Elf Academy by Fiondil

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Chapter 20: The Return of the Elves

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20: The Return of the Elves

The drive back to Wiseman was done in virtual silence. Glorfindel was reluctant to talk, saying only that he preferred to tell their story once and it would be best to wait until they were back at the Grange Hall. Both Elves were introspective and the Mortals sensed that engaging them in small talk would be out of the question. The children began to fall asleep almost as soon as the van started, with Caleb succumbing first, a thumb stuck firmly in his mouth. Adam was the last to succumb, fighting to stay awake with the grown ups, but the excitement of the day finally caught up with him and by the time they were turning onto the James Dalton Highway, he was fast asleep.

At one point, Nicole turned to Zach, laying a hand on his knee to get his attention and speaking softly so as not to disturb the children. "I want to thank you," she said.

"For what?" Zach asked, looking puzzled.

"For giving my children such a wonderful day," she replied. "You did a marvelous job of being our Elf Guide."

Zach shook his head. "I don’t think Ms Henderson would agree with you."

"Oh?" Glorfindel asked. "Why is that?"

Zach muttered something that even the Elves could not hear. It was Beth Henderson who answered, giving a snort. "Half the time he sang, not songs, mind you, but responses where other people would simply have spoken. It was rather annoying, if you ask me."

Glorfindel could see Zach blushing even in the dark. Daeron asked the obvious question. "Why were you singing?"

"I w-was so nervous, afraid I would screw up big time and fail, that wh-when I opened my mouth, all I could think to do was to s-s-sing, because I didn’t want to make things worse with my stuttering."

"Finwod sing good," came the sleepy voice of young Caleb as he stirred, but when they looked they could see he was fast asleep again.

"And I think it was just wonderful," Nicole said with a smile. "Even Adam, my resident skeptic, told me that he thought you were cool and he’s not easily impressed with anything these days, not since his father left us."

"For what it’s worth, kid," Ralph interjected from the driver’s seat, "I think you did okay, especially there at the end. You kept your cool and kept the kids from freaking out when we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces. That was smart thinking, making that shelter. The folks at the Academy taught you well. As for the singing, well, my wife says I can’t carry a tune in a bucket to save my life, but I think it added to the mystique that you were attempting to create for the kids."

"Ralph is right," Nicole added. "My kids think you’re great. Caleb especially adores you. You’re his hero. Anyway, in spite of the blizzard, we had a fun time and you helped make it so. I just wanted to let you know."

Glorfindel smiled at the young man and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "The real Finrod would be proud of you, as am I."

Zach gave the Elf a considering look and when he saw the sincerity in the ellon’s eyes, he smiled back, looking less tense. They lapsed into silence again. Glorfindel noticed Beth Henderson eyeing them rather doubtfully, but he knew that Nicole’s enthusiastic recommendation would go a long way towards countering any negatives that the evaluator might mention in her own report. He had every assurance that Zach would pass.

As Olórin had told them, the road was passable but there were still some tricky spots. Ralph drove carefully, keeping to a steady forty miles per hour all the way. By now, the storm had spent itself and when they entered Wiseman two hours later, they could see plows out clearing the streets and people with snowblowers and shovels clearing sidewalks and driveways. Ralph took them directly to the Grange Hall which was a hive of activity as people were clearing off their cars in the parking lot. Two of the college buses were there, presumably to take back to the college any of the students who had come to the Hall earlier and became stranded there because of the blizzard.

People stopped what they were doing when they saw the van coming into the parking lot and when everyone started climbing out, several of them ran into the Hall to let others know of their arrival, while others congregated around their small group, most of them staring at them in curiosity. Among them were the Twins and the ellith.

"There’s a hot meal waiting for you all," Elladan said, as he took a still sleepy Caleb into his arms while Elrohir herded the two girls in front of him. "Everyone is waiting rather impatiently to hear our story," he added with a wry grin.

"No doubt," Glorfindel said, "but not until after we’ve eaten. I refuse to tell any tale on an empty stomach."

"And they will watch every forkful avidly until the last bite is gone," Elrohir quipped and Daeron snickered.

