#who said that the eldar can't be cool?

[thegodemperorsmycopilot]

Converted Aeldari Ranger byu/Klutzy_Beat8868 inWarhammer40k

[marta-bee]

Continuing on with Aldarion & Erendis, they're finally getting married and an elven-ship turned up for the big day.

The ship was laden with flowers for the adornment of the feast, so that all that sat there, when evening was come, were crowned with elanor and sweet lissuin whose fragrance brings heart's ease. Minstrels they brought also, singers who remembered songs of: Elves and Men in the days of Nargothrond and Gondolin long ago; and many of the Eldar high and fair were seated among Men at the tables. But the people of Andúnië, looking upon the blissful company, said that none were more fair than Erendis; and they said that her eyes were as bright as were the eyes of Morwen Eledhwen of old," or even as those of Avallónë.

The Morwen comparisons are not... wholly posiitve, let's say. Few things connected with Hurin and Turin are in the long term. I'm also not loving how much focus is on Erendis (or Morwen, for that matter!) being beautiful, when she's been wise, courageous, faithful, all that. She's really been a lady of substance and more than just a pretty face. But I get it: beautiful bride, beautiful day, all love and light. It's actually quite sweet.

To Aldarion they gave a sapling tree, whose bark was snow-white, and its stem straight, strong and pliant as it were of steel; but it was not yet in leaf. "I thank you," said Aldarion to the Elves. "The wood of such a tree must be precious indeed." "Maybe; we know not," said they. "None has ever been hewn. It bears cool leaves in summer, and flowers in winter. It is for this that we prize it."

Aldarion: What wonderful trees! I can't wait to hack it down and turn it into ships.

Honey. Baby. No....

As for Erendis:

To Erendis they gave a pair of birds, grey, with golden beaks and feet. They sang sweetly one to another with many cadences never repeated through a long thrill of song; but if one were separated from the other, at once they flew together, and they would not sing apart. "How shall I keep them?" said Erendis. "Let them fly and be free," answered the Eldar. "For we have spoken to them and named you; and they will stay wher¬ever you dwell. They mate for their life, and that is long. Maybe there will be many such birds to sing in the gardens of your children."

See what I'm saying? Not just a pretty face. That's my girl.

[eri-pl]

Silm reread 10: ☀️&🌙 and Yavanna being actually awesome

We get a flashback of the Valar sitting in silence after the Trees died: they did have a private conference, it seems.

Corrupting Feanáro is names as one of Melkor's worst deeds (I still claim orcs and whatever-he-did-with-Men were worse) + we get a reminder of how great Fefe was and how sad it is, and Manwë cried for his fall.

I love Manwë's reaction and it is worth crying definitely. Also, how cool is that Tolkien not only has kings (Aragorn) and heroes crying, but the most important (sort of…) angel — the most imnportant one, not you, Melkor (but tbh you do have a lot of things you should cry about and it's not unmanly…) — is shown crying too. Which other fantasy author does so much healthy emotional vulnerability in his characters?

A reminder of how cool and epic the Noldor are fated to be, but still, evil is bad. Also, I really need a pic of Námo saying "but evil is still evil" or whatever it is in the original, to add as reply to many posts about how cool / useful / necessary this or that evil thing was. I should make one.

Sun and Moon are made and it is so wonderful!!!

First: Manwë tells Yavanna and Nienna to use their whole power and Nienna cries and later apparently (gives up????) steps back and Yavanna sings and she really tries. We know because she gets this "as she was about to give up" thing. Which means she did very well on the estel check. And the Trees pop up a flower and a fruit.

And then even better thing happens! Yavanna (yes, her!) takes them (her lovely plant-based stuff) and gives them to Aulë. To the very guy whose Dwarves cut her trees and what not (and who is also gher husband).

This is the single most awesome thing she does and she should be more like that.

We have a group effort (which is rare tbh and the Trees weren't one): Manwë blasses them, Aulë makes the containers, Varda powers them up to go to space, Vana and Orome give their Maiar to drive them.

Is the song about sun and moon an actual thing Tolkien wrote? I wish it was.

