In the Hidden City...

Of Gondolin, Elesh was born under an elvish name which she claims is now forgotten. She was the eldest of three children, beholden in her youth to take on the care of her siblings. Her parents were often gone from the home, pursuing their duties within the city to king and kin. For duty was the most esteemed venture and adherence to the traditions of the Noldor expected beyond any other virtue.     Her parents were strict, trying to instill unwavering loyalty into their daughter. Elesh was an odd child. Painting with colors, be it object or her own body, telling the wildest stories bordering on untruths and playing pranks on the unsuspecting citizens of Gondolin — Such were her deeds that drove the girl's father to the end of his wits. When she was ready to learn a trade, Elesh left readily to study the Arts of Healing, but her father's gaze ever followed her, seeking to force his daughter into the mould that he intended for her.

Elesh dedicated her life to the practise of healing. She showed swift aptitude in sewing cuts, adjusting and setting bone and alleviating pain. It was during this time, in which she turned towards the sentiments of the Valar Vaire and Mandos, much to the distain of her father, who berated her over such a decision, saying his daughter was validating the doom that the "Corpse-Ruler" had spoken unto the kin of the Noldor, unjustly. In spite of many a hurtful word, Elesh would not have her father dictate her own beliefs, reasoning that the Ruler of the Dead had held no cruelty in his judgement and that therefor, the Noldor could be redeemed. Provoking her father even further, Elesh grew more and more eccentric. Her appearance became ever more odd and she rejected certain civil traditions of her people outright. She refused any notion of marriage, not that many would have pursued a lady so strange, but entertained the romantic company of never-do-wells and irreverent artists. 
     However, her duties of a healer turned towards that of a mortician, upon the tragedy of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. In the following years, Elesh grew more quiet, feeling trapped in a city which she was never allowed to leave, by order of the king.
     When the forces of the Old Enemy found the city and sacked it, Elesh escaped narrowly with her life. She was found by a roaming band of Man of the House of Beor and with them she remained for a long time, mending their wounded and ill and watching over the honored dead of their kin.

Time passed. Elesh continued to dedicate her life to the mending of people and the world they all inhabited, taking part in the conflicts of the Second Age only as a healer and mortician. Throughout the ages, she retained her eccentricity, roaming the lands as a wanderer from settlement to settlement. On her journeys she spoke to many peoples, appearing as a mortal woman and earning the title of "Flesh-Weaver" from the folk of Dale. Sharing friendships, love and adventure, she walks Middle-Earth to this day, seeking the remedy to the mark that the Old Enemy had left upon Arda.

[Artwork by me]