Days of Peace by bunn

High They Builded Us

The sun was falling into the west under a sky that was a clear deep blue overhead, falling to shades of misty gold in the west, against which the slender arches and tall domes of the new city of Ost-in-Edhil stood outlined.

On the unfinished roof of the new building that was to be the House of the Jewelsmiths, Celebrimbor lay relaxed upon the golden stone, which still held a faint warmth from the afternoon sun, with his head resting in Narvi’s lap. The day’s work was over, and most of the other workers on the city had already gone to find food and rest, so it was quiet up there, high above the city. Looking out west, they could see the river Glanduin, winding away into the lowland fens, catch the golden light and shine.

Narvi had pulled the leather cord from Celebrimbor’s hair, and was running her fingers through its silken length. “I think we’ll have the roof finished by the winter,” she said.

“Mmmm,” Celebrimbor agreed. “Perhaps not all the stonework, but it will keep the rain out at least. And then next year...”

“Next year we can think about the workshops and the libraries.” Narvi agreed.

A speckled thrush flew up to the unfinished wall at the southern end of the building, flicked its tail and began to sing in a sweet, clear musical warble.

“Someone appreciates our work,” Narvi observed.

“I am pleased to hear it, though I admit, master thrush, I did not build it entirely for your convenience,” Celebrimbor told it, and smiled.

The thrush looked at them with bright dark eyes, and sang again. Celebrimbor looked up enquiringly at her. “I can’t make it out either,” Narvi admitted. “Probably something about snails.”

“We must plant more trees,” Celebrimbor said. “This city will need life in it, for the birds. And the snails!”

Narvi laughed. “Elves and their trees!”

After a while, the thrush finished singing and flicked away again, down into the city. The sun had set now, and a line of gold ran across the horizon, with a band of clear crystal green above it. High above them the sky was shading to a much deeper blue, and above the line of gold in the west, the first evening star was shining bright.

“Hail Eärendil, brightest of stars,” Celebrimbor said and raised a hand in greeting. “There, Narvi. You asked about my family, before. There is my cousin Eärendil.”

“Is this poetry, or some sort of Elvish joke?” she asked in amusement, twining shining hair between her fingers.

“Neither! He is my cousin. A rather distant cousin, I’ll admit. My great-uncle Fingolfin’s great-grandson.”

Narvi blinked down at him in surprise. “Your cousin is a star.”

“My cousin is a star. It’s not the easiest thing for his son.”

“Is his son a star too?” Narvi said, trying to come to grips with this idea, which seemed odd even by the usual standard of Elves.

“No. His son is the High King’s herald, Elrond. I have invited him to visit so you can meet him. You’ll like Elrond. Everyone does. It’s strange for him to have a father who he can see every night but never speak with, though. Or at least, Eärendil never replies, if he can hear us... I think he might be able to. I always greet him. He was a nice lad when I knew him, before he was a star. Everyone liked him, too.”

Narvi shook her braided head in astonishment, laughing. “Your family is strange indeed. It makes me feel much happier about how I introduced you to my peculiar uncle Neri!”

“Your uncle Neri’s beard is long enough that I barely noticed he had no clothes on! You worry too much. Compared with my father and my uncles, Neri is an uncomplicated delight.”

“I take it that your father and your uncles don’t walk around wearing nothing but a beard then. So what is so complicated about them? Are they all stars too?”

Celebrimbor sighed, sat up, and ran his hands down his face. “Nothing so simple. I don’t know where to start... My father had six brothers. He and four of my uncles are dead, and they did not die well. The other two... I don’t know. They vanished. I don’t know where they went. I don’t know if they are still alive. We had argued, but I still miss them.”

“I’m sorry,” she said and then because he looked so sad, she gave him a swift hug. “We don’t have to talk of it tonight. You have introduced your cousin Eärendil to me, and I should greet him.” She got up and bowed politely to the star burning crystal bright in the deep blue sky. “Narvi of Khazad-dûm, at your service and your family’s,” she said.

Celebrimbor smiled again and put a long arm around her shoulder. “I like your uncle, and your aunt, and your parents and your cousins,” he said. “They have made me welcome. A little eccentricity is nothing, to that.”

And far above against the darkening sky, Eärendil looked down upon Middle-earth, at his cousin Celebrimbor, who had found a wife and was building a home with her in peace, and he smiled, too.