The Valar care about the other lands (we are reminded not so subtly tbh), about stopping Melkor and about the Avari and the exiled Noldor even. Also, the Men are coming.

Arien was originaly working for Vana, it seems (doing gardening), and Tilion was one of Oromë's hunters. But I assume from now on they serve Varda? It seems that the Maiar switch from one Vala to another more often than it seems. Maybe not very often, but it is not a strange thing and many of the imporatnt ones (Arien and Tilion, Melian and of course Olorin) are tied with more than one Vala.

Arien was originally a fire spirit, it isn't clearly said in the published Silm (or I can't find it) that she is the only one who did not join Melkor and become a Balrog. Also, her eyes are too bright even for the Eldar, and when out of Valinor she turned to a terryfying naged flame. She is so cool. <3

And Morgoth is very scared of the sun.

Daylight in Valinor is funny: dim in the morning because the mountains cast a shadow, brightest in the evening when Arien comes from her route. Why do I even need this information? I'm pretty sure it's different after the Fall of Numenor. But how would it work like? I need to figure it out.

Tilion is a rare example of a someeone who has (seemingly unrequited?) love and is neither a creep nor tragic. Unless it is requited, they just like teasing each other. Or maybe he's not in love, just thinks she's really cool and likes to look at her, but not like that.

Anyway Morgoth attacks Tilion with some spirits of darkness (uMaiar I assume) and loses. Doesn't attack Arien because she's scary. Oh. I was pretty sure he does in the published Silm, but if not, the better.

Also, we get the info on how Morgoth invests his power in spawning monsters and lies which gradually weakens him. I would like to see this in original too, maybe it's the translation, but the lies seem strangely creature-like in this grammar.

Description of Valinor's fortifications. Calacirya has watchtowers and guards. + the mountains are really really high. Also, Enchanted Isles become a thing and they put people into enchanted sleep till the end of days.

Also, Finarfin rules over the Noldor in Tirion, but they are few of them. So apparently, only a small part of the 90% who left, did turn back with him.

[alpineglowx]

I'll Do The Same {Din Djarin x OC} Chapter Seven: Stories

pairing: din djarin x female oc

warnings: none

* * * *

Two weeks had passed since their stop on Nevarro, and with it, their reputation for harboring the child only seemed to grow. They would have covered more ground, had the galaxy not been swarmed with those looking for Grogu. It seemed as if every inhabited planet they landed on had at least one enemy waiting for them. Thell still wasn’t completely blind to the way Mando would quickly disarm or kill those who were after them, but she still hadn’t become used to it. She brought her own blaster, tucked away deep in her cloak, but she had yet to use it. She prayed that day would never come, but knowing the dangerous mission she had put herself in, she guessed it was only a matter of time before she had to.

Much to Thell’s dismay, there hadn’t been much progress on Mando’s discovery of her Mandalorian necklace either. With the constant need to move from planet to planet, star system to star system, there hadn’t been much free time to just sit and talk.

Clan Eldar, the symbol of her necklace, had seemingly ceased to exist, from Mando’s knowledge, and any trace of them had vanished. And as far as Thell knew, her father was either dead or had no knowledge of her birth. She didn’t even know his name, or whether or not they shared the last name. Either way, even though she knew that only so much could be done, her mind was still racing with questions. Mando didn’t seem to consider her a Mandalorian, which was fine on all her accounts, since she had never once considered herself anything but a Sai’Lya. Even now, she was twisting the meaning of what holding that name meant; never in a million years would she have imagined that she would have run away with a bounty hunter and his adopted child in the middle of the night to wage off worse fates. She was standing for her own, making her own path just like her mother had told her to do all those years ago. Maybe not exactly like she expected it, but good nonetheless.

In the past two weeks, especially since her conversation with Cara Dune, Thell had been watching Mando. Not in a creepy or erotic way, but more in the way that a bounty hunter would. Slow, calculating, trying to figure out why he did what he did.

