Ealendil waded slowly, dreamingly, through the shallow coastal waters. Lazily searching for sea urchins to pick, putting them in the straw basket she carried with her, stopping every now and then to splash with her feet at the clear cool sea water. The sea was calm, as if a storm had just passed by, surge almost undetectable. The sun had almost reached zenith, and added its strength to an already warm, but gentle, breeze, that carried with it the scent of thyme and caprice that grew in abundance along the coastal lands.
The sand of the seabed pressed against the soles of her naked feet, like silk, and Ealendil laughed as it tickled, a childish laugh, full of innocent joy. The basket, now almost full, swung in rhythm with the laughter.
A small sea-blue colored silk bag sat at the edge of the water, barely escaping the swell. She had found it at the market in Mithlond, fallen in love with it, and had bought it immediately without giving any thought to its cost. Now it was well-stuffed, containing pebbles Ealendil had carefully selected, polished by years of wind, sand and sea, smooth to the touch, and glistening bright with colors of the sea. She hadn’t forgotten about the message she had received from Lady Manadhlaer prior to her leaving Imladris earlier in the spring, and now a gift had been prepared.
---
A couple of days earlier Ealendil and Maedhrathin had taken a ship from Celondim bound for Mithlond. From there, they had travelled south into Harlindon, along the coast, to visit a cousin of Maedhrathin. Ealendil wanting to escape to the sea had eagerly agreed to come along.
The repair of her parent’s old house were finished. It had cost her somewhat, but most of the old wine from previous harvests had helped to pay for that. In her cleaning up the house she had come across not only music scores and notes of old, which she would bring back with her, but also artefacts and correspondence of old. They were her mothers, but since she had sailed west, some of them now belonged to her kin, kin that now lived in Lórien.
Upon finding them she had realized that she would eventually have to travel to Lórien, bringing these with her. She had no clue as to when and how yet. She had contacted old acquaintance of hers among the mountain folk that lived further up in the Vale of Thrain. The dwarven merchants had established trade across the Hithaeglir, and she had wanted to find out about possible travel routes now that every pass she knew of were closed. On the return back to the family estate she would make a longer stop at the archives in Mithlond to consult with the scholars on what she had learned, and when she eventually returned to Imladris she would visit the library there too.
---
As the sun idles slowly across the blue sky, Maedhrathin sitting on the beach, plucks at his lute, every now and then casting a glance Ealendil’s way. They had caught fish earlier in the morning and would cook them later over a fire they had prepared.
“Oh Maedh… I wish we could stay here forever. The sea is so… I feel so at home here, so at peace. The sea beckons…”, Ealendil said with undisguised longing in her voice as she came back up from the water, dripping wet from the waist down. Maedhrathin nodded. He well recognized the look in Ealendil’s eyes, revealing that mood that always seems to grip the heart of those of Teleri descent as they gaze out upon the open sea.
“The summer is still in full bloom, yet the time approaches when we must soon make ready to return to Imladris.”, she sighed, looked down into her basket and eye’s sparkling seeing all the black urchins she had gathered.
“I wonder what is happening in Imladris… We haven’t heard anything so far.”, Ealendil let slip with a worried note in her voice, then she chuckled, “Nae, and I am such a bad correspondent myself. I should have written something to Lady Elvealin long ago, and ask if there was anything she needed, but… You know Maedh, you know…”, she let the sentence trail off.
Maedhrathin sighed and let go of his lute. “I know, I know…”, he responded. “Give me the basket and I’ll clean the sea urchins, we can nibble at them as you dry in the sun.“ By now he well knew her moods, carefree and untroubled as she seemed at first glance, she would often lose herself with what she was doing at the moment and when she thought no one looked her way, she would sometimes brood.
Suddenly Ealendil looked up, “Oh… I wonder what Earcalie is doing? We haven’t heard anything from her either. I do hope she is alright at her uncle’s estate. Maybe we should write to her and ask if she want to travel back with us, when the time comes?” Eleandil’s smile brightened, and then she nodded to herself as if she had made up her mind. Maedhrathin sighed slowly and looked down. “What is it Maedh? Aren’t you coming with me this time?”, she asked, noticing his downcast gaze.
Maedhrathin frowned, a troubled frown, and shook his head slowly. “No…”, he said barely audible, “I think I am going to remain a while longer in Harlindon. There are … certain matters to take care off, to attend to…”. Ealendil gave him a sympathetic look, and then continued to nibble away at yet another sea urchin. Maedhrathin smiled warmly at Ealendil, this was the side of her he liked the best, that she never pried, always accepting, always waiting for the other to tell. He would of course tell her the truth eventually, and he was certain she knew that.
As the sun set, and the stars, one by one, came alight, they started the fire. The fish they had caught and cleaned in the morning were skewered on small wooden sticks, that were planted into the ground next to the fire, leaning carefully over the flames.
While waiting for the fish to finish, Maedhrathin yet again plucked at is lute. He choose songs of old, and sang of times of before the dawn of the sun, and Ealendil danced of joy, losing herself beneath a starry sky that seemed to merge seamlessly with the sea at the horizon.
