kayleearafinwiel | Entries tagged with character:nerdanel

Title: Nerdanel's Own Forge

Author: Kaylee Arafinwiel

Summary: Nerdanel muses on her fellow smiths, and her lost older brother Varyano (OC)

A/N: Apologies to JRR Tolkien and Elizabeth Bishop!

"The art of forging is extremely hard to master."

"The coals too red, the heat of Aulë’s fire intense!"

“A nis, to forge?” Disbelief – they say I court disaster.

I scoff. I’ll show them – mine atar’s heir, much faster

Am I than they to learn the craft of Aulë. A hammer

At the forge since I could toddle – hard to master?

I would laugh, to bruise their fragile ner pride, fluster

Their jokes, their sneers. Had my brother lived, then I

Would ne’er need forge; he was lost to a disaster.

I beat out the copper steady-handed; I, near-master

Have been given the joy of my own forge. Hear, brother!

Varyano’s name is my prayer. Of our forge I am master.

I lose myself in the work, the song of the forge, and vaster

Than all of Aman, than Ekkaia, I feel we two together

Varyano, my forge-partner – until I court, a disaster

Even with your loss, brother unknown, I mourn a specter

I shan’t work alone. Send me a forge-partner you deem worthy!

The art of forging isn’t hard for Mahtan’s daughter to master.

The art of loving, of courting – truly that could bring disaster.

Kaylee Arafinwiel's Collection