B2MeM 2012: "The Earth, Singing" by Himring

[hhimring]

B2MeM Challenge: O-72: In what furnace was thy brain? (W. Blake) [Snippets of Verse)
Format: Vignette
Genre: Character Study
Rating: General
Warnings: none
Characters: Aule, Durin, Feanor
Pairings: none
Summary: Aule designs Durin's brain.

In his longing for students to teach the unbounded wealth of the minerals of Arda, Aule takes great pains to calibrate the brains of his dwarves exactly to their task. The dwarven bodies he designs are sturdy and solid, thoroughly functional like a well-balanced hammer or a mattock; later ages will—mistakenly—call them crude. But Durin’s brain is an intricately damascened blade. It is a fine instrument attuned to the tectonic rhythms of Arda. It is a set of chimes that resonates with the song of granite and gneiss, quartz and malachite, jasper and basalt. Aule is proud of Durin’s brain. Even after suffering Eru’s reproof, he still considers it his best piece of work.

Until the day Feanor walks into his forge—and Aule discovers that the triumph of the teacher cannot be complete until he is taught a lesson by his student. Feanor does not resonate, not for long. Feanor rewrites the song.

Note: The author bows to Elleth and Lyra in gratitude for yesterday's B2MeM fics about Aule and Durin.

Comments

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Feanor rewrites the song. Loved this!!!!

- Erulisse (one L)

[hhimring]

I suppose some people might disapprove of rewriting on principle, but I don't think at all that Aule would be one of them!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

What a great use of the prompt!

[hhimring]

Thank you very much!

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I don't usually stop for pieces about the Valar, though Aule is as close as I have to a favourite, And hey, you dared killer pods *g* Anyhow - knew I'd like this and I was right.

It's the first time I've seen him, felt his essence or understood about creating the dwarves - need to think about that a while, but it feels right. They are the ultimate creation of the master of master craftsmen. The end, about a teacher needing to have been taught something by a student, was excellent. I was talking about her work with a friend who lectures in economics, and she said how important it was to be open to learning from your students - never forgotten that, and it ties nicely with this.

And yeah, Feanor did his best to rewrite the music to his own score :P

[hhimring]

Thank you very much for stopping for Aule!
I'm happy that you think this point of view is worth considering. When I read about Gimli and his reaction to the Caves of Aglarond--well, at least for me the conclusion is inescapable that there is nothing botched or second-rate about Gimli, never mind the comic bits in LOTR.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

...the triumph of the teacher cannot be complete until he is taught a lesson by his student.

This is true, very true.

Loved this.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much!
I suppose only good teachers fully realize this, but it's true nevertheless.

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

(nod) True.

Anyone who teaches and likes to do it, knows that one learns a lot while giving classes.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

WOW.

Your language here is incredibly rich and vivid, and, as you say, perfectly suited to the task. The dwarven bodies he designs are sturdy and solid, thoroughly functional... later ages will—mistakenly—call them crude. stopped me in my tracks first, but then, it got even better!

Durin’s brain is an intricately damascened blade. It is a fine instrument attuned to the tectonic rhythms of Arda. It is a set of chimes that resonates with the song of granite and gneiss, quartz and malachite, jasper and basalt.

Just "Wow".

And then, your masterstroke:Aule discovers that the triumph of the teacher cannot be complete until he is taught a lesson by his student. Feanor does not resonate, not for long. Feanor rewrites the song.

My brain is totally disconnected. The only word that works is "Wow".

[hhimring]

Thank you!!! I'm glad you liked this so much!
If you generally like dwarves and Aule (great icon, by the way!), I can thoroughly recomment the two fics that inspired me: Elleth's is here and Lyra's is here.

[angelica-ramses.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! I will never look at dwarves the same way!

And on a second reading,
Feanor does not resonate, not for long. Feanor rewrites the song.
the definition of genius!

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Angelica!
It is the definition of genius, I think--not that it is necessarily comfortable to be around or safe to be involved with! But I think Aule would appreciate it very much.

[huinare.livejournal.com]

Ooh, wow, I loved this. Your descriptions of Aulë's precision and intent are great, as well a refreshing challenge to the Silm assertion that his efforts were "crude." Good work indeed.

[hhimring]

Thank you! I'm quite sure that that bit about "crudeness" is a bit of elven prejudice coming through. Aule wouldn't do anything crude, he is too good a craftsman for that, and he would give his dwarves the very best he had--in fact, he clearly did. Think about Gimli in Aglarond, for example!

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

What a fantastic use of the prompt, the descriptions, everything. I feel very honoured indeed that my fic helped inspire it. :)

[hhimring]

Oh, you found it! Sorry about not adding a link in my earlier comment; it is really hard to keep track of this community at the moment, isn't it? At least it's all tagged now.
I'm very glad you like this piece! I had an excellent story to inspire me!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

The author bows to Himring in admiration of what she did there.

Seriously, I love this. Stunning use of language, stunning look into the creation of the Dwarves (crude? Bah, they just don't understand the original purpose!), and most of all, stunning conclusion. I'm thrilled that you felt inspired to write this, in part, by my little ficlet!

[hhimring]

Thank you! I'm so glad you like it!
I realized afterwards that I was sort of wrong in calling it "my first dwarf fic" in my comment on SWG, though. Only, my "other dwarf fic" is from Maedhros's POV and he's puzzled and trying to figure out Azaghal--it doesn't feel like the same category at all, to my mind.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Makes perfect sense to me - that's Maedhros fic, not dwarf fic! :)