The elves decided to let Estarfin sleep as he was fatigued from his long journey. Any questions related to where he had gone would have to wait until later. “We will not disturb his slumber,” agreed Parnard, with some reluctance. “But if he were in the Greenwood,” he added, “we would wake him up and drag him along, ha ha!”
Danel made a shy smile. “He has a habit now of waking me if the stars are particularly bright and lovely. But now the stars are fading, and he is in need of rest, so we will head to the beach without him.”
They walked down the old stone path and onto dunes where tall sea grasses nodded and swayed. The broad cloudless skies above the water were turning tawny pink and gold with the fresh light of dawn. Parnard sat down in the sand and pulled off his boots while Danel opened a satchel and set out the provisions, simple and rustic fare: a loaf of bread, meat, cheese, and wine.
Fair voices uplifted in song drifted across the waves on the sea breeze. “You can hear the Falathrim sailors singing on yonder boat,” she told him. “They are free spirited, merry folk.”
“The Falathrim remind me of my people; perhaps we are blood kindred?”
“Indeed you are. They are also of the third kindred, these last of the Teleri,” Danel said. “They love the stars and the Sea, like your people love the stars and the trees. When they reached these shores during the Great Journey, they would not depart this land that they loved. Ossë understands them, and they serve him and his lady, and also mighty Ulmo.”
Parnard looked askance at Danel. “The Falathrim are their pets?”
“Oh, no. More like his…children. One of their folk once told me that it mattered not if they were here or in the West, as long as they could be near the Sea. They love music, too, the song of the Sea.”
“I hear it too! The cries of the gulls over the breaking waves,” said Parnard.
“Yes,” Danel said, looking strangely at him. “The first kindred, the Vanyar, they love mountains, for these are closer to the heavens, and nearer the birds of Manwë.”
“Who is Manwë?”
“You have never heard that name before, my friend? Manwë is the Eldar king…chief of the Valar, Master of the air, clouds and winds. The great eagles are his servants but we Noldor do not care too much about that. He was the one who sent Prince Feänor away. We were followers of Aulë - the Master of earth and fire, and we served Aulë, until he cozened some to not see their captivity.”
“Yet our folk still sail West to these Masters for protection. Look! There goes another boat!” he cried, pointing out into the ocean.
The westbound ship swiftly passed away until it met the horizon and shrank from sight. “Have some blackberries,” she said, wanting to change the subject.
They ate and drank their fill, and feeling the heat from the sand rising up, and the sun's rays becoming too intense, Parnard arose, taking Danel by the hand, and pulled her with him into the sparkling surf. They gamboled in the cold waves, splashing each other and laughing. “We can swim to Valinor,” he said, and dove through a passing wave down to the green depths of the seabed, kicking his feet clear of his entangling robe.
After a long swim they returned to the beach and sat on the soft sand to watch the water glittering crystal-like in the sun.
“We should spend more time here. Maybe I can encourage Estarfin to walk the shore and dance in the sea foam. Sometimes we Noldor are too weighed down with duty," said Danel.
To this Parnard replied: “I, too, am weighed down. I would rather have removed my raiment before swimming."
“I can turn my back, if you wish to disrobe,” Danel said as she wrung water from her hair. “But it should only take a short time under the sun to dry.”
Parnard hesitated at this last remark from the lady and decided against peeling off his dripping wet robe.
“My tunic is brocade; it may take a long while to dry,” she observed.
He looked up and down the beach. “You could take off your tunic, cousin. We are alone here, there is no one to see."
“I could but I will not. I think Estarfin will not swim. We used to swim in Lake Helevorn in Thargelion of old.”
“What is wrong with swimming?”
“Nothing, Parnard, except that it can show too much of one’s body. The Falathrim and your folk would shake their heads in disapproval at me, would they not?”
Danel stretched out on the sand next to him and he began to gaze upon her with the greatest admiration. Her wet garment clung to her body, yet revealed almost nothing of her fair flesh. It never before occurred to Parnard that it was shameful to swim, naked or clothed. Swimming with clothes on! What foolish ideas these Noldor had! But he must do as they did, else they think him wild and uncouth, and worst of all, like a stranger.
“You are not affected by the sea longing?” she asked him, interrupting his thoughts.
“Why would I long for something that is right in front of me?” he said, smiling at her.
Danel chuckled, glad to see her friend so happy.
When he first arrived at the coast, Parnard seemed wary, almost afraid of the Sea. That was because Danel and Estarfin kept telling him that it would be perilous to behold, and he could not understand their mysterious explanations. Then, once he saw it, he was overawed; it was the most water he had ever seen in his life, and he was unnerved by the constant tumult of crashing waves and the lack of trees across its flat blue-grey expanse for as far as the eye could see.
Today, however, the beach appeared more beautiful than the day before. Across the sand were scattered colorful shells of various shapes and patterns, and birds wheeled in the sky in circles, occasionally plunging into the sea for fish that swam around in large schools. And so, having already forgotten his doubts about the ocean, and if it would pull him away from the land and swallow him up, Parnard decided that it was a most proper place to make merry and have a good time, and if he could return to it over and over again, it would bring him nothing but joy. It would afford even greater delight if he could swim and bask in the sun unencumbered by clothing, and he determined to do this as soon as the first opportunity presented itself.
