How Kind is Summer? by Flora-lass  

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Fanwork Notes

This is also a treat for TRSB 2025, art slide 164 - 'Sapling' by oatmealcraisin, which features a tree planted by Elrond and Elros in their youth and in different seasons. 

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Elrond muses, and mourns, and moves on as he must. For the Gates of Summer challenge prompt 'as kind as summer'.

Major Characters: Elrond

Major Relationships: Elrond & Elros

Genre: Poetry

Challenges: Gates of Summer

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 355
Posted on Updated on

This fanwork is complete.

How Kind is Summer?

Read How Kind is Summer?

They say I am as kind as summer

But summer does not always feel kind

When the sun beats down relentlessly, and work or rest are wearisome

And the parched earth yields little;

When rain, however welcome, is disruptive,

And tempers fray either way.

 

Could I not be as kind as spring, with all the hope it brings?

For my healing gives hope to others, and to me.

Or even as winter, when there is comfort and warmth to be found in my Hall of Fire?

 

Too often in summer I despair

When the brightness is incessant, and joy is expected,

But I miss my dear ones most.

My beloved's flowers are abundant in her memory

And I feel lost without her.

 

And what is ‘kind’, in any case? 

My twin and I received kindness from kinslayers

As well as from the king.

Summer is not always kind,  but anyone can be.

 

We planted a tree, to mark the passage of our youth.

Under its kindly gaze, we played and climbed and learnt to fight

And sometimes simply watched the world go by

As its colours changed and we all grew to maturity.

But he went away, twice over.

It outlived him by far;

Every year it flourished, but suddenly he was no longer there to see.

I have its like at Rivendell

And the sons of Elros’ line find much pleasure in the shady boughs.

But they cast shadows on my heart.

 

So summer brings sorrow; even as I seek to ease it,

In this valley where all of goodwill are welcome.

While I wear Vilya, the blue-sky ring of power,

the sun shines and we are safe.

But my anger, against Orcs and the Darkness,

and even with the One

Can surge as fiercely as the floods I may unleash in our defence.

And grief comes upon me like a summer storm.

 

But then I am cleansed, for a time, 

and the season passes soon enough.

I still have my children to love, and Isildur's heirs to nurture.

So I go on, as I must, 

and as kind as I may be.

Leave a Comment

I love how you've portrayed Elrond here -- the quietness of the words really shows the depths of his grief as well as his anger, and both of those are set so well in the ideas of kindness and summer. A lovely work! I'd love to see bits of it translated to Sindarin and sung (a Hall of Fire song for sure!).

I love how you've cracked open that short phrase and pulled out all the feels beneath the surface. This is so beautifully poignant, and very relatable to me. 

Oh, wow, this is gorgeous! So much depth and emotion and nuance pulled from one small phrase! I’m in love with the interrogation of whether summer is actually kind — there really is something so harsh and unforgiving in the season, made all the more difficult to bear by the pressures of expectation, that of course you’ll be loving summer because who doesn’t!? — and what it actually means when someone is described as kind. The references to Elrond’s complicated history through the loss of Celebrian, the strange circumstances of his fostering, and the separation from Elros were all hugely impactful and, whew, do they make an effective and heartbreaking case for why Elrond could be so angry with the world! I loved how you built to the catharsis of the big, grief-driven summer storm but ended on the solace of the cleansing effect of the storm and the inevitable turning of the seasons and the way that life goes on as it must and, of course, Elrond’s determination to meet all of this with whatever kindness he can bring to bear. It was truly moving — wonderful in language and theme and just absolutely lovely to read!