Mid-winter evening, Imladris, present times
Snowflakes fell sparsely from clouds who did little to obscure the beautiful night sky, blown far from the mountaintops thanks to the cold northern wind. Stars twinkled and the Moon felt brighter than ever. The sound of music and merrymaking coming from the Hall of Fire were inviting, as it was the prospect of warm fire, good wine and delicious food but none of that was on Earcalie’s mind at the moment. Not minding the bite of the wind she had been outside staring at the sky for a good while, memories of a very similar night surfacing in her head…
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Mid-winter evening, Forlindon, some centuries ago
Reunited around the Log of Turuhalme her family had been exchanging stories and recollections of the past, as tradition wanted late into the night, the longest night. Little Earcalie loved stories and listened to most of them with interest until something else caught her attention. She could see out the window the Moon, round and white and bright making its ascend into the sky.
Noticing her standing by the window, Mehtarnis smiled and went to sit by her side. “Are you asking the Moonking to bring you a present?”
The elleth looked rather skeptical. “How can he come down here if he lives on the Moon?”. Her mother chuckled. “You know the story”.
“Tell me again!”
She nodded, smiling. “As you know, after the darkening of the Blessed Realm, the chariot of the Sun rose after Laurelin, but its light was too strong to bear and nobody could sleep, from Elves to flowers. There was no replacement for the delicate shimmer of Telperion, and so the Valie Yavanna sung to its broken branches. She sung and sung until… ooh! one lone branch began to blossom. Of the blossoms only one grew and kept growing and growing into a big, majestic beautiful rose with silver petals. The Valar wished for the rose to be as the Sun so Aule crafted for it a vessel of the lightest, most transparent glass to carry the blossom in the firmament. The Ship of the Moon some call it, but it didn’t look like any ordinary ship at all, it was more so an island of crystal with little ponds and flowers of snow shimmering full of Telperion’s sap. The rose rested in a great cup in the middle of said island, called Isil”.
“Now it was time for the Moon to set sail with Tilion the Maia at the helm, accompanied by many wind spirits dressed in starlight. With them however, was somebody else. An elder among the Eldar, with long white hair managed to slide unseen onto the Ship of the Moon by hiding among the rose’s petals. His desire to care for the blossom was so much that he took residence on the vessel and built himself a little white tower; he never slept, often climbing to the top to contemplate the sky and sometimes the world beneath".
"On the rare occasions that his gaze falls on the earth he can see elflings staring at the vessel, and he can hear them call to Uolë Kúvion*, King of the Moon. It is him who answers their wishes for Tilion is too busy stirring the fickle Ship and stay its course. He descends the vessel when it lands to grant the elfling's wishes, before the Sun rises and then returns to his tower”.
“He will answer yours too, if you behave and go to sleep right now”. With that Mehtarnis concluded her story and managed to get her daughter to sleep without protest. When she awoke the morning after, she found a new stuffed bear cub next to her.
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Adult Earcalie tilted her head. Dolls and stuffed animals were way past her now, but she made a wish anyway. Under that same sky, she wished her parents in the Blessed Realm were looking at the Moon, knowing that she always had them in her heart.
* the figure of Uolë Kúvion is mentioned only in the Book of Lost Tales. These writings are not considered canon, for the purpose of this little story he is my elven version of Santa XD Tolkien Gateway reference: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Man_in_the_Moon
