The day revealed its ending in a firework of orange and red and purple. The sun took a well-earned rest on the horizon after many long hours of tedious work, bright and yellow at the edge of sight. It lay there for some time, as if soothing tired legs, before it hid away under the covers of darkness. The colours were washed away from the sky, as wet paint being washed from a dark blue, almost black, canvas. Out popped the stars, silver droplets on a dark ocean, giving light to the darkness. The full moon replaced the sun for the night shift, as a guard on a nightly patrol. By a window in a sea of white façade, sat a young boy. He was no more than seven at the time, though he had always looked older than his age.
"I see the moon, and the moon sees me, Eru bless the moon, and Eru bless me," the dark-haired boy said to himself as the moonlight caught him through the glass. His light blue eyes were turned to the sky, studying the stars. He might have sat there by the window for hours, for he lost count of time as his eyes counted the stars.
"You should go to bed, Boromir," a voice as light and fair as the clear ringing of silver trumpets spoke. It belonged to a young Lady of great beauty. Her hair as dark as shadow fell down her back as a fountain of the most precious ink. Blue eyes set in a beautiful face with skin as fair as ocean breeze. Her name was Finduilas of Dol Amroth, named after an Elf-maiden of the First Age, and the daughter of Prince Adrahil II. She had, some nine years ago, married Denethor II, son of Ecthelion II. Ecthelion was, at that time, the Steward of Gondor, which made Denethor the Steward Prince.
The young boy turned his face from the sky to the young woman. "Yes, Mother," he replied, as he put his feet to the stone floor once again. "I was staring at the stars. I did not notice how much time had passed."
Finduilas let out a short bright laughter. "You spend too much time in the moonlight, my son. You will end up getting mooonsick."
"No I will not," he answered, looking up from his own feet to meet the blue eyes of his mother. "I say my moon rhymes frequently enough, Mother."
His words made his mother smile. "Now, I think it is time to rest. Your father and your brother are fast asleep in their rooms, and I cannot sleep as long as you are not sleeping. Go to your bed and I shall come to sing you a song."
It did not take long before Boromir had come to his bed and gotten himself under the heavy covers. His mother sat down and watched the face of her son for a moment. "Sing to me the song of the stars, Mother!" Boromir requested, his face half hidden behind the covers.
Finduilas nodded and gave yet another smile to her oldest son. "Very well," she said, and her face was laid in a more serious expression as she began to sing:
Rualia the fair, blessed by the night
Freanimitore, Daugther of light;
She dwells in the moonlight and shines with the stars,
Hidden from daylight and hidden from sight,
Silver in darkness and darkness in night
Rualia the fair, a blessing to see
Eyllisaear, she shines for the sea;
She guides whom are blind, and lost on the waters
She guides whom will follow, and followed will be,
But guides she does not, refusers to see
Rualia the fair, the brightest of all
Aleanurdrenn, till darkness will fall;
She watches the world and protects those who needs
Brigthens the darkness and lights up the hall,
Cares for the children of stars and for all
By the end of the song, the young boy was sleeping soundly. His deep breaths sounded loud in the darkness of the room. Finduilas did not bother to get up from her seating at the bed, before a head looked in through a crack in the door.
"Finduilas?" the voice of a man spoke, and he opened the door slightly more to stick his head in."The other one is crying. You should see what is wrong with him, and come to bed. I cannot sleep through the noise."
The man, Denethor, as it proved to be, stepped into the faint light of the bedroom and went to stand beside his wife and the bed of his son. His eyes fell on the dark-haired boy and his eyes grew much warmer. "I see Boromir is sleeping," he whispered and bowed down to kiss his forehead. "Someday my son, you will be a great warrior. The pride of Gondor," his voice was filled with pride and love, and his eyes were still warm as he turned to his wife. "Let us give our son some peace, my love. The hour grows late, or perhaps I should say, early."
Finduilas got up from the bed with a last glance at her son and put her eyes on the man that she loved. He had changed so much since she had married him, maybe not in appearance, but in heart. She wondered for a moment if he would grow even more different with time.
He leaned in and kissed her once, and they left the room of the sleeping boy, who was dreaming of stars and moons and darkness.