The Wars of the Valar by Fiondil

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Chapter 50: The Third Council of Manwë

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50: The Third Council of Manwë

There were other fëar who came to the Halls. Each seemed more grievous in wounds than the last, their souls weak with fear and horror and the Máyar wept to see them. Námo spent more and more time in his Halls, arranging for additional sleeping chambers to be built, for he was fast running out of rooms for them. For a long time, neither he nor Vairë were seen among the other Ayanumuz, for Námo was not sure if he could face Manwë with any equanimity, knowing what he knew and Vairë refused to leave his side, preferring to remain close by to offer him solace when it got too much for him. Many of the other Ayanumuz erroneously assumed that they were spending time alone as was common among the newly espoused. None could imagine the truth of the matter and their Máyar were careful to maintain the fiction whenever they were abroad.

As more and more Children came to the Halls, Námo became better acquainted with their language and he began teaching his People simple phrases of comfort for them to use with the fëar in hopes that speaking their language would help calm them and assure them that they meant them no harm.

"They call themselves Quendi," Námo told Vairë when they happened to be alone, their Máyar dismissed for a time. "It seems to mean something like ‘Speakers’ or perhaps more correctly ‘Ones with voices’."

"They are a marvel," Vairë said. "Never in my deepest thoughts did I imagine them quite so fragile and beautiful. It angers me that Melkor has found them before us and has tortured them for his own amusement."

"Some of them speak of the Hunter," Námo said with a grimace. "They are so innocent. It breaks my heart to see them so broken and lost. And then, there’s something else."

Vairë gave her beloved a measuring look at the hesitation she heard in his voice. "What is it, meldonya?"

"As innocent as they are, I find that I must... judge them."

"I don’t understand," his beloved said with a frown. "Judge them for what?"

"Perhaps ‘judge’ is the wrong word, I don’t know," Námo replied with a shrug. "All I do know is that as each fëa comes to me, I sit in judgment of their lives. I have them... relive their lives and... and their deaths...."

Vairë gasped in dismay. "Whyever would you do such a thing? Have these poor Children not suffered enough?"

"Do you think I don’t know that?" Námo retorted with a scowl. "I relive their torture and deaths along with them. It’s not by my choice either, but something that Atar has enjoined upon me. It’s part of the healing process."

"Healing? How can such an experience be healing?"

Námo gave Vairë a gentle kiss and a sad smile. "Because Atar did the same thing with me after I escaped from Melkor."

Vairë just stared at him for the longest time, her expression one of mingled pity and horror at the thought of what her beloved had gone through to come to final healing. She finally wrapped her arms around him. "Oh my beloved. I am so sorry," she whispered.

Námo hugged her back. "The price one pays for falling into Melkor’s grasp."

"Well, if you recall, I was in his grasp for a while, but Atar didn’t make me go through what you did."

"Yet you spent some time alone with Nienna, I hear," he answered with a chuckle. "I doubt my sister was all that comforting in her manner."

"More than you suspect, but you are correct. She did not let me hide from what happened, but forced me to face it, and myself."

For a time there was silence between them as they clung to one another, giving each other comfort, even as they both were lost in their own thoughts and memories. Finally Vairë spoke again. "I wish Atar would let us tell the others about the Children. I do not understand...."

She was interrupted by a silent summons from Manwë, one that they could not ignore and in the blink of an eye, they were both standing in the main throne room of Ilmarin where all the other Ayanumuz were gathered. In their midst was Oromë, his expression one of pure joy.

"I found them! I found them!" he kept saying.

"Found who?" Manwë demanded.

"The Children!" Oromë replied. "I found the Children, and no, before you ask, Námo, I didn’t trample over any of them."

There were gasps of delight and laughter all at the same time and then Oromë was bombarded with questions from all of them, all save Námo and Vairë, who stood apart from the crowd. Vairë quietly took Námo’s hand and squeezed it. He looked at her and gave her a smile, though his eyes were tinged with pain. No one seemed to notice and then Manwë ordered silence, requesting that everyone take their seats so they could listen to Oromë’s report.

"Just one thing," Námo said, as he took his own throne. "Oromë, what is that covering your hröa?"

Oromë looked down, his expression one of surprise, as if he’d not noticed the strange garment before, and then he looked up, his face red with embarrasment. "The Children call it a laupë in their language and they cover their own hröar with it."

"Whyever for?" Yavanna asked in surprise.

Vairë, meanwhile, had left her throne to examine the tunic more closely, highly intrigued by the manner of its construction, fingering the hem. "A rather crude weave," she muttered to herself, "but remarkable nonetheless." Then she looked up at Oromë sitting there in bemusement. "How did they...."

Manwë cleared his throat. "Ah, Vairë," he said with an indulgent smile. "Some other time perhaps?" Vairë blushed and muttered an apology as she resumed her throne. Námo cast her a wry grin and reached over to give her a kiss on the cheek.

Meanwhile, Oromë was answering Yavanna’s question. "The Children appear to need such coverings to protect them from the elements and also there seems to be a... a taboo amongst them that they not appear before one another without them." He gave them a shrug and a wry smile. "I rather shocked them appearing as I did."

"How did you find them?" Manwë asked.

