Chapter 1
In times of old, before the breaking of the first age and the coming of the sun, a servant lived with his master in Nan Elmoth. His name was Tinnurion, and his master was called Eöl.
Before his service, Tinnurion had lived as a Sinda in Eglador, which was renamed Doriath after the Girdle of Melian was raised. There he had sojourned in great glee for a time, but after the First Battle of Beleriand his mood worsened, and he grew ill at ease in Doriath. He found a willing ear in Eöl, a noble elf who was known as a great smith and a lover of dwarfkind. Before long, he followed Eöl to Nan Elmoth, never to return to Doriath. Thus, it passed that Tinnurion came into Eöl’s service.
In the first years of his time there, he helped in the building of Eöl’s dim halls, and near the pool of Gladuial the smithy where Eöl would forge his legendary works. With the combined effort of all his fellow servants, they had erected a wonderful dwelling large enough to house them all. When the building was all set and done, the time of Tinnurion’s servitude in Eöl’s household truly began.
In his first years in the household of Eöl, Tinnurion performed various menial tasks, some more meaningful than others. Gathering food, carrying traded goods from their trade with the dwarves, hauling water from the river Celon, cleaning the smithy and so forth. It was only later that Eöl entrusted him with custodianship of the cellar and for the wine that was stored there. As before his coming to Nan Elmoth, Eöl had learned to love the wine that flew richly and generously in the halls of Menegroth, most of all the Dorwinion variant that came from the far south. Now he relied on Tinnurion to serve him his wine as his trusted cup-bearer.
Tinnurion had had a hand in the making of wine and other cordials prior to his coming to Nan Elmoth, which made him particularly suited for this position. Had he imagined to be serving wine to Eöl when first he followed him hither? Not in the slightest. But servitude grew on him, and before long he learned to appreciate the tasks he performed. After all, this was the realm of his lordship Eöl, rightful vassal of King Elu Thingol and the greatest smith Middle-Earth had ever seen. To be his cup-bearer was an honour not to be held lightly. For this is how Tinnurion became one of his closest confidants. He overheard every conversation between his lord and his lord's visitors and was often invited to join in. At times, Eöl even demanded Tinnurion's advice, though he rarely followed it.
In the brewing of nutrious elixirs and near-medicinal draughts he held skill few others possessed, and some he made from the most unlikely ingredients, with few of his cordials rivalling even the potency of Miruvor that would in later times be brewn in Imladris. Wine was not among them, for Nan Elmoth was no place to grow grape vines. Hence much of the wine came from trade with other realms and mostly from the Dwarves coming down the Dwarf-Road into Estolad. That is how they came by their stock of Dorwinion wine, as was Eöl’s favourite. Perhaps Tinnurion’s most potent cordial was Suithond, a wholesome drink made from a select few ingredients. It carried an earthly odour, but in taste it was sweet and surprisingly revitalising. But Eöl much preferred wine and thus during plenty an occasion Tinnurion found himself standing near his table with flask in hand, awaiting his master’s call.
That is how his time in Nan Elmoth began.
