It's an amazing story, and an incredible chapter. I could feel and see everything that was going on. It's one of those pieces of writing that gives me a frisson.

The epic truths for me about people and relationships and the creative process are often easier to tell through the fantastical and magical

I think they have much greater impact when told in fantasy, perhaps because in fantasy, we can writer larger than life characters (which Tolkiens Silm characters especially certainly are) and focus a lens on what they do without it seeming unrealistic.