As they stepped inside, all noise stopped as people turned to them. The children huddled close to their mother, not sure what to expect. Zach stayed close to Glorfindel, perhaps for the same reason. Then, somewhere someone began clapping and almost immediately the entire Hall burst out into applause as Elladan led the group to a table where hot soup and baked chicken were waiting for them. Marian, Deirdre, Roland and Paul were there to greet them, looks of relief on their faces. Their close friends were also there and Jud and Matt organized some of the other students to act as guards, cordoning off the area from the rest of the crowd so that Glorfindel and the others could eat in peace. Only when the plates were cleared did Glorfindel agree to speak.

To make it easier for everyone to see and hear them, the Elves moved onto a small stage that took up a part of the Hall. A table was set up and they sat behind it; carafes of water and thermoses of coffee and tea were placed on the table in between the three microphones. Chairs for the audience had been set up while they were eating and now the Hall was settling down to hear what Glorfindel had to say. He looked across the room and saw that many more people had come in, forced to stand along the perimeter of the Hall, for there were not enough chairs for everyone. No one seemed to mind. He looked down at the front row and smiled. Zach was there with Nicole and her children as were the Michaelsons. Jud, Matt, Cassie, Lily, Shane, and Evan were also there along with several other students who had become good friends of the Elves. Marian and the other instructors from the Academy sat in the second row along with the president of the college and several of its trustees. He even saw Grace and Phil Gordon and others from the college whom he knew sitting several rows back. The rest of the audience was comprised of townspeople, many of them having come originally to learn the fate of their friends and neighbors who had been on the various tours when the blizzard struck and who had ended up staying when the roads became impassable.

Glorfindel glanced at the other Elves and gave them rueful looks. Daeron, sitting next to him on his left, nodded to him gravely, while the Twins, who were on either end, gave him identical grins. Nimrodel, who was on his right, gave him a thumbs-up while Mithrellas, sitting between Daeron and Elladan, winked at him. He then looked back over the audience and, leaning slightly towards the microphone before him, he began to speak.

"I am Lord Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower, and once I lived in a city named Gondolin...."

****

It took some time for them to tell their stories and even so, they left much out, giving only highlights. Daeron, fully in loremaster-mode, gave them a brief account of the first three Ages of Middle-earth, describing the conflict between the Elves and the Mortals who sided with them against Morgoth and his servant Sauron. When he spoke of the fall of Númenor the name ‘Atlantis’ was on more than one Mortals’ lips as they began to re-evaluate their own history and legends. Elladan then spoke of the glories of the Fourth Age under the rule of the Telcontar dynasty which ended so disastrously with the coming of the Ice Age and all knowledge of what had gone before was lost among Men, save for distorted legends of a golden age.

Eventually, Glorfindel went on to explain how it was that they had come to Wiseman and to the Elf Academy and what they had hoped to accomplish in doing so.

"You wanted to set up your own Academy in Finland?" Marian asked in disbelief when Glorfindel finished that part of the narrative.

The Elf-lord gave a shrug and smiled. "It sounded like a good idea at the time," he said and there were chuckles all around as Daeron rolled his eyes and gave Glorfindel a punch on his arm. "At any rate," he continued when the Hall calmed down again, "that is no longer an option. We have been told that we are to use Wiseman and the Elf Academy here as our... um... headquarters, I suppose you can say."

"Those people," Zach spoke up. "The ones at the grotto. Who were they? You seemed to recognize them, though none of the other Elves did."

Glorfindel sighed, wondering how to explain. "They were Lord Manwë and Lady Varda," he said.

"Are they Elves, too?" Nicole Lord asked. "They seemed... I don’t know... different somehow."

Glorfindel nodded. "They are the Valar, the Guardians of this world, or at least two of them. There are fourteen altogether and Lord Manwë is the Elder King who speaks for the One."

"Angels?" Shane asked, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"More like archangels," Glorfindel corrected, then turned back to Zach. "The other who was there in the green surcoat, Olórin, is a Maia, one of the innumerable servants of the Valar. They are what you might call your garden-variety angel."

"But how is it you knew them when no one else did?" Zach insisted.

"You remember Daeron telling of the Great Migration and how many of the Elves traveled to Valinor while others remained behind in Middle-earth?" Zach and many others nodded. "I was born in Valinor. I remember the Light of the Two Trees. Later, though, I journeyed back to the Mortal lands, but while I lived in Valinor I knew the Valar." He wasn’t going to go into details of how he knew them or that he came back to Middle-earth twice, dying in between.

