Loyalty Unyielding by Zlu and Luff

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Extras - part 1

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Bonus chapter 1

"Retribution"

music: picosongDOTcom/nTMu (best on repeat ;D)

 

* * *

The labors and combined efforts of all of the children of Eru continued for an immeasurable while, yet before the light of the passing of the Ainur faded from the sky, the first foundations of the new world were complete. And when the vast planes of Arda Healed all bore the seeds of Yavanna's making, when the mountains had been given their general shape and the first rivers ran streaming to fill the lakes and seas, then Eru the Allfather summoned once more the Ainur.

And as they all gathered before him and silently basked in his light, he then called Melkor to step forth. And Melkor obeyed, yet even as he stood before his maker, his spirit was fearful and unsettled, for he fretted that he had unwittingly angered Eru in some way and would now be punished.

So it was that Eru indeed spoke of punishment and retribution. Yet retribution not for any of Melkor's present actions, but rather the atonement for his misdoings of old. For all his crimes against the Valar and the Children of Eru, at last Melkor would now have to pay in full.

The way of his repentance had already been decided. And as he stood now before Eru, Melkor learnt that in order to atone for his sins, he would have to perform a task for each of the Valar - one of their own choosing. And only when all of the chores assigned to him by his brothers and sisters would be completed and satisfied with his help each of the Valar would give him their leave, only then would Melkor be free of his duty.

The Vala's fear subsided as he heard those words, but he did not rejoice, for he felt the judging eyes of his brethren upon him and he knew that they would not make it easy for him, and that some would make it much worse than the others. But most of all he wished not to return to the old order of things and lose everything again and thus he bowed to their Father and said "So be it."

Thus Manwë came now before Ilúvatar and he said that he could indeed use Melkor's assistance, if it were willingly given - for he and Aulë intended to make a new light for the world in place of the old one that Melkor had destroyed. They wanted the light to be like the fruit of Laurelin, so that it would fly through the sky and light and warm the land below. But the new Arda was much larger than the old one, and they believed that, was there no mischief involved, the help of an Ainu as powerful as Melkor could truly be of use. And what better atonement for the crimes of Melkor than to make him rebuild that, which he himself had shattered?

Thus to aid in the making of the Sun became Melkor's first task.

And hearing that, Melkor agreed to help the two Valar, but he requested that Mairon, the best of the students of Aulë would also aid them. And thus Mairon was called to join them, and he stood once more before Aulë, his master of old, bowing before him. And when he lifted his head from the bow, his golden eyes smiled, as they met those of the Great Smith that were filled with calm and patience, boundless and older than time.

And Mairon remembered once more that day soon after the restoration of Arda, when he had for the first time in so many millennia looked into those very eyes. And he remembered how before the first rain fell from the skies, filling the lakes and rivers of Arda, he had stood much like now before his former master, having come down to his underground forges with Melkor, trying to mix with the Maiar and the Dwarves and together with them work in secret on the fiery foundations of the world, both eager to be of help but equally unsure if they would be allowed it if they asked.

But Aulë had come to inspect the work of his helpers back then and he saw working among them his long lost apprentice and instead of treating him with scorn or bidding both him and Melkor to leave the underground smithies, the Smith of the Valar just smiled and welcomed their help.

Back in that hour Mairon's spirit was filled with disbelief and marvel. And on that day, when he had lifted his eyes and looked upon his lord of old, he had seen in Aulë's eyes forgiveness and acceptance and instead of bowing like he did today, he had knelt.

When he had arisen from his knees on that day, proving to have known all about his Mairon's presence in the forges, Aulë gave him the hammer that he had once known so well. For it was Mairon's own hammer from the times the first world was still young. And taking it in his hands back then, the Maia remembered all that had once been and all the wonders he had once wrought for Aulë in the great waiting for the awakening of the Eldar.

With this same hammer it was that he stood now between Manwë, Melkor and Aulë, ready to bring into existence the most magnificent of Suns.

And thus as the trace of light in the sky was already fading and the Children of Eru returned back to the Allfather's halls to rest and wait for the new world to be complete, the four Ainur set to work together.

While Aulë, with Mairon's help, forged the core of the new Sun, Manwë taught it its flight and Melkor charged it with heat and energy and wrapped it in fire. Then, being the mightiest of the Valar, he carried the giant globe to the edge of the world and there he tossed it, sending it to the orbit, that Manwë had taught it to follow. Though he did not show it, Melkor was nervous. For should the ball of fire come crashing down on Arda, he was quite sure it would be him and Mairon that everyone would blame, not Manwë or Aulë.

