Title: Blue and Grey

Author: Calenlass Greenleaf

Disclaimer: I don’t own The Lord of the Rings in any way.

Spoilers: For LOTR in general, maybe the movies.

Rating: PG

Genre: Family/Angst

Summary: Grey and blue are often mixed, but he knows that the color of his eyes is grey. Centered on Estel Elrondion. 500word fic written for OAA prompt 179: Blue.

Blue and Grey

It is not that he hates the color blue.

Blue is a beautiful color. It is the color of the sky, the color of water. It is the color of the library (Erestor wanted it to be white, though), the color of his bedspread, and the color that Glorfindel likes wearing.

He sees the color every day.

It is so commonplace.

Grey is also ordinary. It is the color of the sky right before a storm, the color of some birds. It is the color of ‘the room with the broken sword,’ the color of his current tunic, and color of Lothlórien elves’ clothing.

He too, sees this color every day.

But it is the color of his eyes.

He has spent a long time staring at his eyes in the mirror. He has viewed them in a dim room and under bright light, and compared them to others to make sure they were grey.

Blue and grey.

They are two different colors.

Blue is a color that is both bold and mild. It is vibrant, yet gentle. It can either mean harshness or peace. It can remind him of winter or summar.

Grey is a color that is both hard and soft. It is firm, yet yielding. It can either mean strength or pliancy. It can remind him of cold nights or warm mornings.

Perhaps they are more similar than he thinks. Grey has some blue in it, and blue has some grey in it, too. Grey can change to blue, and blue can turn into grey.

But how can anyone look at his eyes and call them blue?

He knows there are some people who are obsessed with blue eyes. It “sets them apart.” He has heard it called by many names.

“Like ice.”

“Like the sky.”

“The color of a robin’s nest.”

“It is the shade of spring.”

Blue eyes have so many different names, while grey has little expression to its name.

“Like flint.”

“Stiff.”

“Silvery.”

It makes him want to laugh. The eye colors of the world are brown, blue, grey, green, hazel, and sometimes red. How can someone compare them to anything else?

His eyes are grey. Silver-grey, maybe, but they are still grey.

They are not blue. Not like the color of a frosty winter day or the color of the rivers that run through Middle-earth (one poem he read comparing an elf’s eyes to the “pristine waters that surround Valinor” had him laughing).

Grey has been called ugly and plain by some, but he knows it is neither.

His father and mother have grey eyes. Ada has grey eyes. So do his brothers. In fact, nearly all the elves he knows and trusts have grey eyes.

If grey is so despicable, then why is it the common eye color for the Fair Folk?

This is why he cares about the colors.

It is what sets apart from other Men, and lets him know where he belongs.

“My eyes are grey, not blue.”

The End.

Translations:

Ada – endearing from of “Adar”

A/N: After I finished writing this, I had to go look up “blue,” “grey,” and “color” to make sure they were actually words. :P

A/N #2: I got tired of hearing about elves having blue eyes. I was also tired of some authors’ attempts to be creative at describing eyeballs…no offense to anyone who has blue eyes, by the way.