As Time Unrolls by Lyra

Spring

A note on naming (because this wouldn't be Tolkien fandom if things weren't complicated somehow): In the first segments, the Valar have not yet learned Quenya, so they are using their native Valarin. Naturally this only comes to bear in personal and place names, but I nonetheless apologise for any confusion caused by the weirder-than-usual words...
If any of the 'odd' letters (yogh, chi, and s with caron) cannot be depicted properly, I apologize; they look fine on my screen, so it seems the archive can handle them, but it probably depends on your browser whether you get the correct symbols or some gibberish...

Spring.
The End of a Dream

"I wonder whether this is what Father intended," Waȝîrêz (1) says, cutting the weft. The finished tapestry hangs between high pillars, a novelty to adorn the newly-built halls. Upon its woven surface, the Lamps shine on while the real world lies in starlit darkness.

"What would you have us do?" says Mâχanâmôz. "We have seen that we cannot hold the world against the power of Ambêlikôrûz. It is wiser to withdraw than to waste our strength in endless battle."

"I find it strange that we are fourteen and Ambêlikôrûz is but one, and yet we yield."

"Strange it may be, but it is so doomed. We will not contend with Ambêlikôrûz for the moment. We are better than he: We do not require the whole world for our own."

"But we are appointed guardians of the whole world, not of Amanaišal (2) only," says Waȝîrêz, beginning to warp the next tapestry. "And what of the Children?"

Mâχanâmôz looks troubled, but only briefly. "Mânawenûz will know what to do when the time comes," he says.
Waȝîrêz asks no more, instead fixing her attention on the nascent tapestry. A memory of the Great Lake, lost to the living world, begins to take shape.

Chapter End Notes

(1) We are only given the Valarin names of a few Valar, namely Manwë (Mânawenûz), Ulmo (Ulubôz), Aulë (Aȝûlêz), Oromë (Arômêz) and Tulkas (Tulukhastâz). I have taken the liberty of constructing names for the missing Valar where I found it necessary, that is, where they appear. I have decided to make no outward difference between feminine and masculine names. Just in case you didn't guess, Waȝîrêz will later be known as Vairë; Mâχanâmôz (containing the attested Valarin word mâχan, "authoritative decision" (-> judgement)) is Námo (-> judge); Îrimôz is Irmo. Ambêlikôrûz is Melkor; with a name like that, I'd have turned evil, too.

(2) Amanaišal is attested in Aþâraphelûn Amanaišal, "Arda Unmarred". I'm assuming that the Valar were not overly creative as far as language was concerned, and that "unmarred" and "blessed" are different translations of the same Valarin word. At any rate, the -mana- element seems to appear also in Manwë's original name, which is translated as "blessed one", so there you go.