A/N:This story is for the Fireplace OC Challenge. Eruanna is an original character from my novel-length AU fic, Peredhel. She is a half-elf who grew up in Elrond's household and was adopted by Erestor. For more background on her and her relationships with Tolkien's elves you need to read that story, but this tale can stand on its own.
Looking Back
Valinor 4th Age
Eruanna stared out from the tower across the blue waters of Belegaer. She could not see Middle-earth. It had passed, or rather, she had passed beyond its sight. The waters were calm. No ship could be seen on the horizon. It was not surprising. Many years came and went without word from the eastern shore, but like so many, Eruanna held out hope that her loved ones would one day follow her to Valinor.
A tall, graceful figure stepped out onto the walkway. His gaze swept the rooftop and ancient blue eyes were drawn immediately to the elleth seated upon the stone parapet. She did not hear him approach. Even the elves of Valinor walked softly, and this golden Lord had lived long amid the dangers of Middle-earth. He was more than skilled in the arts of war. Ten thousand years in Aman would not be long enough to alter the weight of his step.
When he was within a few feet of Eruanna, the ellon cleared his throat, a long-time habit which prevented him from startling the young half-elf. "May I join you?"
"Of course," Eruanna answered without averting her gaze. There was no need. She knew the sound of Glorfindel's voice as well she knew her father's.
"Where is Erestor?" Glorfindel asked. He was not expecting to find Eruanna perched upon the rooftop alone.
"At some meeting with Olwë's advisers, I imagine," Eruanna replied, shifting her gaze from the shimmering water to her companion's sparkling eyes. She was met with an expression of good-natured sympathy.
"Has he abandoned you, poor child?" the ellon crooned.
"No," Eruanna flashed the Lord a cheeky grin. "I abandoned him."
"Oh?" He smiled.
Eruanna nodded once. "He asked if I wished to accompany him to the council as his scribe," she explained. "I declined the invitation."
Glorfindel rested languidly against the stone wall. His playful expression took on a curious cast. "I thought you enjoyed your work?"
Eruanna grinned in response. "Work, yes - torment, no."
Glorfindel's eyebrow arched in question and Eruanna attempted to explain her somewhat cryptic statement. "I didn't see him for nearly a week when we visited Lothlórien. I can only imagine how long the Lords of Alqualondë will keep him." She laughed lightly to herself, an image of her father held captive by housing schedules and construction plans forming in her mind. "I fear my hand will grow numb and fall off if I am forced to take notes for days on end."
"Or, you might simply die from boredom." Glorfindel offered with a wink.
Eruanna stifled an undignified snort before conceding. "A distinct possibility."
The pair fell then into a comfortable silence and Eruanna's gaze returned to the shimmering waters. The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks drew her thoughts back to the ocean, to Middle-earth and her former musings. The Lord's eyes followed her gaze out to sea.
"The view is beautiful," Glorfindel murmured. He, too, tried to see beyond the horizon.
"It is." Eruanna's voice was barely audible on the breeze. She closed her eyes against her worried thoughts. She had no desire to ruin the peace of the moment by asking questions none could answer.
It was not that Glorfindel would mock her for breaking the silence with such a question. He had been her friend for centuries, her teacher even longer. He protected her when she was in danger and comforted her when she was in pain. What was more, she knew with quiet certainty that the Lord's thoughts dwelt on the same question when he looked east.
"Do you think they will come," she said at last, "Elladan and Elrohir?"
If Glorfindel was surprised by Eruanna's question he hid it well. It did, however, take him a minute to respond. "I do not know," he said, then added, "I hope so, for Elrond's sake."
Elrond... Eruanna knew the loss of his daughter had been hard on the great Lord. She was at his side when the floodgates crumbled and the pain of 6,500 years' loss broke free.
'Why do they leave me?' he'd cried to the wind. There had been more heartache in those five little words than Eruanna had known her entire life.
It was true that Elrond's reunion with his wife and parents eased much of the fear leaden in that question, but some measure of pain still remained. Arwen was lost to him forever and his sons' futures remained unclear. Eruanna thought long on Elladan and Elrohir and the choice they had yet to make.
"I miss them," she said.
Glorfindel rested a hand on the elleth's shoulder, a gesture of comfort. "I do too."
Eruanna could do naught but laugh. "Truly?"
The flash of disbelief in the elleth's eyes turned Glorfindel's mind instantly to Estel and the mischief the young Lords of Imladris had a hand in. "I do not miss their pranks," he amended almost too quickly.
Young Aragorn had brought much mirth back to Imladris, and for a few years, there was laughter again in Elladan and Elrohir's eyes. Laughter…it was a thing nearly forgotten since the attack on their mother. That a mortal child could chip away at the hardened hearts of Elrond's sons was nothing short of a miracle. Glorfindel wondered briefly if the young lords might indeed choose to stay behind with their sister and the man who had filled their lives with so much joy. For they loved Aragorn as a brother even before he took Arwen's hand.
