The night was old, the sky was clear and filled with the light of white stars. The Autumn-fest was ended; the songs had all been sung, the tales told, the merry dances in the bright firelight danced, and now the fire had burned low to red embers. In the deepening shadows sat Methlegel[1] with his mother and his father; Gellin held Amdirren with tender arms, while she laid her fair head upon his shoulder. Together they looked down upon their small son curled between them; love was kindled in their bright eyes, and looking back up at them his small unclouded face shone with elven light.[2]
This was an hour the elf-child cherished. His adventures of the day were done, and nestled in the warm comfort of his parents love and the dying fire, his quick and eager mind waned to blissful rest, though he was not yet ready for the wakeful dreams of elven sleep. His glittering elf-eyes beheld naught but the dancing of the dying flames upon the smoldering logs, and as the thin white smoke rose up into the forest roof to drift away upon the whispering wind, so did his untroubled thoughts. For Iavas had upon that very day begun and gold-touched leaves lingered still upon the beechen boughs; the great feasts of the Enedhoer[3] would only come to pass in nine more weeks[4], but three days ere that merrymaking his day of begetting would be celebrated with a smaller feast among his kin, and for him this was the more beloved. Soon he would be seven years of age, and he wondered at the short years of his young life that had thus far passed...
* * *
He had been born in the clear light of a morning in late autumn, when the forest leaves were red and yellow and had begun to fall. This, he had learned, was rare among his kindred, for most elven-births were in the green of Spring[5] when the world awoke after the cold of winter. He had learned also that his birth had followed the slaying of his elder brother, Amdiran, in the fierce goblin-battle fought in Rhovanion but thirty years before; for great had been his mother's grief, but she yet yearned to love a son and thus had he been begotten thereafter. And it brought him joy to know his part in the mending of her broken heart and the healing of her wounded spirit, and each moment he spent with her was to him a boundless delight. She was to him an elf-queen, and he, her devoted elven-princeling!
His father he adored without measure; light of heart and quick to laugh, swift of foot and strong in arm, ever did he dote upon his son. And while it was the will of Amdirren to teach the boy in all manner of knowledge, Gellin was content with but his companionship and was therefore fain to spend many friendly hours in idle speech; yet not all their time together was spent in idleness, for it was his father who instructed him in the arts of battle, though he made of it a mirthful game. Thus he trained Methlegel in the use of elf-blades, and the rounded shield with spear or wooden cudgel (which he himself favoured and thus was he named Dringoron by the clan.) But not the bow, for that was his own father's prowess.
Upon his seventh oronnad Echeleb Túbeng, his father's father, had gifted Methlegel with his first bow; Cúlalf it was named for it is made from a bough of stout elm, and it was the elf-child's chief treasure. Now five seasons on -- wellnigh a full year -- and still he had barely the strength of arm to bend it! Yet he loved his father's father, though he was unalike Gellin his son; a dour Elf, oft stern and grim. But sometimes his son's playfulness might arise unlooked-for while he was teaching his son's son to shoot with a small practise bow and arrows, and he would laugh merrily to see the small elf-child try to wield Egros, his own great hunting bow which he had fashioned aforetime in the elm-woods of Ossiriand in the Elder Days of the world, long ago.
All his kin Methlegel loved dearly: Gladhron his father's brother, who oft sparred with them upon the greensward in their sport, laughing fiercely like the Rodon Tulkas all the while; Delloril wife of Echeleb, his father's mother, whose woodcrafty skill in stealth and secrecy was unmatched among their Laegren kin; Reneth, his mother's mother who with ever smiling kindness gave him comfort when days were dark; and Tawardil, her father, from whom the elf-child inherited his love for all that grows and is glad, and for the birds of the air and for all that walks on four legs in the greenwood; and Amathel, his kinswoman by marriage, gentle in speech yet strong of will and as a kindly elder sister to him.
* * *
Now it is ever the way of the the Elven-folk to put the thought of all that they love into all that they make, and thus it is also in the forging of their kin and even more so in the bringing forth of children. For though the rhaw of an elf-child is a blending of the rhoe of both their mother and father and thus their looks are akin, their fae is their own, but by the fae of their parents it is nourished.[6] Thus from Amdirren, his mother, Methlegel received her healer's gifts of tenderness and mercy; from Gellin, his father, he got his merriment and joy; indeed, all the qualities of his kin were within his nature mingled, for all had a part in his rearing and all dwelt within the deepness of his heart.
Dark is the Shadow that lies upon Mirkwood, yet ever did the elf-child's heart rejoice for he delighted in the world about him. The love of his kin nourished him as the rich brown earth feeds the roots of a green sapling, and his love for them and for his forest home was as a sweet spring rain that washes and waters its budding leaves. Within his slender breast there beat a great heart, unaware of evil and untainted by the growing darkness in the lands, for it dwelt still in the morning of childhood and the fire of his spirit burned bright as the unshadowed sun. And nestled beside the dwindling fire between the two he loved the most, he closed his eyes and smiled in his bliss.
And above them the stars glittered in the clear autumn night.
* * *
[1] He had not yet taken his Chosen-name, Legelion.
[2] "The Eldar [...] had few children, but these were very dear to them. Their families, or houses, were held together by love and a deep feeling for kinship in mind and body; and the children needed little governing or teaching."
- Morgoth's Ring, 'The Laws and Customs Among the Eldar'[3] "Tolkien did not give the Sindarin words for these holidays in Appendix D. These translations from the Quenya were provided by Sindarin expert /u/Elaran in the /r/sindarin subreddit."
- Shire Reckoning: A visualization of the calendars described in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Appendix D[4] "For ritual rather than practical purposes the Eldar observed a week or enquië of six days"
- The Lord of the Rings, Appendix D, "The Calendars"[5] "As for the begetting and bearing of children: a year passes between the begetting and the birth of an elf-child, so that the days of both are the same or nearly so, and it is the day of begetting that is remembered year by year. For the most part these days come in the Spring."
- Morgoth's Ring, 'The Laws and Customs Among the Eldar'[6] "Therefore they hold that the fëa, though unbegotten, draws nourishment from the parents before the birth of the child: directly from the fëa of the mother while she bears and nourishes the hrondo [hröa], and mediately but equally from the father, whose fëa is bound in union with the mother's and supports it."
- ibid
It should be noted that this tale is set in the 2971st year of the Third Age, when Legelion was but six years of age; also that these anecdotes are not in strict chronological order
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