"Tell me a 'tory, Nana." whispered Arwen softly, nestling in her mother's arms.

Celebrìan smiled, stroking the curls of her raven-haired child. She was sitting on a high balcony, all its balusters entwined with high-reaching moonflowers. Above the sky stretched in sable velvet, bedecked with multitudes of stars.

"Nana? I want a 'tory!" lisped Arwen, vexed.

"Patience, Undòmiel." soothed Celebrìan, kissing her forehead. Arwen sighed, the silver radiance of the stars reflecting in her grey eyes. "What about now?"

Celebrìan groaned playfully. "Let me think!" Little hands suddenly tugged curiously on the silver chain about her neck. "What's this, Nana?"

"Well? Would you rather hear a story or see the necklace?" asked Celebrìan, prying the infant fists away so she could undo the clasp.

A tiny pink tongue poked out as Arwen considered this choice. "Necklace."

It already lay in Celebrìan's palm, an exquisite piece of workmanship, filled with beauty and grace. In the center of the delicate silver carvings, set with tiny emeralds, gleamed a white stone. So skilfully did it reflect the starlight that it seemed to glow with a radiance of its own. Arwen took it gently, turning it over and over. "It's beautiful." she breathed. "I've not seen anything like it."

"Nor will you again. It is one of a kind." said Celebrìan with tender pride. "Elven smiths made it to grace the fairest being that ever danced o'er Ennor."

"Lùthien?" gasped Arwen, wide eyed.

"Melian Queen, Lady of the Birds. And she hallowed this stone, so who so ever bears this necklace will be given the gift of peace and endurance. She gave it to Galadriel, at the time she passed away from Doriath. So she passed it to me, and I to you, little daughter."

Arwen watched her mother, who seemed lost in a trance of memory or dream. Celebrìan's blue eyes still gazing into a past unknown to the Elfling, raised Arwen's hand till the full light of the Evenstar fell upon the jewel. "Look into it."

Arwen leaned forward, fully expecting to see her face mirrored in the stone, but there seemed a spell in the descending night and she obeyed without question. It was her own face, but different, older, filled with a strange light of neither sun nor moon nor star. She stared in silent wonder, and yet only seconds elasped, and her reflection, as she was at this time appeared, imperceptibly shifting. Startled but unfrightened, Arwen lowered her hand and gave the necklace back to her mother. Celebrìan shook her silver head, and taking the chain, clasped it around Arwen's throat. The child fingered the jewel, and as it settled, a sudden pulse of calm flowed through her blood. Celebrìan smiled at the puzzlement in her daughter's face, and pulled Arwen into her lap. "Come, little heart. Let us watch the stars."