In An Age Before – Part 32
Chapter Twenty-four
Eriador - The Second Age of the Sun
In the years following their embassy to Númenor, Helluin and Beinvír roamed Eriador as they had aforetime, and the decades passed in a tense peace o'er which hung a pall of approaching doom. Only once ere the war were they summoned to Lindon, and this was in Ivanneth of S.A. 1675, when a messenger found them camped amidst the wooded uplands that would be later called the Emyn Beraid, the Tower Hills of Arnor.
"Helluin Maeg-mórmenel, thou art summoned to the Council of the High King, and at thy own discretion thou art invited thither as well, Beinvír of the Laiquendi," he had said, adding, "I am instructed to lead thee hence at once."
With a groan they had packed their things and followed him down out of the hills, finding again a company on horseback. 'Twas but twenty leagues to Mithlond, and from there they had gone by boat to Forlond and the king's court. Indeed, Gil-galad had met them in the courtyard.
"Helluin, Beinvír, I am glad ye have come so timely," Gil-galad had said without a trace of irony, though the glint in his eye gave Helluin cause to be apprehensive, "it so happens that there is a matter I should present to ye both."
He had led them straightaway to his study, the very same room in which they had met Celebrimbor 74 years ago. This time the visitor who awaited them was even less expected. Indeed upon seeing him, Helluin had gagged and felt the floor lurch. Beinvír had steadied her with two hands and given her a worried look. He's tall, cute, blond…ex-lover perhaps, she had wondered. But the truth was even more incredible.
"But…but…you're dead!" Helluin had croaked. Beinvír had gasped. The ellon that Helluin was slowly backing away from had chuckled and risen to greet them, or more rightly, greet Helluin. He and Beinvír had ne'er met.
"Aunten andave," he said, barely able to keep from laughing at the expression of disbelief on Helluin's face. He added in his musical voice, "Utúlien at¹." ¹("Aunten andave", "I went away for a long time", past imperf., "Utúlien at", "I have just come back", past near perf. Quenya)
"But…you fell…" Helluin stammered, still not believing her eyes.
"And a long way down it was too," he confirmed, "Thorn Sîr…yes, I remember the fall, but thankfully not the landing. I was surely dead by then."
It took some time for Helluin to regain her composure, but eventually she had been able to introduce her old friend to Beinvír, though still not fully believing he was present.
"Beinvír, this is Glorfindel, Lord of the House of the Golden Flower of Gondolin," she had said, "or at least he was when last I knew him. Glorfindel, this is Beinvír of the Laiquendi of Eriador, ar meldanya¹." ¹(ar meldanya, "and my beloved" = ar (and) + melda (beloved) + -nya (my, 1st pers sing poss suffix) Quenya. Note: melethril, female lover, is the Sindarin equivalent of the Quenya, melisse, whereas melda doesn't signify a specific gender)
Beinvír thought she was doing well to have clasped his hand in greeting without passing out. Glorfindel appeared disturbingly normal. His hand felt warm and solid in her own. But he was returned from the dead, his fëa released into a reconstructed hroa after 1,780 years in the Halls of Mandos.
I swear he looks unchanged from the Gates of Summer in F.A. 510 ere the city fell, Helluin had commented silently to Beinvír, I still cannot believe it.
Eventually they had sat and the king had said, "Lord Glorfindel came hither from the Undying Lands to aid in our struggles against the Lieutenant of Angband. The Powers have only recently granted him dispensation to cross the Sundering Sea. I have given him what background I can, but thou, Helluin, hast more firsthand knowledge of the Enemy than any other. Also, ye were once comrades in arms long ago. I have summoned thee hither to brief Lord Glorfindel, and to provide any assistance to him that thou can."
It made sense. Whereas Gil-galad and Glorfindel had ne'er met, Helluin had known the Lord of the House of the Golden Flower in Aman, ere the Exile of the Noldor. They had both lived for centuries in the city of Gondolin, serving Gil-galad's uncle, King Turgon. And they were more nearly contemporaries, whereas the son of Fingon was millennia younger than either of them, High King though he was.
