Holidays Gone By by StraightOuttaHimring

Glorfindel: Tarnin Austa

Tarnin Austa - “Gates of Summer”, a Midsummer festival of Gondolin

“For know that on a night it was their custom to begin a solemn ceremony at midnight, continuing it even till the dawn of Tarnin Austa broke, and no voice was uttered in the city from midnight till the break of day, but the dawn they hailed with ancient songs. For years uncounted had the coming of summer thus been greeted with music of choirs, standing upon their gleaming eastern wall; and now comes even the night of vigil and the city is filled with silver lamps, while in the groves upon the new-leaved trees lights of silver colours swing, and low musics go along the ways, but no voice sings until the dawn.” (BoLT 2, The Fall of Gondolin)

Stars wheeled above, cold and uncaring, carving the same paths through the night sky that they had followed for millennia. Glorfindel, too, had walked the same paths day and night and day again for the past several hundred years. We walked a familiar path now, through the courtyard of the Golden Flower, ensuring decorations had been executed to the exact standard that was expected of his house. He needn't worry, of course. His staff would never let their home look anything less than the carefully painted image of perfection it was.

With the city silent and lit only by soft silver lanterns and starlight, it was almost easy to forget the thousands of souls missing from within their high walls. Gondolin had always stood gleaming and proud, the beacon of hope and  civilization in the East. After the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, though, the city limped along into each new year with less grace than before. Their numbers were greatly diminished, and even those remaining laughed less and laughed more quietly than before. At first, many had assumed that their numbers would grow again as new children were born and Gondolin entered a grand new age with Turgon as High King, but very chose to bring new life into the uncertain world and the few children there were grew up fiercer and less soft than those who came before them. 

His long, ornate robes incrusted with gold and jewels rustled over the white stone streets as Glorfindel made his way through the silent city with slow, measured steps meant to convey confidence and control. He offered small, serene smiles to any he passed, carefully calculated to be appropriately solemn while still conveying hope for the days to come. In the Square of the King, he paused to watch as a young couple danced along the edge of the Great Fountain as starlight sparkled in it's waters. It would be unseemly to be caught expressing such joy during what should have been a solemn time, but Glorfindel was loath to begrudge them whatever happiness they found in these dark years.

He had long ago accepted that if his soul had a mate, they must reside outside the confining walls of the Hidden City, and as such, were unlikely to united with him any time in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, acceptance did little to fill the cold, empty halls of a grand house built with more than a lone bachelor in mind. Perhaps if he were a better Lord, as Ecthelion was, he would have tried harder to find love amongst the elleth of the city. He smiled, wondering how likely it was that no voice was heard within the halls of the Fountain with Ecthelion's young son now among the newest citizens of Gondolin.

Eventually he found himself upon the high Eastern wall, though there were still hours until dawn and he was one of only a few to steak his spot out so early. He startled slightly as he heard someone approach him from behind, but kept dutifully silent. Ecthelion strode forward and paused next to him along the walls. He was covered in so many diamonds Glorfindel wondered how he moved, though he couldn't deny it wasn't an awe-inspiring sight. Eru forbid Thel wasn't the most striking being in a room.

Without a word, Ecthelion wrapped an arm carefully around Glorfindel's back and allowed his silver-and-sapphire-crowned head to rest on Glorfindel's shoulder. Glorfindel sighed, allowing his melancholy to seep through in front of his friend. No doubt Ecthelion had seen him while he was in the square and rightfully guessed the same old loneliness had resurfaced, rarely mentioned but always lurking.

They stood together, leaning into one another, until the sky began to show the first gray and purple streaks of pre-dawn.  Others had joined them, a trickle at first though by now most of the city was in attendance. Further down the high walls, the royal family stood in all their splendor. Idril bounced a babbling Eärendil on her hip as the lords and ladies around her politely looked away, pretending the babe wasn't breaking the sacred silence of Tarnin Austa with his childish noises. 

From the opposite direction, Glorfindel caught Egalmoth's eye, prompting the other lord to make his way to the golden and silver pair. Even in the dim not-morning light, Glorfindel could tell that Egalmoth's robes managed to incorporate every color of the rainbow. He greeted them in an inappropriately large smile as he spun around, arms thrown wide and pantomiming the act of singing loud as though the sun were already rising.

Ecthelion glared at his outburst, sharply slashing a flattened hand through the air in front of his neck in an attempt to signal Egalmoth to cease his shenanigans. Something must have been lost in translation, because instead Egalmoth seized Glorfindel and began to lead him in a wild, spinning dance along the narrow wall. Ecthelion had tried before to murder with a single look. Fortunately, it had not worked in the past and neither did it work on this night. From further down the wall, Turgon cast them his patented look of exasperation and disappointment that he had honed since childhood. Glorfindel shrugged apologetically to his king and life-long friend, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

The world was changing, Glorfindel could feel it. Something was coming, and though he did not know if it would be next month, next year, or next decade, he knew their days in this happy city hidden from time could not last. No matter what befell them though, these memories he would carry with him through this life and into the next

Chapter End Notes

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