Winterlights by Elleth

Míriel's Song

Prompt #2: Holiday Traditions: Uinen has saved Tar-Míriel from the Downfall of Númenor, but she insists to return to the site of her erstwhile island once more. AU.

"Erukyermë, Erulaitalë and Eruhantalë, yes, but Meneltarma is lost, and there is no way now to reach the summit for the Three Prayers, nor do I have an offering to make - and it is not the time for one. Above the waves it is winter, so the dolphins tell," Míriel said. Uinen, with a sigh that made her shudder, beat her tail and slid around her, webbed fingers ghosting over her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her jawline.

"There is Mettarë of old, the end of the old year," Míriel continued. "I would pay my tributes to that at least, to Númenor that was before the Downfall and before her Sinking. Írima yë Númenor. A song, at least a song such as we sang then, expressing a wish, a hope, some blessing of the future… I am her queen, or was. It is my duty.”

When Uinen spoke, her voice resonated gently in Míriel’s head: “Vanwa yë Númenor. There is no approaching the area; the waters were devastated and there now is a fissure through the middle of the ocean where your island lay. You know this.”

"I do not remember it. Not even when you rescued me, nor when you gave me this form."

Uinen was silent. Míriel knew that she was often called to restrain Ossë when he raged upon the waters, wrecking such ships as still were upon the sea, but failed when she was faced with grief like becalmed water.

"You Child of Men, you bewilder me. Then let us go, so that you may see."

A kindly current, no doubt at Uinen’s call, sped them toward the fissure where Númenor had been, but long before they reached it, the water grew unpleasantly warm and prickled upon Míriel’s skin. The sea-floor, half lost to sight in the dirty water, had long ceased to be a field of corals, instead the shattered, twisted stone was littered with all matter of things, debris swept into the sea by the waves that had claimed the island. Beating her tail hard despite her misgivings and the numbness that surfaced anew at being faced with the wreckage, Míriel dove nearer to the bottom, so she could see: There the shards of a painted vase, an octopus curling among seaweed, there the beads of a necklace tangled amid the bare branches of a broken tree.

“Vanwa yë Númenor,” Uinen repeated, coming to her side and speaking as gently as before. “Will you go further?”

Míriel hesitated, hovering in the water beside Uinen. “No,” she said at last, softly chanting the verse of an old song that had been known across the island, and sung even when Quenya had long been outlawed. “Írima yë Númenor, nan úye sére indo-ninya símen, ullumë.”

It was not a new-year’s song, but there was truth in it, so it would suffice - and she saw Uinen’s face shift into a vague smile.

Chapter End Notes

The title references Fíriel’s Song, which occurs in the story, and is something of a bad pun insofar that the original Míriel, after her death, was also called Fíriel by some. A translation of most Quenya phrases can be found at the link; vanwa means “lost”. The AU is based on some glorious Legendarium Ladies’ April posts like this and this.