"They seemed so... ordinary, not like what I would expect from angels," Ralph said then.

Glorfindel shook his head. "They take on forms similar to our own in order to converse with us, but I assure you, if you ever met the Valar in their natural state, you would not survive the encounter. Even we Elves who can stare into the heart of the sun without suffering hurt cannot look upon them when they appear to us in their true forms."

There were murmurs among the audience at that and it took a minute or two for the noise level to quiet down and then Marian asked a question. "What do you intend to do now?"

"We were told that after the New Year we and the college administration should sit down and discuss altering the curriculum at the Academy," Glorfindel replied. "Oh, not to worry. We will still be training people to be Elf Guides, at least for now. That has not changed, but we will be training them to be more than that. There is a battle coming, what people today refer to as Armageddon." He had to hold up his hand to still the sudden outburst of surprised exclamations from the Mortals. "We do not know when it will happen, not even the Valar know, yet even the dimmest of Mortals can see that the world is heading for a final confrontation between good and evil." There were nods of agreement all around. "We need to prepare ourselves for it and that is what the Academy will ultimately be about. Mortals have a role to play, even as we Elves do, though I have no idea just what that will entail, but in the past Elves and Mortals stood shoulder to shoulder against the might of Morgoth and his servant Sauron. We will do the same again."

There was a scattering of applause at that. Then, Paul Pettingill stood up and the Hall quieted to hear what he had to say. "All this is well and good, but what about the rest of us?" He gestured to include the townspeople. "Where do we fit in? What role do the people of Wiseman play in all this?"

"You know who and what we are," Daeron answered before Glorfindel could respond. "Half the students at the Academy come from Wiseman or the nearby communities. In early medieval times, monasteries were the bulwarks of civilization, repositories of learning so that not all knowledge would be lost. Wiseman is in a similar situation. We are an island of light in a world of darkness, but that light needs to spread if darkness is not to prevail. The people of Wiseman, for reasons best known to the Valar and the One, have been chosen to be the vanguard of a new knowledge, or rather an old knowledge regained."

There were murmurs among the crowd which quieted when Paul held up his hand. "Humans being what they are, I very much doubt that everyone in Wiseman or at the college is going to agree to this. Someone’s likely to put your faces on the internet and then we’re going to be bombarded by newshounds. We’ll have no peace and you will most likely be carted off to some government laboratory where you’ll be sliced and diced."

"I know," Glorfindel said. "We will have to prepare for that somehow."

"Why don’t you just make it into a joke?" Jud suggested, a wicked gleam lighting his eyes.

"And how do we do that?" Elrohir asked, giving the Mortal a smile.

"Simple. Make everyone Elves," came the unexpected answer.

"Would you like to explain that statement?" Glorfindel asked, gesturing for the Mortal to come forward.

Jud sauntered up to the stage, a wide grin on his face. "It’s like this: if you want to hide a tree, where’s the best place for it?"

"With other trees," Daeron replied for them all. "And so?"

Jud shook his head, a look of feigned disgust on his face. "For Elves you’re pretty dense. The ears, Spock, the ears."

There was a brief moment of silence as they all tried to figure out what Jud was saying and then Zach started laughing. "Of course. It’s the ears that are the give away. Hey! I remember seeing plastic pointed ears in all that Halloween stuff where we found your coffin."

"Exactly!" Jud exclaimed with a triumphant look. "Every student who goes through Elf Academy gets fitted for Elf-ears. Then, when someone comes snooping around, all they’ll see is a bunch of students being funny, pretending to be Elves because they’re at the Academy."

"Hide in plain sight," Glorfindel said musingly. "It just might work. It is something we’ll have to explore further. In the meantime...."

"In the meantime, it’s getting very late and it’s time we were all on our way now that the roads are somewhat passable," Dave Michaelson said and there were murmurs of assent.

"I agree," Glorfindel said, smiling down to where the Michaelson children and Nicole’s children were already fast asleep. "There is time enough for further discussions later. It is enough for now that you know who we are and why we are here."

"What will you do now though?" Marian asked. "I mean, now that you’re not going to act as guides...."

"Why not?" Elladan retorted.

"But... you’re Elves!" Marian protested.