He was still a mystery to her, even after nearly two months of knowing him, and she was desperately trying to figure him out. She knew he was a quiet, private man, and didn’t want to consciously interrogate him with every question she had. But she was still curious.

Especially when it didn’t help that everytime he was overly nice to her, or protective, or would ask her about herself, that little flutter in her chest went wild. But those moments were short lived, and far and few in between, and would generally be cut short by some interference.

But deep down, she wished there was more time, because she knew that she was getting closer and closer to the end of her mission with them.

. . . .

A week passed, and Thell woke to a presence directly in her face.

“Grogu!”

Her sudden movement rocked the hammock strung in the cargo hold of the Razor Crest so violently she flipped the bed, grabbing Grogu before he could fall out too. Her back hit the steel flooring of the hold, thudding on impact and pain lacing up her spine. The child was wrapped securely against her chest, safe from harm, and once the initial sting of pain had subsided, she loosened her hold on the green baby.

“You okay?” She whispered, to which he climbed up close to her neck, small hands padding against her sleeping tunic. He made a soft burbling noise, apparently unharmed, and Thell’s head lolled in exhaustion.

In the soft lull of the ship, Thell heard loud stomping and that familiar metallic clang enter the cargo hold. Copper hair falling into her eyes, Thell spotted Mando coming in a rush to her side.

“Thell,” she heard him say softly, and there was clear worry in his voice. “Are you okay?”

She felt a hand on her shoulder, helping her to sit up. Her biceps shook, and the child gently slid off her lap to rest on the floor beside her leg.

“Fine,” she murmured once she had sat up properly, bending one knee and bracing herself on her hands. Her back still ached with the pain of falling from her bed, but she seemed otherwise unharmed.

“What happened?”

Rubbing a hand against her eyes, still half asleep, Thell managed to blink up groggily at him.

“I fell. Grogu scared me.”

The child whined, setting his hand and weight against her leg, and Thell reached over slowly to rub his head.

“It’s okay, it was just an accident,” she told him. “I’m not mad at you.”

She tried to stand, putting all her weight on both hands, before she felt a soft touch on her shoulder.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

Without warning, Mando had slung his arm around her back, gently but expertly helping her to her feet again. As soon as her back straightened, heat spiked in her lower spine, and Thell sagged against him, gripping onto the shoulder pauldron as she hissed in pain. Even though it was embarrassing, and she was sure she would regret it later, she dug her forehead into the cool Beskar of the pauldron, the cold metal somewhat satisfying enough to distract her from the pain.

But Mando was flustered, and he readjusted his grip around her back.

“What’s wrong?”

Thell ground her teeth together. “Something in my back... Hurts when I stand.”

“Hold on.”

Before she could protest, and before her own sanity could speak for her, the Mandalorian was helping her walk. Her back screamed in pain, and she dug her fingers into the fabric of Mando’s arm holding her shoulders. She would have been embarrassed had the pain not been so great, because he was walking her towards his sleeping chambers. His personal sleeping chambers.

Senses coming back to her, Thell pushed against his chest.

“What are you doing?”

“Being in the hammock will be worse for your back. You can stay here for now.”

His voice sounded stable, but Thell second guessed herself.

“Mando, you don’t have to,” Thell pressed, too embarrassed to look at him clearly. “Really, I’ll be fine in my own bed.”

“Thell.”

“It’s just going to inconvenience you, I can't-"

“Thell.” His voice was stern, but still calm. “It’s fine. I’ll sleep in the cockpit. I’ve done it before.”

Thell would have cried, easily, had he not gently lowered her onto the mat of his sleeping chambers, taking his time in gathering her things from her hammock, and her own bag of belongings from the side crate. He set most of them on the floor outside the chamber, still within easy reach if she needed anything. Thell was thankful, but she could only watch with wide eyes, amazed at his sudden change in character. He was always so focused, but it was never with things like this. Things that seemed so mundane.

He passed her her water canteen before turning the other way again.

“Thank you,” Thell said softly, taking a sip and asking, “what time is it?”

“Just before sunrise.”

He returned to rest easily against the cot, a bacta kit in his hands. Fishing out two pills, he handed them over to Thell.

