It's a Puzzle, by Tehta

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Title: It’s Puzzle
Author Name: tehta
Summary: So, what was Galadriel doing near the end of the First Age, as her kinsmen died and their realms fell into ruin?
Prompt: “Write or create art about a place or group that is beginning its rise in importance.”
Warnings: It’s actually a word-based puzzle. Some people might find that annoying.
Rating: General.
Beta: One person did manage to solve it!


So, what was Galadriel doing near the end of the First Age, as her kinsmen died and their realms fell into ruin?


(The response below is a 250-word ficlet. It is also an acrostic: a particularly complex and awkwardly-clued one. I am not sure that anyone will decipher it, or want to. But, really, the ficlet itself should be answer enough.)


Faint birdsong punctuated the silence as Galadriel and Celeborn waited for the Ent’s answer, gradually losing hope that it would come before the end of Arda.

“I am... quite aware,” the Tree-Shepherd said at last, “of the intrinsic... hastiness... of your people, so I shall... do my best.. to keep my speech brief… and terse, as well as… concise, pithy, and… elliptical.” Fir-needles rained down around the Elves as he preened his green crown, obviously proud of this collection of synonyms. “Thus, I must... inform you... tree-friend... Teleporno…”

His words grew so infrequent that Celeborn made an impatient gesture; Galadriel laid a hand on his arm to prevent him from saying something undiplomatic.

“And you, shining... and noble... lady,” the Ent continued, oblivious to their shared and growing frustration, “that I consider it... most unwise...”

Now that was a great disappointment, thought Galadriel. Defenses were a vital aspect of any hidden realm, and enlisting the help of the trees themselves would have allowed them to surround all of Taur-in-Duinath with a perimeter almost as secure as Melian’s Girdle. Luckily, the Ent’s ponderous, laconic ways made her feel quite confident that he would not blab. Another important, if often ignored, aspect of a hidden realm was that it should remain a secret, rather than a topic of common gossip like the “hidden” cities of Findarato and Turukano.

Suddenly, the Ent’s sonorous voice arose again, scattering her thoughts with its power.

“To reject,” he said evenly, “such an astute... and prudent... plan.”



AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Galadriel’s insignificance throughout much of the First Age has always struck me as more than a little bizarre, considering her canonical ambition and later accomplishments. Being mentored by Melian seems in character, but apart from that… if all she was doing was being a houseguest in Doriath and Nargothrond, couldn’t she have done something productive when her siblings and her people fell, one by one? So, I have developed the headcanon that she and Celeborn had a realm of their own, one more secret even than Turgon’s, and I have set it in Taur-im-Duinath, the forest with the canonical description of NOTHING GOING ON HERE PLEASE IGNORE, which seems like exactly the right sort of description for a *successfully* concealed realm. As for the Entish element: In LotR, Treebeard clearly knows Galadriel and Celeborn of old.

Edited to add: When I said acrostic, I meant the usual definition of a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words. Except, since this isn't a poem, it's sentences that matter here, not lines. Oh, and there are three phrases to be found here: a clue, and two snarky solutions.

Comments

[petite-dilly.livejournal.com]

Bon j'arrive pas à masquer mon commentaire...

[tehta.livejournal.com]

You could delete it? Although people who do not want spoilers should probably avoid the comments by this point.

And obviously your solution is right.

[petite-dilly.livejournal.com]

Je vais faire ça !

Edit : et je croyais l'avoir effacé... Et en fait non -_-