I definitely have always believed that Tirion was still inhabited. Moving is a much bigger deal than rebuilding on the spot. It is human (and therefore elven) not to want to start over from scratch. I need to track down Bunn's map of Tirion. I am terrible to keeping things like that at my fingertips.

I told you on AO3 in unnecessary detail my reactions to this story. I found it moving and profound. It touches at the heart of historic wars and losses in those wars throughout history. The loss of a person shakes an individual family and may elicit sympathy in broad or narrow intersecting circles, but losses of lives in the huge numbers shake societies. It must be yet more difficult to address the mass death of an unexpected aggressor's entire military force on one's doorstep so to speak. I am not surprised that Finrod seeks his own solution and that Fingon chooses to join him.

I am so glad you decided to post it here as well.

Oh, thanks for the link. Great map. 

Beautifully written. I'm not sure whether you intended this, but Finrod's impulse reminds me of the way Luthien is described interacting with evil creatures, essentially singing them to sleep.

I love the imagery in this story, the idea of a dark lake beneath a bright sky is quite vivid.