Yet the Sun did not fail and it flew up instead, rising over the new flat world as it was meant to. And Melkor watched it and was pleased, for although he always disliked the Sun of Arda Marred, the new one burnt with the flames of his own, and caused him no discomfort. And so instead of loathing the Sun like he always would, he took pride in this globe of fire that he himself had helped come into being.

 

* * *

The next task was from Yavanna.

Though the seeds and saplings were planted all over Arda, they would take decades to grow on their own, while the Children of Eru were waiting for a new home. Thus she had turned to Vána for help, but it proved not enough still, as the two of them could only sing so much greenery to bloom and maturity.

Melkor was quite displeased with the task at first, for the two Queens of the Valar wanted him to sing bushes and shrubs into growing with them, and it seemed to Melkor both boring and degrading. He was no Vala of gardening. Fire, explosions and moving mountains were his areas of interest and expertise.

Yet as they got down to the task, Melkor soon began enjoying himself without even noticing and he flew over valleys and mountains, making pines shoot out of the snow, moss cover the stones and all sorts of beautiful flowers bloom in the fields. Destruction had always come easy to him, but he had never thought he would have such a talent for creation.

And in fact... he did have quite very little of it - the power of his songs simply woke the plants that the Queens of the Valar had seeded on Arda. For Melkor's attention was too scattered to create from nothing a proper tree with bark and many branches and leaves. Yet one day as in his triumph he flew over deserts where the Queens of the Valar had planted naught, his singing brought to light the strangest plants, that neither Yavanna nor Vána had conceived. They had no bark or network of branches, instead they were all green like one green leaf and were covered in needles, perhaps due to their maker's liking of pointy things.

The Valar were greatly puzzled when they discovered those odd creations of Melkor growing in the desert. However, as apart from having needles on them they seemed quite harmless and very few other plants managed to grow in that dry a climate, they were left alone.

As more lands were covered with thick woods and vast green fields, the work of the Ainur shifted towards the regions where the climates were more extreme. It was at that time, that Melkor found a far off northern corner of the world, where nothing could grow but glaciers and snowdrifts. And there he decided to make a new home for himself and his Maiar, since the Angainor incident of recent had left his relationship with some of the Valar most troubled. So for the sake of everyone's - and most of all his own - comfort Melkor was inclined to settle away from the center of the world and only come there to pay his dues. At least until the embarrassing matter was forgotten.

However, the work he did for Yavanna was far from over. Thus ever so often Melkor still left the new land that he and his Maiar were slowly reshaping to their liking and traveled south to help carpet Arda Healed with grasslands and meadows that Yavanna and Vána had designed and nurtured.

After a while Melkor stopped seeing planting of greenery as a degrading punishment and began to enjoy that task thoroughly. Then slowly he managed to develop a rather friendly relationship with the mistresses of the trees and flowers.

One complaint only did Yavanna have about Melkor's forests - and it was that they all started from the autumn season. Yet as coloring the woods red and orange with autumn leaves was a great improvement compared to setting them aflame and so Yavanna just sighed and let Melkor do it his way.

* * *

Greatly did Melkor dread the task that Tulkas would give him. And as he stood before Astaldo, he cringed in his spirit, expecting something most unpleasant or even painful. Excruciatingly boring at least.

For a long moment Tulkas looked down at him, harsh and serious, making Melkor's skin crawl. And then, grimly he spoke.

"Make me laugh, Melkor."

Melkor recoiled, horror apparent in his features. Tulkas' laughter was what he had once heard in his nightmares, as it was moreover always accompanied by a most shameful beating and an equally shameful defeat. How he could possibly make the Champion of Valinor laugh, was beyond Melkor. The one thing he knew for sure, was that it would not be a pleasant or easy task.

As those thoughts fleeted through Melkor's agitated mind, he was utterly startled by the horrid booming laugh of his enemy of old. Melkor gaped at him, lost for words and infinitely confused. But Tulkas roared only louder with laughter, slapping his thighs and bending over, like he witnessed the most hilarious jest ever.

Slowly Melkor calmed down, and then he felt offended. And when Tulkas was finally done cackling, looked up and saw Melkor's offended look, he burst out laughing again. "Ah, Melkor you never fail to amuse!" the Vala roared, bent in half with laughter once more. "Your task is done! Ha! I give you leave!"

