Young Bucks of Cuiviénen by heget

Sing You Back

The other follow-up to Dreadful Wind/Rushing Wind.

This is the story sung by Vanyar troops as they disembarked one last time from the gangway of the Falmari ships to stumble onto dry land, weary but relieved to be home. Coming to Beleriand the elves had embraced the tale of Beren and Lúthien, the lovers whose daring and steadfastness kept them together through twice-death, but the Vanyar had discovered their own story amidst the horror. Nowhere near as grand a tale, but one that truly belonged to the First Tribe, to the golden-haired shepherds and plowmen and singers and mathematicians of Valmar and the mountain slopes of the Pelóri. This is the rumor spread throughout their barracks, the story retold on troop transports home:

Mahtamë, the Mother of King and Queen, dignified matron of the elves, chooses to stay in Beleriand until the end of the War. Mahtamë of the White Arms, Mahtamë Dowager Queen Mother, yes, that Mahtamë. She has a quest, and will not leave, no matter how much this disrupts anyone’s plans or distresses her family. The council of generals tried to dissuade her; she was not dissuaded. Mahtamë is going hunting, and it has been a long time since she hunted for herself. ("Going Hunting," the Vanyar monks now soldiers say, in the old accent for those words, with a reverence and meaning. None of them have gone hunting in Valinor, not as those archaic tones mean.)

Mahtamë marches along the borders of Valar-controlled territory, hunting for her husband. ("Who is her husband? The Dreadful Wind, aie. That cruel wraith of the enemy.") She will lure this spirit of Morgoth back to her. Everyone is aghast and terrified for her- then mildly terrified of her. ("Will you travel to the No-man's Land to tell the High King's mother to return from her Hunting? Me neither.")

Mahtamë’s plan is simple. She sings. Old songs, her songs, their songs. Songs that had been buried by grander or more appropriately fitting songs in Valinor. Hunting songs, running songs. Love songs. Bawdy descriptive songs of love-making with her husband from in those early days when the elves were first figuring out the mechanics of love-making. (Mortified, Ingwion realizes where that trait came from. Then he has the songs transcribed and sent back to Valmar, petty revenge) Songs about the pure joy of running beside someone. She sings and sings and when her voice is spent, she waits and then as soon as she is physically capable, she sings.

The elves know how powerful song can be to reunite lovers and defeat the power of Morgoth.

("I heard the echoes of her song as we approached Angband.")

A few months later, vocal chords a little raspy from the strain, with a supremely self-satisfied expression on her face, Queen Mother Mahtamë boards a ship and sails back to Valinor. The other passengers regard her with awe. A light wind tickles her cheek as it brings whispers of their stories about her quest to her ears, so that she may laugh about them. 

Chapter End Notes

Author believes in happy endings.