(read this story first to understand better)
Present days, along the coast of Forlindon
Earcalie breathed deeply of the salty sea wind. She was perched on the end of a cape giving sight to a little bay along the northern coast of Forlindon. Her horse lazily munched some grass not far from her. The elleth was staring at the relics her uncle gave them a few days ago, a broken brass key and a cloudy black pearl. Her begetters never told her about those objects, she did not even know they existed… by her uncle’s words, because she needed to understand their meaning first. But couldn’t she have done so while they were still with her in Middle Earth? That she did not understand, not the meaning of the broken relics. Was it all one?
She closed her eyes, going back hundreds of years in her memory.
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Centuries ago, bay of Forlond
… a little elleth was playing with a toy ship on the same small bay. Her father watching and remarking from time to time to stay only in the shallow water. He was carving a second ship from a beech log, a simple hull and mast whose sails were going to be cut from a roll of silk cloth. “Ada! I don’t like it like that, make more decorations on it!”. Little Earcalie took the ship she was playing with in front of his eyes, to emphasize her point. That toy too had been carved by a carpenter of Forlond, and it had little engravings of waves and swans all around the hull. The sails also had embroidery in the image of Glingal and Belthil, the Trees of Gondolin.
“Earcalie dear, this ship is not different than the one you already have”
“Yes it is! It is prettier! And valuable, that one has nothing! I want a ship as pretty as Vingilot!”
Aicasicil sighed. His daughter was just starting to learn about the history of their people, and the latest story she learned had been the Voyage of Earendil. She was fascinated by heroic deeds, grand adventures and the splendid court of Gondolin and wished to live and become just as one of the many great warriors of the tales. Him and his spouse were also responsible for that, in truth. Memories of the magnificence of the Hidden City, the sculptures and buildings, singing fountains and feasts were vivid in his mind as it was yesterday. He would have never regaled stories to Earcalie depicting his lost home as lesser than it was, and in truth his words could not do justice to it even with the help of all the bards that still dwelt east of the sea. She was so impressionable, dreaming in her world of tales, that Aicasicil feared she would not understand what was really important in life. A lesson he learned a long long time ago.
“Tell me, what is aside the decorations that makes this ship different than the one you have?”. Earcalie immediately answered: “That one is too simple!”
“Hm… take a good look at it”. The elleth playfully squinted her eyes, staring at the toy as if she was trying her hardest to pry every secret out of its hull. “This one is… is…”
“It is a ship just like the one I am carving. Yes it doesn’t have the decorations but it is still a toy ship. And while it may not be as elaborated as the one you have, it is more valuable in a different way”.
Earcalie tilted her head. “What way?”
He turned the ship so the front of the hull faced his daughter. There, he did make a decoration. A very simple one: the names of his daughter, mother and father intertwined. The little elleth squealed in delight, leaving the prettier toy ship on the sand to cling at her father’s neck. “Our ship! This is ours yes? But you should have made it bigger if it is for us three!”
“What counts the most in this ship, what makes it valuable, is that it is a labour of love. Not to say that the kindred who made the other one did not craft it with love, but this one is unique. It is, as you said, ours, and it will stay afloat and sail the waves with the same love and care that makes us go on in this Middle Earth”
“Ada I don’t understand”
Aicasicil lifted her up with one arm, and picked up the other ship from the sand. He walked just about in the shallow water where he put both ships to float in. “What I am trying to say, dear, is that the value we must find in our lives and in the old tales is not that of material things, but of sentiments and ideals. Because the former may not resist in time, but the latter will, always”
Earcalie opened her mouth as to retort something. Then closed it, and put a finger under her chin to think. After a while, she piped up “I see!”. Aicasicil smiled.
“I want a REAL ship next ada! And I will fill it with beautiful things so it will fly and kindred will be happy when they see it and I will be admired as Earendil was on Vingilot!”
Aicasicil sighed.
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Present days, coast of Forlindon
… “I see” said a grown Earcalie, perched on the end of the cape above that very same bay. She never really agreed with her father about many things, but that particular memory resurfaced in her mind at that moment, flipping the broken key in her hands, she sighed. She did not agree with him on this subject before, but that small key was making her dubious. And very nostalgic. If only her father were still there, she could have asked for clarification. On her own, thinking was never her forte. She slipped the relics back in her traveling satchel and rose on her feet. She had the thought of having one of the smiths in Imladris mount both key and gem in her sword. She felt it was right to do so, it would have been as if having her begetters with her again. And maybe, she would finally come to a conclusion.
