There Is No Story Without a Fall by Deborah Judge
Fanwork Notes
Written for the SWG challenge Allusive, for the prompt, from Tolkien's letter to Milton Waldman, :"There cannot be any ‘story’ without a fall."
- Fanwork Information
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Summary:
Indis and the fall. Drabble series.
Chapter 1: Miriel makes a dress for Indis.
Chapter 2: Melkor watches Indis dance.
Major Characters: Indis, Míriel Serindë, Melkor
Major Relationships: Finwë/Indis, Finwë/Míriel
Genre: Fixed-Length Ficlet, Het
Challenges: Allusive
Rating: Adult
Warnings: Mature Themes, Sexual Content (Mild)
Chapters: 2 Word Count: 509 Posted on Updated on This fanwork is a work in progress.
There Is No Story Without a Fall
Read There Is No Story Without a Fall
The first dress Miriel made she gave to Indis. This was back at Cuiviénen, where the Minyar gathered berres while the Tatyar hunted with stone tools and the Lindar caught fish from the stream with their hands. At night they all coupled with their mates in the open field, except for Indis who had no mate. She watched Finwë as he lay with Miriel and followed the the lines of the muscles in his back.
"It's called a dress," Miriel said, and it was unlike the ribbons Miriel made to adorn the hair of the Eruhini or the gloves and shoes she made to protect their hands and feet. This dress would cover her nipples that hardened when she looked at Finwë and the flush on her chest when she watched him couple. No one had ever hidden the beauty of an Eru-made body before, but a dress this lovely could be no shame.
"Will you wear one as well?" Indis asked, not wanting to be alone in this, and Miriel's nod lifted her heart.
The dress was a generous gift, colorful and well-made. It kept Indis warm on her way from Cuiviénen, to which no one will ever return.
The Dance
Melkor watches Indis dance
Read The Dance
There was no sorrow in Valinor, no marring and no grief. Then Indis set foot on it, one of the first of the Eldar in the Blessed Lands, and she brought with her the marring in her heart. "What is my purpose here?" she asked Lady Varda. Was it wrong for her to come? She hoped the Valar would protect her.
"Look on my stars and you will know," said the Lady. Indis bowed low to the ground and did not say that in Valinor there were no stars.
In a distant field of Valinor Indis danced alone. She danced to the music of the beginning, the entangled melodies, and always loved the discordant notes. In this music all time was as one. She saw the stars under which her people were made but found in them no answer. Then she followed the music forward to look upon the faces of her two sons, sons of Finwë: one dark and one fair, one wise and one noble. She knew these faces like her own, though their existence was impossible.
But will there be stars? she asked the music, and let it carry her on past anything she had seen.
In the distance, through the music, she saw starlight above a darkened Valinor. A shout rose of murder and death and she knew her beloved Finwë was lost. Her own children were doomed. An end to the eternal bliss of this land had come. She saw herself returned to Valimar alone and shamed, knowing with certainty that her actions had brought this about. The discordant notes played louder.
When the music stilled a Vala stood watching her. He was not one she recognized but she saw in this stranger the same discordant notes to which she had danced.
"You were made for a reason," he said.
♡
"except for Indis who had no mate" Oh, that is so sad, poor Indis all on her own! And Míriel's dress-gift is so many things at once!
Thank you so much! Yes, the…
Thank you so much! Yes, the dress is a lot of things, you get what I'm doing. Thank you!
What an evocative picture…
What an evocative picture you've painted with this. I love how the dress can be seen both as a gesture of friendship or, quite uncomfortably as a means of hiding something shameful, and how the uncertainty is preserved for which intent Míriel has given it.
Thank you! Yes, it's the…
Thank you! Yes, it's the first complicated thing to happen in a word in which so far everything has been simple.
Glad you liked!
gorgeous story, I love the…
gorgeous story, I love the final line so much. wistful and nostalgic in the best way <3333
Thank you! The prompt gave…
Thank you! The prompt gave me a lot to think about.
This is such an interesting…
This is such an interesting and unexpected take on the prompt!
Thank you so much! It's a…
Thank you so much! It's a line I've struggled with a lot - what does Tolkien mean by fall but also what does he mean by story. Maybe the drive to create anything at all is only possible when there is some kind of lack, which is only possible in a fallen world.