On that day Melkor decided that he would really never understand his kin.

* * *

When it was Nienna's turn, to Melkor's great surprise, she asked no deed of him, but that he would come talk to her between other tasks. Sometimes they would stay in her dwelling, on other occasions she would walk with Melkor through the woods and fields of Arda, making beasts and birds of prey show mercy to their victims and kill fast and only for sustenance. On their way, Nienna would ask Melkor questions of the past, of his current doings and when she heard of his displeasure at his present tasks or of the imprisonment he had endured in the past, Nienna would comfort him.

And although it baffled Melkor at first, soon he came to like this particular Ainu above all of the other Valar, for she was the only one to show true sympathy without bitterness or disapprobation. At times she retold to him the history of Arda Marred from her point of view, and Melkor learned much of mercy and empathy, and he grew to respect Nienna, who had previously seemed to him the most useless of his kin - except for perhaps Nessa, who in his eyes only chased deer and danced on the green grass of Valinor, and was Tulkas' wife, which made her the easier to dislike. Although now, after conversations with Nienna, instead of just hating Nessa as usual, Melkor found himself pitying her instead. It must have been really hard to be stuck for eternity with that giant laughing ox, Tulkas.

From now on, when asked by his allies what he thought of his tasks for the Valar, Melkor would privately say many unpleasant things about his kin, but never of Nienna.

Many harsh words Melkor had for Varda, but he did not speak them out loud. For Elentári could hear all that was happening on Arda. And since she had cunningly wished to be the last one to give Melkor a task, he did not want to worsen his fate, which he expected to be already something quite terrible. After all the two of them were never on good terms.

* * *

The works for Aulë and Ulmo were often of volcanic nature, for Melkor was as good at shaping Arda to his liking, as was the Master Smith, and with his power being greater than theirs combined, he helped make many a geyser, hot spring, island, lagoon and underground lake. He rather liked those tasks and often would discuss them with Mairon upon his return to his new land of fire and ice they called Morlindalë, unless of course Mairon would come with him to perform them.

He did not always come, for as the children of Eru began once more settling on the world, Mairon was given a task of his own. Instead of the island of Númenor, there was an archipelago of islands now on Arda, and each of the islands had one of the former kings of Númenor ruling it. And while those rulers that Mairon had not corrupted lived in peace with their neighbours, all the descendants of Tar-Ciryatan were as troublesome and overambitious as ever and it took all of Mairon's diplomatic cunning to try to undo his previous evils and bring some semblance of peace among the minuscule empires.

But even dealing with Ar-Pharazôn and all the other proud peacocks on a weekly basis was better than what Mairon still dreaded would come. And what he feared, was the day when he would be called to stand before the elven smiths of Eregion, and in particular... before Celebrimbor.

Because that day too was bound to once come, as all that had once lived, were now returning again to life - and that too was why the new world had to be much vaster than what the old one used to be. And it would need to grow still, to host all of the new lives that would start soon upon Arda Healed.

The labors of the Ainur were far from over.

* * *

Mairon stood by the window of Ringlach, Cold Flame, their new fortress, looking out onto the peaceful mountainous landscape outside. His eyes passed over the slowly flowing lava streams and the dark irregular slopes of volcanic peaks and they smiled as they travelled further - over the roads carved in cold magma and the gorges filled with flames, until at long last they reached the horizon and lingered there, gazing upon the proud glaciers that loomed in the distance behind the mountains.

Surrounding the volcanic heart of Melkor's realm built on the northern confines of the new world, was a circle of frozen crystalline land of the Vala's own making. A wall of tall and unscalable glaciers it was, frontier that only the Ainur could cross. And it was risen there to prevent the lesser races from straying into the land of extremes the Vala so loved and to prevent them from finding unneeded death in his domain. Except for that however the ring of ice around the land, also gave it a certain formidable and distant beauty that both of the lords of the land quite enjoyed.

Mairon's eyes reached further, higher. From time to time, in the clear skies above the mountains, carried by the winds of Manwë, there flew the mighty Eagles. All the Ainur, including the messengers of Melkor's brother could travel unhindered through this land, yet when two of the giant birds attempted making a nest on the newly erected tower of Ringlach, Mairon chased them away. Partially for Melkor's sake, for they still could somehow seem to be potential spies of Manwë in the Vala's eyes, but in all honesty also because he could simply not foresee anybody volunteering to clean the battlements everyday.

