What was, what is, and what might be by chrissystriped

What was, what is, and what might be

Nowe = Círdan

Read What was, what is, and what might be

Osse watched the Quendi who were standing knee high in the water to hunt for fish.

Being for once of a mind with his Lord that the Quendi should better stay in the East (who else would enjoy all these wide lands, if they were gone), he had decided to convince as many of the latecomers to stay on the Hither Shore as he could. He had not yet talked to them about it, knowing it would be long until the Island would be drawn to Valinor and back. He had time.

He was befriending them and helping them and showing them all the things that they could love at the shores and in the sea. Having awoken near a lake, many of them could swim and they’d already started to build ships on their way to he shore, but he’d taught them the ways of the Sea. How to see the oncoming of a change in the weather — he might be wild, but he always sent a warning to them now, before releasing his wildness. To watch out for hidden currents when swimming. How to find edible mussels in the sand of the shore. They had already known how to hunt for fish, but he’d led them to places were the sea was flat and calm enough.

Osse’s eyes followed Nowe as he stalked slowly through the water -- quietly, barely upsetting it --, long spear in his hands, gaze trained on his prey.

He enjoyed watching Nowe move with this graceful strength, his body tense in the hunt, the view of his muscles bunching under his dark skin before he threw his spear. Nowe ran forward, lifting the spear and showing his prize to the others.

A good catch, thought Osse, he was happy for him that he had fortune in huning today. Sometimes he herded fish in their direction so they would not go hungry, but he did not delude himself about why he was here today.

There was a desire in him. Desire for Nowe.

Not that he didn’t know this kind of desire, he and Uinen had played the game of pleasure in a multitude of bodies since watching the first animals of the sea. But feeling this for a Quende… it had been strange at first. It still felt a little strange, but he was not in the habit of fighting his desires. Uinen had shrugged and rolled her eyes, but she hadn’t asked him to stay away. And so he was here, watching Nowe.

He had not thought he would wish to be intimate with one of the Children until he had seen Nowe. He had often enjoyed watching the predators of the sea hunt, but as pleasing as it was to watch him do the same, it also touched something far more deep in him. It had been even more of a surprise, when Nowe had shown him that he felt the same.

 

Nowe had sent his comrades ahead, back to the village to prepare their catch. It had been a good hunt, they’d eat some of the fish today, the rest would be dried to ward them against lean times.

He stayed back, leaving his spear on the shore and swimming out into deeper water. The Maia didn’t like to come on land.

“I know you’re here!”, he called. “Show yourself.” He’d felt his presence the whole time, like a cool touch on his neck.

Nowe held his breath as a wave caught him, whirling him around until he didn’t know anymore where was up and down. Water all around him. He didn’t fight it, though his heart hammered in his breast, his body wanting to panic.

He was perilous, this Maia. Not malevolent, but wild and passionate. Dangerous for the Children because he did not always know their boundaries.

Nowe’s lungs started to burn, but he also felt the water calm and being pushed in a direction he thought was upwards. He gasped for breath when his head broke through the water.

“I don’t like being ordered around”, Osse growled. He looked mostly elvish this time, although his eyes had slitted pupils. “You’re playing with wild water.”

A tentacle had wound around Nowe’s legs, holding him above water. Nowe knew he was going to have bruises of the sucker cups.

“I know.” Nowe grinned at him. “I like your wildness.”

Osse grinned back, showing sharp shark’s teeth.

“I’m not kissing that mouth full of teeth”, Nowe informed him firmly and Osse chuckled, closing his lips before showing off perfectly formed elvish teeth.

“Better?”

Nowe had no time to agree. The tentacle pulled him closer and the Maia sealed his lips with his. A second tentacle nudged his opening and Nowe pulled back.

“Not in the water”, he protested. He’d almost drowned the first time, he didn’t want a repeat of that.

Osse pouted. “Spoilsport. Ah, well. Hold tight.”

Nowe clung to the Maia’s back as he sprouted a tail and picked up speed. He allowed himself a shout of joy at the feeling of the wind whipping his hair and the salty water flowing around his body and heard Osse laugh happily.

He was a wild one, but never dark, never evil. Despite the rumours. He’d told himself, he would ask him the next time he saw him. He wanted to know the truth. He just wasn’t sure how the Maia would react.

 

Osse slowed down as they neared the cave where they spent their times together. Nowe let go of him and they swam inside beside each other. Part of it was above the waterline even at flood and there was a bed of dry seaweed.

Osse changed his body back to a two-legged form and stretched out on it, looking back at Nowe who was squeezing water from his hair and looking at him with a slight frown.

“What is it?”, Osse asked. “Did I misbehave in some way?”

It came out more strained than he’d wanted. He cared for Nowe’s opinion — almost as much as he cared for Uinen’s.

“I heard rumours”, Nowe said slowly. “That you followed the Dark One for a time.”

“Who told you that?”, Osse snapped, fury like a wave rising up inside him, the water lapping on the shore of the cave roiled. Who was trying to put a wedge between him and the Quendi? “I’m not evil.”

“I don’t remember. It just came up. And I didn’t say you were evil! Is it true?” Nowe held his gaze, there was curiosity — and a little fear — but it occurred to Osse that he was still here and that he had sought him out.

“Yes”, he answered, trying to calm himself. “I… wanted to be free to do what I wanted, be the Master of the Sea, but… Uinen talked me around. There can’t be only destruction or someday nothing will be left. There needs to be change in this world and I thought Melkor saw that more than the other Valar. But there also needs to be a ballance and he lost sight of that. He only wants to destroy now and while I relish the stormy sea and the waves that gnaw on the land, I also understand there has to be dry land and also a place for the animals of the shoreline — and those can’t survive if there is no calm.”

