Finding Home by Independence1776

A Midnight Picnic

Elrond and Celebrían have a midnight picnic and discuss astronomical differences between Rivendell and Tol Eressëa. Written for the SWG 10th Birthday Contest using the prompt “a midnight picnic.”

After helping Celebrían pack the empty containers back into the picnic basket, Elrond lay back on the blanket spread on the grass, looking at the twinkling stars, the vista occasionally interrupted by bats eating mosquitos and other insects. He’d expected the different sky, having read accounts of those who had traveled in the East and South of Middle-earth, as well as Aragorn’s reports and Elrond’s own knowledge of the shift in the stars from Imladris south to Mordor. He glanced northward, toward the familiar constellations. “It disquiets me that the Sickle sets, despite knowing the reason why.”

Celebrían reached out and grasped one of Elrond’s hands. “Familiar things behaving strangely-- even in expected ways-- will do that. It took me several years to become accustomed to it, and I even now still accidentally look for it when it is not visible. But the southern sky is worth the change.”

Elrond looked south: at the brilliance of the Sírelenath that cast dim shadows on the light-colored blanket, the two hazy cloud-like galaxies, the bright and dark nebulas, and the multitude of stars and star clusters. “Yes, it is.”

Chapter End Notes

Sírelenath (River of Stars aka the Milky Way) is the Sindarin version of the Quenya Sirë Elenion, which Pandemonium_213 was kind enough to let me borrow. My thanks to Elleth for the translation.

If the sky is dark enough (aka with no light pollution or moonlight), the Milky Way does indeed cast diffuse shadows.

According to Note 2 of the Athrabeth, the Eldar of Aman do have proper astronomical knowledge, though only those who wished to study it learned it in depth.