“Take these. It should help with the pain.”

Thell let her gaze linger on him before taking the pills and doing as he had said.

“Hey,” she said softly to get his attention. “Do we have any leads with the kid yet?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean....” her gaze drifted to Grugu, who was waddling the expanse of the cargo hold. “What we’re doing with him, exactly... don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the kid, but I feel like we’re running in circles right now. We’ve been doing the same thing for three weeks.”

“I don’t know...” Mando said, somewhat defeated, and his shoulders slumped. Thell wondered if he had been up most the night; she hadn’t seen him this exhausted before, and something seemed off in his demeanor.

“Are you okay?” She ventured to ask.

A long pause.

“I just need to make sure he’s safe.”

Thell blinked, watching as the Mandalorian focused on the kid.

“We will,” she affirmed, and when he turned to look at her, she swore she would. “It’s not just you on this ship anymore. I’ll risk my life getting him to where he needs to be.”

He looked back at her, and Thell wished she could see his eyes from under the mask. Her old life, her twenty nine years as a servant seemed so far behind her now. Not even two months with this strange crew and they had already become like family to her, like she had known them for years.

No. They should have never been. She cursed herself sometimes for the ways she held Grogu so protectively or caught herself watching Mando, because she should have known better that it would come to an end at some point. She shouldn’t have been pining after them for so long, just to wind up alone on the other side of it.

Her conversation with Cara Dune was coming back to her, the one where she said that they were good for each other.

But for how long?

“Jek! Wait up!”

She had known Jek at age fifteen. He was a servant in the adjacent household who came and got supplies from Darand’s mansion. Thell could only think back on it in disgust, disgust with Jek and with herself.

“Hey, hold on!” Thell panted, coming to a halt in the alleyway and watching the boy sprint ahead of her. But he seemed to catch on, and turned back, slowly jogging her way.

“C’mon, Thell,” he toyed. “It’s not too much farther.”

Thell had liked him for months, those wide blue eyes and rebellious attitude sparking her interest almost immediately. She knew Darand hated him, but at the time, hadn’t realized why.

Looking back now, she could.

“Jek,” Thell said, panting and looking at him clearly. “I, um...”

He leaned forward, cocking an eyebrow. “What’s up?”

“I... wanted to talk to you.”

Eyebrows creased, he leaned against the alley wall and looked down at her.

“Okay. I’m here.”

Shuffling her feet, Thell licked her lips and took a deep breath. Then she faced him clearly, raising her chin and setting her shoulders so she felt confident.

“I... like you.”

Her heart was thundering in her chest, but it sank when Jek only met her with a horrible silence. His mouth formed in a silent “o”, and his eyes flickered back to the alley as he drew a hand through her hair. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped halfway through before sticking his hands in his pockets and looking the other way.

“Jek?” Thell whispered, feeling the pain dig in her throat.

“Uh... that’s nice, Thell,” he said, completely void of emotion. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you next week.”

And that was the last time she had allowed any form of that feeling in her heart, because she knew it just led to heartbreak. Especially when this thing wasn’t long term, no matter what Cara Dune might say.

But she couldn’t help those same feelings that had begun to linger in her chest, especially in moments like these. Because he was looking at her after she had hurt herself, and was looking after her.

But as fate would have it, Grogu came to interrupt any meaningful conversation they might have. He was prodding at the Mandalorian’s leg and whining.

“Oh. Must be breakfast time,” he said while standing up next to the kid. “Just yell if you need anything.”

“Okay,” Thell said softly, leaning back against the cool interior of the sleeping chamber.

It was a relatively quiet morning, with no impending attacks on the Razor Crest. The kid was restless, wandering about the cargo hold and the cockpit for hours into the day. As her only source of entertainment, Thell watched him.

“Hey, Grogu.”

The kid turned, cocking his head at Thell. She lay halfway propped against the interior of the sleeping chamber, still feeling too awkward to lie down in the Mandalorian’s own bed.

But it’s not weird if you don’t like him, right? She kept telling herself. No, not weird at all.

