Trinkets by Independence1776

Arda Marred

Nienna and unending grief. This was written for Tic_Tac_Woe, the apocalypse mini-bingo community on Dreamwidth, for the prompt "War Without End." Triple drabble; rated Teens for mature themes.

Nienna sat on a rocking chair on the porch of her house overlooking Ekkaia, watching the sun set, ignoring the bustling inhabitants of her house as they prepared for supper. She mourned, as she always did, even when others would have thought she had temporarily put aside her grief.

But she had entered Eä in grief and could no more do so than she could return to the Timeless Halls.

The war against Melkor and his servants had begun before Creation and would continue until the universe slowly, silently faded into the death entropy decreed.

The Ainur had fought before the creation of Eä. They had fought for Arda, laying down their burden only to pick it up when Morgoth took advantage of the lull. The Elves had fought him. They had lost despite small victories-- or large, as many would say of Lúthien’s recovery of a Silmaril.

But Melkor’s servants had not all been captured. Some indeed had turned away from the mercy of the Valar and had become almost as terrible. Mairon’s victory on Númenor had paved the way for his eventual defeat-- but still lives were lost and the world forever changed.

Even when the Elves had left for Aman or faded from mortal memory the fight continued: the Secondborn were not content to live peacefully, always restless, always striving to mastery, always wanting. There was a hunger in them Nienna thought would never be satiated and a rather unfortunate lack of foresight and understanding. They changed the world, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. The battles were simply no longer fought against the Ainur, but against Middle-earth and themselves.

So she mourned: for the lives lost, the possibilities removed, the changes that could never be undone.

She would continue to mourn until Arda Healed.