Aulë and Yavanna

Hope

She felt alone, saddened and afraid for the little light she had saved from the lamps. She found earth and scooped it up, humming slowly a tune beyond all tunes, save the music of Eru.

So alone was she in her grief that only one could stand by her and offer her support. This was Fui Nienna, the last of the spouseless Valier, and the holder of wisdom. She poured her tears onto the great mound upon which the light was to be nurtured.  It was now that she gathered the light, still singing her grief put in tangible words, that she laid it upon the mound. Rather than dispersing, the light became two seeds and disappeared beneath the soil. Exhausted, she leaned back and sighed.

Nienna looked up, her grey eyes full of sorrow, but also great happiness. How both could coexist was Nienna's greatest secret and power. How to be happy and still grieve is no small task, yet she managed it perfectly.

"It is done. Soon will the firstborn of Eru awaken."

"Yes." She answered, somewhat reservedly. "Then all our toil will not be in vain."

"Is that what you think, milady? That all we have done is only in preparation for those who come after? What if those who are here now. We have the tree peoples, and many plants and beasts beyond imagination." Nienna landed her ageless eyes on hers, milky tears running down her face, her veil becoming thicker.

"When Melkor hath destroyed everything we hold dear, yes, or else all hope I have held becomes void. I shan't stand by again whilst my toil is disregarded and defiled."

"Manwë still believes there is good in him." Nienna glanced up, her eyes fixed upon the darkened sky, nothing there yet to brighten it. "He is too pure. The accursed has a black heart. His tongue weaves lies as deftly and quickly as a needle to thread. We may have planted the seeds of hope, ere he return, but he lies in the north, growing ever stronger. He will soon sow seeds of his own, those of doubt, and of rot. Our neglect may give him what he needs to survive. Like a parasite he grows with help from others. Left untreated and he may kill us. Manwë mustn't forget simply because they are brethren. I know, because he is my brother too."

"There is still hope, never forget. Manwë may be too soft, but we never forget." She said, but her eyes never left the soil she had just down her seeds in. It now glowed, silver, then gold light coming from it in waves. "What is this?" She said, barely a breath escaping her, as though it would shatter the magic she now saw.

Nienna hardly had to look at her to tell her, her voice soft and full of wonder.

"Hope."