Morlindalë, Music of Darkness, was what they called this new realm, and it was perfect. It was their land. His and Melkor's. And of all the Maiar, who would wish to join them.

And it was not a realm gained by conquest, not a territory wrenched by force from the hands of their brethren. It was a corner of the world gifted to them, forever to do with as they pleased. And as it was located on the outlying fringes of Arda, where the world ended and the darkness began, thus it could be stretched on and on to their liking if a need arose. For now however, the kingdom of the chaotic Vala was still rather small. But because of that, it felt the more like home.

Home. It was such a strange notion to speak out loud or even think of.

For a very long time it still felt unreal - but in the beginning of the new world, when the time flowed freely - yet untamed by days and hours - and all of the Ainur had their hands full with endless creation, Mairon dwelt not on this.

Presently however, the world was nearly fully wrought and covered in grass and sand and water, and although still much remained to be improved and enriched on it, there was now time to at last take a breath, to step back and for a moment simply enjoy the fresh vastness and infinite beauty of Arda Restored.

And when Mairon at last let the hammer drop from his hands, the sweat cool on his skin, and the fire in his spirit quiet a little, the surreal feeling of it all being just a dream dreamt in the cold foggy limbo of his exile, returned to him again.

Yet with each setting of the new sun that he had shaped together with his two former masters, it was all becoming a sliver more real for the Maia - and as days passed, Mairon at last felt that his grasp on reality had become firm enough to hold onto it and at long last let go of the past.

Thus finally he was ready to truly believe that somehow he was allowed to have it all. And as he realized that he could bask in the light of Eru and at once still find his place in Melkor's eager fire, Mairon felt mirth and peace filling his heart.

And so there he was now, looking out of the window and watching the history of his existence come full circle. In the distance, behind the mountains, he now heard the voice of his friend and master. Yet unlike it had come to pass once in Beleriand, this time the mountains resounded not with a scream but instead they rang with clear and genuine laughter of the Vala.

Mairon watched from the open window in the tower as the spirits of fire crawled out of their cavernous abodes and lava lakes and met Melkor half-way to their stronghold, welcoming their master back in the land.

For a little while longer did the Maia watch them from above with a smile lingering on his lips. And then he walked away from the window and set out on his way down the stairs.

* * *

Melkor walked through the halls of his fortress, still laughing as he retold the creation of the desert plants to his balrogs. The cacti, as was now their name, he described as gigantic green towers covered in spikes, that could impale a bird or an animal if it were stupid enough to try harming the Trees of Melkor. He laughed at the pitiful Ents that Yavanna had to make to protect her trees from harm. Now his trees would not need any protection, and no fool would even bother chopping one down, as it would not burn too well.

"And inside they have juices, that when drunk would give the drinker the most vivid hallucinations! Better than poison, because no one would blame me, if the fool would die on my tree's spikes! After all no one blames Yavanna's bears for hunting down fools that wake them in winter," so Melkor bragged and laughed and the balrogs laughed with him.

In their company he reached the large hall that was the throne room. It did not have just one throne, though, like it would have in the old days. Instead there were three seats. One for Melkor, one for Mairon and one for Gothmog, for Melkor wished to keep his friends close, enjoying their company all the more after his trips to the center of the world.

As Melkor sat down in his place in the middle, the heavy door of the throne hall was pushed open again and Mairon walked in, with a smile on his face and confidence in his step and walked across the hall, nodding to the fiery Maiar as he climbed up the dais to his lord.

Melkor rose from his seat, smiling brilliantly and he embraced the Maia, when Mairon reached him. "Ah, Mairon, thou hast just missed the tale of how I fooled the Valar yet again! Looks like I will have to tell it again," Melkor scolded the Maia light-heartedly, but in his features was just delight from seeing Mairon. "But perhaps later. I am weary from the journey. Tell me now about thy own matters and how ye all have fared in my absence," the Vala asked, smiling as he sat back down, looking at his Maia with hungry eyes. No words had been spoken between them on the matter, but Mairon could see Melkor's fondness of him growing as the time passed. Slowly the Vala was learning to take interest in beings other than himself.