"I was hunting with just Naehaerra this time," Oromë said. "When I reached the shores of Helcar I turned north until I passed under the shadows of the Orocarni." The other Ayanumuz nodded, well aware of the geography of the Outer Lands. "Then all of a sudden Naehaerra cried out greatly and went absolutely still. I sat for a time in wonder, listening to the silence of the land and then it seemed to me that far in the distance I heard many voices singing."

There were murmurs all around and it was some time before calm was restored and Oromë was able to continue his narrative. "We approached them, but I fear I frightened them. Some fled into the darkness, never to be seen by their companions again." His expression was both sorrowful and troubled. "The ones who did not flee spoke of the Hunter or the Rider, a dark shape blotting out the stars and snatching any of the Children who strayed away from their settlement." He shook his head. "They thought I was this Hunter come to take them."

"Melkor?" Aulë asked with a frown.

Oromë nodded. "So I suspect, or perhaps one of his minions. There was never a clear description, but it did not matter. When I was able to convince the Children that I was not this Hunter they all feared, they welcomed me." He chuckled with amusement and gave them a wry smile. "The first thing they did was offer me this tunic to wear. I fear the... the females among them could not stop blushing every time they saw me."

Vána gave her spouse a considering look. "I hope you did not make their menfolk jealous."

Oromë blushed at that and the others started laughing. Then the questions started again, but Oromë forestalled them. "I wish to return to them, offer them my protection. They are unsafe in the dark under the stars. Melkor has already found them. We need to protect them from further depredations by our Fallen Brother."

Námo stole a guilty look at Vairë who simply reached over and took his hand in hers. If the others noticed, they gave no indication. Manwë, in fact, was busy giving Oromë instructions. "Go and take some of your people with you, though I think it wise that the Children be unaware of the Máyar as yet. Let them see only you and Nahaerra for now. I must think about the import of your news before any decisions can be made. Come when I call."

Oromë nodded and with a fond kiss for his wife, he bade them all farewell and was gone. Manwë then turned to the others. "When I am ready, I will summon you for a council. In the meantime, let us be glad and rejoice, for the Children have been found at last."

The others raised voices in gratitude to Atar as they went their separate ways, informing their Máyar of the joyful news. Everywhere in Aman there was singing and rejoicing. Everywhere, that is, but in Námo’s Halls, where the Vala of Doom sat on a stone-carved throne gently cradling a newly arrived fëa as the Child wept, while Máyar stood about quietly singing a lullaby to help soothe the tortured soul.

****

Several Minglings of the Trees later, all were again summoned, but this time, not to Ilmarin but to the Mahananashkad. Even Ulmo deigned to appear. Last to come were Námo and Vairë. Oromë was already there as well, giving them news of the Children and their doings. Then Manwë ordered silence and they all took their thrones.

"This is the counsel of Atar in my heart," he began solemnly, "that we should take up the mastery of Atháraphelun, at whatsoever cost, and deliver the Quendi from the shadow of Melkor."

At that Tulkas stood. "At last! At last we take the fight to Melkor. It was something we should have done long before this."

"Yet, in going against Melkor, there will be many hurts to the world," Aulë said sadly. "There will be no avoiding it and the Quendi may well suffer for it most grievously."

"Then we must protect them," Námo said firmly. "I offer my own Máyar for the task."

"As do I," Vairë added.

Manwë gave them both a shrewd look but then nodded. "Perhaps we can all contribute some of our Máyar to the task of protecting the Children from the ravages of the war that will ensue. I know that there are still some who have never fully recovered from the last war and they have little strength to be effective warriors. This will give them an honorable purpose while their brethren join us in battle."

The others nodded and so it was decided. Námo and Vairë returned to the Halls to inform their Máyar of the decision to go to war on behalf of the Children. There was much rejoicing and nearly all the Máyar, even those who were fierce warriors and would normally follow their lord or lady into battle, requested leave to go and protect the Quendi instead. In the end it was

decided to have them cast lots to decide who would go to Cuiviénen and who would follow Námo and Vairë to war.

"At last these Little Ones will be avenged," Maranwë said with great feeling. As Námo’s Chief Máya, he would be carrying his lord’s standard when the Ayanumuz went to war. Námo could only nod in agreement, the dark flame of battle already smoldering in his eyes in anticipation.

****

Laupë: (Quenya) Tunic, shirt.

Note on Time: According to Tolkien’s timeline of the Silmarillion, the Two Trees were created in VY3500 and Varda created the new stars in VY4500. The Firstborn awoke 50 Valian years (479 solar years) later. Thus, 1050 Valian years (10,059 solar years) pass between the creation of the Two Trees and the Awakening of the Elves. Melkor discovered the Elves thirty Valian years (approximately 287 solar years) after that and began capturing some of them, corrupting them into orcs. For purposes of this story, the first fëar begin arriving in what will some day be called Mandos two Valian years (approximately 19 solar years) later. Three more Valian years (28.7 solar years) will pass before Oromë discovers the Elves in VY4585. Thus, thirty-five Valian years (approximately 335 solar years) pass between the time the Children awaken by the shores of Cuiviénen and Oromë finds them.

Note on Geography: Helcar is the name of the great Inner Sea far to the northeast of Middle-earth of which Cuiviénen was a bay. It was believed by the Elves to be where the roots of the mountain of Illuin, the northern Lamp, had been before Melkor overthrew it. The Orocarni, meaning ‘Red Mountains’, were the Mountains of the East in Middle-earth.