A Trap of Their Own Making
Red
They had been looking toward the east, for the sky to brighten gently with the rising of the sun. Instead, with a cry, someone pointed to the north, where harsh red light was growing – causing even the Valacirca to fade from the sky.
Turgon stared, wishing desperately to wake up from this nightmare. They could not get out, caught in a trap of their own making.
The ring of swords drawn filled the air. Turgon grasped the hilt of Glamdring with white knuckles; he would fall, but orcs would fear the very mention of Foe Hammer for Ages to come!
.
Don't Look Back
Orange
Flames leapt from the towers behind them as they dashed unnoticed by Morgoth's hordes to the secret way out through the mountains, to freedom. Eärendil stared over his father's shoulder at the black smoke and bright orange flames that spread unbelievably quickly through his home.
"Don't look," Tuor said, turning his face away from the city. "Don't look back."
"Where are we going?" Eärendil asked. They passed into the tunnel, dark except for hurriedly lit torches. Their shadows loomed large and distorted on the walls.
His father's face and hair were smeared with soot. "South," he said, "to the sea."
.
No Time to Mourn
Yellow
He heard later that yellow flowers blossomed on the grave, a small patch of sunshine amid the dreary grey mountain crags. But that day it was just a mound of dirt beneath which lay one of his heroes. Eärendil buried his face in his mother's skirts as someone sang a tearful lament for Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower.
But they couldn't linger. Smoke billowed into the air from burning Gondolin as Idril pulled Eärendil away down the mountain path, Tuor leading them. There would be time later to write songs about Glorfindel's desperate bravery against the Balrog.
.
Pine Towers
Green
The air was subdued throughout the makeshift camp. Someone wept, and a child's hungry cry was swiftly hushed. Tuor stood beneath a fir tree tall as one of Gondolin's towers (but he pushed that thought away; he couldn't think of Gondolin now). He crushed its dark green needles in his fingers and inhaled their pungent scent, relieved to abandon – at least for a moment – the acrid smell of blood and smoke that clung to them all.
He looked up again and thought not of towers but of masts, ropes, and sails, of ships, as the wind blew through the branches.
.
They Found Them
Blue
They found the Doriathrim beneath a clear, bright blue sky, in the midst of turning an encampment into a home. Idril found her cousin with her silver-haired lord and plans for building. She was surprised, at first, before remembering word of Dior's fall brought to Gondolin by the eagles.
The Gondolindrim joined with the craftsmen of Doriath to begin building a city. Idril watched her son coax shy, dark Elwing out into the sunshine. Fate lay heavily upon them both, as they joined hands to play, the only two half-Elven to walk the earth, though neither of them knew it.
.
All for This
Indigo
"Why are your people here?" Eärendil asked Elwing as they explored the mostly-complete house where she would live with Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel.
She looked at him with big, sad eyes. "They came and killed everyone," she said. "We had to run. Lindir said they came for this." Elwing reached into a trunk and pulled out a carefully wrapped package. She lifted the cloth away to reveal a necklace of shining gemstones, from bright red to the deepest indigo, lit with clear fire from the Jewel set in the center, shining like a star. "It was all for this."
.
They'll Live Longer
Violet
The building of a city was no place for children, so as spring woke they built sandcastles on the beach under Idril's watchful eye, mimicking the builders just visible over the sand dunes.
Then one morning Eärendil ran outside to have Elwing drag him towards the forest, away from the Sea. "Look!" she said, dragging him into the shade. Daffodils and violets greeted them, a burst of color among the dead leaves of past summer, like bright sunshine and twilight sky.
Eärendil bent to pick one, but Elwing stopped him. "Leave them," she said.
"Why?"
"They'll live longer this way."