Taking Readings I by Himring

The Foresaken

There are those who leave and those who stay.
Celeborn is one who stays, from the beginning.

No warnings, except for some angst

He had barely reached Olwe in time for a last farewell--just in time to tell him that Elwe still had not been found, time for Olwe to ask again: 'Won't you abandon this fruitless search and come with us?' and for Celeborn to reply, again: 'I can't give up yet. Won't you stay--wait a little longer?'

He had stood beside Cirdan and watched half his family, half his people being towed away out to sea westward, out of reach.

Somewhere out there was the light of the Trees that Elwe had spoken of, but not for them. Not without Elwe.

He left Cirdan staring out across the waves and returned to the shadowed woods where Elwe had vanished, intending to resume his search. But his steps were slow--no need for haste now--and he veered from his course.

He heard the roar of falling water far off and, threading his path among pools, came, the first of his kind, to the place where Sirion fell deep down into the earth, plunging below hills--the same broad river, surely, he had seen flow into the bay majestically below? So many unseen wonders Middle-earth held, so many mysterious transformations! So Elwe might yet re-emerge...

Chapter End Notes

Note on the title: "The Forsaken People" (Eglath) is a name the Sindar gave themselves because they were left behind in Middle-earth, seeking Elu Thingol (Elwe).

Written for the prompts "fall" and "reach" for the "(Not) a river" challenge at Tolkien Weekly.

According to the word count tool I was using, this is a pair of true drabbles (2 x 100 words).

 The summary sort of echoes a line from "Still Here" by Caitlin Canty.
At first, I thought I had (accidentally) quoted the exact wording, but on hearing the song again, I realized that the line is apparently: "There are those who go and those who stay." (It's a favourite song of mine and it fits the theme to some extent, but not entirely so.)