And so Helluin spent many days in Forlond at the court of the king, speaking with Glorfindel and poring o'er maps. Oft times Elrond would join them, e'er curious and ready with a question. He came to be comfortable with them both in that time, spending thus more hours in Helluin's presence than e'er aforetime. Having known him off and on all his life, she was impressed at his font of knowledge and wondered if he had indeed read every book in Lindon, as Gil-galad had once claimed. The king had spoken thus in jest to Helluin one afternoon, but she had perceived the pride in his voice for the young Peredhel's growing wisdom. Following the short time spent with Maedhros and Maglor, Gil-galad had taken Elrond into his house, treating him as the son he'd ne'er had. In the coming years, the brother of Elros would carry heavy responsibilities on behalf of his king.
Beinvír came to like the reincarnated Elda¹, for Glorfindel was noble and kind, with a sharp sense of humor and a strong sense of duty. E'er he treated her with respect, and at times told her stories of the Hidden City, of Beleriand, and of the Undying Lands. These tales were oft as not of Helluin, much to Beinvír's delight, for coaxing them from her friend was like winning gold from a Dwarf. In return, Glorfindel asked Beinvír many questions about her people, whom he'd met only once and briefly at a great feast early in the 1st Age, yet about whom he had heard much from the Sindar of Nevrast. So the days passed into weeks, and then a month came and went. Now 'twas Narbeleth and the leaves were changing. ¹(Elda, Elf, particularly one of the Calaquendi, sing. Quenya)
"The years grow short and war is soon to come," he said one afternoon as the three sat in a quiet garden in Lindon, "and ere all these lands host the ruin of battle, I should like to see them whilst they art still green and free. I should like to breathe the air of Middle Earth and walk in forests far beyond war-wracked Beleriand that I knew." He looked from Helluin to Beinvír with a clear and steady gaze. "Would ye consent to take me upon a short excursion, a tour of sorts, about Eriador? I know ye art accustomed to traveling alone together, yet for a short time, a month perhaps, could ye endure my company? I should prefer it e'er so much to a mounted escort of two dozen knights from Forlond," he confessed.
"In truth we have tarried here longer than e'er aforetime," Beinvír admitted. "Autumn is a fine season in this land and I feel myself yearning for open spaces and forests."
"And I as well," Helluin agreed. "I should like to be gone ere the king discerns some embassy or errand to lay upon me such as he deems no other so fit for," she said with the hint of a grin. "And I should much enjoy thy company, Glorfindel. We have not had leave to walk the land since ere we left Vinyamar, you and I, and I would have thee gain thy first impressions of Eriador in my company. What say thou, meldanya?"
"I too would enjoy thy company, Glorfindel," Beinvír said. She glanced up and eyed the westering afternoon sun. 'Twas already too late to comfortably take their leave that day. "Shalt we set out then upon the morrow?"
They quickly agreed on that course, planning to be gone a month.
"I shalt go to the king and explain our plans this evening," Helluin said.
"Nay, perhaps 't'would be better if I were to do thus," Glorfindel offered, "for 'tis at my request that we go forth, and in any case, Gil-galad still seems willing to grant me somewhat of his indulgence. I do believe he remains awed at my circumstance." He grinned.
"So be it then, my friend," Helluin said, and Beinvír nodded in agreement.
They set out at sunrise the following morn, walking first to the quays to board a boat for Harlond. After crossing the Gulf of Lune, they paid their respects to Círdan and Galdor and others of the Lords of the Sindar who dwelt thither, and then set out again afoot to the east. The trio walked Harlindon in peace, following the Ered Luin northwards 'til they passed into Eriador 'nigh the very hills whereat Helluin and Beinvír had first been summoned to Lindon.
There they made a camp and spent several days, for riders came to them from the Havens of Mithlond that now lay but 35 miles west. In that company were Sindarin Elves, some of Círdan's people, and some mariners of Númenor, enjoying their hosts' hospitality for a time of hunting. The once Elf of Gondolin was greatly impressed by the lordliness of the Dúnedain, for in Beleriand he had met very few Men. The Númenóreans were completely astonished at him. Gondolin was a legend to the Dúnedain, the home of Tuor and Idril, the grandparents of their first king, and Glorfindel's tale was known to them. The company stayed two nights 'nigh the trio's camp, forgetting entirely their search for beasts in favor of tales and lore told first-hand. All of them harkened to his words like schoolchildren, though great mariners they were.