“Catch.”

She tossed him the small orb he so loved to play with, and Thell watched with a pure smile as he caught it with his tiny green hand. Footsteps echoed above her and the Mandalorian descended the cockpit stairs, coming to step around the kid slowly. Thell watched as he began to pull off weapons from the compartment in the wall: extra grenades, ammo for the weapon on his vambrace, a long blaster with a sharp point at the end.

“Are you going out?” Thell asked, pushing herself upright. The medicine had already done its trick working on her immediate pain, but she could still feel it press against her spine. She must have landed right on the bone.

Without turning to face her, the Mandalorian dipped his head.

“I have a lead on someone with important information. I’m meeting with him in an hour but I’m not taking any chances. Will you watch the kid?”

Thell nodded, setting her own blaster beside her leg as a precaution.

“Yeah, of course. Grogu, come here!”

At Mando’s nod, the child waddled over, carefully climbing into the bed with Thell, using her arm as support. She cuddled him close, teasing him with the metal orb and admiring how quickly he had learned to trust her. Both of their heads picked up at the sound of the telescopic gate opening, and a warm breeze rustled the inside of the cargo hold. Thell squinted at the sudden intake of harsh, white light emitting from the opening.

“Where are we?” Thell asked over the wind.

“Tatooine!”

. . . .

“Grogu?”

His ears pricked and he made a small sound as Thell said his name, which only made her smile and reach forward to caress his ear.

“I wonder when he’ll get back... he’s been gone a few hours.” When the kid made a small noise that sounded like an agreement, Thell nodded too.

“At least we have each other to keep company. You’re not too bad,” she joked.

“You know, if I’m remembering correctly, Luke Skywalker was from Tatooine. Do you know him?”

The kid was sitting between her bent legs, admiring Thell’s necklace. When he didn’t make any remark, she shrugged.

“Maybe not... But Mando did tell me you were training to be a Jedi during the Republic. I wonder what it was like for you...” Thell drifted off, not even being able to imagine what the kid went through. “That was what, over twenty five years ago? Gosh, kid, you must be older than you look... Grogu? Do you know the story of Luke Skywalker?” At the kid’s small babbling, and with the absence of things to do while Mando was away, Thell began.

“He was just a normal guy, but he was very special, just like you.” She tapped his nose playfully, to which he cooed happily. “He trained to be a Jedi in a time when the Jedi had gone extinct, because the galaxy needed someone like him. He trained for years so that when the time came, he could defeat the Emperor. Darkness and evil had overtaken everything, and people were scared. But Luke wasn’t alone, not like he had been when he had grown up. He had friends who loved him, and people who believed in what he was helping fight for. It was hard, don't get me wrong. But with the help of his friends, he was able to bring back the light, and save those that he loved. He brought peace back to the galaxy, because he knew love and light was greater than any hold darkness had in the universe.”

Her mother’s dearest friend had told her that story time and time again, and while Thell knew her version was not even as half as great or detailed as her’s, she hoped she was proud. Because Grogu was looking back at her with wide, attentive eyes, even with his hands still clutching her necklace.

Thell smiled down at him, bending slightly to not put any pressure on her spine but to gently rub the kid’s ear. He leaned into her touch, chattering softly under his breath.

“Your dad loves you a whole lot, you know that? He may never say it, but I can tell. He really does. He would do anything for you.”

Thell couldn’t stop the tears that came, because she suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that they would have to separate from each other one day. Mando and the kid. They had become closer than any human and creature Thell had ever seen, and they loved each other equally. They were each other’s home, and that time was slowly coming to an end. When that day came, Thell wouldn’t know how to hold herself together, and she had no idea how the Mandalorian would handle it. She couldn’t imagine Grogu without Mando, or the gruff bounty hunter without his small green friend.

In all her crying, she hadn’t noticed that Grogu had climbed up her cloak, coming close enough to touch her face with his tiny hands.

“Grogu...” Thell whispered, placing her hand on his back to stabilize him. The creature made a soft sound, digging in close to her and touching her own tears. Thell could only cry more, somehow comforted by this strange child that she had come to love so much, even more so in the past few minutes. She wrapped her arms tight around the kid, kissing his head gingerly as more tears came.

