Title: Heart of Fire
Author: Mel (meldeamaurea@yahoo.com) 
Pairing(s): Galadriel/Arien 
Rating: R 
Summary: When the Noldor left Valinor to return to Arda, Galadriel went because of 
something she had foreseen, only to discover the ironic side of foresight. 
Disclaimer: Don't own any of it.
Archives: Library of Moria, others please ask 
Author's Note: Still new to this so feedback is great!
 
I am assuming the reader has a familiarity with the Silmarillion here, or at least has a 
copy of the book to look up any names that aren't known.
 
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Galadriel, Lady of Lothlorien, woke only moments before dawn, as was her long-
standing habit. Her golden hair, said to have caught the radiance of Laurelin within, 
pooled across her pillow. Closing her eyes after slumber, Galadriel felt the sun break over 
the horizon. She lay still, trembling in anticipation. With the dawn came the touch of her 
beloved Arien. Slow caresses warmed her against the chill in the morning air. Her lover's 
scent filled the room, captured close by the canopy overhead. Galadriel opened her arms, 
welcoming into her embrace the only one for whom she would abandon all.
 
The stillness of the morning was broken by a hushed gasp. Heat penetrated lily-white 
skin. Galadriel arched her back against her lover's strokes, feeling the other move against 
her as water over rock, slipping into every crevasse of her body. Powerless to resist even 
had she wanted to, Galadriel opened her mouth to Arien's kiss as the Maia's touch 
danced over the skin of her stomach. A flush stole across the cheeks of Galadriel as Arien 
warmed her within, finding a fire within the elf that responded to her own blaze.
 
As the waves of pleasure ebbed, Galadriel opened her eyes. Her skin was dappled with 
shadow cast by the sunlight filtering through the foliage above. As expected she was 
alone in her bed, and, as always, this discovery brought with it the source of pain that 
lingered ever in her eyes, eyes that saw so much and yet so little.
 
"Good morning, precious Vasa," she whispered, looking up into the glory of the sun as it 
slowly progressed to the East. She did not need to see Arien to know the Maia smiled. 
Stretching one hand up as if to touch the sky, Galadriel caressed the golden globe, 
cupping the gentle curve in her palm.
 
None in Valinor had been surprised at the attention Galadriel had earned from the fiery 
Arien. Arien's love for the golden flowers in the gardens of Vana, tended devotedly with 
the dew of the tree Laurelin, had been drawn to the reflection of the Song of Gold in the 
very essence of Galadriel. Though a spirit of fire, Arien had not been swayed by the 
deceptions of Melkor, the love she shared with Galadriel proving the stronger of the two 
powers. It was the light of her love for the elf maid that had caused Arien's eyes to blaze 
with such brightness that the Eldar could not look upon them.
 
It was in that fierce light that Galadriel saw Arien go into the East. No further details 
were revealed to the elf maid, for her power of foresight was not then honed through 
centuries of use. Galadriel saw only that Arien would go without her and chose the path 
that presented itself. Choosing to go first into the East that she might be present and 
waiting when the Maia went herself, Galadriel followed Fingolfin and her brothers, 
leaving Valinor to return to Arda.
 
"Every day you wake me, I feel your touch, I sense your nearness," Galadriel whispered. 
"Though I walk all day to meet you at the horizon, you are ever out of reach. When I saw 
you go into the East, I did not know that your journey would never cease and that I would 
be unable to pursue."
 
With a final look of longing, the lady rose gracefully, donning a long dress of white and 
silver. Her shimmering hair she smoothed back with a fine comb, leaving it loose, as 
Arien had ever adored.
 
"Would I still have gone, had I known what was to come?" Galadriel asked again of her 
beloved, her face hidden behind the veil of her golden hair. "If I had known that my 
departure would cause you such sorrow that you would hasten after me at the first 
opportunity? Were we both so much of fire that neither had the patience to wait?"
 
Anar the Fire-Golden, fruit of Laurelin, was created and set to traverse the sky as a light 
of hope against the darkness of Melkor, moving ever eastward. Longing to look on the 
face of her beloved again, Arien had willingly abandoned her previous form to steer the 
vessel of the sun as naked flame. As Galadriel had predicted, now Arien went into the 
East, but the two were not to be joined again as they had been in Valinor.
 
Galadriel drifted across the room to the door. She could hear the sounds from nearby of 
her husband, chosen to be the father of her child and to rule over Lothlorien beside her, 
since she would never have her beloved Arien on this earth. So much would have been 
different if she had foreseen more… or less.
 
Lifting her face to the light above, Galadriel smiled wistfully. "Watch over me by day, 
wake me every morn, and ever we linger. If you are able to wait for the unmaking of the 
world, I shall. On that day your light will bring our love to blossom anew. Until then I 
will guard it tightly here within, kindled by your fire."
 
Looking down on the slender form of her lover, the Heart of Fire burned her way across 
the sky.