Taking Readings II by Himring

City of Swans and Pearls

A very early encounter of Finarfin's with the city of Alqualonde.
A happy moment in childhood, and glimpses of the less happy aftermath.

Rating: Teens (referenced canon violence)

Arafinwe fell in love with the Swan Haven, the City of Pearl, long before he fell in love with his future wife, when he was a boy and came to Alqualonde with his mother. He was small enough that walking down the Calacirya, Indis took him by the hand and squeezed it a little occasionally so that he knew that he was doing well, not dawdling and not complaining.

They walked down the road away from Tirion, with their backs to the Light of the Trees and their shadows falling continually before their feet. The boy thought that the Swan Haven might be a darksome place, darker than any he had seen yet, outside the mountain fence, but although the city was half surrounded by darkness and, looking out from the top of the pass, the sea grew dim eastward, and so did the coast far to the north and south, the city itself was not dark.

All its surfaces shimmered, making the most of the light of Telperion and Laurelin, reflecting their farthest rays back and forth among buildings and out onto the waves, and so did the jewels scattered on the beaches round about so that almost Alqualonde seemed to shine with its own light. And lightest of all was the Hall of Olwe, surrounded by lamps, its walls all inlaid with mother-of-pearl and mirrors. There the king and his family—among them a daughter that was older enough than Arafinwe for the age difference still to matter, at this time—welcomed Indis and her son.

Arafinwe’s mother was different in the lands of the Falmari. Indis had been well acquainted with Olwe long before she married the Noldoran, when she was one of the few Vanyar who still travelled so far out from Taniquetil. And although wherever she went, she never forgot she was the queen of the Noldor now, among the Falmari she need not trouble to defend the Noldor against the Vanyar or the Vanyar against the Noldor, as too often she did in Tirion and in Valmar. Sometimes, out here, she almost was just Indis. Later, Arafinwe would remember his mother running swiftly along the sand, joking with Olwe and swapping sea shanties with the sailors.

***

But at the time of the Darkening, the nacre of Swan Haven was dull, opaque. There was no light to be reflected and even the great arch at the entrance of the harbour was merely a paler shadow. No gleam in the blackness, just terror and shame and guilt.

***

‘I went as soon as I learned what had happened,’ commented Earwen, almost expressionless. ‘But when I arrived at Alpalonde, I heard you had been there and gone on with the rest.’

‘It was the wrong decision,’ Arafinwe admitted. ‘But all decisions seemed wrong, in the Darkness.’

‘They still do,’ he added, after a pause. ‘At least somewhat.’

Earwen said nothing.

‘Do not leave now, Earwen, I beg you,’ said Arafinwe, ‘whatever you think of me. The Noldor need you, those who stayed and also those who turned back, if you can find it in you to be their queen. And maybe your people will gain more from your staying, too, in the long run, even if other of their needs seem more pressing, now. We can loose this ravelled knot together, perhaps, with much patience. But I fear what will happen if you leave.’

‘I am here, after all, am I not?’ Earwen said. ‘Not there, despite those other pressing needs.’

Arafinwe reached out his hand and dropped it again, abashed.

‘Let us not count anything past mending, until we have attempted it,’ said Earwen. Her voice sounded kinder, but much more tired. ‘However broken it may seem, until we have tested it and proved beyond doubt...'

***

Sunlight gleams off the walls and the roof of the Hall of Pearl. To Arafinwe it seems just a little garish, still subtly wrong in this other, newer light even after all those Ages, although he feels he should know better. But he watches a small Noldorin boy play at an elaborate version of hopscotch on the harbourfront with a group of young Falmari, the latest scions of Olwe’s numerous family, and he smiles.

Chapter End Notes

Written as a treat for the TRSB exchange for hennethgalad's artwork Hall of Pearls.

The following quotation from the "Silmarillion" accompanied the artwork:
And many pearls they won for themselves from the sea, and their halls were of pearl, and of pearl were the mansions of Olwë at Alqualondë, the Haven of the Swans, lit with many lamps

Earwen says "Alpalonde" rather than "Alqualonde" here, because she's Telerin.

Indis is said often to have wandered far alone, singing, after her people moved to Valmar, in the History of Middle-earth. Almost certainly, she is not meant to wander as far as Alqualonde, but I have taken a liberty here.

Using Finarfin's Quenya name "Arafinwe" (from History of Middle-Earth)