Cuivienyarna
By Tyellas
Summary: A tale of awakening, an encounter based on Tolkien's creation myths from The Silmarillion. Two of the first beings in Middle-Earth set out to search for more elves, and get very distracted - unaware that they too are hunted.
Disclaimer: These characters and Middle-Earth are the copyright of the Tolkien estate and this fan fiction is not meant to infringe on that copyright in any way.
Story Warnings: NC-17, het, graphic sex.
Thanks to beta readers Suzana and Aayesha.
Rumor had come to the pits of Utumno that the Children of Eru now walked Middle-Earth. Melkor's servants crept forth silent from the pits of evil, clad in a hundred fell forms, to hunt them down. One such servant, Tevildo, slunk to the southwest. The cruel spirit of fire had dampened its light and heat. In the shape of the hugest wildcat, he flowed through the starlit lands like a slice of the Void, lit only by his burning eyes and the gleam of his long creamy teeth.
Tevildo searched caves and canyons, but found naught. He turned towards the wider lands, going last of all and reluctantly near running water and lakes. Water was the force of Melkor's enemy. But the risk was worth it, for there Tevildo's sharp ears heard strange calls and voices, and the Children of Eru were found. Hating the water, he dared not draw near to the great lake and its meres. But Tevildo was patient. He knew how to hunt. He waited in the woods near the lakes, to see if any of the new beings would wander his way.
And they did.
Two people slipped through the woods, walking slowly, drinking in everything they saw. The Elves were newly awakened upon the earth, and everything was still fresh and strange to their eyes. This pair of Elves walked close beside each other, and the elf-man's hand came close to the elf-woman's wrist. As their hands brushed, they caught their fingers together, all of a sudden. Both looked in wonder at their clasped hands; and they laughed.
"I have you!" said Elenye, blithely pulling at her companion's wrist.
"No, I have you," said Elen. Unused to his strength, he jerked her arm towards him. She shrieked with mirth, half pulled off her feet, and he put out both his hands to steady her. They clasped each other, laughing more. Elen was as tall as a young tree, and Elenye pressed unclothed breasts to his hard chest, but every touch was as innocent as leaves blowing around each other.
They wandered with more purpose than their play. Elenye wanted something, and Elen had thought that they might walk forth from their home, the shores of the Mere, to seek. "Which way do we go, now?" Elenye asked. Elen looked around and pointed, and they went on again, revelling in everything new, but always coming back to their search.
Elen had taken them along a rough path in the woods, battened down only by animals. None of the new beings had ever strayed so far from the Mere of Awakening. But something old had crept near, and the two elves stared in delight at a creature they had not seen before, startled and frozen in the path.
It was a huge sabre-toothed cat, with eyes gleaming. One great paw lifted, ready to swipe or flee. Its near-black coat blended into the starlit dark, only its teeth and white whiskers bright, and its burning eyes.
Fearlessly, Elen held out his hand. "Heia! Can you talk to me?"
Confronted by such strangeness, the cat inhaled once, deeply. Then it bounded away into the forest, leaves and twigs crackling in its wake. Untroubled, the young Elves walked along, chattering about the creature, heedless of any eyes that might yet watch from amongst the leaves.
When the excitement of finding the cat had faded, and they had walked further through the changeless woods, Elenye stopped. She yawned and stretched. "I am tired. We will sit a while," she commanded, sweetly. For a cloak, she wore a wide square mat of tightly woven grass, and she unwrapped herself so that they might sit together. Without Elenye's mat, they were dressed alike, belts of woven grass and bark binding a skirt of neat, flat grass braids. The forest's sounds were soft around them, a few insects, the rustle of unseen night-birds.
Elen brushed Elenye's dark curls back from her triangular face. "You are sad, Elenye."
She nestled up to him. "I am sad, Elen. I had thought we might find more who speak, and lead them to Imin and Iminye. Their clan is smaller than ours. Imin wanted more people. But there is nobody else in the woods who speaks."
Elen petted her but looked around, his strong features keen and curious. He had tied back his own long, silver hair with a braid of grass. "The world is very big. It has no end. There may be more of us—" He waved his hand, his mouth feeling empty, hungry for a word that Elves had not made yet. The word was "somewhere." After a moment, he tried, "More of us a place that is not here, but a place that is. Or maybe we have to do more first, before they awaken."
"That was how it was," said Elenye. "First Imin and Iminye, and Tata and Tatie, then you and I awoke. It was only six of us and we made some words. And then we went walking, and found more of us, awakening under the trees. We are many now, twelve times twelve." She wrapped her arms around her naked knees, troubled by her yearning. At times, knowledge surfaced unbidden in the minds of the new Elves, set there by their creator to guide and guard them. Thoughts deeper than the words she had ran through her. All she said was, "We should be more…we should be more."
"Yes. That would be good. But we found the new animal, and that was good. More are waiting for us, I know it." His confidence had never been clouded, and Elenye took heart. He peeked at the basket Elenye carried. "Let us eat, and then go to look more." Elenye carried roasted bulrush-roots in the basket of reeds, and Elen cut them into smaller chunks with his stone knife. They ate happily, as absorbed in the food as hungry children.
