15: What the Pendant Brought

Finrod and Glorfindel spent the next couple of days examining the pendant from every angle. The pendant consisted of a single tear-drop hawk eye gemstone surrounded by four carnelians, their orange-red color a pleasing contrast to the honey-brown stripes of the hawk eye. They were mounted in a silver filigree setting that looked to Glorfindel suspiciously like flames.

"I’m sure it means nothing," Finrod said when he mentioned it. "I think it looks more like a snowflake or a star myself."

Glorfindel just shrugged and stared at the pendant with a frown. The two of them had placed it on a small camp table so they could both examine it. "It’s just a pendant," he finally exclaimed in frustration. "What special properties could it possibly have?"

"How does it make you feel when you wear it?" Finrod asked him.

Glorfindel shrugged again and whipped the pendant off the table, placing it around his neck. For a long moment he said nothing, his expression blank, but slowly Finrod noticed a change in the ellon’s demeanor. Glorfindel visibly began to relax and a genuine smile graced his face. His eyes cleared of doubt, anger and frustration and he even chuckled.

"What’s so funny?" Finrod asked with amusement. It was the first time he had seen Glorfindel in a good mood since they had found themselves in this strange place.

"Oh, I don’t know," Glorfindel replied. "Suddenly everything just seemed... absurd."

"So how do you feel?"

"Better. I feel better and... and more hopeful."

"Well that’s a step in the right direction."

"Doesn’t get us any closer to a solution though."

Finrod nodded. "Lord Námo was very careful in saying only that the pendant might be a clue. Lord Aulë obviously did something to the pendant, but it might have only been to enhance the properties of the stones, nothing more."

Glorfindel sighed and was about to remove the pendant but Finrod stayed him with a gesture. "Keep it on you. Perhaps whatever properties it possesses will only work when you are actually wearing it."

"I feel silly wearing something this fine while camping," Glorfindel said. "I feel almost overdressed."

Finrod laughed. "And no ellith around to admire you."

Glorfindel stuck his tongue out at Finrod then joined him in laughter. The sound of their merriment echoed strangely in the emptiness around them, but it was heartening nonetheless and Yavanna, whose turn it was to be on watch, smiled upon them benignly, though neither ellon sensed her presence.

****

Now that Glorfindel’s mood had lightened and he was calmer, the ellyn also spent time dissecting the events that led to their present predicament. They went carefully over the final match step by step in hopes of finding a clue that would take them home.

"I think it started when I began singing the Song of Power," Finrod said at one point.

"What induced you to do so, do you remember?" Glorfindel asked in curiosity.

Finrod shook his head. "I remember fighting and feeling glorious. I don’t think I even cared if I won or lost. I was simply enjoying our match, but then...."

"What?"

"I don’t think I was there in the list," Finrod said at last. "I seem to recall seeing myself back on Tol Sirion and I was no longer fighting you, but Sauron."

Glorfindel nodded. "You were having a flashback, the way I had about the Nirnaeth and Sador had about Doriath."

"And Haldir," Finrod added. "The difference is that this time I knew I would win the contest, that Sauron would not defeat me as he had before." Glorfindel gave him a skeptical look and he shrugged. "Well, at least, that’s what I remember feeling at the time." Then he gave Glorfindel a quizzical look. "But where were you when you began countering me with your own Song of Power? I never realized that you knew any or had such skill."

"I don’t, I mean... I’m not sure," Glorfindel countered, sounding confused. His eyes narrowed in memory. "I was feeling much as you described your own feelings about the match, not caring if I won or lost, just enjoying fighting you and not having to hold back the way I did with the others."

Finrod nodded, giving him a grin. "I know. I thought it was quite amusing that everyone was complaining that you weren’t actually fighting but no one realized I wasn’t either." They both laughed at that. When they calmed down Finrod gave Glorfindel a searching look. "So you’re saying you never learned any Songs of Power?"

Glorfindel shook his head. "Oh, I knew the theory behind them, but really, safe behind the Echoriath? What need did any of us have for such things? Turgon only insisted that we maintain battle readiness, but nothing more. He put too much trust in secrecy and in the end...."

"We were doomed from the beginning," Finrod said without any bitterness. "Lord Námo warned us and I think most of us knew it in our hearts but refused to accept it until it was too late to do anything about it."

Glorfindel sighed, looking morose. "You’re right, of course. Everything we hoped to accomplish was ultimately destroyed. I begin to think we wasted our lives for nothing."

"Do you regret ever leaving Aman?" Finrod asked softly.

"Do you?" Glorfindel countered.

"Sometimes," came the surprising answer and Glorfindel nodded in acknowledgment. For some time they remained quiet, lost in their own thoughts, then Finrod stirred and gave his gwador a wry grin. "I think we got off the track there. We were talking about Songs of Power."

Glorfindel grinned back. "Truly, I have no idea where it came from. I remember hearing you Sing and then the words were just there in my head and I found myself responding to your Song. I have no idea where the words came from and even now I have difficulty remembering them."

"Do you suppose Eru had a hand in it?" Finrod offered.

"You mean, using me to counteract your attack?"

