video

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin is standing in the bay of the pumping station on the north bank of the reservoir. The firefighters finished building and testing the the second of two tanker trucks the day before, and it is ready to be filled with its 11,000 gallons of water. You can hear the noise of the machinery in the background. The first tanker is already filled and ready to go. Outside, the firehouse and the ladder truck beside it are visible. ]

Firefighters and supporting crew, report in! We'll allocate our resources as soon as we know who's available and where we are needed.

And as we're a bit shorthanded, anybody who wants to join us, you are welcome to do so. Post in, and we'll find you a job.

If you want to report the exact location of a fire, or call for emergency help, this is the place to do it!

Comments

(Video)

[handofsilver]

(He loves his father and wants desperately, even at his age, to follow in his footsteps. If there had been massive flooding or an infestation of insects or anything else, he would be stronger. But this is like twisting the knife already in his gut.)

I will have no respect for myself if I do not.

(Video)

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin thinks about this. He knows how desperately his son loves and admires his father. And yet Curufin doesn't want him to endanger himself. And still. . . self-respect is the gold-standard of parenting -- the parent must find a way to make sure the child has this precious thing. The child is grown up, but that doesn't release the parent from this responsibility. Not in Curufin's opinion! ]

All right. What if I come and get you and you ride along with me on one of the tanker trucks? I'll teach you how to use the hoses, and we'll put out some fires together. [ Better than that other necessary task, actually running into burning or smoking buildings to get people out! ]

But you must promise me that if it begins to feel overwhelming, you'll tell me, and I'll send you back on one of the tanker trucks with Oscar or whoever is taking it on a refill run, to the riverside pumping station. That's important, too -- essential! -- and it'll give you a break from being in the proximity of fire. Okay?

(Video)

[handofsilver]

(Some of the lines of tension around his eyes and mouth relax at Curufin's response. His father believes him capable of this and that is a shield for him against the horrors of Sauron. Celebrimbor has too soft of a heart to see people and homes in danger and to do nothing.)

...yes. Thank you, Ada. (With Curufin beside him, he can remain focused on the present and not drown in his fears of the past and future.) I can agree with those terms and conditions. I will not hamper you and I do not ask for you to wait for me if, for some reason, I do.

We have survived worse, have we not?

(Video)

[so_dark_a_road]

[ And that soft heart shall be shielded. ]

Good. You will not be a bother to me, my son. I know you will do your part, and do it well. It is all right if you have to take a break, or must leave when you have had enough. I will not think less of you, and neither will anyone else.

We have, yondo. After the Dagor Bragollach, we rode west with all our surviving people through the narrow way between the northern boundaries of Doriath and the southern skirts of the Mountains of Terror. I remember that journey, the nightmare clashing of the overlapping sorceries, Melian's and Sauron's. The terror that filled our hearts as we braved that awful region of hallucination and deception. The monstrous creatures coming down on us from the slopes to our right. The cold faces of the marchwardens of the lands to our left, and their drawn bows aimed threateningly at us. The hunger and fear and pain of our people, so many injured, so many in despair. And you and I and Celegorm had to be strong and not falter, and often to place ourselves between our people and the perils of that passage. I'm sure you remember it too, and neither of us would want to do it again. But we made it.

[ And even though what followed, when they finally were granted refuge in Nargothrond, was not exactly a salutary end to that tale, still, the accomplishment remained. Curufin had been very proud of his son as he stepped up to brave the dangers along with his father and his uncle. He still was. ]