When they were done, Elen cleaned his knife on some leaves. He lifted it to admire his flaked flint-work, glad that the fair thing was his. Tata was rather better at making things of stone, but his own work was still good. Elenye closed the flexible basket and rubbed her bare feet. Exploring the world nearly naked had toughened the Elves of the Mere to pain, but even so, her feet ached from walking on stones and tree roots. She looked at Elen, and felt she wanted his body, wanted to be taller and stronger than she was. "I should not have come with you. I am slowing you down," she said. "I wish I was more like you for walking."
Elen was alarmed. Elenye had never said that she did not want to be with him before. He clasped her hands. "It is better to have two pairs of eyes to look. And your voice is better to hear. Maybe the new animal would have talked to you, if you spoke."
"And I thought to carry some food," she said, wryly. "But your words make me glad." They curled up together again. "I am glad you are the one who keeps me warm. It has never been only two of us."
Elen was inspired. The Elves had always made new things together before, words and crafts in their small groups. But this new venture filled him with new thoughts, and he felt bold enough to make something without consulting another. "Here is a new word for how we are now: alone. Do you like it?"
"Alone. The two of us are alone." She looked up, smiling. "Yes, I like it. The word is good." She put her fingers against his lips, playful once more. "Say it again." He spoke against her hand, and she giggled to feel his lips beneath her fingers. "You try it!" Elen placed his fingers over her soft lips, and he too laughed.
"Here is a thought. Put your mouth to mine, and we will speak together that way." They moved their faces together and spoke. The word "Alone" pursed and opened their lips, and their breath warmed each other's mouths. They said it twice, softer the second time. The third time, the new word lost its meaning in the first kiss of Arda's beings. Finally, Elenye drew back with a little gasp.
"Did I hurt you?" Elen asked.
"No. No, that was - good." Elen's hand rested on one of her breasts, and she felt the heat and weight of it like never before, her own skin beneath tingling with warmth.
A tremor passed between them. Breath was faster, of a sudden; they felt as if they were awakening under the stars all over again. The difference between their first rousing and now was that Elen, at the awakening of his birth, had first looked upon the stars above, and Elenye had first looked upon Elen. Now, they drank each other in together, and no star was brighter to the elf-man's eyes than the elf-woman's face. On the brink, the two were never more equal, aware they shared a sense of joy in the doom of life.
Together, they blinked. The high sense of sharing passed, but their bodies' arousal did not. Elen swallowed and then, very deliberately, tightened his hand. Elenye leaned in towards him with the softest moan, like a rustle in the leaves. She tilted her head to his, and they grappled in a clumsy, exploring embrace.
Elenye mimicked her lover's gesture, gripping his chest where a nipple rested at the base of muscle. It was Elen's turn to moan as she brushed his nipple with her fingers, then seized it and pressed. "That is what they are for," he gasped, delighted; the useless nubbins had puzzled him. "Let me do it to you!"
Her breasts filled his hands, and he pulled at the tips. Elenye jerked her head back. "Ai, do it again!" She flexed her whole body; the pulling reached down into her stomach. Startled, she turned to the basket of roots, then realized the hungry feeling had nothing to do with her mouth. "And again," she said, wanting to make sense of the empty, warm feelings. Then she moved her knees to be closer to him, reaching to speak with her mouth to his. At their lips' touch, she felt fed.
Elen embraced her back, touching her in every possible way, her bare back, her rough curls, then stopped and reached down to himself. His sex was awake and hard, as it had been before, at times, a useless curiosity. Never had its call to pleasure been so urgent. He touched himself tentatively, then gasped and drew so that his erection stood higher. Burned by the feelings it gave, Elen would not have let go if Elenye had not wrapped her hand around his root with a cry of glee. He surrendered gladly; something about her touch was even better. Nor would he have stopped her. But she only toyed with him for a moment, now lifting, now probing, and then dove her hand beneath her own skirt. The braided strands fell flat across her own loins. She looked bewildered as she took her hand away. "I can't see. You tell me," she said.
Elen had seen the triangle of her pubes before, but, perpetually distracted, never felt the urge to explore her there. It was time, he felt, and long overdue. Leaning, he brushed the fronds aside, finding her fragrant, and said, "You have - second lips?" He put his hand there, as he had touched her speaking lips before. There was a tender spot, slick and inviting. "And a second mouth. Do not bite me, all right?" He slid a finger inside.
Elenye half-writhed. As before, she ordered her companion about. "Another, give me another!" Elen found it even more agreeable to obey her now. The touch made her whole body hungry. Being crammed up against Elen, length to length, had been the closest thing to easing that, so she shook him off to embrace him again. She knelt up, agile as she pressed her breasts and twined her arms. They both shut their eyes when his erection brushed her cleft, the heat and tension calling to each other. Clumsy once more, they over-balanced, but urgency had them, not mirth; they did not laugh, but clung together.
