Challenge: King's Reckoning / Kings' Reckoning : Kings' Reckoning, by Himring

[hhimring]

Author: Himring
Source / Fandom: Lord of The Rings; Unfinished Tales (House of Elros)
Rating: Teens
Warnings: reference to canonical character death
Characters: Elrond
Disclaimer: Elrond and the calendar are from Middle-earth; the rest is Himring's embroidery.
A/N: Tolkien apparently uses both the spellings King's Reckoning and Kings' Reckoning for the Numenorean calendar in LOTR Appendix D, which got me a bit muddled. This take is based on the version with the plural "Kings'".



For years, Elrond had to suppress a wince when he heard the term Kings’ Reckoning.
He did not know who had come up with this Numenorean adaptation of the calendar—maybe his nephew Vardamir, the lore-master, never a King except on paper. Maybe it had been refined by Meneldur, the passionate astronomer, before he became King.
What was clear was that it could not have received its current name until there had been more than one King—until Elros had died. Worse, the first time Elrond had heard the term was when he was told the date of Elros’s death.

Comments

[shirebound]

it could not have received its current name until there had been more than one King—until Elros had died.

What a shock and sadness for him. Maybe he should turn his attention to the more cheerful and innocuous Shire Reckoning.

[hhimring]

I am sure Elrond prefers the Shire Reckoning!
Thank you, Shirebound!

[octopus_fool]

Oh ouch, poor Elrond! Lovely drabble!

[hhimring]

Thank you very much!
In my 'verse, communication between Middle-earth and Numenor is basically one-way for the first few centuries, not because I want to be mean to be Elrond, but because I somehow can't help reading the canon that way. (I do appreciate the fic of others who don't see it like that!) That's why Elrond hears things like that death date only later.

[tehta]

I really like this! The sadness of lacking need of immigrant relatives is really compounded by an Elvish lifespan.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Tehta!

[sauronnaise]

'never a King except on paper'
OOF

Poor Elrond. He always goes through a lot.

[hhimring]

Thank you! Yes, poor Elrond!

But if you are also feeling sorry for Vardamir, he was (perhaps unusually!) quite happy with not being a King. He resigned immediately in favour of his grown-up son as soon as he succeeded, but they recorded him as having been King in the official records anyway. Vardamir was a famous scholar and also old by the time his father died.

[sauronnaise]

It's rather the wording that made it like a jab to Vardamir, which amused me (I read it with a dry and caustic tone). It made him appear incompetent, though given the circumstances, it doesn't seem like Vardamir would care the slightest. 'I'm too old for this' is a valid argument anyhow!

[hhimring]

What Elrond is meant to be hinting at here was that calendars are called after rulers but, even in early Numenor, the detailed work of revising them is likely not to be done by those who are currently occupied with doing actual kinging, if that makes sense.

[zdenka]

Oh no, poor Elrond!

[hhimring]

I mean, he has had worse happen to him, poor guy, but I couldn't see him appreciating the name of that calendar much, especially in my version of things!
Thank you for commenting, Zdenka!