“I’ll help you guys stay together, however I can. I promise.”

Sleep was picking at her brain, so keeping the blaster safely tucked away under her waistband, Thell went to lie on her side, facing the cargo hold. The pain in her back was still there, but less than before. The ship was secure, and she felt safe enough to sleep.

“Come here, Grogu,” she whispered, and the kid happily climbed into her arms. She cocooned him safely against her chest, letting her chin just brush the wisps on the top of his head. He murmured something soft against her skin, and even as she fell asleep, she could feel him playing with her necklace, and even wiping away stray tears that fell from her eyes.

It felt as if she had just closed her eyes when she heard the side ramp open. Scrambling upright, she retrieved the blaster from her pants and carefully placed the child in his own hanging bed above her head. As she moved to carry herself out of the sleeping chamber, pain bit like snakes at her lower back, and just as her feet touched the floor, she collapsed.

“Kriff!” She cursed, landing on her hands and knees and feeling the bruises burn across her back. Her blaster was still in her hand, and at the next noise, she fired.

Her shot reflected directly off of the Mandalorian’s shoulder pauldron, ricocheting off the cargo hold wall. Thell’s arm was still out, her blaster hot, and her trembling hand dropped the weapon as soon as she recognized him.

“Oh, Kriff,” she cursed again, nearly smacking herself in the face. “Kriff, sorry!”

She went to rise to her feet, but he was already there, gripping her arm and helping her stand.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized profusely. “I didn’t hit you, did I?”

“Not if you count the armor. Nice shot, Thell,” he said before moving past her.

If Thell hadn’t been thinking properly, she might have thought he was teasing her more than congratulating her. Maybe this was the dry humor coming out that Cara had mentioned.

“Oh, okay,” Thell panted. “Good.”

“You okay?” Mando asked once she had turned around, putting away his weapons. “Why were you on the floor?”

Thell blinked, feeling heat flare in her face. “I, uh, was sleeping. I heard the ramp open but I fell getting out of the bed.”

“How do you feel?”

Thell arched her back, just slightly, and rested against the wall. “It was better before I fell, but okay.”

“Good. How was the kid?” Mando asked, stepping towards the sleeping chamber.

“He was perfect,” Thell said with a small smile. “Not any more trouble than normal. Probably not sleeping after all that.”

“Huh,” the Mandalorian commented, nearly a laugh. “Wouldn’t count on that.”

Thell peeked past him to see the child snuggled deep in his own bed, eyes scrunched tight in sleep. She couldn’t help but smile and lean closer, too overcome with those ears that looked too big for his head and the small hands that still clutched her necklace.

She leaned away after a long moment, still wearing that wide smile as she glanced at Mando. But the warrior’s helmet was tilted down, already looking back at her, and Thell felt that same feeling she had felt for that boy on Bespin all those years ago.

And she let it stay.

“I met someone who used to be with Clan Eldar,” the Mandalorian said suddenly.

Thell’s mouth went dry, and she blinked rapidly, trying to understand his words and also diminish those feelings that had risen in the form of bright color on her face.

“What? I thought you were meeting someone for information.”

The Mandalorian breathed heavily under his mask, setting his hands on his belt. “I did. I was on my way out when I saw someone wearing a symbol similar to your’s. He was with the Clan before they fell out just after the rebellion against the Empire. He was older, didn’t make much sense. But from what I gathered, they either merged with another Clan or disappeared entirely. That part wasn’t clear.”

Thell chewed on her lip, her mind racing. “... And my father, did he know anything about him?”

“Not much to go off of besides your last name. I told him that, and he said it sounded familiar, but he didn’t know why. With all of that, I don’t know if there's any answer to this.”

The Mandalorian suddenly turned to her, placing a single hologram disc in her open hand.

“But he knows someone that could answer it for us.”

“... Who?”

“A Mandalorian I met on the ocean moon of Trask: Bo-Katan Kryze.”