Eruanna marked the flurry of emotions that crossed her companion's face. She knew well enough Glorfindel's love for the three younger lords, and that he complained of the chaos that followed the trio out of habit, not fervor. "You miss their pranks as well," she said at last.
A great sadness clouded the ellon's eyes with those words. "Yes," he sighed, "I do."
Glorfindel missed all three gamesome lords, as well as the beautiful lady they'd left behind. Aragorn was, by nature, the easiest to lose, despite the love the elf felt for him. After all, Glorfindel had fought beside many great and noble lords of men. He watched each one of them grow old and die – like the blossoms of elanor that graced the garden paths each spring. Mortals died. It was the will of Ilúvatar, written in the Music before time had meaning, and Glorfindel accepted it.
It was more painful to ponder the loss of Arwen - her brothers, even more so. Glorfindel could, at least, understand the love which bound Arwen to Aragorn, but he knew not what power held sway over her brothers. It bothered Glorfindel that he did not know their minds, despite having lived and laughed and fought beside them for so long.
'It is not right that they should grow old and die!' his mind cried, but Glorfindel pushed the thought quickly away and fixed his gaze firmly on the sea.
'There is still time,' he told himself. 'They are not dead yet.'
Eruanna's thoughts lingered on a memory of Arwen, Elladan and Elrohir gathered around the fire circle. Her heart ached with the knowledge that she would never see them together again. Eruanna never imagined it would end like this, that she would be the one to leave them behind. And yet, a small voice inside whispered to her that the Children of Elrond had seen this end approaching.
"Where has that mind of yours wandered off to?" Glorfindel's asked when a pained expression formed on the elleth's face.
"A conversation I had with Arwen," she sighed, "when she told me of her love for Estel."
Glorfindel resisted the urge to ply her with questions. There was no need. Eruanna never withheld her thoughts from him.
"She said I could not understand her heart because I was an elf, like Elrond. She claimed Elrohir told her as much years before."
"He was right," Glorfindel replied with a small smile.
"Like his father, he said, not like Arwen or him or Elladan." Eruanna shifted her gaze to Glorfindel. "Do you think, perhaps, Elrohir knew he and Elladan would also choose the Fate of Men when he chose those words?"
"Elrohir always had a measure of his father's gift," Glorfindel admitted with a touch of sadness.
"Then we may never see them again." Eruanna's eyes clouded with tears as she spoke these words and one fell away, leaving a salty trail down her cheek.
Glorfindel brushed the tear away with the back of his hand. "We will know soon enough," he told her. "They will sail with their grandfather, or they will remain behind. We have only to wait and see."
"Patience is not one of my greatest strengths," the elleth grumbled.
"Nor mine," the ellon chuckled softly, "something Mandos himself can attest to." Glorfindel pushed off from the wall and stood to full height. He held out a hand to the elleth. "Shall we go find something to occupy our time while we wait?"
Eruanna glanced briefly at the hand then up at its owner. "No, thank you," she told him before turning her attention back to the water. "I am enjoying the view."
Glorfindel nodded in acknowledgment and headed for the tower stair. He took no more than five steps toward the archway and then halted, returning his attention to the elleth seated on the wall. "There is nothing wrong with looking back," he told her, "so long as one remembers that life moves ever forward."
Eruanna laughed at his words, but the smile she gave him was warm and appreciative. "Did you steal that line from Erestor?"
"No, I made it up myself." His eyes dared her to call him incapable of wit.
"You really are a wise old ellon," Eruanna's replied with a slightly exaggerated measure of awe.
"Yes, but don't go around telling anyone," Glorfindel huffed, his eyes filling momentarily with an unexpected degree of seriousness. "I would rather people go to Erestor for wisdom and come to me for tips on sword forms."
Glorfindel's statement instantly drew from Eruanna an old memory of words spoken by her father centuries past, "Glorfindel is the great Balrog Slayer and I am the wise counselor. That is how is has always been, and that is how it must remain."
Eruanna smiled at the memory. He had been right, of course. The elves needed their certainties; they needed to know who to count on when the world was shifted from under their feet. It appeared this particular 'truth' was held by both noble lords.
"Ada never did like showing off his skills with a sword," she said by way of agreement.
Glorfindel smiled broadly and bowed to the elleth with a flourish. "Good day to you, Eruanna."
"Good day."
Eruanna turned away from the sound of Glorfindel's receding footsteps and rested her head in the crook of her arm. She fixed her eyes on the horizon. For centuries the young elleth had feared looking forward. She felt the same fear now, looking back. Nothing could be done. She could not will the ships to come. She could not choose Elladan and Elrohir's fate as she had her own. Glorfindel was right, they had only to wait and see. She would have to wait, like the others. Wait for a ship to break the horizon. Wait for laughter... or tears. Eruanna sighed deeply. She regretted not accepting Glorfindel's offer of distraction, after all, she had never been good at waiting.
FIN
A/N: If you think Eruanna is a believable OC please vote for this story at the Fireplace Forum Writing Challenge on March 5th! For those of you waiting for the sequel to Peredhel, this is one of a series of short fics (one-shots) that will be a bridge between Peredhel and my Valinor sequel. Be patient!