Lovely, Dark and Deep by StarSpray

Chapter 1

Elwë passed swiftly and carefully through the trees. It was a path he had taken often through these woods, as the Tatyar and Nelyar rested before coming at last to the shores of the Sea. Ah, the Sea—how he looked forward to seeing it again! It was both like and unlike the waters of Cuiviénen (the waters of home, he still thought of them in the back of his mind, although that was no longer true—home lay ahead, in the Light of the Valar’s great Trees)—it was vast and dark, mirroring the stars in the same way, but Oromë had told them that it was far bigger than Cuiviénen, and its waters were not so fresh or sweet. And it was not nearly so calm, for Ossë dwelt there and he delighted in towering waves and the crashing of foam upon the shore.

As he stepped over roots and ducked beneath low branches, Elwë thought of the Sea and of the bright fires he would find in Finwë’s camp, where his people were, even as they crossed the world, learning and teaching one another new ways of crafting, of carving wood or sculpting clay, or weaving grasses and other things into mats and clothes and more besides. There was always something new to be learned from the Tatyar, and this was in part why Elwë made his regular visits—aside from Finwë himself, of course.

But when he stopped his mind from wandering ahead of his feet, Elwë slowed. There was something different in the wood this time, but it was not something that he could name. The air was different. It smelled…sweeter, perhaps? He stopped, breathing deeply. And then he heard it—birdsong, but not quite like any he had heard before. And beyond the voices of the birds there was another, that called to his mind the deep shadows that pooled beneath the tallest trees, and delicate starlight on still waters. He followed the music, passing unheeding now through the trees. Birds fluttered about him, darting from branch to branch, until the trees opened around him and he found himself standing in a glade of fragrant ferns, bathed silver in starlight, and out of the starlight he saw a woman come rippling into view, tall and fair, with a familiar Light in her face, and hair dark as tree-shadows. She looked at him with wide bright eyes, startled as he was to find herself not alone in the wood.

Elwë thought, Oh, and stepped into the glade.

And time fell away.