Osse watched Nowe closely. He did not wish to lose him over this ancient lapse of judgement.

“It was a very long time ago”, he added. “I have seen the truth of him since then. I don’t want to go back.”

He’d seen what Melkor had turned the Quendi he’d caught into. Change was necessary, but not like this. The Vala had lost his way.

“I believe you, whatever that is worth to you”, Nowe said, holding his gaze. “And thank you for being honest with me.”

It meant very much to him, but Osse wasn’t about to say that — or let it show. “I’m not a liar”, he answered.

“Now…” he said, smiling seductively. “Did you only seek me out to ask uncomfortable questions? I thought you might want to have some fun, when you called me!”

Nowe chuckled and moved closer. “Wouldn’t you like that?”, he said, his breath ghosting over Osse’s lips.

Osse pulled him closer to kiss him.

 

Nowe kissed Osse back passionately. He hadn’t be sure earlier if they’d still be in the mood after his question, but Osse seemed to not take his curiosity amiss — and Nowe had decided he could trust him after hearing his answer.

A tentacle, one without sucker cups this time, was slowly winding itself around his leg and nudged his entrance. He shivered, feeling his cock stiffen.

Nowe let his fingers slide over Osse’s chest, teasing his nipples, and pushed down on the tentacle. It slipped into him easily, slicked with a substance that smelled of salt and seaweed. Nowe moaned as it started to pulse inside him.

He nibbled at Osse’s neck, wrapping his hand around the Maia’s cock. He heard him suck in his breath and smiled, letting himself get carried away by the feeling of the tentacle sliding over the spot inside him that made heat pool in his belly and his cock pulse.

Nowe slid further down the Maia's body, he wanted more. The tentacle moved with him, another one curling around his cock as he licked along the slender tip of Osse’s arousal. It looked more elvish now than at their first tryst, but still not quite.

Nowe liked it that way.

Nowe liked the tentacles and the sea-creature cock and the webbed hands that were sliding coolly over his heated skin.

Osse’s moan as he took him deeper in his mouth was deep and thrumming, reverberating in Nowe’s chest.

Nowe closed his eyes, letting the waves of pleasure roll over him. The Sea was inside him and around him as he came, the Maia’s pleasure crashing over him and taking him with him and yet he was not afraid of drowning.

 

Osse was floating in the aftermath of their orgasms, waves lapping at his feet. He lazily unwound his tentacle from around Nowe’s thigh.

The elf looked at him with bright eyes. Osse smiled, sliding his fingertip down his cheek.

“Feel good?”

“Yes, very”, Nowe answered with a grin, then he sobered. “This is goodbye for a while, I’m afraid”, he said. “I’ll go on another searching expedition for Elwe tomorrow.”

“I understand.” Osse smiled sadly. “I’ll miss you and the others.”

It would be silent, when the elves left,  though some of them would stay behind — for now.

“Have you… thought about what you’ll do, if you don’t find him until Ulmo comes back with the Island?”, he asked carefully.

He’d never before touched the topic, but after Nowe had asked him about his own past earlier, he felt they’d grown familiar enough to ask him about his future. And he couldn’t keep quiet about it any longer. He needed them to stay and maybe Elwe was a reason he could use.

Nowe drew his brows together, looking worried. “I don’t know”, he answered. “I don’t want to think of it. He’s my cousin and Olwe is sure that he still lives. I don’t want to give him up. But… I also want to see what he saw, what he spoke of so passionately. He persuaded us all to go to Aman, wouldn’t he want us to go on, even now?”

“Do you think, you will be more happy on the other side of the sea?”, Osse asked, keeping his voice carefully neutral.

Nowe threw him a surprised look. “I think, I’ll be happy as long as I have the sea.”

“Why not stay then?”, Osse said. “You have a good life here, don’t you?”

“Yes…” Nowe cocked his head. “You sound like you don’t want us to leave. I thought the Valar wished it?”

“They have come to that decision, yes, but… Ulmo thinks the Quendi belong to Middle-earth and I agree. This is your home and you should not be taken away from it.”

The groove between Nowe’s brows became deeper. He looked so worried that Osse almost regretted he’d said anything. But he was not a subtle person and he needed them to understand.

“And I would lose you also, if you leave”, he added. “Though that should maybe not matter for your decision. I’m banished from Aman since my defection. I would be… sad to never see you and your people again.”

Nowe laid his hand on his cheek and looked long into his eyes. “Since Elwe came back and spoke of Aman I have wished nothing more than to see the Trees of Light. I did not heed the words of those who stayed behind — who spoke much as you did just now. Then I encountered the Great Sea and it has filled me with delight ever since. I met you, the embodiment of the sea, and you have become a teacher, a friend, a lover. The dream of the Light is still in my heart, I don’t know if I can let it go. But giving up Elwe, giving up you… I don’t know if I can do that.” Nowe shook his head. “This is too much. I can not decide this here and now. I’m sorry.”

“No.” Osse pushed down his irritation at the Valar, who had forced this difficult decision on the Quendi. He wished, he were as eloquent as Melkor. “Don’t be. But think about it, talk to your cousin and your people. And be sure you know what you want, when the Island returns.”

Nowe nodded slowly. “I will. And I thank you again for being honest with me. I think it will interest my people that the Valar have different opinions about this — and we value you and Lord Ulmo highly, as you know.”

Osse relaxed. It was not a Yes, but it was a step forward.

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Chapter End Notes

Written for the Arda on Ice Challenge. I chose the following prompts for a Junior-level program: Split: done with grace - Twizzle: in a whirl - Walley: overcome a minor obstacle - Toe Step: getting to the point - Chasse: moving forward