[Year 1155 of the Trees. The Night of Arrival]
[Selas POV]
The stars came out, and the Avari kept celebrating.
Gradually the frenzy burned down to something gentler. The drums quieted. The dancing slowed into swaying. People drifted toward the riverbank in twos and threes, settling along the water to watch the stars with their families and their lovers, the way we used to at Cuiviénen.
I found a spot at the water's edge, lay back in the grass, and stared up.
Now came the hard part.
The thought of starting over from scratch made my chest heavy. All that effort at Cuiviénen, the buildings, the infrastructure, the routines of a functioning settlement, all of it turned to ash and orc filth. And here we were again, starting from nothing in an empty clearing with three thousand tired people and a pile of battered wagons.
No choice, though. Build again. Make it better this time.
"There you are!"
A familiar voice, and then a face appeared above me, blocking out the stars. Blue eyes and golden hair, framed against the night sky.
Ilvëa.
"I've been looking everywhere for you, and here you are lying in the dark by yourself." She looked mildly exasperated.
"Come sit," I said in Quendian, patting the ground beside me. "We'll watch the stars together."
She snorted, but settled down and somehow maneuvered my head onto her lap before I could object.
Not that I was going to object.
{ image: Selas and Ilvëa }
"They're just as beautiful as they were at the Lake," she said quietly.
"Yeah. Good times. Simpler times."
"I missed you all so much." Her voice went soft with the weight of old loneliness. "After we left on the Journey. I missed our gatherings, our conversations. And my gardens… there are orcs there now." A small, aching sigh. "All those years of planting."
"Orcs don't care about gardens, so your plants might still be standing."
"Maybe." She didn't sound convinced. Her fingers found the acorn at my chest, the cord warm against my skin. "At least this survived."
"More than survived." I closed my hand over hers, feeling the dual pulse of Light between our palms. Gold and silver, braided together. "There's something I didn't tell you before. Before our Exodus, I bathed it in the waters of the Lake. Between our mingled Light and the water, I think it absorbed something of Cuiviénen itself."
Ilvëa went still.
"You mean it carries…"
"A piece of the Cradle. Yes."
"Then we have to plant it." Her voice had that edge it got when she'd already made up her mind. "Right now."
That was Ilvëa. Zero to decisive in half a heartbeat. I was still working through the symbolism and she was already on her feet.
"Together?" I asked, catching her hand before she could bolt toward the clearing.
"Together." She pulled me up without breaking stride.
We stood and walked toward the center of the clearing, looking for the right spot. In the darkness, the acorn's pulsing glow drew attention. Curious Avari drifted toward us like moths, drawn by the light that flickered gold and silver against the night.
We chose a spot at the base of the hill.
I dug a hole with my hands. Ilvëa placed the acorn inside, then ran to the river and came back with water cupped in her palms, spilling half of it on the way.
I stood and faced the gathered crowd.
"This acorn was bathed in the waters of Cuiviénen before our Exodus. When it grows, it will remind us of our Cradle. Our true homeland."
No cheering this time. Just smiles spreading across tired faces. They could feel it too, that faint pulse of familiarity emanating from the soil. The Lake's echo, carried across half a world.
The crowd thinned as exhaustion finally claimed them. People wandered off to find sleeping spots, and soon the clearing was quiet.
I lingered.
If this acorn grew into something like the Tree of Life from Warcraft, or the Hometree from Avatar, we'd need serious defenses around it. Either way, the hill needed a fortress. Eventually a full citadel. Walls around the Tree, moats fed from the river, which we'd need to widen and deepen.
They'd already named it Taurion, the Forest River. Two fortified squares in the center of the clearing, side by side, each ringed by water and stone. One for the citadel, one for the Tree.
The real question was resources. Stone, metal, cement. All of it.
But that was tomorrow's problem. Even I needed sleep.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[The next morning. Council tent]
[Selas POV]
When the sky brightened with the glow that passed for dawn in these starlit lands, I called the Executive Council.
