Reforge

Eärendil

It started as a child. I was young, and Arwen was younger. I always knew I was different. I could read others’ minds, calm them and let silver light flow under their skin. I could lift a river into a bridge, and let the wind carry me on a wisp of air. Nobody else could do what I did. And I was calm, helping and healing with my abilities. But there were times when it was all too dark for me.

'Eärendil! You are disallowed from exiting the halls.'

'But father-' I protested

'No. Go home. Better yet, just go away.'

'Then why does Arwen-'

'Do not speak of her! Just go.' You can see what I faced. Bit by bit, year after year, I fade, crumble, disintegrate into a mist. I hid it. I had to, as the heir to the great elven city of Rivendell. I couldn’t be weak, nor could I be useless. Or broken. I was just a mirror in shards. I grew this way, snapped and broken into what couldn’t survive. At least that’s what they thought.

I prevailed, locked away till even those most beloved forgot me. Arwen, my own sister, didn’t hear of me after the memory of me had slipped beyond her mind’s reaches.

Elrond, my father, was cruel, but his reasoning was correct. He tried to hide my abnormalities from the world. When he couldn’t, I was just a mistake, a piece that didn’t fit in the puzzle of life. I was around 1,500 years old then, still relatively young. But I hardened beyond my years. And soon, it was time to make the decision that made me who I am.

To leave.

______

'Eärendil, is that you? You aren’t supposed to be outside now.'

'So you haven’t forgotten me, Arwen. Let’s keep it that way.'

'What do you mean?'

'I’m going away. For good. I can’t survive here. I must go.'

'Please don’t, at least not today.'

I give in. She’s beginning to raise her voice, and we’re becoming loud. But since I’m staying for one last night, there’s one thing left for me to do.

'Come. There is one last thing for me to show you.'  I say softly.

She follows willingly. We stroll through the gardens, filled with plants better cared for than I was. There’s a cliff at one end, forged of solid stone: or is it?

I stop just a foot from the cliff in a spot next to plants flowering with pale blue flowers with pleasant aromas, Sweet Galeras, more commonly known to the elves as athelas. A password I say softly; like I never would otherwise.

'Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!' I whisper.

A path opens into the wall as Arwen gasps, seeing me do the impossible. But she follows me through the rock face until we come out onto a bluff one near a waterfall that silently tumbles down, crashing next to Rivendell. The stars are glimmering in synchrony as I raise my hands to the sky, revealing a flurry of shooting stars dancing across the sky in flight, as I will soon. We stay there silently as I guide the moon to its place as the sun rises. We return as if nothing happened.

--

Today.

Everything’s ready. I just have to leave. But no, there are still things to do. I’m going out with a bang.

I storm the hall. Only Elrond is there, as usual. Every day’s a slow day in the court of a peaceful city.

'What are you doing out of your room? Return there at once!' Elrond says abruptly, standing at my appearance.

'No.' I say, with an air of nonchalance I never knew I had.

We argue for a while, both raising our voices in dissonance as I near my time. As expected, he turns to a pleading old elf after just a little while.

'Please, Eärendil, you are the heir! Do not leave now!'

'Do you expect me to stay and further endure the hardships placed upon me? No, I leave! Expect not my return ere long, Elrond.'

This ends now. I turn with a sweeping movement, and as he tries to follow me and teach me reason, I block him with a field of my silvery light that solidifies on contact. He begins to collapse, but my heart is kind enough that I give him some of my strength. At the last moment, I turn.

'Elrond, take better care of Arwen than you did me. I’ll know.'

He is shaking and sobbing now. I whistle once. A grey stallion, per my order, gallops out of the wood. He slows just enough for me to mount, and off we go. Towards the mountains, into the forested realm, we fly on black hooves, faster than the birds above and the song of the Earth below. My silver hair blows freely in the wind, and my sapphire blue eyes do not turn to weep as freedom is granted and I soar through the open gates of Rivendell.