A Pearl of Discontent (1402 Year of the Trees) [One Shot]
May 25, 2018 1:39:40 GMT -5
Post by RUIVO on May 25, 2018 1:39:40 GMT -5
Alqualondë
1402 Year of the Trees (13,430 in Sun Years)
Two rested upon the sandy shores aside the Great Sea, breakers casting foam onto shore in the silvery starlight above. The eldest, just grown into adulthood, kept watch over her little brother; his head resting upon her stomach. Ilsë's fingers brushed through the flame hair of the smaller ellon as he hummed to himself and rolled in his hand a white bead that had been earlier plucked from a shell.
Famaráto held the pearl up in the air; the light of stars reflecting from it's glossy surface. He closed an eye, squinting at it and changing the depth of his vision, moving it nearer so it appeared as a large orb, and rolling it in his fingers with a smile upon his lips.
“Varda should have made a fitting in the sky, Ilsë,” he said, turning his face to look up to his sister's. “She should have set a pearl among the stars. Look how the starlight shines upon it.”
“You should not question what Elentári has created for us, Famaráto. Her works are beauty. Her works are true,” Ilsë ushered her brother to silence with a brush of her fingertips over his lips, then set her fingers once more into his hair.
“It was only an observation,” Famaráto muttered after a time, turning his head back to face the stars again. The mist was beginning to float in in over the grey-green sea, hanging heavy over the earth, and he liked the feel of it upon his skin.
“You observe too much,” was Ilsë's answer.
The wind blew in off the sea, and gulls cried over the foam as they swooped and dove for silver minnows. Famaráto blinked and twirled the silky pearl over his palm again.
“Should there not be a pearl in the sky?” he asked again suddenly. “It would not replace the stars… only accent them. It would still be beautiful.”
“There is more to life than gems. You are just like Ata,” Ilsë answered, the tone sharp. “The Valar need not your advice.”
Famaráto pouted, his pink bottom lip sticking outward momentarily before he sucked it back in and sat up, looking at his sister, who's silver hair was splayed across the sand. Her eyes were still starward, and Famaráto turned to look inland, his own eyes shining as they looked upon the light which came through the Calacirya. He did not mind being like his Ata, and had been told such before, but Ilsë had said it as if it were fault.
Raising the pearl again, he closed his right eye and held the bead in place. The brightness of Laurelin and Telperion was shining through the Cleft of Light, gold and silver combined into beautiful shafts of brightness, clear and scintillent, and it seemed as if the pearl was now radiating beams itself, set between the heights of the Pelori mountains.
“Manwë sees all, even through the mists of the sea, and Elentári hears more clearly than all other ears the sound of voices that cry from east to west. They shall know your discontent,” Ilsë chided her little brother, knowing his thoughts without needing to hear them repeated a third time.
“I have not discontent,” Famaráto lied. “Yet I think the Valar should consider it.”
“You will ask Elentári to set a pearl within the sky?” Ilsë laughed.
“No,” Famaráto answered, though a flame of desire burned within him. Why should the diamonds of Tirion be set within the sky, when not the pearls of Alqualondë? “Elentári is busy on Taniquetil with the Vanyar. I will ask it of Aulë when I go to Tirion with Ata. He will know the worth of my gems.”
“The sea has it's pearls and the vault has it's stars,” Ilsë answered. “Be fulfilled in what you have already been gifted by the Valar, and ask not for more.”
Famaráto knew well that he would not win an argument with his sister and so silent he remained as he wondered upon the idea of more. There was more, he knew, and he thought upon the glassy streets of Tirion where he had tread with his Ata, and where he would go one day when he had aged enough. There certainly was more, and he would ask for it. Yet here, in Alqualondë, life was waves and gulls, and the discovery of pearls. He would have to wait until he was older to seek his more.
He slid the white orb into his pocket and said nothing else to his sister.