I27 - What Did You Do In the War, Daddy?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Challenge: March 3019: March 23rd One of the ‘faint-hearted’
Format: Drabble
Genre: Gen
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Characters: Gondorian OM
Pairings: N/A
Summary: I saw the first spring flowers come to Lossarnach Vale.

What Did You Do In the War, Daddy?

I saw the first spring flowers come to Lossarnach Vale. The snowdrops slipped out quietly, as if nothing was different this year.

I marched with the old lord, old Forlong, under his banner. I saw the city for the second time. Its towers were tall. It was not as white as its name might suggest. It was blacker after the battle.

I marched with the new king, under his banner. We walked through Ithilien, past the Crossroads, north. On the edge of desolation, I put my head in my hands and wept.

When I came home, it was still spring.

Comments

[aliana1.livejournal.com]

Love this--such a sympathetic look at the "faint-hearted," for whom I've always had great compassion, since I probably would have done the same thing in that situation. :p (Also, wonderful WWI reference in the title!)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I feel very sorry for them too, and, yes, I would have been exactly the same. Glad you spotted the ref!

[grey-wonderer.livejournal.com]

I like this look at a soldier as he returns home. It would seem amazing after all that, flowers still blooming.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It wouldn't be a long period of time for some of them, really.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Not everyone is cut out for war.

- Erulisse (one L)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

This was very moving

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you found it moving.

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

At least he was given an assignment he could pursue, and did not return without some triumph to speak of, in spite of the apparent shame of terror he knew as he approached Mordor's gates. Good look at his feelings.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that this was a piece of Tolkien's personal experience translated almost directly to the page.