They gathered around the old table, the same one we'd hammered together years ago somewhere on the steppes. It creaked under every elbow. Someday we'd build a proper one. Today it held.
"We have our new home," I began, looking around at my advisors. "Now we build it. That means decisions. A lot of them. First things first: the camp needs proper organization."
Nods all around.
I turned to Gelasiël Ufestil.
"Gelasiël, take your prospectors and survey the surrounding land. We know there's iron in the western ridge. Now I need the actual veins—and limestone, clay, sand, anything we can turn into cement and stone. Temeryl can't build without materials."
He nodded, already calculating distances.
I shifted to our architect.
"Temeryl, while the prospectors are out, put your builders to work on the Taurion. Widen it, deepen it, and dig a canal from Taur-ael to the Gelion."
"When do we start building houses?" Temeryl asked.
Good question. I'd been chewing on this.
"You all know about the acorn Ilvëa and I planted last night. The one carrying our Light and a piece of Cuiviénen."
Nods.
"Several of my farmers have taken quite an interest in what might sprout from your little acorn." Balga Sheselan, spoke with the dry affection she reserved for things she found mildly ridiculous but secretly fascinating. "They'll help Ilvëa tend the sapling."
I nodded gratefully. I had enough on my plate without nursemaiding a magic tree. And with proper care, something would grow. If it turned out to be what I hoped, we could eventually combine stone construction with living tree-homes. I shared the idea with the council.
"For now, we won't build permanent houses. But we need to start planning the entire settlement layout immediately."
"In that case, Chief," Mireth Lëneris spoke up, "the first priority should be a hospital site. My healers and herbalists need a proper space to treat the wounded."
That opened the floodgates.
Every advisor had needs. Specific, urgent, non-negotiable needs for their area of responsibility. The discussion sprawled across hours as we sketched out a rough plan for the settlement.
I introduced the concept of sewage systems and a cloaca for fertilizing future fields. Balga's eyes lit up at that. Gelasiël suggested digging underground passages and mine shafts first, then converting them into sewage channels later.
Everyone agreed on the principle, though the question of where to route the outflow remained open. We'd need to identify suitable farmland first.
"Celestia, your scouts have their work cut out," I said.
She nodded, already mentally distributing teams across different sectors.
"Assign some to escort Gelasiël's prospectors and Balga's farmers."
"We need detailed maps, Celestia," Vertalas Baradriel added. Every head around the table bobbed in agreement.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[Same session. Fortifications]
We moved on to the fortress and its defenses.
"I understand your vision for the citadel, Chief, and my builders will make it real in stone," Temeryl said carefully. "But why so many moats? Wouldn't a single moat around the fortress be enough?"
"These moats will be part of a larger system. Defensive lines for the Great Walls."
I spread a sheet of paper on the table and began sketching with a quill, dipping it in ink.
"Two squares in the center of the clearing, side by side along the river. The lines of the squares are moats. One square holds the citadel on the hill. The other holds the Tree. The moats and sections of the Taurion, along with the embankments, will be lined with our stone…" I used the shorthand we'd developed for the cement-and-aggregate mixture. "To keep the edges from eroding or collapsing. The inner face of each embankment becomes the foundation for the walls."
Temeryl was already sketching notes.
"Why separate the citadel and the Tree with their own moat and walls?" he asked.
Vertalas answered before I could. "In case one falls to the enemy. Losing the fortress shouldn't mean losing the Tree, and losing the Tree shouldn't mean losing the fortress."
"Exactly. Between them, we'll build a bridge across the dividing moat. Covered on top, so the wall continues unbroken above. Two passages: the lower one through the bridge and gate, the upper one along the wall through gatehouse towers. In extremity, the whole structure can be collapsed."
I kept drawing.
"The corners of the squares, where the towers stand, will also be connected by wall segments along the top. No lower bridge at the corners. The end result is a rectangle of outer walls, divided inside into two walled squares with a canal between them, connected by three upper passages along the walls and one bridge below."
"Underground passages between the two as well," Vertalas added.
