The Pentanath: Adventures in the Avathar
Chapter 1: The Tale is Told - Epilogue
by Sienna Dawn
NC-17

Disclaimer: All familiar characters of this story belong to the awesome world and works of JRR Tolkien, who is an unparalleled genius of this genre. All unfamiliar and original characters, animals and places are of my own invention. I do not derive any monies from this work and created this story solely out of the love and respect that I hold for all of the works related to this canon.

The Pentanath: Adventures in the Avathar
A Posthumous Writing of The Watcher of Tol Eressea

The tale is told....

Who I am is not really very important, I am simply the story-teller.

It was during my fifty-first summer that I came across a curious book called The Pentanath: Adventures in the Avathar. Hidden beneath old history books and ancient maps, it lay for ages uncounted, a worn book, with pages yellowed and ripped in many places.

It was an odd little book, one which did not call attention to itself, but one which instead sat quietly, entrancing the would-be reader, daring one to pick it up, turn the pages and read!

Oh, but what a story it told! For beneath water stains and fading ink, yellowed pages and ripped sections, there lay a glorious and wondrous adventure; a tale of love, tragedy and fate. And what awaited the stalwart soul who dared turn the page and begin the story was a magick that would not soon be forgotten.

But I am getting ahead of it all.

I had come, as I came each summer, to the ancient house of my grandmother's ancestors. There, on the western edges of the Shadowy Sea, on the ancient island called Tol Eressea, had they built a grand homely house where sea gulls cried early in the morning sun and each night lavender-kissed skies yielded to a brilliant carpet of stars.

I usually wandered about the quiet beaches, occassionally swimming in the low tides of mid-mornings and later diving for silma fish, the delicacy enjoyed by all the elves of Valinor. Sometimes I lay beneath the warm sun, contemplating my fate, knowing that soon my father and mother would come to expect a betrothal from me. At these times I would go back to the house and lose myself in the tales of yore, for I knew that the reality of my life was that I did not know my path, nor was my heart taken by any comely maiden.

Instead, I craved travel and the unknown. My heart longed to explore the mysteries of the continent called Aman, sail beyond the Pelori Mountains, explore the Enchanted Seas, and discover what lay beyond the lands that not even the Valar knew.

For my endeavors, those who knew me best said I wasted my time with fanciful dreams. And what had I to lose except time?

Was I not expected to learn the history of my people? The Noldor, the Vanyar, the Sindarin, and all the other of the Quendi, whose lives painted a timeless panorama of heroic deeds and tragic tales? And yet, I asked myself, what did I want and how was I to discover what that may be?

And to this end had I come, searching my grandmother's ancient library, where books lay atop each other like a golden treasure horde.

And it was on a brilliant summer afternoon, when the sea gulls had at last quieted, that I found the curious little book, tucked behind larger volumes, as if someone had wanted to hide it for safe keeping.

I took the book from its hiding niche and ran my hands over it. I noticed it was bound with a fabric I had never seen before, a near blend of silk and something else. I turned the book over, saw that it was old, very old. Suddenly, I felt compelled to read it and I noted curiously that I had never seen the book in the library until that day.

Yet, the little book in my hands burned my skin and I yielded.

With careful trepidation, I opened it and began to read.

I noticed at once that the first page bore the same title as the cover, "The Pentanath: Adventures in the Avathar", but unlike the cover page, I discovered the book was credited as being "A Posthumous Writing of The Watcher of Tol Eressea", and divided into separate books.

I stopped for a moment, deep in thought.

Who was this Watcher of Tol Eressea?

Certainly not any elven hero or leader I knew of. My heart jumped a beat....perhaps this was the diary of an unknown elvish explorer?! And so, I returned to the page once more and read its title,"Book 1: I More Lumbor", and I frowned. Why use such archaic language? I strained my memory and realized the words meant, "The Dark Clouds" in High Quenya. Dark clouds? And the title itself? Pentanath? Not familiar with the word itself, I searched my grandmother's old dictionaries.