When they left the hills, the trio traveled east, passing o'er rows of downs and entering a central land of green and rolling hills mixed with open woods. This land, (which would one day comprise the Shire), was populated in those days only by a few Men of Eriador, and wandering companies of Laiquendi. One of these they met, a group of about two dozen, encamped in the lee of a low hill beside a pleasant stream that flowed from Lake Nenuial down to the Baranduin.
The Green Elves greeted them with a warm welcome, crowding 'round Beinvír at first to hear tidings of her adventures. Indeed some of this company she knew from long aforetime, and others had acquaintances in common with her so that there were many tales to share. The biggest revelation though, was Beinvír's account of the fate of Dálindir, whom none had seen in centuries. She recounted the tale in full, with Helluin adding details and Glorfindel listening in amazement. The Green Elves were shocked. Some wept and all were sorrowful. They unanimously agreed that the falls of the Withywindle should remain afterwards unvisited. When they left, they would spread her tidings of woe. That night they sang laments for their lost king 'til the sun rose the next morn.
Late in the night, with the sweet but melancholy strains of the Laiquendi floating on the cool air, Helluin and Glorfindel walked away from the gathering 'round the fire, climbing up o'er the hill to its far side where the firelight could not be seen. There they sat in the drying grass looking up at the sky. After a while, Glorfindel lay back, the easier to see the stars o'erhead, and he lay there in silence for a long time as if counting those stark points of light. Helluin too lay down, one ear listening to the faint sounds of singing from o'er the hill, the other waiting for her friend to speak. From of old she knew he tended to silence and contemplation when the mood came upon him, and though it had been a long, long time since she had last waited on his words, she had not forgotten.
"Helluin, the sky looks to my eyes faded from when I really saw it last in Middle Earth," he declared softly, "and though I saw it every night in Lindon, I ne'er truly saw it 'til tonight. There is something about being in the open, in free and wild lands, which makes all the world come alive to the senses. 'Twas not so in Aman. Hither 'tis only Varda's lights that kindle in the sky above, not some radiance of the Undying Realm, or some luminosity of the Valar that lies upon the land. I think the same was true in Gondolin. I last truly saw the night sky from Nevrast ere we came to the Hidden City. Dost thou remember that night?"
"I do," Helluin replied, recalling the memory. "'Twas on the third night returning to Vinyamar from the Mereth Aderthad 'nigh Eithel Ivrin; a night much like this one when Tilion came not bearing Isil to light the heavens. Those of us who had accompanied Turgon had crossed the Ered Wethrin, but had remained in the highlands above the Marshes of Nevrast, south of Linaewen. That night we walked away from the camp, just the two of us, higher up into the hills to see the stars. They were so bright then, still undimmed by the passing years, each with its own color and brightness."
"And the sky, like inky velvet one could almost reach out and touch," Glorfindel said wistfully, "so deep and so dense, as it had weight and a texture and a presence. 'Twas majestic." He fell silent again, looking upwards. For a long time he remained so. Indeed Helluin wondered if more was forthcoming, but he had just begun.
"Thou know'st how a fire burns, my friend, catching quickly, burning fierce, then passing to embers and finally to ash?" Helluin nodded. "So too does Arda progress Age unto Age in its life's story. I feel 'tis progressing now from a blaze to a bed of coals, the flowering of all things passing to wilt, its high tide ebbing with time, and its slow decline begun. The intensity of all things is diminished; the depth of the darkness, the brightness of the stars, the purity of good and evil, the strength of our spirits. In the slow passing of the years is the vitality of the world sapped, and it happens so subtly that even to such as we, it creeps upon us unawares, save at times of reflection such as this when, comparing what is to our memories of what was, we note a difference at last. Ne'er again shalt the stars possess the poignant wonder they once had, riveting the attention in awe of what the Valar have wrought. All things dim and e'er further shalt they fade." He sighed.
