Battling Philosophies Through Music

[engarian.livejournal.com]

B2MeM Prompt and Path:"And the night shall be filled with music…", Red
Format:short story
Genre:friendship
Rating:G
Warnings:None
Characters:Daeron, Mablung, Maglor
Pairings:None
Creator’s Notes:Tolkien provided the sandbox, I merely play with the bucket and shovel he left behind. No profit of any kind is made from my fanworks.
Summary:A great celebration was called, for all elves to join together in feast and companionship to celebrate the 20th year of the sun and forge new bonds of friendship. Among the attendees, two elves from the hidden realm of Doriath. Maglor searches for one of these elves - the famous Lore-Master and Musician to the King: Daeron.



Battling Philosophies Through Music

Fingolfin had spoken and invitations had gone forth. All elves were invited to gather in a Mereth Aderthad, a great feast of celebration. As Maglor wandered through the various encampments, jumping across an occasional puddle of mud or moving aside as the capricious breeze blew scents from the trench latrines, he wondered who was really celebrating, and what they were celebrating. A feast for the 20th year of the sun seemed silly on the one hand, and a good excuse for a parlay on the other. Whatever the reason, he felt it was a lot of preparation for elves who would have little benefit.

He had been hoping to contact the emissary of Elu Thingol. Rumors had reached him that Daeron, the minstrel and Lore Master of the King, had accompanied the representative. Even in his solitude and grief, Maglor had heard of the skills of the musician. He had walked to the fringes of the great encampment to seek him out.

The sun, the reasoned excuse for the gathering, was setting when he spied two small tents and a banner under the eaves of the forest. A small fire burned between them and a single figure seated on the ground was watching the sunset, plucking a lap harp in a desultory manner. Maglor adjusted the harp that was slung across his back and headed toward the encampment.

From the other side of the fire, the musician raised his head. Startling silver-grey eyes met dark brown, both touched by the orange flames between them. Daeron nodded, acknowledging his visitor, and returned to his pastime. Maglor seated himself opposite, pulling his harp across his body into a playing position. As Daeron continued to pluck a melody, he began a counter-point, dancing around the theme with embellishments.

“And is this what you have to offer us, Noldo?” Daeron questioned. “Many words and ideas, feints into multitudes of directions, and obscuring the beauty of a single, perfect note?”

“Nay,” Maglor responded with voice and music. “We offer additional ways of looking at joint problems, possible solutions and ideas, and a strengthening of both the basic melodic and the common tunes.”

The Sindar then picked up his pace, plucking his instrument in unusual harmonics, and Maglor countered, pulling his note combinations into fifths and sevenths. Daeron attached a separate piece to the framework of his instrument, changing the tuning again. This, Maglor was hard pressed to follow, yet follow he did.

Back and forth, the challenges flew between the two master musicians for hours, not ceasing until long after Mablung had returned from the celebration and had, with a disgusted snort, crawled under shelter to sleep. The two harpists had looked at Mablung, covered completely from head to foot by a blanket, and shaking their heads in unison, had returned to their musical discourse.

Shortly before the sun rose, the pre-dawn found the two musicians sitting closely together, their harps suspended from the branches above them. Their fingers were shredded from the playing, yet they still discussed music and politics.

“What material do you use for your strings?” Maglor asked. “And what about your soundboard? What wood is it that you have used in that? You’re getting great depth and resonance.” They were deeply into discussing the merits of gut versus metal strings and heartwood versus fire cured boards when Mablung awakened.

“We leave," he announced. "Now”. He stood and began to kick dirt over the still-warm coals in the fire pit. Maglor looked at Daeron, who shrugged his shoulders and stood smoothly. Maglor wasn’t quite as graceful getting up. Sitting on the cold ground for hours while playing music had made him stiff. He did a few deep knee bends to get comfortable and flexible once more.

“We must go. Mablung has decided and in this I must follow his direction,” said Daeron, fumbling in his bag for something. “Ah, here it is.” He turned to Maglor with a packet in his hand. “Strings for you, my friend. A gift well deserved. They were made from doe tendons spun with the hair of our own Queen Melian. Strings like these you have never used and will never see again outside of my realm.”

