February 2010 marks a significant event in the history of the Teitho challenge: after five years of dedicated work, Michelle is stepping down from moderating Teitho. It's a sign of her amazing skills that it takes five new moderators combined to fill her shoes. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Michelle for her huge part in making Teitho what it is today. As for our part, we can only hope Teitho will continue to be an encouraging environment for writers and a treasure trove for readers, as it has been these past five years.

To commemorate this change, the theme for February will be Trading Places.

It is said that each individual is the sum of his core personality and his circumstances. What would happen to our favorite heroes if their circumstances were changed? Imagine Aragorn in a world where his father had survived the orc attack instead of his mother. Or Legolas being raised by Galadriel in Lothl?rien, rather than by Thranduil in Mirkwood. What would change? What would remain the same?

Trading places can also happen on a much smaller scale, but just as significant: suppose the King wants to see his kingdom for a day through the eyes of a commoner? Or a certain elf tries to replace someone in an unfamiliar task - cooking for Thranduil’s feast when the royal cook is taken ill, taking care of baby Eldarion while his parents are away, or even mining in a cave instead of Gimli? What would they see and learn? The possibilities are numerous.

This theme is about taking your favorite characters for a journey outside their usual purview, and seeing what comes up - from an anecdote or insight to a glimpse of a completely different world.

Here are the stories for this month:

Your Teitho-moderators,
Marethiel, nautika, StarLight, and Valante