All six Elves started laughing. "And who better to play at being Elves, than Elves, Marian," Glorfindel responded, giving Daeron a wink. "I think I can speak for the others when I say that I quite enjoyed acting as a guide this past week and I am looking forward to being one for the next month or so." He held up a hand to still any further protests. "Also, we were told to continue acting as Elf Guides. Certain families will be assigned to us and we have been commanded to reveal to them our real identities. So, we will continue acting as guides along with the other students. And now, I think it’s time to adjourn. The hour grows late, as Dave has reminded us." He stood and so did the other Elves and then everyone else was getting up, with several people folding the chairs to put away while others drifted off to their cars. Marian called out to the college students, informing them that buses were waiting to take them back to the college and then she and several others gathered around the Elves.

"It seems absurd to have you acting as guides, though," she said to them. "It seems somehow demeaning."

Glorfindel laughed. "Marian, I have been everything from a warrior in Gondolin to a waiter in New York City." Several eyebrows went up in disbelief. "This is no different, and it is what we wish to do. Do not overly concern yourself on our behalf."

Marian still looked doubtful, but let it go. Glorfindel turned to Zach and their other friends who were gathered around them. "Come. Let’s go back to the Academy."

****

The next month passed quickly for them all. At first, even their closest friends were a little diffident around the Elves, as if unsure just how to act around these ancient beings, but by the end of the week they began to act more naturally around them, much to the Elves’ relief. Glorfindel insisted that they receive no special treatment from anyone and that wherever they were originally slated to work, that would be fine. Thus, Glorfindel found himself an employee of Arctic Gates Safari, while Daeron worked for the Lightfoots. Nimrodel was employed with Rainbow Lake Holiday Resort and Mithrellas went to work for Lookout Safaris. Elladan was hired by Northern Lights Holiday Resort while Elrohir ended up working for Mount Horace Holiday Resort.

"I can keep an eye on that tarn while I’m there," the ellon said and Glorfindel nodded.

As busy as the resorts and safaris were, the Elves were somewhat surprised when they realized that they were not working as often as the other students. Sometimes two or three days would pass before they were assigned a family. Mithrellas wondered why they were being treated differently from the other Elf Guides, but Glorfindel reminded them that Lord Manwë had told them that certain families would be assigned to them.

"I have the feeling the Valar are manipulating the schedules for their own purposes," he said and while the others were not happy about it, they realized that there was little they could do. At any rate, when they were acting as guides, they enjoyed themselves and found creative ways in which to reveal their true identities to those assigned to them. They looked forward to seeing the expressions of shock mutating to wonder and delight on the Mortals’ faces when they realized just who their guides actually were, especially the children.

During the week between Christmas and New Year, they were assigned groups of adults, most of them young adults in their late twenties and early thirties looking for a little adventure. It surprised the Elves how many wanted to take the Winterdark Tarn trail, but when several people spoke of how creepy the tarn felt to them, the Elves began to see things in a different light. As with the families, when they revealed themselves to these young adults, shock turned to joy.

"I always wished there were Elves," one young woman who ran her own ad agency told Daeron. "I’m glad to know that they are real. It makes everything feel more special."

After the New Year, which was celebrated in grand style, the various resorts and safari companies combining resources to fete all their employees for a successful season, the Elves got down to the serious business of taking over the Elf Academy.

"As if we haven’t already," Elladan quipped.

A large house, almost a mansion really, situated at one end of town, was given over to the Elves as their headquarters. It had originally belonged to an oil baron who died, leaving no heirs. It had stood empty for nearly twenty years. The town ended up paying the back taxes on it and sold it to the Elves for one dollar. Over the weeks after the New Year, the house was completely renovated and by the end of February the Elves were moved in. It was here that meetings were held between them and the college administration to discuss how the new Elf Academy would be run.

Daeron was at a loss, at first, to figure out how to contact the other Elves that Lord Manwë had insisted were out there. Then, he hit on an idea, working with those knowledgeable about creating websites to modify the Elf Academy’s existing site. He created a message in tengwar which was added to the webpage. To the Mortals, it would appear as an interesting but ultimately meaningless design; for any Elves who saw it....

"That’s assuming they even know how to use a computer," Daeron commented somewhat sourly.