Temeryl's quill hadn't stopped moving.
We discussed wall specifications. After some back-and-forth, we agreed on preliminary dimensions. The fighting platform on top of the walls would be six meters wide. The base would be twelve meters thick. Height, roughly twenty to twenty-four meters.
"The fighting platform needs a roof," said Yalinim Vakniros, our infantry commander. "Sloped toward the enemy side, so projectiles deflect outward."
"We could build wooden shelters," Vertalas suggested.
I shook my head. "Wood burns. You all remember what happened to our wooden settlement at the Lake."
The memory sobered the room.
"The wall-walk roof should be concrete, an extension of the walls themselves. We'll cut arrow slits along it for the archers. Loopholes."
Through collective brainstorming, we refined the design. The arrow slits would protrude slightly from the wall face, allowing defenders to fire straight down at the base. We planned towers every fifty meters, projecting outward to create overlapping fields of fire.
The towers would be thicker and taller than the curtain walls by ten to twenty meters, with open tops to mount siege engines: bolt-throwers for precision work, and heavier machines.
I let my imagination run. Behind the regular wall sections between towers, on the inner side, I proposed two elevated platforms with access to the wall-walk. These would hold the heavy catapults, the kind that lobbed stones over the walls onto besieging armies. Safe behind the walls from enemy fire, the platforms would sit slightly lower than the wall's crest.
Temeryl had accumulated a small mountain of paper by the time we reached the gates.
We agreed on eight gates total. Two internal gates connecting the citadel and Tree squares through the covered bridge. Six external gates. Each external gate would have a small projecting barbican with a fighting gallery above it. From there, defenders could pour boiling oil or drop stones on anyone who made it to the gate.
The gates themselves should ideally be metal, though the weight presented a problem we hadn't solved yet. Some kind of mechanism to raise and lower them. They needed to be wide enough for two standard wagons to pass side by side. Portcullises on both sides of each gate passage.
"The bridges across the outer moats will be stone," I continued, pausing to drink. My throat was raw. "But a section near each gate will be a drawbridge, preferably also metal. The lifting mechanisms for the portcullises and drawbridges go in the barbicans."
"Do you have any idea how much cement, aggregate, and liquid stone this will take?" Temeryl muttered into the silence.
"And the metal for the gates, portcullises, mechanisms, and siege engines," Opheon Mendales added. Our crafts advisor looked mildly haunted.
"How many ore deposits am I supposed to find?!" Gelasiël grabbed his head.
"Nobody panic." I took another drink. "Obviously this is work for decades. There's no rush. But let's keep going."
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[Same session. Continued]
We discussed the stone embankments in more detail, covering the outer edges of the moats and the riverbanks.
"We need some stretches of natural bank," Mireth said. "Not stone."
Temeryl looked puzzled. "What for?"
"Wedding ceremonies!" Mireth's voice rose sharply, and every woman on the Council gave the architect a look that suggested the answer should have been obvious.
We designated several natural beaches along the river for the traditional Cuiviénen-style wedding rites, where couples stood knee-deep in water for the binding words.
This led to a practical improvement in the embankment design: a lower tier at water level with steps leading down from the upper quay. Useful for laundry, water collection, swimming, and climbing out if someone fell in.
Roads, however, received unanimous and enthusiastic approval. Every Avari who'd suffered through twenty years of mud and ruts and trackless wilderness wanted stone roads with a passion that bordered on religious.
The outer embankment of the defensive rectangle would be ringed by a road. A second road would run along the inner face of the walls for supply logistics. From the outer embankment, four stone highways would extend in the cardinal directions: north, south, east, and west.
"What if the Tree grows taller than the walls and spreads its branches beyond them?" Temeryl asked.
A genuinely interesting question.
"We could run suspension bridges from its branches over the walls to the tree-homes on the other side. Upper pathways that can be cut quickly in case of siege."
I didn't mention that the canopy cover would also provide camouflage, particularly against aerial threats. No point terrifying the Avari with the concept of flying dragons. Nobody would believe me anyway. The idea was simply too far outside anything they could imagine.
