B2ME Day 29 - Battling the Dark by Erulisse

Chapter 1

Terror of the Dark

Alone, in the dark room, Eärwen sat in silence. She thought it might be daytime, or what passed for daytime in these days without an outward sign of the passage of time. But it didn’t really matter to her. The past few days stretched behind her, a nightmare that she could never have imagined, and had certainly never thought she would be experiencing.

The family had returned from the feast on Taniquetil in shocked silence, their pathway lit by torches casting an uncertain, wavering light. The death of the Trees was followed by the news of the death of King Finwë. It was two heavy blows at once, and the Valar were focused on their own losses, not reassuring the populace.

Within a few days, Fëanaró was claiming the crown of the Noldor. He spoke in words laden with promise and threat to the populace of Tirion, and then swore an oath that they listened to with horror and disbelief. Fëanaró was a speaker of great power and he persuaded many of the Noldo to follow him east to Endóre. Among those who packed quickly to accompany the Fëanórians east were her husband, her brother-by-marriage, and all of their children. They left heading north, but at some point they must have shifted east towards Alqualondë.

Then terror returned to the shores of Valinor. The terror of the dark that had surrounded the evil named Ungoliant was followed by the horror of the kin slayings that occurred on the docks at Alqualondë. She had witnessed the first gloom overtake the land, but she didn’t know what true darkness was until the messenger arrived at her door, telling her of the blood, and the fear, and the death of her beloved younger brother from a Noldo’s blade.

She turned away from the doorway and blindly made her way into the interior of the house, to her husband’s study. It was a room where she had always felt comforted – there was something about the scrolls and pages strewn about that enclosed her as if she was cocooned inside of a warm blanket. But even this room could not work its magic on this long night. So she sat on the floor, where she had collapsed after closing the door for privacy, and she wept and remembered.

When she felt able to move and face the darkness again, she packed for a journey and left Tirion. She directed her feet towards Alqualondë, her former home, to offer healing to the people of her birth, who had been so deeply injured by the people of her husband.

Chapter End Notes

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