Drabbles: The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales by Zdenka

Change of Course

Eärendil experiences the change in the shape of the world.

From dusk to dawn, brightest of stars, Eärendil steers his ship over Middle-earth. Each night he watches the fleet from Númenor sail closer to the forbidden lands. He tries to plead with the Valar, but this time they will not hear him.

And suddenly, there is a shift -- like the land sliding away under his feet, like the echoing silence that comes with the sudden ending of a storm.

That evening, as sunset nears, he is met by messengers of the Valar. "There has been a change," they tell him, and the light that shines from their eyes is cold.