The Fate of a Leaf by amyfortuna

[elwinfortuna]

B2MeM Prompt and Category: March 2 Prompt: Rain on a Leaf
Format: Ficlet (~280 words)
Genre: Vignette, Tragedy
Rating: T
Warnings: character death
Characters: Beleg, Túrin, Gwindor
Pairings: n/a
Summary: A fallen leaf unwittingly interacts with tragic death.

The storm overhead raged fiercely on. An errant whirl of wind caught the leaf, sending it swirling down to the muddy ground below as lightning flashed overhead. The rain pattered down, droplets standing out in stark relief against the green, some of them coming together to form larger drops.

Lightning flashed again, showing two figures of Elves, carrying a third between them, stumbling toward the tree from which the leaf had fallen. Not a foot away from the muddy ground where the leaf had landed they set their burden down -- a Man whose chains rattled, whose face was pale underneath the blood streaming down from a cut on his head.

The two Elves exchanged some quiet words, and one of them stepped back as the other drew the black sword from his sheath. Slowly and carefully the figure with the sword began to cut the chain that bound the Man.

Far closer, lightning flashed once more, and thunder instantly on its heels broke raging above. In that very instant the Man awoke, and with a shout unheard by any for the thunder above, sprang to his feet, seizing the sword and thrusting it forth in one strong unhesitating movement.

The Elf fell at once, landing beside the leaf. He lay limp on the ground as the Man stood over him, a dawning terror in his eyes, as the slow blood spilled down onto the leaf, turning it redder than autumn's hues.

With the next flash of lightning, the next crash of thunder, the Man dropped to his knees beside the Elf, grinding the leaf into the mud, his voice carrying over even the storm's rage as he bewailed himself in grief and horror.

Comments

[zdenka]

This is very vivid, and of course very tragic! I love your descriptions of the lightning and how you work in the leaf at each stage. The leaf being torn from the tree and tossed around by the wind nicely parallels how Túrin is at the mercy of fate.

[kayleearafinwiel]

Oh no...oh, poor Turin, poor Beleg and Gwindor! :( What a terrible thing to happen. And very poor leaf :(

I remember Beleg most vividly from Fiondil's "Elf, Interrupted" series; my heart-father wrote his Reborn self so clearly. But I don't think I considered much about what happened when he died - more fool me, Doriath-mad as I am. Atto Fiondil brought Beleg's second life to life for me; you've brought his death to life for me (if that makes any sense!!) and I've found I love Beleg even more now. I want to know even MORE about him.

[idleleaves]

I really like how you carried the leaf all the way through this. And ack, what a tragic moment, too.

[bunn]

It's like an animation: each frame caught in lightning flashes and in between each flash a closeup of the leaf! It is so vivid, I can see the colours.

[ex_mithrial116]

I always feel the anguish at Beleg's death at the hands of Turin. A dark part of such a sequence of tragedy.

The leaf in the storm is perfect here.

[dawn_felagund]

This is a creative interpretation of the prompt! I'm weird so I sometimes think about stuff like this: ordinary objects or plants or animals that are "bystanders" to world-changing events that they are completely unaware of and likely wouldn't understand even if they were. (It makes me wonder what we humans unwittingly witness of their worlds ...) So the premise appeals right away.

Anyway. You create this scene--the storm, the characters--very vividly. The imagery around the leaf is lovely ... well, lovely in a dark way: "... the slow blood spilled down onto the leaf, turning it redder than autumn's hues." I love the "slow blood" here. *shivers delightfully*

And then, fittingly, the poor leaf becomes the next victim of Hurricane Turin.

All around a neat concept that is executed *ahem* very well!

[independence1776]

This is absolutely visceral-- even though I knew what would happen, it felt like a shock of lightning nevertheless.

[hhimring]

A strong re-telling of the scene. This is so visually told, almost like a screenplay, the shifts of focus and perspective, as if the camera was panning in and out and returning to fix on that detail, the unwitting leaf (which would have ended up in the mud anyway, I guess).