N�mm� parc� cuil�valta ve i Aldu.
S� i n�r� hendimm�llo av�ni�
I l�mar �mammion lantar cemenenna
Eress� m�timar lussar i r�manen v�l�o
Liltar i n�simar lotessen tuil�va.
Ustan� ar r�cina n� vanima m�riny�.
�-cenuva f�nar mindoniryar anar�ress�
�-cenuva f�nar mindoniryar and�ness�
�-cenuva meldonyar ananta istan:
Emm� ny�nuvar lin, Ondolind�,
Mandos ringess� ar nu anarya H�par
�-hehtuvamm� lin, Ondolind�.
A soft Elven voice was mixing with the murmur of the waves. Yes, the sun shined bright over the warm Havens of Sirion, but it could not warm those whose souls longed for the cold, crystal-clear air of Gondolin. Almost seventeen years had passed since it was destroyed by flames, yet still every day her eyes turned north, towards her former home.
�Ai! �-hehtuvamm� lin, Ondolind�� whispered the golden-haired woman for the last time, as her eyes turned to the West beyond the sea. Gone was the city in which she grew up. Gone were her childhood friends. Gone was her father, finally joining her mother in the Halls of Waiting, after five sun-ages apart. Gone was part of her heart, forever buried in the rocky soil of the Land of Singing Stone.
�Nana! Nana!�
She turned her head towards the voice, and golden-haired young man ran to her and hugged her. He noticed sadness in her eyes and bowed his head for a moment. However, he was too happy to let this familiar sadness distract him.
�Nana, Elwing said she will marry me!�
Idril was happy for her only son, but sadness in her heart was too deep. Neither E�rendil�s smile, nor Tuor�s kisses could dismiss it. She has lost everything she has loved in Middle-earth, and she was afraid she would loose them too. Her heart ached for the home she left centuries ago as a child, in the blessed land that knew no pain.
One comforting thought rises through the pain. �Now my little boy does not need me anymore. I am free to follow my heart.�
***
Four months later, Idril Celebrindal and Tuor departed the shores of Middle-earth forever. Idril�s last word was not the name of her son, for she felt she will meet him yet in the future. It was the name of that she knew she lost forever. Ondolind�.
Valie Vaire has torn the threads of our lives
We are dry of life now, like the Two Trees.
Now the fire has disappeared from our eyes
Echoes of our voices fell into the [bloodied] earth.
Only the last whispers in the gentle breeze
Dance on the fragrant [late] spring flowers.
Burned and destroyed is my beautiful home.
I will never see its white towers in the sunrise.
I will never see its white towers in the sunset.
I will never see my friends, an yet I know:
We will weep for thee, Gondolin,
In the cold Halls of Mandos and in sunny Havens.
We will not forget thee, Gondolin.
Quenya words and phrases in the text:
�Ai! �-hehtuvamm� lin, Ondolind녔 - "O! We will never forget thee, Gondolin..."
Nana - mom
Ondolind� - the original Quenya name for Gondolin
1) Chronology �C� from The War of The Jewels was used in this fic, as the most complete. It is as follows:
505 E�rendil was born
512 Gondolin was destroyed
527 E�rendil weds Elwing, Idril and Tuor depart over the Sea.
2) It is slightly AU in what in Tolkien�s own works �Unquiet of Ulmo� came upon Tuor, and they left Middle-earth, and I decided to make it so that Idril was the one wishing to leave. Also, I don�t know if I made Idril less motherly than Tolkien intended.
3) The poem is in part inspired by a poem of Hatul�s �L�r� Macalaur�o� which is the answer to Galadriel�s �Namari�. The image of Vali� Vair� was too powerful, and this fic started from that image. Longer version of this lament can be found here.