Maglor reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small flute of highly polished bone. “I have a gift for you also, Lore-Master and Musician of the King. This bone was a gift to me from Oromë, he who first found the elves on the shores of Lake Cuiviénen. The blue stone is one of several given to me by Lord Manwë. My cousin placed it into the bone as I asked of her, framing it in gold and electrum. I have a mate to this flute. When I play upon it in future I will think of our night together – battling our philosophies through melody.”

The two elves embraced, then separated and took down their harps from the branches. “Travel safely, Daeron. I know not if we will meet again, but this meeting was well done,” Maglor said.

“It is my hope that we will meet again, although my heart speaks of doubt. Nonetheless, it was a night filled with music and friendship and I will remember that for long years to come.” By the time the sun had fully brightened the plain, the two emissaries from Elu Thingol had vanished into the forest, their Mereth Aderthad having come to an end.

Comments

[silverstarspray.livejournal.com]

This is great! I especially loved the gift exchange at the end.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much for your words. I have always thought that the two of them met this one time, and I like to entertain other meetings in the far future after their futures were torn asunder. But here, they had a true chance to meet for a short time and, in essence, have a "Battle of the Bands", elven-style..

The gifts seemed the right thing to do - memories and talismans of respect from one master to another.

- Erulisse (one L)

[kayleelupin.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, now that I hadn't thought about! But of course Daeron and Maglor would have met at the Mereth Aderthad! And what a fantastic exchange of gifts. Daeron's harp strings made me think of the hair Galadriel gave to Gimli (and refused to Maglor's own father), and also of the hair of Luthien, woven into an enchanted cloak. Hair has a lot of power in the Legendarium, doesn't it? *ponders that a while*

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Their meeting isn't canon, but has been speculated often. It is the only occasion when the two of them might have met in any type of peaceful manner unless they meet after Daeron has fled to the far East.

You're right, and I hadn't really thought about it, but hair does play quite a role in Tolkien's Elven cultures. It just seemed that Melian's hair added to the strings of the primary musician and Lore Master of Thingol's court would be a logical thing. I suppose it's the musician in me thinking about how hair is used in musical instruments.

Thanks for your thoughts and review! *hugs*

- Erulisse (one L)

[shirebound]

What marvelous, precious gifts! This is a wonderful story.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much, my dear. So far I'm having a lot of fun with the prompts. If I can just keep to schedule and do 1-2 stories a day, I'll succeed on this path. *Hugs* to you, Shiremom and Pippin the Wonder Dog.

- Erulisse (one L)

[mithrial.livejournal.com]

Maglor and his harp I remember, but Daeron and Mablung I'm not so sure about, or the 'Mereth Aderthad', I've forgotten so much even though getting all the way through the book.
I love the idea of the story, and I like the way you write. Strong characters and in the Tolkien style of prose. Now I have to go and find the relevant chapters again. Lovely story.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is written that Elu Thingol's court sent two elves to the Mereth Aderthad, Mablung and Daeron. Nowhere is it said that Maglor and Daeron actually met at the event, but it is the only event that both parties actually attended at the same time and it's hard to imagine a serious musician who is aware of the merits of the other one not attempting to seek out their counterpart.

Tolkien actually had three famous musicians mentioned in his books, Maglor and Daeron in the Silmarillion, and Tinfang Gelion in the Lay of Luthien. Although there is much argument about who is best among them, I tend to look at them as if comparing Bach, Mozart and Beethoven - all peerless, all destined for greatness, and all incomparable in their own way.

I appreciate your reading and your review.

- Erulisse (one L)

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

What a lovely way to have a debate!

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's the only way I can imagine these two, whose lives are so tied into their art, manage a discussion. I think it likely that there were linguistic differences between Thingol's court and the Noldor exiles, so working within the language of tone, rhythm and harmonics made sense to me.

- Erulisse (one L)
sending long distance scritches for Harry and Reuben

[dreamflower]

What a neat meeting of the minds!