"And then bringing us here when it became too dangerous," Finrod supplied.

Glorfindel shrugged. "Makes sense, given everything else that’s happened." He paused and gave Finrod a measuring look. "Do you suppose if we recreated the match...."

Finrod shook his head. "I don’t think it would be allowed. What happened was a fluke. If I hadn’t had the flashback, none of this would have happened. To deliberately call up such power...."

Glorfindel nodded, pursing his lips. "I guess you’re right." He gave Finrod a mischievous grin. "You realize they’ll never let us do a rematch."

Finrod chuckled. "They’ll insist we’re never in the same room together."

"Unless suitably escorted by a contingent of Maiar and at least two Valar," Glorfindel quipped and the two of them laughed at the image his words evoked.

****

Glorfindel continued wearing the pendant except when sleeping. He usually kept it tucked under his tunic so it would not interfere with such activities as chopping wood, or practicing archery, for at the request of the two elves, the Valar sent them their bows and several quivers of arrows. They did not try to ask for swords, believing that such a request would be denied anyway.

"Though it would be fun to see how many of the Valar it would take to wrest the swords from us if we tried to spar," Glorfindel said with a mischievous grin.

Finrod just rolled his eyes and refused to comment. The ellyn were unaware that Tulkas, who was ‘on duty’ then, had overheard the conversation and was even now relaying it to his fellow Valar. Finrod would have been pleased to know that most of them did their own eye rolling at Glorfindel’s words.

When they were not going about the business of maintaining their camp, or practicing their archery, they tried to come up with ideas for getting back to Aman.

"There has to be a way back," Glorfindel protested a couple of mornings after Manwë’s visit. "We cannot stay here forever!" They were sitting by the fire, having just finished their breakfast, drinking their tea. Neither was in the mood to do much else at the moment for the day was dripping with rain that had begun falling the night before. They were underneath a canopy that had been there when they awoke, the fire well protected, for which they were thankful.

"I don’t think it’ll come to that," Finrod said, though his tone was a little doubtful. The lack of progress in finding a solution was wearing down their spirits and they were both becoming despondent. "Perhaps we’re looking at this in the wrong way."

"How do you mean?"

"It took both of us to bring us here. If the pendant is the key perhaps we both need to be touching it."

"Well, we can’t both wear it at the same time," Glorfindel retorted.

"That’s true, but every time we’ve examined the pendant we’ve examined it separately. Perhaps we need to examine it together. Perhaps we need to be touching it at the same time when we are examining it."

"That makes no sense," Glorfindel scowled. "What difference would it make?"

Finrod shrugged, feeling suddenly weary. "Perhaps none, but it’s worth a try, isn’t it? We’re running out of options."

"I wish the Valar would come up with something," Glorfindel said with a sigh.

"Or Eru," Finrod added with a sigh of his own.

"Well, since no one can be bothered to help us, I guess your idea is as good as any." Glorfindel shifted his chair about so he was facing Finrod. Then he fished out the pendant from under his tunic and slipped it off his neck. He placed the pendant in his cupped hands and held them out so Finrod could see it better. Finrod shifted his own chair to face Glorfindel then put his hands over the pendant. It seemed almost as if an electrical charge passed between them at that moment. They both gave a slight gasp and stared at one another in surprise.

"That’s never happened before," Glorfindel said almost accusingly.

"Concentrate on the pendant," Finrod replied, ignoring Glorfindel’s glare.

"How?"

"See it in your mind," Finrod answered almost in a daze, his eyes already unfocused. "See it before your mind’s eyes in every detail."

Glorfindel hesitated for a moment and then closed his eyes to better concentrate on the image of the pendant. He called to mind the silver-linked chain and filigree setting that still reminded him of flames, whatever Finrod said. He saw the hawk eye stone, its banded honey-brown color warm and pleasing to look upon while the four carnelians glowed with captured sunlight. The whole of it filled him with a sense of well-being and hope.

Then, even as he continued to concentrate on the image of the pendant, something happened. A warmth began to spread from his hands up his arms, to suffuse his entire being. He opened his eyes in surprise to see that Finrod’s expression was equally unnerved. They glanced down to see an actual glow emanating between their cupped hands. Before either of them could decide what to do next, there was a strange rustling in the air all about them and then suddenly reality seemed to shift and a host of butterflies appeared between them, their irridescent wings glowing in the light of the pendant and then something else was there... or rather, someone else.

Finrod and Glorfindel could only stare in shock at the sight of Beleg in their midst, looking decidedly pale. And not just because we can see right through him, Glorfindel thought irreverently even as the butterflies disappeared, leaving behind one very confused fëa and his equally stunned gwedyr.

****

Hawk eye: Also known as Tiger eye or Cat’s eye. A honey-brown striped gemstone. It promotes clear thinking and insight. It also heals self-criticism and self-worth problems and is considered a grounding stone.

Carnelian: Besides easing fears about rebirth in the Eldar, it also protects against negative energies and promotes a sense of humor in the wearer, calming the temper.

Note: Tol Sirion was the original name of the island on which Finrod’s fortress of Minas Tirith stood. It was renamed Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the Isle of Werewolves, after its capture by Sauron.