Finally, after many frustrating hours, I found a possible translation for the word: "Keeper of the Many Tales", yet, the word itself suggested that the Pentanath was more than a book, and more of a Keeper of a Book, or Keeper of the tales of a book. Or a thing that kept the tales for this and all books. Not very conversant in archaic languages of old, I was soon lost and frustrated again. My eyes had flown to the enigmatic book and I thought, "What sort of book is this?"

But, unable to resist, I had lowered my gaze back to the little book in my hands.....and began to read.

Within the first week of its discovery, the book had me in its thrall. I was able to calculate the age of the book itself and of the events it described and was astounded by its great antiquity. More than four thousand years had passed from the date of the events and entries described in the curious little book.

I read about characters I had never before known of, like the Lady of the Gulls and many others. Though I suspected her true name, the thought that those, whose hands had created this book, had also walked alongside her, thrilled me and even frightened me a little! There was also the matter of the sleeping elves of the Avathar. Who were they? How had they come about? Why were they not included in the kindreds of the Quendi? So many questions, so many mysteries!

But I also learned that a great and tragic personal story was played out within the pages of the odd little book. Even stranger still was that many of the main characters spoken of in the Pentanath were persons whose names are known in Valinor and Tol Eressea. Yet it was not a story spoken openly about for I, lover of legends and histories, had never known of it until I chanced upon the book's discovery.

By the end of that summer I had nearly memorized the entire book, so often did I read it. Discreet inquiries about its origins yielded little information, save that my great-grandfather had found it among the belongings he inherited from an elderly aunt. But more than that I was unable to discover.

I was intrigued by the credited author, whose name was simply The Watcher of Tol Eressea, which I knew simply meant The Lonely Island, a name still used to the present day for our ancient islet off the great Bay of the Eldamar. I also noticed that the curious book used both High Quenya and the more common Sindarin, a sign that heavy editing had taken place, and by someone not wholly conversant with the High Language of the Elves. This fact, and that it had been compiled posthumously, told me that another hand had a making in the book. But whose?

I decided that year that I would try to find out as much as I could about the mysterious little book, and that meant I had to bring it back with me to Alqualonde, the sea-city where my family and I resided during the greater part of the year. There, I would find the resources to help me understand the Pentanath. Or so I hoped.

Having secured my grandmother's permission to do this, I set out to solve the riddle of the Pentanath....but before I proceed too far, I shall tell you the story, how it begins and how it ends....if indeed it has an ending!

~*~*~*~*~

Key:

Bay of Eldamar = the Bay which divides the island Tol Eressea from the continent called Aman.

Alqualonde = A port city and capital of the region on Aman called Valinor. The word Alqualonde means Swanhaven.

Silma fish = silver fish, delicay eaten by all Quendi.

Tol Eressea = The Lonely Isle, the setting of the story, an island anchored off the Bay of Eldamar.

Pelori Mountains = Mountains of Defence, highest mountain range, separates Alqualonde from the dark southern region called Avathar.

Shadowy Sea = Large sea surrounding Tol Eressea, deep waters, mostly unexplored except by fishermen and trappers.

Quendi = the race of elves, what all the elves call themselves.

Aman = what the elves call the continent where their lands are located.

Valinor = a region in Aman.

Avathar = Southern region in Aman, south of Valinor. Mostly unexplored. Where Ungoliant was born.

Enchanted Seas = ancient ocean known to be enchanted, any who sail on it are doomed to forever sail its waters without escape.

The Valar, aka the Lords of the West - the "Powers", angelic beings who watch the world and all of its races, animals, etc for Eru-Illuvatar. The Valar are 14 in number and took fleshly form in order to enter the world. Their history is very deeply entwined with that of the elves and of men.

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Disclaimer: All familiar characters are owned by JRR Tolkien and are used without permission. No monies are being made from this work.
Painting is taken from John William Waterhouse's "Miranda", 1875.

Graphics copyrighted Cari Buziak