A Voice Like the Sea by Zdenka

Chapter 1

Elrond knelt beside his sons’ cradle, rocking it back and forth. Two pairs of grey eyes stared back at him. Two smooth faces scowled at him like a thundercloud, threatening to burst into storm any moment. Smiling reassuringly at them, he began to sing a half-remembered wordless melody, very old, that held something of the light of ancient days.

The children looked suspicious at first, but gradually their eyes drifted closed. Elrond’s voice faltered as the words at last came into his mind. They were in the High-Elven tongue, and he knew now where he must have learned this song.

Two young boys were dragged before strangers by rough hands. They looked up; the Elf before them seemed very tall. Tired and frightened, they began to cry. The warriors traded glances. “Everyone out!” their commander ordered. As the others hesitated, “Unless you think I am in danger from two children?”

When the room was empty save for him, the stranger knelt down. He was smudged with dirt and blood, and a smell of smoke clung to his dark hair. “I will not hurt you,” he said. His accent was strange, and the children clung to each other, uncertain.

The stranger bowed his head, then looked at them and softly began to sing. His voice was roughened by weariness and strain, but it was still the most beautiful they had ever heard. It was like the sea waves they could hear every night as they fell asleep, like the wind in the sails of their father’s ship. The sound soothed them and cradled them, comforted them. When it ended, they allowed the tall Elf with his blood-stained hands to pick them up and put them to bed.

Elrond began the song again, this time hearing the distant echo of another voice behind his own.