Carried with the Elf Cesistya, to be given at the appropriate time to Brynleigh and Conrob on the day of their union.
Two identical boxes crafted of sturdy wickerwork, measuring one-and-a-half hands long and wide, and one-half hand high. The uppermost plate is hinged with cording of twisted bark and held on the other side with a simple loop and fastener, but twisted into an intricate, Elvish knot that will not come undone unless desired. Within each box is a bundle of grass, dried and stripped, then flattened paper-thin into curls of various sizes, creating a pillow-soft bedding, with spring blossoms of hyacinth, cress, and barberry nestled about, ever-blooming and sweetly fragrant. The treasures within are partially buried in this, so as to make for safe storage and travel.
A gemstone of pale, earthly green, in shape and size not unlike a grape but with a colour of newborn spring, without facets but polished smooth as a mountain-lake, is held by a setting of electrum, from which slender, flattened bands of silver and gold spring as if roots from a tree, and like living vines they twist and weave amongst each other into a cunning mesh. The two braids grow thin as they travel away from the gem and setting, forming broad arcs as they reach around toward each other, but never meet, forming an open circlet. Flowing runes of Elvish script are etched into the green-gold about the beryl, visible only in angled light. A modest glow emanates from the centre of the stone, as if a dim and distant star was contained within, just enough to see by in pitch darkness but barely discernable for any other light that gleams from its surface.
A pendant ocarina, smooth and egg-shaped like the stone of an ancient river-bed, crafted of grey-green clay without glaze and sized to fit comfortably in the palm of one's hand. Six dorsal finger-holes run down along the sides, three to each. Between the sets of holes is a rune, consisting of a flattened 'U' like a shallow basin and a modestly bent line dropping down from the rightmost point. On the underside of the piece, an image of a mare resting with its foal below the voicing, flanked by two thumb-holes near the top, and two small, squarish tone-holes below. Protrusions on either side of the voicing have small holes for soft, braided leather cording to tie onto, allowing the instrument to be held about the neck. This cording, square-cut, has lengths extending beyond the knots, seemingly to fit into the two tone-holes near the bottom. About the edge, starting and ending at each protrusion and running about the bottom of the piece, is a set of flowing Elvish script carven into the clay, coloured ashen-black and bearing the scent of thatch and straw. When played, the notes linger about the air as if all the world was singing, and the music is ever-sweet, and it calms all those who hear it, be they elf, man, or beast.
(click for more pictures)
OOC Information:
Neither dent nor scratch shall mar the pieces, though they could be brought to ruin with sufficient force or intent. When held, the bearers, so long as there is a love between them, shall feel, as if by a persistent after-thought, the presence of the other. This feeling grows stronger if the circlet is worn and the pendant is played simultaneously; the Author had it in mind that the two would be able to locate each other, by the direction of the Music and the light of the Gem, being that they could see and hear it no matter the distance or what walls may rise between them, or even share feelings and thoughts... but, it has been decided that it will be up to the players who receive these gifts to determine the extent of their powers.
However, if the bond between the two is ever broken, the light of the gem shall fade, and the music of the ocarina will dullen, and the two pieces may fall to the ravages of time. For both gifts are hallowed by a spell which is dependent on their bond:
Original Elvish:
I cala melmëo accaluva voro
lingerya wiluva
o laurëa landa na lomëa felco
han airë ar vilya
nai melmë nutuva, nai melmë hiruva
nai endar lenduvar írë hroar autar
han airë ar vilya
Translation (poetic):
The light of love shall ever shine,
The song of love shall fly,
From golden plain to shadowed mine,
Across the sea and sky.
By love be bound, by love be found,
The hearts shall last when bodies pass,
Across the sea and sky.
The two lines,
nai melmë nutuva, nai melmë hiruva
nai endar lenduvar írë hroar autar
are the words inscribed upon each piece, written with tengwar in the Classic or Quenya Mode, the Tongue of the High Elves of the West.
