Not So Happy Returns

by Soledad

Author’s Notes: For disclaimer, rating, etc. see the Foreword.

Akairis, Ómar and Salmar as the youngest of the Great Valar were originally part of the mythology but got later rejected. You can learn more about their decision in my other story, “The Vault of the Dead”.

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December 18 – Follow-Up

Salmar, who usually spent his time on Tol Eressëa among the Solosimpi – Teleri who refused to go on to Aman proper, even after Olwë had resettled to Alqualondë with his people – also arrived to the battered Swanhaven too late.

He had rushed back through the upper air in his true form when word reached Tol Eressëa, but all he found were the dead bodies scattered all over the quays –and the shards of the Great Arch that had once so beautifully echoed the songs of the Sea and the Sea-Elves alike.

“Why would Ossë destroy it?”(1) he asked from Uinen in helpless grief.

The Lady of the Sea sighed.She had come to comfort the people of Alqualondë; her handmaidens, the long-tressed Wingildi(2), were even now tending to the mourning, swaying gently, half-risen from the waves.

“He is as fierce in his grief as he is in anger,” she answered sadly. “Soiled by the blood of the slain, the Arch died as well; Ossë could not bear its muteness.”

Salmar nodded in understanding.”I cannot blame him; that was a grievous loss for us all. ‘Tis still a shame for the Arch; it was so beautiful, and the Sea had worked at shaping it for so long.”

“One day, when the first phase of grief has passed, the Sea-Elves shall remember the Singing Stone,” said Uinen quietly. “They will come with their tools and turn it into a memento of marred beauty and lost innocence. My spouse and I shall do our best to support them.”

“As you have always done,” Salmar finished for her.

She nodded. “As we have always done,” she agreed.”What will you be doing, though? You have friends on both sides.”

“What I should have done after the destruction of the Lamps,” replied Salmar. “Follow my siblings to Middle-earth.”

She looked at him in confusion. “Your siblings, lord?”

It was Salmar’s turn to sigh now; which he did.

“You would not remember them; no-one would, save Ilúvatar himself and me, because of our shared origins. They broke the connection to our link willingly. sundering themselves from the Music, and have been forgotten ever since.”

“How do you intend to find them, then?” she asked.”Middle-earth is near endless and full of deadly peril; and you must become incarnate if you want to live there permanently.”

“Akairis – my sister,” she added for Uinen’s sake, “promised to leave me signs that would help me to track them down. “I believe not that it will be too hard. She can be very inspiring if she puts her mind to it.”

She accepted that with a nod.

“We shall forget you, too, when you are gone, shan’t we?” she then asked.

“I fear you will," he replied.”

“Is there no other way?” she tried to change his mind.

“None that I can see,” he said, and then faded out of her memory.

~Fin~

1) That event is described in my other story, “The Dying Stone”.

2) The spirits of the foam.