The plan had long since stopped being a mere construction project. This was an architect's dream. Temeryl's eyes burned with creative fire, and the rest of the Council radiated the kind of fierce enthusiasm that comes from facing a challenge worthy of everything you've built.
"Upper pathways," Celestia said, leaning forward. "Those would be extremely useful for my scouts and archers. Especially if we extend them through the forest all the way to the borders."
"That requires tree-homes, like the Nandor have," Vertalas noted.
"Growing them isn't the problem," Temeryl said, frowning. "But I can't see how to integrate living trees with stone structures harmoniously."
He turned to me, eyebrows raised.
"If we channel Light into the tree-homes, we should be able to guide their growth. We can test the theory on the acorn I planted."
The Council mulled that over. Everyone was curious what would grow from that glowing seed. If it worked the way I imagined, the tree-homes could be woven directly into the stone buildings, forming a lower level. The grown trees above could be linked by suspension bridges and platforms, creating an upper level and a network of elevated paths.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[Same session. Outer defenses]
Next came the outer wall.
The plan called for a perimeter wall along the edge of the valley and the forest. Slightly lower than the citadel walls, without a moat, but built on the same principles and with the same defensive features.
And then my inner Terran fortress-builder got truly ambitious.
Deep in the forest, beyond the settlement wall, I envisioned a third ring of defense. Not walls this time. Forts and strongholds.
A network of border forts on the forest's edge, where scouts would patrol the approaches. Behind the fort line, larger fortified castles serving as regional defense centers, where garrison troops from the forts could fall back if an enemy army appeared. These would be positioned along the four main highways.
Four major strongholds on the cardinal roads would serve as the final line before the settlement itself. Regional command posts, each capable of holding against a serious assault.
Beyond the castles, toward the forts and the frontier, we would not build roads. No sense making it easy for potential enemies to find us or pave their way to our doorstep. For now, obscurity was armor.
That was the master plan.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[Same session. Intelligence and security]
"What should my scouts do if they encounter local Quendi?" Celestia asked.
I thought for a moment.
"The priority is to avoid being spotted anywhere near our forest."
"As long as no one knows we're here, we're safe," Vertalas agreed.
"However, in distant lands, contact with the Eldar is acceptable. We need news and intelligence about the surrounding territories." I swept the room with a hard look.
"But we are still few, and still weak. I am forbidding anyone from revealing our existence or location to any local Quendi. This applies to every Avari without exception. We will institute a public oath of loyalty and secrecy."
I outlined several variants of the oath, covering allegiance, discretion, and other civic duties. The Council would refine them and bring the final versions before the Council of Elders for debate.
With intelligence settled, I moved on to the next crisis. Food.
Balga's stare could have bored through stone.
"The forest is enormous and will feed us in the short term," I told her. "Once the scouts map the terrain, we'll know where to establish fields and pastures."
"That may be so," Balga said, and the temperature in the tent dropped three degrees, "but we are planting kitchen gardens here and now. Non-negotiable."
"Seconded!" Mireth raised her hand. "My herbalists need garden plots for medicinal plants immediately."
Arguing with these two was not something I was foolish enough to attempt. We discussed placement of the initial plots and moved on.
I turned to Vertalas.
"Training and drill formations won't be forgotten either, Chief," he said before I could speak. "You know me better than that."
"We should designate a parade ground near the future citadel. A proper training plaza."
"And a proper arena for the Circles," Vertalas added. "The warriors have been asking."
He had a point. The Circles had been part of Avari life. Single combat, paired fights, all performed before a crowd. It kept skills sharp and gave people something to rally around. Entertainment and training rolled into one.
A coliseum. The word surfaced from my old memories. Tiered seating, a sand floor, maybe even space for team exercises. The Avari would love it.
"Good idea. We'll build one."
Vertalas nodded, satisfied.
Plans upon plans. The list grew longer with every conversation, and we hadn't laid a single stone yet. But none of it mattered until Gelasiël's prospectors came back with survey results and Celestia's scouts mapped the land around us.
