Vairos was the father of his kindred for many long years, and in his time the Färinoth grew to a great multitude; and their first abode, on the hill by the mouth of Aena, could no longer contain them. Therefore they looked to build a new home for all the people; and in this matter Telmon, the brother of Vairos, was first in zeal and in skill.
It has been told that Färon’s sons took to wife those maidens of the Díoni that came across the Sundering Sea, seeking to wed the sons of Dân. Vairos took after his mother Vaimë in looks, if not in mood, and plighted his troth to Lyessë the golden; great joy attended their union, and their house was a place of song and laughter. He was his brother’s elder, but it was not for this that his people chose him as their new lord, but rather because of his glad cheer and his open hand.
Telmon favoured his father, being darker than his brother, shorter of stature but broader of build; his wife was Pirmala, the black handmaiden of Telkon, who taught him all the lore of stone and metal that she learnt in her master’s house. The name Telmon indeed was given him by Pirmala herself on their wedding-day: for it means ‘disciple of Telkon’ in the earliest speech of the Fair Folk. He attended more to the earth beneath his people’s feet than to the people themselves, and was engrossed in his handiwork; and so he did not find favour when his father’s days ended, but yielded the lordship to his brother.
Telmon was slow to master his craft, for stone and metal are hard and unyielding, and strong hands and skilful alone can work them. He had not the power of Telkon to shape the matter of the earth, nor so hot a fire as Ión Tela for his forge; and his tools were few and simple, being of his own devising. Still he was the first of the children of Dân to essay great work in masonry or smithcraft, and a few of his works were preserved with great honour until the downfall of Färinor itself.
But to Vairos was given a new gift, unknown to his fathers: the art of enchantment and glamoury, in which all the house of the White Queen excelled. From light alone were their best works wrought, beautiful yet insubstantial, vivid to the eye but impalpable to the hand. Work scarcely less cunning they did in sound and scent, and in the appearance of movement. All these arts Vairos acquired speedily, for his mind was keen and fresh, and the craft of the mind is not hampered by want of subtle tools.
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