"I had noted the dimming of the stars, my friend. Upon the sea I gazed again up at them and found not their first brilliance. It saddens me, to think the morning and noontime gone and the afternoon passing eventually to dusk. Yet we art immortal," Helluin said, "and we shalt endure the fading of the world."
"Yes, we art immortal, and yet no different," Glorfindel disagreed, for he saw the same truth in a different light. "Since the coming of the sun and moon we have entered upon a path of fading. You see, I deem we art trials; created to answer the question, whether 'tis better to live as a few with life unending like the Eldar, or as many constantly renewed through death and birth as art Men. The time of our part in the experiment is passing to its close. The weight of memory becomes e'er more a burden, crushing us eventually. The very act of living drains the fëa, but quicker still, it sublimates the hroa. We cannot stay e'er in Mortal Lands. We shalt pass either into the West, or into oblivion."
"I had thought only about the gradual tiring of the spirit, deeming the body a house immortal," she said, "yet thou believe rather that the hroa is the sooner to fail?"
"The hroa is a physical entity, made of the stuff of Arda and subject to the effects of time. Thus 'tis subject to being drained…to fading. The fëa is undying, a creation of the One, and I myself am proof of this truth. As such, 'tis subject to being weighed down and o'erburdened, yet ne'er obliterated. 'Tis the way things were meant to be, Helluin. In the First Song was all presaged, and so the world runs on to its conclusion, the struggle's final end in the Dagor Dagorath, which, mind thou, shalt be championed by a Man avenged."
At this assertion, Helluin raised an eyebrow in question, but Glorfindel passed on to another topic without elaborating.
"I came back to aid in the struggle that has continued from of old, for 'tis the same war. Nay, not the same enemy, but certainly the same goal; always there shalt be a new face or a new name upon it, but the malice and the evil, and the disregard for the lives of others, that is unchanging. Did not dissension mar each movement of the Song? So we have long heard tell. E'er shalt there be contention arising anew, but one day we shalt no longer be here to fight it, for it shalt no longer be our fight, just as this shalt no longer be our world. The Firstborn's time is passing and shalt find its end in the ascendance of the Younger Children of Ilúvatar. This is known."
"Aye, 'tis known, and yet the when is not. And I know that there art some forces that tie one to the world. I still feel a fondness for the Hither Shores, or perhaps an affinity for the changes that come hither. E'er has my spirit sought adventure, yet I know not from whence such an impulse arose. I discerned it first upon the Westward march. I know I have felt it through all the days I passed in Aman. It keeps me here still. And now there is yet more…"
Glorfindel chuckled. "I believe I shalt be able to discern the proper time of my leaving. I hope thou shalt not o'erstay thy welcome in the world, Helluin, for thou hast long been drawn to combat, and combat shalt go on fore'er. The desire to fight one more battle or right one more wrong shalt tempt thee to stay indefinitely so long as the anger that drives thee yet lives. Thy wanderlust I deem thou was't born with, and that shalt tempt thee too. And I fear more for thee for yet another cause."
Helluin turned to him and again quirked an eyebrow in question. Now Glorfindel turned from the stars to look into her eyes ere he continued.
"Helluin, I knew thee in Gondolin and ere that in Aman. I knew thy brother too. Thou know that I understand the source of thy darkness and what drives thee in battle. I see thee now with Beinvír and I am happy for ye both. But I cannot imagine what would come to pass should some doom befall her and leave thee alive, tied then to the world by yet another bond of heartache and memory."
Glorfindel's words very nearly made Helluin choke. 'Twas her worst nightmare.
"She refused passage to Tol Eressëa to stay with me," Helluin whispered. And after a pause, she added even more softly, "I would bathe this world in blood to avenge her."
After this they again fell silent, each thinking and staring up at the stars, and so the night passed away into memory.
The trio wandered Eriador for three more weeks, going whither they wished, without schedule or destination. But finally Helluin and Beinvír brought Glorfindel to Harlond on 11 Hithui, and then they took their leave. They spent the next 20 years roaming Eriador and expecting war.
To Be Continued