"
All seven of Fëanaro's sons thrust their blades as high as they might and bellowed out the final line of their Oath. "The Silmarils are ours until the end of Time!"
Varnë stared at her friends, numb with shock. The silence of the crowd was overwhelming, and she knew full well why. To swear that they would retake the Silmarils was one thing, but to do so by Ilúvatar's name, calling the Elder King himself as a witness? To consign themselves to the Void if they should fail? Varnë shuddered, her hand dropping from Makalaurë's. She didn't know whether it was because of her Vanyarin mother's influence or simply fear, but she suddenly had an overwhelming desire to flee, to push her way through the crowd to the city gates and run all the way to Taniquetil, there to kneel before Manwë and beg forgiveness for even hearing the Oath.
"You insane fools!" Varnë was jolted from her thoughts by Nolofinwë's words, and stumbled sideways as Fëanaro's half-brother pushed between her and Makalaurë. As other members of Finwë's house – she thought she recognised Findecáno and Ingoldo – rushed past her, Makalaurë shot her an apologetic look and dashed up onto the steps to join his brothers. "You would invoke Ilúvatar to serve your selfish desires?" Nolofinwë continued, waving his sword around so angrily that Varnë began to worry he might kill someone by accident.
Fëanaro, however, didn't seem concerned with anything. "If we have to," he said, shrugging unconcernedly, "to get our point across."
"That's…" Nolofinwë's mouth opened and closed a couple of times as he tried – Varnë assumed – to find a suitable word, and then settled on "… insane!"
"Who is the king here?" Fëanaro asked mildly, and Varnë was struck by a sudden thought. Hey, didn't Nolofinwë rule Tirion while-?
"I was, until you came back!" Nolofinwë yelled, confirming her suspicions. "What gives you the right to take this city, that I have worked so hard to preserve, and lead it into darkness?"
" I claim the kingship as the firstborn son of Tirion's true king, half-breed," Fëanaro replied, deathly calm, "and I will fight to preserve it."
"Oh, you'll fight?" Nolofinwë's eyes flashed with rage, and he raised his sword. "Then let us see who is the better swordsman!" The elf swung his blade at Fëanaro's head, and Varnë flinched away, expecting to see blood. Instead, in a move so fast Varnë didn't think it possible, Fëanaro ripped his own sword out and blocked his brother's blow with a jarring crash of steel on steel. The two princes of the Noldor glared at each other over crossed swords, each pushing against the other, even as Varnë was pushed aside yet again by Arafinwë and his son Artaresto. The youngest of Finwë's children stopped at the foot of the stairs, took in the situation in a single glance, and then drew breath for a great cry.
"HOLD!"
I'm sorry this took so long to get up. I'm afraid this section of the story is somewhat awkward to write - all my characters can do is watch, because there's no space for them to do anything. However, you'll be glad to know that I have an outline for the next twenty-odd chapters, and should be able to write them with a little less difficulty than these.
The next chapter picks up where this one left off, taking us through the rest of the debate in Tirion. As with the above, pieces of it are directly from Tolkien, pieces are edited from Tolkien to make them better fit the tone of the story, and pieces are my own extrapolations. Hopefully the contrast isn't too jarring.
Disclaimer: All locations and major events, and all characters except for the families of Meldon and Varnë, belong to JRR Tolkien in spirit, and the Tolkien Estate legally. No harm is intended to them by the writing of this work.
Quenya Vocabulary - Words and names in Quenya will be entered into this list in the first chapter they appear in. Words which should be known from reading the Silmarillion will not be added.
Moringotto - Morgoth
Pityafinwë - Amrod
Findecáno - Fingon
Cloaked Eagle