Ealendil and Maedhrathin had climbed one of the small hillocks close to the house. Upon its summit, a small fire and been started, not that it was needed to ward from the chill of the night, but mostly for comfort.
It was the night before Ealendil would leave for Rivendell. Everything was already packed, and an extra horse had been bought, so they had decided to share a bottle from the old reserve.
The stars had long since alighted one by one, and now their flickering light filled they sky above them.
“Eal?”, Maedhrathin broke the silence between them. “I have always wondered about your house here… Why was it named ‘Fanyamar’?”
Ealendil smiles, thinking back all those years ago when her parents had first come to this vale. “It was a name given by my mother so long ago”. Then her face goes somewhat somber.
“You see… In the elder days, in exile, my father and mother would sometimes wander off to a quiet place. Lie down, look upon the clouds above and dare to dream of the future”. Maedhrathin casts a shy glance Ealendil’s way. She was speaking of another age, of a time when the future looked dark, and no one dared to dream of anything. It is at such times when she does this that Maedhrathin is reminded of how old Ealendil is, despite her youthful are carefree appearance.
“My father promised my mother that once peaceful times had come again, though bleak it looked then, he would build her a house, a new home far away among the ‘clouds’”, Ealendil closes her eyes, the warmth of the fire reddens her face. “He would draw her an image to their imagination among the clouds above of such a place, where no troubles would ever hunt them”. Ealendil turns her head ever so slightly in the direction of her house, and nods. “This was the house he had built to her, the home among the clouds ‘Fanyamar’, and that was the name my mother gave it as she took her first step across the threshold upon entering, right foot first.” Then she quiets again, leaving the sounds of the night to finish her tale.
“And now it will be an empty home again, empty among the clouds”, breaking the silence Maedhrathin muses.
“No, silly, not empty”, Ealendil chuckles. “I have written to my ‘niece’, well the closest I have to a niece. And she will come and look after it.”
Maedhrathin brightens, “Oh, I remember her … Niemire. Her father and yours were cousins, right?”
“Not quite. Here grandfather and my father were cousins”, Ealendil explains. “She is a distant relative, but we are so few, so we have kept in touch with each other over the years”. Maedhrathin’s mood is dampened somewhat in remembering how headstrong that elleth is. Grumbling in a low voice, “So… you want me to babysit her...”
Ealendil chuckles again, “No, Maedh. Far more likely she will babysit you, and … she is a bright one. But I want to ask you a favor.”
“Sure”, he replies.
“Can you linger here a couple of weeks and greet her, make her feel at home and give her the keys to the house?” Ealendil asks. “I have made arrangements with Calengil in Duillond, but if you can, I would like you to see her safely home… She does remember you, you know”, Ealendil winks, a mischievous glint in her eye.
Maedhrathin sighs, looks down, and nods. He will do as she asks, as he always does. The talk quiets down between them again. What was needed to be said before her leaving has already been said, and the sounds of the night speak volumes instead. As the fire dies down slowly, they empty the last of the wine bottle together.