Author's Commentary:
As tends to be the case when one has completed a project to their liking, particularly one who has very little self-confidence, one finds oneself eager to talk about it; their thought-processes, the tiny details that have come and gone, the pride they took at the surprising and delightful outcome. As these gifts have been kept secret (this Adventure shall be posted when the gifts are given, and only then shall their nature be revealed) and thus the gift-maker's lips sealed, and as these gifts are meant to be given in-character with this Adventure to describe them fully, the Author would not wish to ruin the moment of the scene with endless inane commentary.
For those of you involved in the scene, if you are reading this during, please consider yourself sprinkled with RP dust. Don't worry, this will be here when you get back.
No, seriously. Get back to the RP. This is going to be a chore to get through. I babble a lot. Look how tiny the scroll bar is; you're only a third of the way through this. Arright? Arright.
.....
It was March 15th when I created a file on my Google Docs drive in order to put down my thoughts about the wedding gifts. I had already been thinking about it for several days at least, but as I am often to and from work, I wanted a global place to mull over ideas. Even as I type this passage, on this very day, May 2nd, less than a week before the wedding, I've figured out how to model the ocarina in AutoCAD, particularly the Quenya inscription along the sides, which is something I never knew I'd be able to do. Since I can't draw for crap, at least I'll be able to get some sort of picture out of it. And since I'll be fiddling with it for the remainder of the week to be sure, it means I've spent almost 2 months on this small project.
It all started with a joke, as these things often do. Brynleigh and Conrob were getting married, someone mentioned gifts, and it occurred to me Cesistya should get on board. Being a terrible gift-chooser myself, I pondered what gifts Elves give each other on their weddings. A bit of digging (thank you, Internet!) yielded only what the family of the bride traditionally gives to the groom: a gemstone of some importance. I immediately was beset by the image of the bald Bree-ish prospector Conrob proudly bearing a glimmering Elf-stone set in a golden circlet upon his aged brow. After I picked myself up from the floor, I decided that this was a thing that absolutely needed to happen, and that I would also need to get Brynleigh something.
The fact that she was initially an after-thought to a joke-gift has caused me no small measure of remorse, but I hope the results make up for it.
A few ideas passed through my mind, the main one with staying power being horse-gear. Cesistya is most adept (admittedly by only a small margin compared to her other skills) at sewing and leather-work, so it stood to reason. Yet, the fact that Brynleigh was a Rohirrim ever nagged (see what I did there?) at me. Why would a horse-lady need a bridle or saddle? Surely she has one, and surely it is as good as it needs to be; quality by the standards of the Rohirrim. Truly, Ces and I struggled with this; perhaps instead some measure of wealth? No, she'd feel guilty. Perhaps something to make Conrob's job easier, so he could spend more time with her, and have more energy? Well, that's not really a gift for her, and anyway, in-character 'jobs' never get in the way of in-character interaction; they're background noise. Maybe I should just skip the gifts entirely? After all, Conrob's gift isn't really a real gift, it's more of a joke. And why would a Man of Bree (of all places!) be gifted by Elvish tradition? It's just silly. I'm silly. I should never have even tried.
I don't know how it popped into my head. I don't have any musical talent, so I simply don't ever think about it. I haven't played any Legend of Zelda games in ages. Maybe it was because Breath of the Wild jogged my memory. Maybe I was thinking about jewelry as an option ("No, that's too much like wealth"). I can't at this point recall, and I think I've long since deleted any thought processes that would reveal it. One way or another, a pendant ocarina popped into my head.
"No, Brynleigh has never shown any inclination toward music."
"Nor has Conrob toward circlets."
"... well, okay, bu-"
"Ocarina's are cool."
"... yeah, you win."
I was going to wait until we ventured Eastward, to collect clay and straw and leather from Rohan, and use them to craft the piece. At the time, there was no set date for the wedding, so such a thing was plausible. Alas, it didn't turn out that way, but no big deal.
