Larner had a very special request:
I would like to see a fic in which someone is seeking to console Gandalf/Olórin for the loss or death of one of those he has come to befriend, love, and mentor somewhere within Arda. It might be one of his Maiar brothers or sisters who went over to the Enemy or who chose a service he could not share, one of the Noldor who chose to leave Valinor to return to Middle Earth, one he fought alongside during the War of Wrath, one he sought to save on the great migration to Aman, or one of many Gandalf befriended over the fifteen hundred plus years he served as one of the Wizards. Maia, Man, Elf, Dwarf, or Hobbit, he must have come to love many over his existence whose loss grieved him greatly. How does one console a Maia/Wizard?

What a bunny!

I owe many thanks to the beta of this piece, Keiliss. She sorted out much of my thoughts after I quickly wrote this prompt on short notice and later on combed through it again with many wonderful suggestions. Thank you so much!

Much inspiration for this piece comes from Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth where both discuss ‘Estel’ and ‘Amdír’, the fate of men compared to that of elves and the basic foundation of trust in Eru, the allfather. You can find this discussion in Morgoth’s Ring, the History of Middle-earth part 11.

For those unfamiliar with that piece Tolkien once wrote, I will cite the following:

'What is hope?' she said. 'An expectation of good, which though uncertain has some foundation in what is known? Then we have none.'
'That is one thing that Men call "hope",' said Finrod. 'Amdír we call it, "looking up". But there is another which is founded deeper. Estel we call it, that is "trust". It is not defeated by the ways of the world, for it does not come from experience, but from our nature and first being. If we are indeed the Eruhin, the Children of the One, then He will not suffer Himself to be deprived of His own, not by any Enemy, not even by ourselves. This is the last foundation of Estel, which we keep even when we contemplate the End: of all His designs the issue must be for His Children's joy. Amdír you have not, you say. Does no Estel at all abide?'

I wrote this story on New Year’s Day as a replacement for someone else, but with my novel in progress called Star Wanderer in mind. So one can see this short story as part of that verse. When I read the prompt, my Gilraen muse immediately stepped up the plate, thusly she had this conversation with Gandalf.