Fanfic100 Prompt 053 - Earth
Title: Axis Mundi
Prompt: 053 - Earth
Rating: G
Characters: The Mariner is forbidden from touching Middle Earth ever again. But not the other way around.
Summary: Eärendil
Word count: 401
Notes: Everything belongs to the Professor.
Never to touch the ground again, not for the hills, not for the flowing rivers, not for the moonlit cries of wild beasts, not for the torchlit music of village squares, not for anything that I have ever loved, not for our sons: this is the prohibition laid upon me, the price exacted, the cost of bringing the world back to life. Night after night I pilot the silver ship, traverse the mountains, the plains, the patchwork fields, the flickering cities, skim the air and dip upon the wind, reach low, reach so near.
An empty space always lay between me and Middle Earth.
Until I figured out how to cheat.
Look to the east, where Cuiviénen once glowed and dreamt beneath other stars. The waters have long dried, the one thousand rivers gone without a trace, dead and buried far underground. Now a forest of firs and pines stretch endless, shadowy green, no tracks of men for a thousand leagues in each direction. And in the very middle of the forest, I found a small meadow, where the trees halted, standing silent guard at the circle's edge. One day, an age and half ago, I halted the ship above the wildflowers and the long grass, as near to the center as I could make out, and dropped a seed from the prow.
Cuiviénen, lost yet never forgotten, build me a bridge between heaven and earth.
It took a winter, but the mere listened, and the sapling next spring was fair and fragrant.
Hidden waters, feed my hope with your tenderness, protect it with your secret wiles.
It took eight decades, but one thousand ghosts listened, and the tree sprang up straight and proud. The white blossoms were snowstorms in summer, and birds danced among the branches.
Middle Earth, sweet stained land, I broke my heart to save you. I can no longer touch you, but you can touch me.
It took an age, but the home of my fathers listened, and in the midst of this little meadow of grass, surrounded by five hundred leagues of wild unbroken forest on every side, rose the tallest tree in the world.
Reach for me.
One night, as I followed my rounds, soft green fingers brushed the planks. And Vingilótë, the strongest ship that ever was, hallowed beyond the darkness, quivered at this lightest of caresses.
Table here
Yeah, I'm still alive.
Prompt: 053 - Earth
Rating: G
Characters: The Mariner is forbidden from touching Middle Earth ever again. But not the other way around.
Summary: Eärendil
Word count: 401
Notes: Everything belongs to the Professor.
Never to touch the ground again, not for the hills, not for the flowing rivers, not for the moonlit cries of wild beasts, not for the torchlit music of village squares, not for anything that I have ever loved, not for our sons: this is the prohibition laid upon me, the price exacted, the cost of bringing the world back to life. Night after night I pilot the silver ship, traverse the mountains, the plains, the patchwork fields, the flickering cities, skim the air and dip upon the wind, reach low, reach so near.
An empty space always lay between me and Middle Earth.
Until I figured out how to cheat.
Look to the east, where Cuiviénen once glowed and dreamt beneath other stars. The waters have long dried, the one thousand rivers gone without a trace, dead and buried far underground. Now a forest of firs and pines stretch endless, shadowy green, no tracks of men for a thousand leagues in each direction. And in the very middle of the forest, I found a small meadow, where the trees halted, standing silent guard at the circle's edge. One day, an age and half ago, I halted the ship above the wildflowers and the long grass, as near to the center as I could make out, and dropped a seed from the prow.
Cuiviénen, lost yet never forgotten, build me a bridge between heaven and earth.
It took a winter, but the mere listened, and the sapling next spring was fair and fragrant.
Hidden waters, feed my hope with your tenderness, protect it with your secret wiles.
It took eight decades, but one thousand ghosts listened, and the tree sprang up straight and proud. The white blossoms were snowstorms in summer, and birds danced among the branches.
Middle Earth, sweet stained land, I broke my heart to save you. I can no longer touch you, but you can touch me.
It took an age, but the home of my fathers listened, and in the midst of this little meadow of grass, surrounded by five hundred leagues of wild unbroken forest on every side, rose the tallest tree in the world.
Reach for me.
One night, as I followed my rounds, soft green fingers brushed the planks. And Vingilótë, the strongest ship that ever was, hallowed beyond the darkness, quivered at this lightest of caresses.
Table here
Yeah, I'm still alive.