Under Shadowless Skies

Author's Note:

Note the pairing, folks. You have been warned. It's Legolas & Eowyn (although not as yet) and as AU as it can get. I know many are sticky about this, so I thought it best to say this first. I've chosen to make it movie-based rather than text-based although a bit of the books (both LOTR and Silmarillion) will come in too. But for now, little snippets of main scenes as well as fillers of scenes we didn't see. The prologue might be a bit confusing for those who have not read the Silmarillion but please do not let that deter you.

The premise is this: The brilliant Elf Feanor forged 3 Jewels, called the Silmarili in Valinor, but they were stolen by the Dark Lord Morgorth, and declaring war upon him, Feanor and his sons took an irrevocable Oath to make war on anyone who withheld the Silmarili (even if that meant slaying their own kin), until the jewels lay in their hands again.
The last remaining son of Feanor called Maglor is the only one to survive the First Age after following his father into exile along with his brothers. By the time the First Age ends, much blood has been shed (among Men, Dwarves and Elves) and Maglor came close to repenting his oath even as he accompanied his brothers in the theft of the jewels. Their evil deeds in recovering them had led to the holy Silmarili burning their skin. Anyhow, Maglor threw his into the sea, and legend has it that he still wanders the shores of Middle-Earth, singing of his despair and regret and that he never did rejoin his kin.

Elrond and his brother Elros were taken captive during one of their sieges but Maglor took pity on them and released them. Tolkien writes that Maglor cherished them, and love grew between them for that short period. For some reason, I feel immensely sorry for him, so this subplot deals with his redemption and hopefully things will tie together nicely in the end.

Pieces of dialogue taken with liberty from Tolkien, bless that brilliant fellow.

I own nothing, except the twisted mind that tried to come up with this. That being said, I hope you like this. Please do read and leave your reviews!

**********

Prologue: Conversation

"You have grown to love the sea and its shores."

"My lady…yes, I do."

"The gulls sing overhead but their songs are sad."

"They sing to me tales of Arda, my Lady. Such songs are tinged with great sorrow."

"They extend me, dear one, sweeping forlorn hymns with their tails, washing afresh the bitterness of things past. You must know that my lamentation over Arda is constant, and my mourning imparts great tears to all races that till the soil."

"There is much beauty in the aftermath of sorrow, but much ugliness in despair."

"You are wrong, gentle soul. In the collective cries and cheerlessness, the peoples mirror the arpeggios of the Great Song, chords of exquisite beauty and unplumbed groaning. That sameness is splendour recreated. And grief allows them music and rhymes. Into Arda I brought mourning, yet for the grief that is poured out I mourn exceedingly greater. Your suffering pains me, sweet one. More so as I see the young and tender spirit of Nerdanel alive and always wounded, when one so great in talent and gift ebbs quietly away. I have long wept and still weep, for you, hoping that the same tears that coaxed the last fruit out of Yavanna's Laurelin will prevail upon you."

"It is my penance, my Lady. It is a choice of mine. Time's admonishment is a harsh one. I do not dare hope to rejoin my kin nor repose in the blessed light of Aman nor look upon Taniquetil nor hear laughter in Valmar –"

"Oh, how the mighty fall, gentle soul! You subsist as a discoloured soul, and the brackish sea that undulates the rays of Anor and the fingers of Isil is your envy because light has nearly left you. Because only mourning and grief fill you."

"Nay, lady, this exile suits me; I have stolen away, free from all convictions and reminders of evil and shadow. For the light you spoke of, it has left me. I am no longer of the kindred. The time for joy has long passed. I too, have forgotten much of happier days."

"Oh…it does not have to be, foolish one! Exile is another path, that only some are chosen to take."

"Am I not one of them? But there is peace now, my Lady, a costly peace that is earned after three ages. And of that I must find myself content. I had been seared with a throbbing conscience, and some wounds do not easily heal. Yet contentment is…is…not something I have known except…except –"

"Except for the brief time great love grew between you and the children of Earendil in the Havens of Sirion. I remember it well…indeed, I remember it with immense distress, for that pleasing time long past."

"My Lady…please…your tears…I…cannot…your tears, how sweetly precious they are – your tears are my own!"

"Take no heed dear one. I cry and am downcast for you as I am for those waiting in the halls of Mandos."

"What do I do, my lady?"

"Arda is much changed. There remains much that the Valar are ignorant of, of things to come or of things to change, but depend upon Eru's Great Music which does not stray out of time or thought. Tarry, gentle soul, and do not reckon hope dead. Oh exiled soul, you will cast your eyes on your kindred again and it will be without hate or fear, but with bittersweet tears and joy."

"Do you promise?"

"Dear one, weep now, for there is much to hope. I know your hidden wishes and the peace that has long forsaken you will soon return. Tarry, I say."

**********