Estel sat curled up on the sofa in Erestor’s office, his nose in a book, while the Chief Counselor worked at his desk.
Erestor looked up as the ten-year-old human child gasped loudly. “What is it, Estel?” he asked.
“Ada Elrond’s mother is a bird, Ada Erestor! Listen to this: ‘For Ulmo bore Elwing out of the waves, and he gave her the likeness of a great white bird, and upon her breast there shone as a star the Silmaril, as she flew over the water to seek Eärendil her beloved.’”
“Keep reading, Estel,” Erestor said with a smile.
The child read for another minute. “Oh,” he said, dejectedly. “She’s not a bird. ‘…but in the morning with marveling eyes he beheld his wife in her own form beside him with her hair upon his face, and she slept.’”
Estel kept on reading, and every once in a while Erestor would glance over at him fondly, gazing upon the child he loved as a son. A few moments later a loud and long sigh was heard. “What is it, Estel,” Erestor asked, already knowing what the answer would be.
“Ada Elrond’s father is not a star either. The Valar made his ship Vingilot to sail in the heavens and it is the Silmaril on his brow that we see as the star.”
“Is that not what a star is, a light in the heavens?” Erestor asked. “Keep reading, Estel,” he said with a knowing smile.
“Oooooh,” the child breathed a few moments later. “Eärendil sails back to Valinor during the day and Elwing flies up with her wings to meet him, is that right Ada?”
“That is right, Estel. The sea birds of Valinor taught her to fly, for she was once one of them, and her wings are white and silver-grey. She flies to greet him as he nears Valinor and they are able to spend the days together before Earendil must take to the heavens in his ship again.”
"Is she like what the men call angels, Ada? Beings with wings? Messengers of the One?"
"Perhaps," Erestor replied. "Perhaps she is."
Estel went back to reading. “They call him Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope!” he exclaimed suddenly. “I have his name!”
“That’s right, Estel,” Erestor said. “You and Eärendil are called by the same name.”
The child went back to reading, and after a while, he sighed long and loud again, a most unhappy sound.
“What?” Erestor asked with a smile.
Estel looked at the pages of the book he held and said, “I wish. . .can I tease Ada Elrond about his mother being a bird and his father being a star?”
Erestor’s eyebrows rose. “You most certainly may not! Now get back to your reading.”
Estel sighed and obediently resumed his reading. Long minutes passed, filled with only the sound of a page turning or a quill scratching on a piece of velum. Finally, Estel looked up. “Ada?”
“What is it now, my son?” Erestor answered patiently.
“Can I tease ‘Dan and ‘Roh about their Iauradar being a star and their Iaurnaneth being a bird?”
Erestor stifled a snort and covered his mouth with his hand. His eyes sparkled and his mind filled with all the pranks the twins had played on him over the years. “Yes, you most certainly may.”
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