Everything else was waiting.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[Same day. Evening. Council of Elders]
After the Executive Council session, I convened the Council of Elders and briefed them on everything.
More talking. More questions. More explaining. By the time we finished, the day was gone.
But the reaction was everything I'd hoped for.
The Elders, and through them the Avari at large, were stunned by the sheer scale of what we'd proposed. A fortress more massive than a mountain. Great Walls taller than ancient trees, and more than one ring of them.
Transforming a shallow stream into a deep, navigable river. Digging a canal to the Gelion. Forest strongholds, castles, and forts.
It staggered the imagination of people who'd never conceived of anything like it.
But they understood something fundamental: if the Chief and his Council believed these things were necessary, then the Avari needed them. Twenty years of marching across half the world had forged a bond of trust between the people and their leadership.
Hardship after hardship, and every time the Chief's decisions had proven sound. That kind of trust didn't bend easily.
Two sayings had followed us since Cuiviénen, so old no one remembered who first spoke them.
"Trust in the forest, but never drop your guard."
"If you desire peace, prepare for war."
Every Avari knew them by heart. Ancient wisdom, and priceless.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[Weeks and months following. Settlement work begins]
[Selas POV]
Time settled back into the familiar rhythm of hard work.
Celestia sent her scout teams fanning out across the land. Gelasiël Ufestil's prospectors followed close behind, hammers ringing on rock faces. Balga's farmers spread in different directions, testing soil and mapping water sources.
The forest came first. Every trail, every clearing, every stream cataloged and drawn onto Dirmal's improving paper maps. After the forest, the broader region. After the region, all of Beleriand.
The rest of the Avari threw themselves into work. Temeryl Isalion's builders, reinforced by Vertalas's soldiers and Yalinim's infantry, began the enormous labor of surveying, measuring, and digging. Moat trenches. Foundation lines for embankments and walls.
Simultaneously, teams attacked the Taurion, widening and deepening the riverbed, while others began cutting the canal from Taur-ael to the Gelion.
Ilvëa and a handful of farmers tended the acorn, which had begun to sprout. A tiny green shoot pushing through dark soil, already faintly luminous.
The hill, we left alone for now. None of us had the experience or skill for fortress-level masonry. Not yet. We'd learn on the walls and embankments first, working our way up from simpler projects.
When our architecture and engineering reached a level worthy of the task, then we'd build the real citadel. Our own Menegroth, our own stone heart, fused into a single unbreakable stronghold.
But that was years away. Maybe decades.
For now, there was a canal to dig, a river to reshape, and three thousand people counting on the plans we'd scratched onto paper around a rickety table.
The work began.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
[End of Chapter 11]
GLOSSARY
For those who wish to delve deeper. This glossary covers new terms and concepts introduced in this chapter.
PLACES
Taurion — "The Forest River." The name given by the Avari to the river running through their new settlement in Taur-im-Duinath. Planned to be widened, deepened, and integrated into the fortress's defensive moat system.
Taur-ael — A secondary waterway near the Avari settlement, from which a canal is planned to connect to the Gelion.
Menegroth — "The Thousand Caves." The great underground fortress-city of King Thingol and Queen Melian in Doriath, carved with the aid of the Dwarves of Belegost.
Beleriand — The vast region of northwestern Middle-earth west of the Blue Mountains. Home to the Sindar, and the land the Avari now inhabit in its southern reaches.
Aman — "The Blessed Realm." The continent far to the West across the Great Sea, home of the Valar. Destination of the Great Journey that the Avari refused to take.
PEOPLES & CHARACTERS
Nandor — "Those Who Turn Aside." Teleri who abandoned the Great Journey at the Misty Mountains. Known for their tree-dwelling lifestyle, referenced here as the model for tree-home construction.
Eldar — The Elves who accepted the Valar's summons and departed Cuiviénen on the Great Journey. In the context of this chapter, the "local Quendi" Celestia asks about encountering in Beleriand.