I do not own Middle Earth, Valinor, Yavanna, Nessa, Ossiriand, or the Noldo. Tolkien first wrote of them.

I did first write of Celuant, Sarnin, and her family.

I do not mean to make money from this story, but merely to share it. I hope Tolkien approves. :)

"We thought she was safe. After all, why wouldn't she be? She was blessed and Yavanna and Nessa were just in the land. How could she not be safe? She had friends in the mountains, the little mountain goats. And she loved most to see them in the spring, after their young were born."

Sarnin paused. Her eyelashes drooped over her eyes. Her head bowed. "And none of us went with her that year." She lifted her head and looked to the sky. "Why didn't any of us go with her?"

Celuant watched her and thought of the strange times and places they'd both been caught in. What would it have been like to have believed yourself as safe and blessed as his people used to be on the other shore, when, truly, things like he had now seen, lurked nearby?

Sarnin went on, "It was her mother who first noticed something was wrong, then her brothers, and then her father and I. Her daughter felt confused … frightened to my sister, even all that way away, and she began to go to her. We thought perhaps my sister was overreacting. I didn't say such a thing to her, but her husband did. Their sons though, their faces were already grim. Then we heard it, a cry on the wind. Lathwinn's. And we felt it in our hearts too. She felt despair and anger. What had she to feel so angry and despairing about? Now her father led the way his wife's hand clutched in his. Their sons raced just behind and at either side of them. Some of our people followed. And then we came across what Lathwinn had seen. Bones. The remains of her friends. Bones, mostly of adults, but also of little ones, baby goats just-born. And they didn't look like the remains of creatures caught by wolves, or eagles, or any beasts we'd known. Their limbs looked pulled and flung apart, as if by … hands, but also gnawed upon by sharp teeth. And then, we heard Lathwinn scream. It came to us, echoed, as if from inside a cave. All the rage in her cry was gone replaced by pure fear. We raced to find her, and we did, but it was too late."

Celuant turned his head and realized tears had pooled in Sarnin's eyes. Her voice wavered as she continued her tale. "There she was, small, bound, and gagged among them. They were like us, but not, with sharp teeth, orange eyes, and thick and hairy skin over bulging muscles marred in appearance by scars everywhere. The sight of them shocked us. Yet, even in our confusion, we knew by the smell of death on them, their chuckles of cruelty, the squint of their eyes that they had seen, and suffered, and done terrible things. And they had her. They had our Lathwinn. She sat among them staring at us unable to scream except through her eyes. They picked her up and ran. We gave chase, but they brought down part of the mountain behind them. We were cut off from her. We beat our fists upon the piled rocks and earth and screamed, calling out to her. We tried to dig through the boulders and dirt, but even those not fond of rock and stone could feel what those creatures were doing beyond them. Over and over again the rocks shuddered beneath our feet and hands. Even if we dug this blockage out, there would be another and another between us and Lathwinn to find, slowing us down, keeping us from her. The further in we went the more likely they could trap us inside the earth as well. We despaired."

Sarnin paused. She lifted her eyelashes and chin toward the sky. "All but her brothers. My sobbed so hard and so much I feared she'd come apart or at least loose all her strength. It was as if she was giving birth again, but only to grief. Her husband concentrated on comforting her lest he lose her too. He poured all his energy and time and self into caring for her. I helped the as best I knew how also afraid of losing her. But not my nephews. Our people were confused. What had been those awful things? How many were there? How had they gotten that way? Who were they, or who did they used to be? But we all knew one thing. They came from the east, where we used to be. And we were afraid. But Lathwinn's brothers were more determined than afraid. They told us what they meant to do. We begged them not too, but they left us. They went back into the east, back the way we'd come, back into the darkness. And we grieved for them. We had lost Lathwinn and her brothers. Their father was angry with them as well as grieved, but he did not stop them. He turned again instead to tending his wife, who was all he had left besides me his sister-in-law."

Sarnin paused and titled her head while staring into the past. As she went on, a bit of wonder and surprise entered her voice. "We were all shocked by it, but now that I look back it was perhaps not so odd as we thought. As time went by, and the stars spun in their courses, my sister and her husband began to enjoy a closeness, appreciation, and intimacy with one other in their shared loss that few have known I think. And so, what seemed a long while after the loss of all their children, they made another addition to our family."

Celuant looked up and away from Sarnin toward a figure standing on the edge of a wide ledge of the cliff-face to their right. The elf looked down at him, having to have heard all they said. Celuant noticed the ellon's eyes were grey, not brown, and held a far off, distant, glow like stars shining in their courses.

Sarnin went on. "My sister was overjoyed and grieved at the same time. Overjoyed to have a son again, one she could hold in her arms and love in the present, but grieved that he would never know his siblings. So, we talked to him. We told him, all three of us, about the three of them over and over again. And sometimes, my sister sobbed over him in her grief for them. Sometimes, I did too. Now I think about it, it was no wonder he was so silent then. When did we ever give him time to speak?"

Celueant looked back to the small, silent elf standing nearly motionless as he watched them draw nearer. Only the watcher's head turned as he tracked their course beneath and before him. The ellon from across the sea nodded up at the other ellon, "So, he was nursed and weaned on sorrow then."

Sarnin's head jerked up and she looked to the speaker. She pressed her lips together before nodding. "You could say so, yes."

"And was he jealous when his famous siblings finally came home?"

Sarnin's eyes widened. She looked up at the ellon standing guard herself. Celuant followed her gaze. He saw the other ellon's brows had raised as he stared at him. He had also crouched down and knelt upon one knee, but his expression was otherwise the same. His aunt looked away from him and back down, bowing her head and thinking before she replied. "I suppose … it would be odd if he were not. He was, after all, the only one with us for a while. His mother and his father's love, as well as mine, was concentrated on him as a child, save for our love for each other, but no."

She shook her head and looked back up, but into the past again. "No, we loved the others still, but as those dead. We were really far too obsessed with them. He did not compete with them, but must have felt as if he could not compete with the dead. And could not entirely comfort us over their loss either, which he must have felt also."

Celuant looked back up at the other ellon. Melarbeth had now turned his gaze from them too look ahead. Celuant followed his gaze. There, on another rock outcropping stood an elleth grinning broadly. Celuant nodded to her. "How was it then, when she came home?"

Sarnin's eyes widened, not with shock, but remembered pleasure. She raised her gaze to the sky, grinned, and hummed. "When she came home ..."

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes