This prompt fic is appropriate for this day; for myself, and for others who are going through rough patches in their life. My thoughts with all of you.

Prompt 57: Sky
Ficlet: Gil-Estel
Rating: G
Imladris, 2939 TA

It was a warm summer night, and Estel was doing his best not to nod off to sleep. He had been looking forward to this lesson for ages; his mother had granted Elrond permission to keep the boy awake to study the stars. The star maps he had studied during the day were nothing compared to an actual lesson with the night sky.

Elrond watched with mild amusement as the boy pinched himself to keep himself awake. "You may go to sleep soon, Estel. Our lesson is almost over."

"I am not tired, Ada," Estel protested. The elf lord raised an eyebrow and the boy smiled sheepishly. "Well, maybe a little, but I can stay up a little longer."

"It is not much longer yet."

The two were on a high, wide balcony that overlooked the valley of Imladris. Estel had been delighted when he had seen his lesson would be up here for he was rarely allowed on this balcony; it was too near the council area. The balcony, however, held a great view of all the stars and was a perfect place for his astronomy lesson.

As the sky began to lighten, and Estel thought he could not keep himself awake much longer, Elrond pointed out to a single star. "Can you tell me what that star is?"

Estel followed his finger and nodded. "Of course. It is Eärendil, your father's star. You told me that it is the light of the Silmaril that makes him so bright."

"And so it is. What else is Eärendil's star known as?"

Estel smiled. "Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope."

Elrond smiled as well. "And so it is, Estel. It brought hope to many elves when it first rose, and brings hope to all good people even now. If your own days ever become dark and hopeless, just remember to look upon Gil-Estel and recall the days of joy and light. Now come, dear one, my lesson is over. It is time for you to seek your bed."

Estel nodded and followed his foster-father off of the balcony. While the peredhel's last words of the night meant little to him now, he would recall them in his darkest hours and remember to always hold onto hope.

***

"Now when first Vingilot was set to sail in the seas of heaven, it rose unlooked for, glittering and bright; and the people of Middle-earth beheld it from afar and wondered, and they took it for a sign, and called it Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope." - The Silmarillion