Arien - The Crossing

September 23, 2010 Dominique Darkwatch High above Arda, Arien guides the last fruit of Laurelin, the sun.  Day after day, Arien has faithfully guided her charge across the skies, mostly taken for granted by the creatures below.  To most of them, she guided the light of life.  But to some, her presence could signal death or at the least, much distress.  For it was many ages before orcs, trolls and goblins could even walk in her light, and to this day they prefer the dark or perhaps the light of the moon, guided by Tilion. Tilion.  She thought of him often lately, and wondered if he was even aware of the distress of the one called King Olwe.  She had done her best to aid the king when he was in peril, but of course there was only so much a fire spirit could do to help a ship at sea.  She seethed with anger that other more appropriate valar, such as Osse and Ulmo, had not been around to help.  For all of Osse's posturing and ranting at the last council of the ainur, the watery vala had done precious little, even when it was within his power to do so.  Fortunately the captain of Olwe's swan ship was able to masterfully sail his vessel through seas she had tried to boil and churn in a favorable way to speed them to safety.  And now there were new rumors of the king's disappearance heard on the winds.  But Arien had little time to attend such rumors at this time.  For this was the time of crossing over, and of a great awakening in the celestial skies.  She carefully steered and guided her charge southward, crossing over the midpoint of Arda, thus ushering in a shortening of days in the north, and a new spring in the south.  The beginning of the harvest for one, and the beginning of planting for another.  Both would be marked equally at this time; the equinox it was called by some of Iluvatar's children.  As the sun maiden continued her journey west, she looked down on the lands that received her light with gladness, such as Sylvhara and Vana.  There were also lands, such as Taure Ru, which did not greet her so gladly, and in fact tried to obscure the light in smoke, dark clouds and shadows.  She thought of what lurked within these shadows and knew she that she had brothers down there.  Her brothers; fire spirits like herself only twisted and perverted by Melkor into creatures of evil and maliciousness.  She wondered if any could possibly comprehend what it was like to have such evil and predatory brothers.  Balrogs they were called. As she neared the western horizon, she looked across the sky and spotted Tilion, guiding the last flower of Telperion, the moon.  Tonight would be a full moon; a harvest moon. But an even older of Telperion's legacies would be displayed this night.  For before the sun and the moon, the brightest of the objects in the sky was Alcarinque, known to some as Jupiter.  This most glorious light was formed by Varda from the dew of Telperion before the sun and the moon making it the brightest thing seen in the east when the elves first awakened. And later, there were the second born of Iluvatar's children; those known as humans.  The light guided by Arien was the only light they had ever known, hence that were often regarded as “children of the sun.”  The sun maiden allowed a faint smile to play upon her lips as she made her final lap of this season, guiding her charge into the next season.