Brothers Reunite

< Previous AelKennyr Rhiano (with TedTheRushBandFan Hammerer) The night turned out chilly, after the heat of the day and the long, difficult climb down the mountain.  The sweat of the day's labor soaked his clothes and left them now a cool wetness against his skin, causing the Teleri Lord to shiver a little.  He huddled closer to the small fire he had built, pushing idly at embers with a charred stick.  He had fallen into a deep sleep after his meal of berries and nuts gleamed from the forest, but his dreams came fitfully, then descended into scenes of fire and destruction, the smell of burnt flesh in his nostrils, the feel of ash upon his skin...his eyes burning from the smoke.  Screams and wails besieged his ears, and all around him were elves running, running...not Teleri... but kin nevertheless.  Monsters rode the skies, more terrible than any he could imagine, pouring out of a circle of deadly flowers he had seen before...where?  Where had he seen them? He woke up screaming and wrapped his worn cloak around him for warmth as he stoked up the fire.  He leans close now, in the late night stillness.  He remembers another fire, another night, long ago....so long ago, but there had been only laughter and joy at that campfire.  The tallest of all the Children of Ilúvatar was his brother Elwe, full of deep laughter, his voice like a still pool of water, his warmth in his touch, his words.  The sweetest of the those years days, when he and his brother both led their people ever westward swept over the Teleri Lord, and Olwe smiles.  The clapping of his brother's hand upon his shoulder, followed by a mock stern admonishment to not worry so much...as Olwe calls before his mind's eyes, the face of his brother, his eyes droop and flutters close, and the weary Lord of Alqualonde dozes lightly for several moments.  "Olwe.....Olwe...." There was a voice...a familiar voice...warm...comforting...It could have been the fire dying back down, the lost of its warmth that made Olwe stir and open bleary eyes, or it could have been the whisper of his name upon the wind.  But open his seablue eyes, he did.  Past the weaving, smoking flames of his dying fire, mists swirled and gathered, taking the form and shape of someone well known to the King of the Teleri. A form he never thought to see again, a voice he never thought to hear.  Olwe stares, eyes widening.  His face pales and his eyes widen as he pushes himself up off the ground.  He extends a shaking hand, and his voice wavers, "No....it can't be." The night mists stir into the tall figure of Lord Elu Thingol. His eye shown as the full moon and his smile warm and comforting as he sees Olwe recognize him. Olwe's hand wavers, and he stares hard at the tall figure of his brother. "This...this cannot be...it...it cannot be."  Tears spring to his eyes, a sharp ache from his heart rising to choke his breath, to sweep over his face. "Olwe... I have escaped the Halls of Mandos to come to you in your time of greatest need." The eyes of his brother stares deep into  Olwe's own. The voice...the warm, rich, comforting voice, enveloped him. It bore the very lilt and tone of his brother's cadence. The very manner of his elder brother was mimicked in the stance of the figure before him. The mists swirls and eddies, and Olwe takes a step forward, peering deep into the eyes he knew better than his own.  "Brother?" He takes another step, his face both alight with joy and with apprehension. "Elwe?" "Yes my brother... I am here....Do not despair This time of turmoil of the mind will pass as the night turns into day." 'How can I know you are not a fevered dream but my brother come again. You seem as he,  the light in your eyes, the bearing , the manner, but I have been surrounded by dreams and half dreams, and I do not know what is real anymore."  He drinks in the sight of his brother, and there is a youthful look to his face, not seen in centuries.  "Tell me something of me, only my brother would know." "Olwe... remember that fateful night of our parting? Remember how we laughed and sang and drank the last of the sweet wines? Remember how we sang that old song from the youngest days of our awakening together as we marched on those last moments before parting? Only you and I know this memory... You know this must be me.. Elwe!" Olwe closes his eyes and for a moment, murmurs a thanks to Blessed Eru Illuvatar. "Ye! Yes...we did....and we talked long into the night....and there was that lake we decided to swim in.....clothes and all...." he laughes with boyish delight. "Brother!... My Brother!" Without hesitation, he flies across the distance and clasps his brother in a hug , weeping with joy. "My eyes see with joy the brother I have lost."  He feels the solidness of his brother's arm, and a wild joy sweeps over his heart. "Be strong and fight this cursed illness. Focus on these best memories to anchor your mind onto." Olwe nods....holding onto his brother at arm's length.  " I have so many memories of that journey, of us together.  Elu...you have to know I did not want to leave you behind and travel forth...but Lord Ulmo commanded." Mandos." Elu smiles softly.  Olwe smiles softly, sadly back.  "I wished often you were by my side, my brother, during the journey.  I wished once more for us to behold each other, and talk as we used to when the world was new to us, and we were new to the world."  Olwe looks earnestly into his brother's eyes. "Elwe, brother, they say in the Halls of Mandos, all the stories of all the elves ever bore lie there, recorded by the beloved wife of Mandos.  Be that so?" "Indeed but it seems I have only started to learn all the secrets." "Both of us, brother, saw kin turn against kin, slain for the joy of a evil creatures, a foul, twisted thing.  A thing I fear crawls into my thoughts my dreams, my being...and I fear...I fear that waning of our people shall be more like wheat sliced by the sickle in the field.  Give me hope, Brother, that we can prevail against this darkness."  "You are strong and wise my Brother... if you can focus.  Focus on the greatest of times!" Elu scolds and then points to Olwe's head. His stern face turns to a warm smile as he places his cloudy hand near Olwes heart, and says, "Gerich veleth nín. ..... You have my love." Elu smiles and longs to give Olwe a warm embrace but only wisps of mist swirl around both figures. What was once solid is now fading into mist.  Olwe feels the solidness of his brother fade and smiles sadly at the words. "I know you are with me always, in my heart, my brother." He gives the brotherly smile he has not worn in long centuries.  "And you have comforted my heart in this darkness.  I see the mists claiming you.  Must we part now?"  Elwe mever cared for leavetakings....Olwe remembers now. Instead...Elwe...Elu Thingol smiles and gives his traditional parting expression that was always part of ceremonies in Menegroth.... Navaer, Harthon i laiss en-Galadh e-Guil gala  (Farewell, I hope the leaves of your tree of life grow ) Olwe bows  his head.  He learned the language of his brother's people in the long passage of time after the Thingol's death.  "Sére ar alasse  (Peace and joy). Ar saila, mâlon!  (and wisdom, friend!).  Tenna' ento lye omenta”    (Until next we meet)." The cloudy figure of Elu fades back in to the mist as slowly as it had appeared. Olwe stares long at the place where once His brother seemed to stand before sliding down to his knees, a hand reaching out to touch the patch of earth where it seemed his brother stood.  "You have my love," Olwe whispers, and a quietness steals over  his heart.  After a few moments, he stood and wearily returned to his place by the fire, rolled himself into his cloak and, at least for this night, sink into blessed,  peaceful sleep. > Next