"Why, all is quite well in thy realm, oh lord. Glaciers have not yet melted and the lava is as hot, as thou hast left it." Mairon spoke with good humour, "As for the news, according to thy wish, we have completed the mighty tower overlooking the land, which thou hast probably failed to notice," the Maia continued, smirking somewhat, for Melkor's lack of attention was an issue well known and ever-amusing to all and one that none of them were now afraid to point out, "Our favourite eagles however did take note of it immediately of course, and so we had a small skirmish with them at the very top of the tower, as they tried to make nest there the instant it was ready. But I am proud to announce that we have won that battle and defended thy fortress with great skill. And with no casualties on either side. Only a few oversized feathers were lost in all the commotion."

"Ah!" Melkor beamed. "That is good news indeed! The last thing I want to see on my towers are filthy nests of Manwë's uncultured subordinates! Good work, my thra-... friends, yes!" Melkor corrected himself, addressing everyone. Then he turned back to Mairon and announced. "I much wish behold and climb the tower tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, my liege?" Mairon asked, with a glint in his eye, "But the day is hardly done yet... and if both the tower and the tale of how thou hast outwitted the Valar must wait until later, then truly I wonder, whether there is anything at all that thou wouldst like to see still today?"

"Indeed there is someplace I would like to see," Melkor leered. "My bed chambers, Mairon. And later, at sunset, we shall have a large feast right here." He gestured around the hall from his throne. "But first the bed chambers. For I am so very weary," the Vala drawled, looking at Mairon meaningfully.

Mairon's brows furrowed, as quite convincingly, he pretended not to recognize the meaning behind Melkor's words. "Ah, if thou needst thy rest, my lord, then thou must have it. Thus I shall now return back to the forge, for by no means do I wish to disturb thee."

The lord of Ringlach looked displeased. He leaned closer to the Maia and spoke quietly so that only Mairon would hear him. "Oh, but I dread, dear Mairon, that I have grown so weary I may not reach my bed chambers on my own... Dost thou truly wish for thy lord to collapse and fall asleep in the middle of some hallway, all because thou hast refused to accompany him to his bedchambers? Would that not haunt thee each night for the remainder of thy days?"

Mairon arched a thick dark eyebrow at him and he grinned a crooked grin, "Ah, it certainly would, my liege. In such a case let us be on our way at once. Certainly the balrogs shall excuse us..."

Melkor just smirked and got up from the throne, announcing some more details of the upcoming feast. To the cheers of the Maiar of fire the two Ainur left the throne room and walked down the hall, that led them in the direction of their private quarters. When they finally reached the doors to the bed chamber that was as much Melkor's as it was Mairon's, the Vala turned to give the Maia a truly haughty look. "Very well, Mairon, thou canst retire to the forge now, if thou so pleasest," he pronounced in an aloof manner.

Mairon held Melkor's fiery coal eyes for a moment, enjoying their first solitary moment in few weeks. The Vala spent much time helping his brethren. But Mairon too spent long days away. "Perhaps another time," He said now wickedly, narrowing his golden eyes, "Unless that is, thou shouldst still, much like in the old days find the table in my smithy somehow more exciting..." He said with a dark smile twisting his lips and he took few steps forth, forcing his master to back against the door.

A smirk tugged at the corners of Melkor's mouth then. "Ah, what is it now, Mairon? Not intending to let thy master rest from his long, tiring journey?" the Vala teased as he leaned against the door, looking at Mairon under an angle, his head tilted.

"Quite to the contrary, my lord," the Maia answered him smoothly, "I desire thee to at last lie down amidst the silks just as much, as thou thyself cravest for it. Or perhaps more even." Mairon's eyes were those of a loyal but hungry wolf.

"Lay me down then. And make sure I can not get up afterwards," Melkor smirked fully, getting a grip on the collar of Mairon's shirt before opening the door and pulling the Maia after himself with the same hunger playing in his eyes.

* * *

As the sun set beyond the horizon, the balrogs shrugged and began the feast without them.

 

* * *

In the center of the world, where the Valar dwelt, in splendid halls a vision of Eru could be seen, when the Maker of All desired to speak to the Ainur or His Children. There he could also be found by any of the Ainur, should they desire to seek council without being called by Him.

And so it came to pass that Melkor once arrived to the Halls of Eru on Arda, with no prior invitation or summon, and that he knelt before the Allfather and he spoke thus. "I come to ye, my maker, to ask for a privilege I may not deserve, but crave for with my entire being. Eru, the Allfather, let me make my orcs again!"