"Why shouldn’t they?" Glorfindel countered. "We do, so unless they’re hiding somewhere in the Amazon or the Himalayas, I’m sure they will see it. If nothing else, the Valar will make sure that they do."

At first, though, it did not appear as if Glorfindel’s prediction would come true. Then, around the beginning of March, Daeron received an email with a single sentence written in Sindarin: "Is this for real?" He returned the email with one of his own, a much longer email, also written in Sindarin explaining everything. Two weeks later, two cars pulled into the driveway of the mansion, now known as ‘Edhellond’, and five people climbed out. When Glorfindel answered the doorbell and saw five Elves standing before him he greeted them warmly in Sindarin. The newcomers burst into tears of relief as Glorfindel and the other Elves gathered around them, welcoming them. None of them were known to Glorfindel or the others, but that did not matter; they were Elves and, therefore, they were family.

Three more Elves, all of them Noldor, appeared in mid-May — an ellon and his wife and their daughter, who had been born at the beginning of the present Age.

"Finally, someone who is actually younger than we are," Elrohir exclaimed when he was introduced to the elleth. The other Elves just laughed, except the elleth, who stuck her tongue out at the Twins, which just made their elders laugh the harder.

On Mid-summer’s Day, a lone Elf stepped off the bus from Fairbanks and made his way to Elf Haven. Perhaps it was just coincidence that Nimrodel happened to be the one to answer the door. Perhaps not. When she opened the door and saw who was standing there, giving her an uncertain smile, her shriek brought everyone else running only to find her in a clench with the stranger, the two of them crying and kissing each other, refusing to let the other go.

Thus it was that Nimrodel was at last reunited with her beloved Amroth and there was much rejoicing among the Elves. That night they held a grand celebration, inviting only the closest of their Mortal friends to join them to listen to Amroth’s tale of survival against all odds.

"I thought I was the last," he told them, "and I should have faded long ago, but something within me would not let me take that route." He smiled lovingly at Nimrodel who was practically glowing with joy. "Now I’m glad I didn’t."

"Fifteen," Daeron said to Glorfindel during a lull in the festivities. "Fifteen Elves, including us. That’s not very many."

"But it’s a start," Glorfindel pointed out. "More may come later, but if not, then we will make the best of what we have."

All of the Elves’ closest friends from the Academy were asked to stay on, either working for one of the resorts or safari companies or working with the Elves themselves. Zach, Jud, Shane, Lily, Evan and Chloe became personal assistants to the Elves. Matt, Cassie and Jen, being natives of Wiseman, acted as liaisons with the mayor’s office, heading a newly created ‘Elf Relations Department’.

The Academy curriculum was given a complete overhaul. The ‘Wilderness Survival’ and ‘Nature Studies’ classes were unchanged, though they became more intense. Shortly after Amroth showed up, he and the Twins took Paul and the other rangers on a week-long wilderness training expedition, ‘Elf-style’, as Elladan quipped with an evil grin. When the group returned, Glorfindel asked the Mortals how it went, for they all looked a little worse for wear.

"I thought Marine boot camp was tough," Paul commented while the other rangers all nodded, "but that was a walk in the park compared to what we just went through."

Glorfindel smirked. "Just be thankful I wasn’t with you. You might not have survived at all."

The rangers gave him disbelieving looks while the Twins nodded enthusiastically. Amroth stood to one side smiling knowingly, giving Glorfindel a wink when he caught the ellon’s eye.

‘Dealing With Children of All Ages’ was also left unchanged, but ‘Elf Legends’ became ‘Elf History’ — actually ‘The True History of Arda’ — and ‘Elf Etiquette’ became ‘How to Speak Elvish’ — actually ‘Beginning Sindarin’. The courses were given ‘fun titles’, as Shane put it, to disguise their real purpose to the outside world. Both courses were also offered to the community at large, including courses especially designed for children, shortly after the holiday season ended and several classes had to be set up with all the Elves teaching because of the huge turnout. They found it both amusing and encouraging to be greeted on the streets with a shy ‘mae govannen’ or ‘aur vaer’ from the Mortals whom they met.