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! Two master musicians, anywhere in their vicinity, will surely make the attempt to find each other. I speculated that there would be possible language problems, but there never are problems within the language of music. Thus ... a very interesting debate. *hugs*

- Erulisse (one L)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I loved this! It is to be expected that there would be some form of rivalry between Maglor and Daeron, but I thoroughly enjoyed the friendly and constructive manner of their "argument". Now I'm really rather sorry they don't get the chance to play together more often! (I like the thought that their paths may have crossed later, much later, when both of them are solitary wanderers, but of course Daeron would probably hate Maglor's guts at that point...)

I also enjoyed the details you threw in to make the Mereth Aderthad, and the encounter between these two great bards, more down-to-earth - the stench of the latrines, or the thought that celebrating the 20th year of the sun is really rather silly and just an excuse to get everybody together, or Mablung snorting at their late-night jam session when normal hard-working (or hard-partying ;)) Elves want to sleep! It nicely balances musical philosophy with the realities of life. Well done!

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much, it's really nice to hear from you!

I like the thought of Maglor and Daeron getting to meet again after many years. Although it is possible that Daeron will hate Maglor for the destruction of Doriath, he's not free from blame either because of his betrayal of Luthien - twice! I imagine the discussions between the two would be fairly heated, and might involve more than just battered, bruised and bleeding fingertips. :-)

- Erulisse (one L)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Probably! On the other hand, they've both lost pretty much everything they've lived for (except music), and have to go through an increasingly changing world. As I'm a huge fan of Maglor in history fic, I also like to imagine that he'd like some company who likewise doesn't die while civilisations rise and fall around them. So I like to think that they'd grow on each other, after they've gotten over the initial disgust. :)

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I like that idea!

(I'm ignoring the explosive temperaments of most of the musicians I've known over the years - LOL.)

- Erulisse (one L)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

They're probably going to fall out and reconcile a lot. XD But even the most explosive temper will (hopefully?) cool after a century or two!

[starbrow.livejournal.com]

Aww, this is lovely. Daeron and Maglor geeking out about music together is one of my favourite things in all Tolkien fanfic to read about, and this was a great addition! I loved their gift exchange at the end -- both giving truly unique gifts to each other. I hope they meet again someday, long past the First Age, and compare notes once more.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I also hope that the two master musicians have the chance to meet at least once more before the end of days. Some time I may have to take a time-out and write that story. It's a fun plot bunny for me.

Thanks so much for your comments!

- Erulisse (one L)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I would like to think of them meeting again and picking up where they left off.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I would like to write that story someday, just for the fun of it and the musicianship of it. Thanks for reading and commenting!

- Erulisse (one L)

[fernstrike]

What a wonderful story! The thought of Maglor and Daeron meeting had never before crossed my mind, and yet meeting at the Mereth Aderthad seems so perfect.

I absolutely loved their friendly musical debate going back and forth like that, all the ways they were manipulating the sound in a discourse (the musician in me was squeeing throughout the whole thing). I love that there was no rivalry but friendly competitiveness. And those gifts!!! Utterly spellbinding. I wish I could string my harp with strings spun from doe tendons and Lady Melian's hair! And a fine flute, too. This was just such a gorgeous fic, one of my new favourites.

I wonder if they would meet again, one day long in the future, and how much will have changed between them.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I think I have them meeting on and off for many, many years, but given the temperament of musicians, they can't stay together for long without scraping on each others' nerves. I really appreciate your kind words.

- Erulisse (one L)

[nialoke]

I love this! I always thought these two should have met at the Mereth Aderthad, and I feel they'd both be very curious but also competitive, just like you described. The idea of a harp with strands of Melian's hair added to the strings intrigues me, and seems very fitting, as does the bone-flute made from a gift from Orome.
I also love grumpy Mablung who just thinks they're both nuts ^-^

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. I expect that Mablung understands that musicians are all just a little bit crazy, because all of the ones I've known through the years certainly have been - LOL.

I'm so pleased that you took the time to read and comment. It means a great deal to me.

- Erulisse (one L)