So the pieces were set, but there was another issue that persists, and worries me even as I type: magic. Neither Rohan nor Bree are known for being fond of "Elvish sorcery", and though I knew Conrob and Brynleigh to be a bit more level-headed than most, it was still a problem: magical gifts don't just "happen", unless we're talking about very low-level ones, like those toys described at Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday party. The sorts of items that bear Elvish runes and glow and never dull or fade are very rare in this Age, and then, what is it they actually do? Cesistya is the daughter of a Noldor of Valinor, one of the greatest Elves of crafts still living in Middle-earth. She does not have even a portion of his skill (and much of it he himself has banished from his thought, but that's another story!), but a small percentage of a great amount is still worthy. Surely Cesistya would be able to put some interesting "magic" into these. And surely it could do more than just glow sometimes and never break; that's Elf-craft 101. That's what they did with their daggers, for crying out loud. Remember Sting? Yeah, Sting isn't a sword. It's a dagger. For an Elf. It's only a short-sword when a Hobbit carries it. And a pocket-knife for a troll.
Incidentally, when Galadriel gave Merry and Pippin daggers in the movie? The blades were about one hand-length. One HOBBIT hand-length, mind you. And hobbit-hands being half the size of elf-hands means the blade is about 3 ~ 4 inches long. Those "daggers" are literally the size of a swiss army knife. They have not seen service in war. Of that I am certain.
So if a common Elvish dagger (even one out of Gondolin) never dulls and glows in the presence of Orc, what do gifts given to newlyweds do? A dagger is made to kill, so... a wedding-gift should be made to bond. Sounds really stupidly romantic (protip: it is), but it made sense. What else could they do? It sure would be cool if the circlet glowed, that way Conrob could see in dark caves. And it would be really cool if the ocarina could calm horses. Or calm other things, like all the ruffians in the Tavern! ALL THE MAGICS! AAALLL OF THEM! WAARRHGHGGLAHGLDHLGPDSAHGL!
... it was at this point I asked BrynCon if they even wanted magic items. They said it was cool. So that was nice.
Eventually I settled on two things:
First, the pieces wouldn't wear out, unless someone tried very hard to wear them out. They aren't immutable; even the Seven Dwarven Rings could be destroyed by dragon-fire, and several were. And the One Ring could still be destroyed under special circumstances, albeit none other. These pieces wouldn't break or bend or scratch from everyday, normal wear-and-tear. Falling off a horse wouldn't break the ocarina. Stones flying from the impact point of a pick wouldn't scratch the circlet, nor would Conrob's strong grasp bend the delicate mesh. Were they taken to a smithy, however, a strong hammer would make short work of them.
Second, and this is the big one, if the circlet was worn and the ocarina simultaneously played, the usual glow of the gem would increase to a brilliant white, which the player of the ocarina could see, no matter what the distance or how many walls or hills or mountains were betwixt them. And the one wearing the circlet would hear the music and know where it comes from. But I didn't want to stop there: seeing light and hearing music doesn't feel like a "bond" to me. Those senses should merely spring from an increased feeling of being bonded. So, what really is happening is that the two are feeling the heart and mind of the other; knowing and feeling what the other is, in a vague, drifty sort of way. Suppose Conrob was at work in the mines, and Brynleigh missed him; by playing the ocarina, she could send her love to the man, and he would know it. Suppose Brynleigh was captured, held for ransom. A single note on the ocarina would let Conrob feel her panic, and he would know, as if by instinct, where to go to find her.
At this point I realized, this is getting really vague and I'm not, in fact, settling on anything. And, being still quite worried about whether this would even be acceptable in-character, I decided to cut my losses: performing the action increases their "bond" and the players themselves can decide how deus-ex-machina-y they want it to be.