Elenye was on top of Elen, and it came to her that she might have everything she craved, the fullness, the contact, and Elen's face to look upon. The young elves had both instinct and thought, and even mating came to them with words. Elen leaned back onto his elbows, manhood spearing upwards, and said, "Maybe my hardness goes—"
"---inside me, yes," Elenye agreed. Legs parted. Hips thrust, and Elen was inside Elenye. There was a twinge of pain, then Elenye closed her eyes to feel herself deliciously filled, the joints of her hips spread. His sex fit hers perfectly. As she slid down on him, Elen inhaled, feeling her tangled locks brushing his face, her tender muscles clenching his shaft. Still fearful that the grip inside her hid teeth, Elen pulled halfway out. Elenye jerked her loins towards him, and the friction was a hot lesson for them both. Elen drew out, and then slid back in, and they thought and feared no more.
Elenye folded down so that they were chest to chest, and buried her face in his neck. He found his arms around her waist and pulled her onto him. They arched their hips together, finding rhythm and losing it and finding it again. Time was lost, and nameless joy took them. Elen shouted with it, and Elenye flushed and shivered, and then they were still.
Absorbed in each other, they did not hear a rustle in the trees, or sense baleful eyes turned to them. The great cat they had found before had found them now. In the darkness above them, balanced on a wide branch, Tevildo grinned. When they were done, he thought, he would claim one of them. The first one to stand would be taken by a swat of his paw.
In the meantime, they lay together. Elen's chest was heaving so hard that it lifted the woman on top of him, bound to him with both his arms. Elenye waited for a moment - was there more? She whispered, "Are you good?" He released her, and she sat up on top of him.
He looked up and saw Elenye and the stars above her, the sight awakening and love united. "I am good," he said. Elenye smiled in relief and traced a feathery touch over his body, still shivering. They wriggled apart. Elen hauled himself to sit up, still breathing hard, moved by the same idea as at his birth-rousing, the need for speech. "We need more words for this," Elen declared.
"Yes," Elenye sighed, "some very new words." She knelt up and reached between her legs. The tender opening was still there, the insides of her thighs shiny from its wetness. She touched, and rubbed the thick, translucent fluid between her fingers. The only thing she had seen or felt like it before was the viscous white milt they found when they gutted certain fish from the Mere. In other fish, they found eggs. She rested her hand on her belly, mystified that her urge to find more Elves was calmed, now.
Elen's own moment of peace faded quickly. He felt hot as he looked on Elenye's meditative peace, comparing it to his own changes. He had roused and hardened and felt himself empty, and his heart roiled with confusion. His muscles were still tense; he wanted to hold Elenye down, to do that again, and to go hunting, all at once. He thought of boasting this new knowledge to the other elf-men, and then he burned to think of another fellow touching Elenye. He reached for her hand, and even this warmed him. Rough and plaintive, he said, "Do not place your mouth to anyone else - keep it for me. For me alone!"
She gripped his fingers, speaking from the knowledge that emerged in her. "It is why we woke up together. Not to keep each other warm at night, nor to play, but for that." Her voice had lost its girlish note, and Elen calmed at her deeper words.
The elf-man and the elf-woman were still kneeling, together but uneasy, when a leaf drifted down and landed between them. Ever curious, they glanced up together, then froze. The huge cat they had seen before was perched on a branch close above.
Their nervousness of each other dissolved before a sudden, stronger dread of the beast. Elen thought of his manhood sunk into Elenye's body, and feared lest the cat stab her with its fangs, also long and hard. They crept back together, away from beneath the branch, the elf-woman feeling bare and clasping the mat. Elenye saw the cat tense and, struck by the urge to protect, half-stood to draw Elen back. "One thing I do," Elen muttered, "then we run." His own yearning to possess and fight fell into place as, defending Elenye, he took his stone knife and hurled it with savage accuracy at the threatening beast.
Tevildo had counted on easy prey, and howled in pain as the sharp, flattened stone smacked between his eyes. Melkor's servant lost his chance. By the time he had recovered, the Elves had fled. Used to hunting by ambush, he did not chase. He roared his frustration into the darkness, then snarled and shredded the bark of the broad branch. He could track the beings by their spoor; but he had no wish to be pained again. So Tevildo dropped to the ground and clawed at the tree trunk to mark the location. After spraying his piss upon the tree, he slunk back into the darkness, hoping to claim reward from his master with his tale.
The elf-woman and elf-man ran fleet and hard, until their throats ached. They stopped for a moment, listening. The forest behind them was silent. Wordlessly, deliberately, they clasped hands. Elen gestured, and Elenye nodded. They ran again, towards the safety of the Mere, towards the new words that were waiting for them - passion, jealousy, marriage, children, the future.
Story Notes:
Cuivienyarna = The Tale of Awakening. Cribbed directly from The War of the Jewels, History of Middle-Earth.
Tevildo = The evil Prince of Cats, a servant of Melkor mentioned in Lost Tales 1. Tolkien hated cats with a passion - so much so that he eventually changed Tevildo to a different character, the werewolf Dragluin.
Elenye's story = Based on Tolkien's own myth of the Elves' awakening in The War of the Jewels, History of Middle-Earth.
The word "Alone" = In Primitive Elvish, would have been erikwa; the last syllable does purse your mouth.
Melkor = The earliest name of Morgoth. He was not named Morgoth at the stage of Middle-Earth history when this story is set.
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