Halo in the Mist, by Elleth

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Challenge:
N36: Snippets of Verse: Time, which takes in trust our youth; Women of the Silmarillion: Mortal Women
B13: Here We Come A-Caroling: "And they looked up and saw a star..."
Format: Ficlet
Genre: Family, Drama
Rating: Teens
Warnings: N/a
Characters: Mithrellas, Gilmith
Pairings: N/A
Summary: Mithrellas, as a mother, cannot bear mortality.


The stars form halos in the mist the night Gilmith is born. Mithrellas pushes, strains and screams, expelling life into the world – first touch confirming former guesses. The girl, too, is mortal, and Mithrellas is no Lúthien, nor Elwing, to offer her a choice.

The girl grows swiftly. She likes the nights when stars form halos in the mist, recalling birth and name. And all too soon, time, trusty, calls for tribute. Gilmith's hair was always silver, but frosty white is new. She takes her mother's hands, bidding her go. Her choice is peace.

It was a nightmare nonetheless; Mithrellas' heart pounds, waking. Gilmith lies sleeping in her cradle. Far, the stars form halos in the mist. She will grow, the nightmare may well have been truth. It is, or will be.

So Mithrellas sails, and grieving wonders. Will stars form halos in the mist across the sea? Give peace?

Comments

[dwimordene-2011.livejournal.com]

Mithrellas is no Lúthien, nor Elwing, to offer her a choice.

A point which I love - this whole half-elven business is not nearly so clear-cut as it seems after Earendil makes landing at Valinor.

What a great use of a dream sequence: you really play that well here, and turn the idea of "choice" away from "choice of who to be" to "choice of how to live (and so also how to die)", and that Gilmith in the dream chooses to die peacefully and without clinging to her mother.

I can certainly see how Mithrellas would be repulsed, and flee, but it is sad that her choice means she will never have the chance to learn whether her daughter would have let her go, or to have the opportunity perhaps to gain peace from her daughter's choices. Imagination overwhelms - which is very human!

Beautiful work, Elleth!

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

First of all, thank you! :)

this whole half-elven business is not nearly so clear-cut as it seems after Earendil makes landing at Valinor.
It's not? I always found it rather plainly stated that the choices that were granted were rewards, and (doing an educated guess) a "common" elf-mortal marriage like that of Imrazôr and Mithrellas wouldn't force anyone to surrender anything. But I'll be happy to listen to different interpretations.

And all the same, I'm glad you got so much out of the ficlet - spot-on observations!

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

What a nightmare for an immortal to consider, giving her reason to sail without warning as she did. Well imagined.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

I've always found Mithrellas to be one of the most tragic characters... more than Lúthien or Elwing, at any rate, because she neither had a choice to join her children as a mortal woman, or even offer them the choice to become immortal. Thank you for your comment - very thoughtful, as usual.