A murmur rose among the Ainur who had gathered from all around the world, hearing the news of Melkor arriving to the hallowed shrine in the center of the world, which he and his allies had left to dwell in their own northern land after the Angainor accident. Many of the Ainur now saw seeds of treachery and evil in Melkor's design to bring back the foul race of orcs, and they were afraid that this would be the first step in Melkor's plot of waging another war against the Children of Eru.

Yet Melkor heard those murmurs and he spoke again, from his knees, looking only at Eru Ilúvatar, as he explained himself. "I crave to remake the orcs, my Father, for even though I may have mistreated them in the past, they were my creations and my charges and in the matters of assembling them and their way of life I and my Maiar spent a large part of our existence. The Valar have ye children to look after, to teach and govern. But spirits of my nature are not meant to be guides for mankind, the Eldar or any other race that dwells on Arda now, as we thrive in conditions too extreme for them to survive in. Thus I ask ye, let me make my orcs anew and let me give them no malicious purpose this time, but a spark of life, bravery, strength and independence, so they can dwell in my northern lands and learn wisdom from my kind," so spoke Melkor, and he held himself humbly, though his speech was inspired and his eyes burnt with readiness to make his vision come to life.

Still many of the Ainur present distrusted Melkor and doubted his motives for remaking the orcs. Too many times had Melkor fooled them and harmed the lesser races with his vile creations. And now he asked to make those foul creatures tougher still, allegedly to make them better suited for the land of fire and ice, where he dwelt with the other spirits of fire, Mairon and those who had joined him after the New Music.

As Eru still did not answer him, Melkor grew desperate, and he addressed the Allfather a third time. "If ye let me make the orcs, Father, I shall take all responsibility for their actions. Should one of ye children or the children of the Valar come to harm by their hands, I shall take the punishment for it. As a father I will be to them and they shall be my children, and what harm may come from them will be my blame and I myself shall pay for it," and Melkor bowed his head, and he looked at the throne of Eru, waiting for his father's judgement.

Murmurs rose again among the Ainur, for few could believe in Melkor's sincerity and amidst themselves they quietly accused him of lying. But silence fell as Eru spoke.

"Rise, Melkor, my child. Rise and make thy orcs again. But know that as thou hast pledged responsibility for their actions, so thou shalt be judged should those actions bring harm to the other lesser races."

And Melkor rose and he thanked the Allfather for his generosity.

Under the guidance of Eru, he soon made the first orcs out of magmatic rock and he breathed in them life, and the eyes of Ilúvatar ignited in them the spark of the Flame Imperishable.

And thus the orcs awoke and were aware, and they saw Melkor, their maker and they loved him. And Melkor rejoiced and he thanked Eru once more. Then he hid the orcs in his palms and he carried them out of the Halls of Eru, away from the prying eyes of the Valar and their Maiar.

As he carried them over Arda he let them watch the lands below and they asked him for the names of things and he told them. When they reached the icy borders of Melkor's domain, the Vala hesitated, fearful, for he had grown fond of the little creatures in his hands and he was unsure if they would indeed dwell comfortably in a land as volatile as his. But the orcs peeked between his fingers and they saw the dark land of ice and the fiery towers of Melkor's fastness on the horizon crowned with northern lights, and they cried with joy, begging to see the marvelous vision from aclose - and bearing witness to their joy, Melkor himself was moved to tears, and he now knew what Aulë had felt when he had made the dwarves.

Thus gently he carried his children further, shielding them from the cold northern wind, until they were safe within the halls of his fastness.

There he charged Mairon and the other Maiar with teaching the orcs basic crafts so that they knew how to face the cold outside without perishing, and he oversaw the teaching of the orcs himself for as long as his attention span allowed and then he went outside and he made beasts for them to hunt and ride on and remembering his time at Yavanna's service he also made edible shrubs that could grow in the dark and cold for the beasts to feed off, and he let some of the ice melt and form rivers and lakes and he filled those with seaweed and weird fish and beasts and birds that he himself created and some other that he borrowed from the lands nearby.

Much gladness was brought to Morlindalë by the arrival of the orcs, for the balrogs and the other Maiar had greatly missed a lesser race to watch over, and now they all eagerly taught and observed the orcs.

* * *

One day there was a great feast, that the Valar held in the center of the world for both the lesser races and the Ainur alike. All were welcome there. Even Melkor's northern fastness had been visited by an eagle of Manwë, that had brought an invitation for the Vala, his Maiar and his orcs.

