Across the Sky by octopus_fool  

It was eye-opening, in the most literal sense of the word. Círdan and Míruial had been experimenting with various combinations of lenses for a while, attempting to calculate the thickness of the lenses and the distance they needed to be to each other.

"Isn't that just a scaled-up eyeglass?" Dúrbol had asked.

"In a certain way, yes," Círdan had replied, while Míruial had fumed silently.

Now, the telescope had finally reached a point where they didn't feel the need to improve it further, though Círdan could already see the calculations running through Míruial's mind to see if they could build an even larger version. But Círdan was happy to admire the wonders of Varda's realm in a way he had never been able to before.

He looked at Wilwarin first, marvelling first at the brightness of the individual stars, then at how the bright star in bend of the wing shone orange, while the star at the end of the wing was yellow-white. 

Fascinated by the colours, he moved the telescope to the blue fire that was Helluin, shining in the middle of Telumendil.

"Look at that!" Círdan exclaimed. "I think Helluin actually consists of two stars!"

Míruial looked, and nodded. "You are right! I never realized that just looking at it with my bare eyes! Have you looked at Remmirath yet? I've always wanted to know how many stars are in Remmirath."

Círdan, having more experience at moving the telescope, focussed it on Remmirath. "I will leave the counting to you. It looks breathtaking, but there are more than I care to count."

Míruial looked and gasped in awe. "There are so many more than I expected!"

Míruial attempted to count the stars in the cluster, but eventually decided that it was better to look at the other stars first, before spending more time on individual objects in the sky.

"Carnil is rising!" Círdan pointed out.

Having noted the red star's strange path across the sky for centuries, Círdan had always been interested in it.

"It looks even less like a star when you look at it through the telescope! There seem to be strange structures on it that I have not seen on the other stars. I do wonder if Elemmírë and Nénar on their equally wandering paths also look similar to Carnil in this regard."

"It's a shame that they currently aren't in the sky," Míruial said. "We'll have to wait a few nights before we can see them."

Last of all, Círdan had a closer look at Ithil, sinking low against the horizon. Ithil's silvery light was as gorgeous as ever, but now, Círdan could see all the details of Telperion's last flower for the first time. He felt his eyes well up at the sorrow of never having been able to see Telperion with his own eyes.

Suddenly, he laughed and shook his head.

"Tilion, that old rascal! He knows we're watching him! He just made a rude gesture with his bow!"

Míruial laughed. "That sounds just like him! I think we'll have a lot of fun watching him!"

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