Plans were made to also offer a course in Beginning Quenya to any who were interested, whether students or townspeople. Glorfindel would teach that course but it was purely an elective and would be taught on Saturday mornings. He did not think too many people would sign up for it and was pleasantly surprised when forty people showed up for the first class that was held after the Spring break, including Zach and their other close Mortal friends from the college, as well as the Michaelsons, Nicole Lord and her children, Ralph Penner, Andy Norton and even Francine Doran.

Archery, Fencing and Martial Arts were now mandatory for all budding Elf Guides. Elrohir insisted that the Cooking class remain unchanged, and even volunteered to help out.

"I’ll teach them how to make the best hot chocolate this world has ever seen," he said with a smug smile and everyone just laughed. Elladan quipped that perhaps his brother should just open his own hot chocolate stand in Wiseman’s main square and forget about teaching. Elrohir retorted that he was thinking of doing just that once the tourist season started. "I’ll make enough money in a week to retire to the Cayman Islands," he stated. The others just shook their heads, highly amused, knowing that the ellon had no intention of doing anything of the sort.

And then, it was the end of July and a new school term was beginning. The new class was larger than the previous one. Marian, who, along with Deirdre, had agreed to remain on the Academy staff in administrative roles, confessed to Glorfindel that they had originally hoped for more than the two hundred and eighty-eight students who had applied the year before.

"We were hoping for closer to three hundred and fifty students," she told him, "and were rather discouraged when so few applied."

"I suspect that was the doing of the Valar," Glorfindel said with a slight smile. "Two hundred and eighty-eight is twice one hundred and forty-four, which is a very auspicious number for Elves."

This second class of the Academy numbered closer to four hundred. None of the Elves were all that surprised when they discovered that several of the adults who had been on the tours in which they had acted as guides had applied to the Academy, with a number of the families to whom they had revealed themselves moving into Wiseman over the summer. It did not escape anyone’s notice that many of the adults were skilled workers and craftspeople. When it turned out that one of the men was actually a blacksmith by trade, Glorfindel had the Twins begin teaching him the making of swords.

"We will change the fencing class to sword-fighting next year," he told them and the Twins nodded in agreement.

Some of the Mortals, though, opined that learning to fight in such an archaic manner in a world of nuclear weapons seemed pointless, almost suicidal, but Glorfindel was adamant. "I have a feeling that the Dagor Dagorath will be fought in a far different manner than most people think when they speak of Armageddon." The Mortals shrugged, but did not offer any other arguments, trusting that the Elf-lord knew what he was about.

"So, Zach," Glorfindel asked his friend and assistant as he straightened the robe he was wearing, "what do you think?" The two of them, along with the other Elves and their Mortal friends were standing outside the cafeteria waiting to enter for the orientation meeting to introduce the new students to their teachers. All the Elves were dressed in robes reminiscent of what they had worn in earlier ages. Indeed, Glorfindel, Daeron, Elladan, Elrohir, Nimrodel and Mithrellas were wearing the same garb they had worn to the Halloween party, except now the original trim had been replaced by intricate elvish embroidery.

Zach looked Glorfindel and the other Elves over in their flowing robes of silk and satin and brocade, glittering with jewels. Glorfindel and the Twins, as well as Amroth and a few of the other ellyn, all wore warrior braids. The Mortal gave them a broad grin. "I think the students are going to be very surprised when they see you lot trooping in looking like rejects from a fantasy computer game."

They all laughed at that. "Come," Glorfindel said, giving Zach and the others a wide smile. "Let’s get this over with."

Jud and Matt opened the doors for them and the Elves entered the cafeteria, heading for the platform set up for their use. All conversation in the room ceased as the students stared at the Elves, not really sure what they were seeing. Glorfindel smiled as he saw the interplay of emotions on the Mortals’ faces, ranging from disbelief to wonder to knowing smiles among those who were already in the know and held up his hand to forestall the rising murmur among them. He glanced over to where Grace and the other kitchen staff stood watching and nearly laughed when the woman sketched him a brief curtsey. Then he turned his attention back to the waiting students and began to speak, eschewing the use of a microphone.

"Good evening, everyone. I am Lord Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower. Welcome to Northern Lights Community College’s Elf Academy...."

****

Words are Sindarin.

Edhellond: Elf Haven. The original Edhellond was located northwest of Dol Amroth.

Mae govannen: Well met.

Aur vaer: Good day/Good morning.

- Meth -