It was pretty late in the game when I was thinking about the calming actions of the ocarina (ALL THE MAGI- *ahem*) and also thinking about storylines for Cesistya. Of the latter, I still struggle; I've been playing her for over 3 years and I don't know what to do with her. But thinking about all these things, and reading once more through The Silmarillion, eventually took me down the road to Nienna, the Valar who weeps. She is the spirit of pity and forgiveness, and as we have seen, those two things are immeasurably important themes in Tolkien's mythos. It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand when he could have slain Gollum. It was the same pity when Frodo did the same. It was forgiveness that we saw at the door-step of Bag-End, Underhill, when Saruman was bested by Frodo and met his end. Nienna rarely comes into any stories, but when she does, they are meant to remind us that greed and fear and hatred are the tools of the Shadow; forgiveness and pity are the tools of the Light. So that floated around in my mind a bit. I wondered how I could incorporate Nienna into Cesistya's story; maybe that could be some sort of end-game for the kindly Elf. I even developed a sort of symbol: an up-turned semi-circle with a line drawn down from the center. A simplified symbol of a closed eye with a tear falling from it. It would be some tangible thing to give Cesistya direction; something to aspire to. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the Elvish tengwar for the {k} sound, calma, was an up-turned circle of two parts with a line drawn down from the right edge. By removing one part (which was the top of the circle), I could maintain the intent of the symbol and yet have a stylized version of the first letter of Cesistya's name.
And what more perfect place to put that symbol than on an ocarina that is being gifted to a woman that Cesistya holds in high regard in terms of her kindness.
I struggled for about a week with the poem, and the translation. I had to keep modifying the them both in order to fit a proper rhythm scheme; Tolkien, of course, invented the languages, so he was free to change whatever he needed to make it work. Me, I had to crush syllables together. It was not easy. Eventually I had to be poetic (hah) and set myself firmly in the realm of "shades of meaning", and accept that the rhythm schemes would not be identical, but that they would be self-consistent for the languages they were in.
I did greatly struggle with the translation though. Being only fluent in English myself, and despite several years and several attempts at learning Elvish, I still seem to be poor at it. As such, I had to take a few liberties with the translation, for example using the 'nai +' formula in an odd situation. My excuse it that it still works, so long as you look at it from that particular shade of meaning. And that is true for the rest of the poem; meaning as opposed to literal translation.
It was not my intent to copy the poem the Elves wrote about the One Ring; I didn't even start with that. I began with the first two lines which reflected the qualities of the pieces and went from there. Eventually it became similar to the One Ring poem, and that's where I got the inscription from. I'm honestly okay with it. I didn't intend to make it that way, I just adapted part of my poem to fit the mould. And since I am not a poet (or even a decent writer) I think it came out okay. Here is the literal translation from the Elvish so you can see all the differences:
The light of love shall shine ever
Its song shall fly
From golden plain to shadowed mine
Across the sea and sky
May it be love shall bind, may it be love shall find
May it be the hearts shall linger when the bodies pass away
Across the sea and sky
It was only about a week before the wedding when I seriously considered drawing the pieces. I had tried to sketch the circlet, but it was always, in my mind, either a very neat weave or a very random, vine-like weave. By the time I settled on the latter, all thoughts of drawing it had vanished from my mind; I am not an artist. I would never be able to do it justice. The ocarina, on the other hand, I thought maybe I could do; or at least I could give it a try. When at last I fired up AutoCAD to try and not just draw it, but model it, things started to burn. Modeling architectural objects, now that's easy; everything is straight or chamfered or filleted with specific measurements. How do I make an egg-shaped ocarina? How do I make anything egg-shaped for that matter? Luckily, a little playing-around got me started, and it was all gravy from there. I even figured out how to inscribe the Elvish, though it required using a font (which can be found here: http://www.thehutt.de/tolkien/fonts.html) so don't think for one moment that I can write that pretty! One of the hardest parts was figuring out the material settings, since I'm somewhat colourblind and I had no idea what blend of red, green, and blue would make the piece look like clay, even after picking a colour off of a google image of clay! I'm still not entirely pleased with it, but I don't think I can improve it by any more fiddling. If someone else wants to fiddle with it, I'd be happy to yield the file!
One I finished modelling and rendering a few shots, I started wondering if I could indeed do the circlet. After all, I was able to wrap the text around a semi-circular arc; surely I could wrap any given pattern around an arc for the band. Unfortunately, the fact that the band is meant to appear 'natural' befuddles me, and I have really no good idea on how I'd manage it. So, sorry Conrob; for now, the description will have to do.
It's been a long road, but here we are, at journey's end. Thanks for coming along with me! Now, back to the role-playing. See you in-game!