The feast was so vast it could not possibly be held indoors, and thus tables were set under the sun in the beautiful gardens of the Valar.

When Melkor and his Maiar arrived, bringing the orcs with them, the Eldar, Naugrim and Edain were equally appalled, for in the features of the Children of Melkor they saw their common foes from the past. And they stayed away from the orcs, watching them warily even as the feast began. Yet as time passed they saw that despite their brutish and unattractive looks, they acted quite civil, if odd to the eyes of the Children of Eru. Still, old grudges were not easily forgotten and while some cast curious glances towards the orcs, none yet wished to approach them, while the Children of Melkor despite their curiosity about the other races of Arda were quite content among themselves. So the feast lasted in peace.

The Valar sat gathered around a large table on a hill from which they could observe the lesser races, and among them sat Melkor and Mairon, who was the only Maia at the table of the Valar. For Melkor refused to sit with his kin, if they did not also invite Mairon to sit with them. Thus, not wanting to reawaken old animosities, Manwë offered Mairon a place at their table to appease his brother.

The King of the Valar observed for a long while the Children of Melkor, who sat apart from the other peoples of Arda, yet made no quarrel with them. And then he turned to his brother and asked "Tell me Melkor, why did you make the orcs as ugly as they used to be, when you could have made them anew?"

Melkor turned to Manwë with surprise, fiery brows raised in a questioning arch. "I do not get thy meaning, brother. What meanst thou by "ugly"? They are quite fair to my eyes."

Many of the Valar regarded Melkor with the greatest bewilderment. But what he said afterwords was what truly shocked them.

"At least they surely look fairer to me than the hideous Eldar," Melkor said light-heartedly and shrugged.

"I beg your pardon..." Varda said in a chilly tone, freezing with a cup of wine half-raised. If looks could as much as hurt, Melkor would have been pulverised.

"Truly Melkor, your jokes are getting better and better," Tulkas laughed and slapped the fiery Vala on the back with the strength of an avalanche.

"But I spoke seriously," Melkor croaked, wincing, when he recovered from the friendly pat on the back.

"Melkor, you are once more completely alone in your delusions. Everyone knows that the Eldar are the fairest race of all," Varda said coldly, glaring murder at her brother-in-law.

"Well, that is simply absurd," Yavanna said, discarding Varda's words with a gesture. "Everyone knows that Ents are the fairest race!"

"My love, I dare disagree..." Aulë started delicately.

"I'd say, the eagles if any single race were..."

"Hobbits," offered a helpful voice from the table where the Maiar sat.

"All races are most beautiful in death," Mandos spoke solemnly, making all the other Valar fall silent and the argument come to a rapid end.

Sitting among the mighty Valar, Mairon just hid his face in his palm.

 * * *

 

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Chapter End Notes

A/N Thank you, Námo!

XD

And on that optimistic note let us promise you this is not the last bonus for Loyalty. We've got some more "Arda Healed" adventures planned for you, this just served as some sort of introduction. Some of you might be wondering about the "Angainor Incident". Well, that is what the next bonus will be about ;D Expect the bonuses to be generally written in a lighter way, it's up to you if you want to continue reading or stop here, please make your choice wisely XD

They will all differ, both in volume and in mood and style, and topics, will feature various characters and situations and may follow in random directions - this was just a warm-up! ;D

There will be no regular update schedule with the bonuses, but we will always announce new ones on our tumblr - next one is sadly coming only around July, because Luff has evil exams.

Now, a few random notes:

Perhaps you've noticed that the Valar spoke with "you" while Melkor speaks with "thee". Well, the whole world speaks modern speech now, and only Melkor, having been stuck in the Void, still uses old-fashioned phrases! XD Mairon and all Melkor's servants also do that when in Melkor's presence, at least for the time being, not to make him feel odd. The other Valar howeverkind of went with the spirit of time (probably lectured by Olórin and other Istari) and we assume, for the sake of everyone's amusement, that they speak more modern language now too.

Another note we'd like to make is that we believe there was no romantic involvement between Melkor and Varda and that her "rejecting him" in the begining of time in Silmarillion was simply her pigeon-holing him as evil from the very Day One and wishing to have nothing to do with him.

And now, much love to all of you, take care until next chapter :3! And of course... do tell us what you think! Was Melkor's creation of the glorious plant called cactus not glorious? By the way, go and google "saguaro", look how huge the cacti can get. And then imagine Melkor's happiness again XDD