Authors Note: This chapter has been deleted/cut and revamped. Reread is advised for returning readers.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Valaira
Not all Treasure is Silver and Gold
Prologue
She was the oddball of the family. Both of her parents had golden hair along with her older sister. How she was born with dark brown hair was beyond her. But her hair color was not the only thing that made her the outcast of the family. She preferred to be alone, all her life she would spend months away from her family living in the woods. She would sleep in the trees, bathe in the streams, and eat various nuts and berries. She became an expert at identifying the edible and poisonous plants and berries.
As she grew older, she ventured farther and farther from her home, she visited her sister and her family. She befriended some interesting people, treated the wounded, and found that she was more like her mother then she had thought.
On one of her travels she had witnessed two young males harassing a young woman, they were obviously drunk. It was relatively harmless until they started pushing her and making grabs for her chest. This behavior did not happen often, but when it did it angered her to no end. She felt that anger rush in her veins as she reached for an arrow to fire a warning shot at the two offenders while remaining unseen. The young woman tried making a run for it, but the taller of her harassers snatched her wrist and yanked hard, causing her to fall backwards to the gravel, and she was then kicked. As she released the arrow tip had changed to s stunning light blue, and as it hit the building to the right of the group, two white sparks the size of a child's fist knocked into the two mens chest, throwing them to the ground unconscious.
She discovered she had inherited her mothers' magical abilities. She did not even know how to use them, or what they were capable of. She had to go home. But the elf sprinted to the young woman and helped her to stand.
"Thank you, these two halfwits have been pestering me for weeks now." The woman explained.
"They should not be bothering you for a while, I suspect. I suggest you be amongst others when out at night." She made to leave, but the woman's soft hand caught her arm.
"Wait! Would you like somewhere to sleep? A hot meal?"
"No thank you, I must be getting home. Stay safe." And with that she left.
She had never made it back home faster than she did that night. She did not even bother to creep past the guards protecting the city, she just ran past them while they were giving her odd looks. But considering this was Valaira they were talking about, it was quite normal.
She found her father speaking with one of the guard as she searched for her mother. As she quickly passed him their eyes met briefly, his had brightened. It had been a few years since his daughter had been home. She found her mother braiding Celebrian's hair.
"My sister! What has happened to you? Your eyes..." Valaira's sister exclaimed.
Her mother, Galadriel, had finished with the last braid in her sisters hair, and interrupted her eldest daughter. "Celebrian, please, leave us."
Celebrians' eyes were widened in shock, but despite her curiosity followed her mother's command.
"And find your father and inform him that I wish to speak with him." Celebrian nodded her head and left.
"Sit my daughter." Galadriel motioned for her youngest to take Celebrians seat.
"What's wrong with my eyes?" Valaira questioned cautiously.
Rather than telling her, Galadriel placed a handheld mirror into her daughter's hand.
Now, Valaira was not accustomed to seeing her reflection, in the woods she did not carry anything that would allow her that privilege. The first thing she did noticed was how dirty her face and hair were, first thing she needed was to bathe. Now her eyes, her normally light blue eyes had lost their color, and were now a strange silvery gray color.
She was speechless.
"Tell me what happened." Galadriel sat back down into her chair behind Valaira.
"I was just aiding a young woman and…my arrow lit up. She was being harassed by inebriated adolescents and I have seen that behavior too many times to count and it just fuels my anger."
"What happened to the men?" Her mother had started detangling her hair with a silver brush.
"They fell unconscious, sparks from the light in the arrow shot into their chests."
"You have been gifted by the Valar. Before you came to this world, I had a vision. The Valar came to warn that one of their Lords, Melkor, had grown more powerful and dangerous. He killed and tortured innocent lives for his own pleasure, but they had failed capturing him. He was corrupting and creating monsters that could destroy all life. The powers given to the protectors in this world would not be able to stop him. They chose you to be given the strength to capture him. I have not given this information to you, or anyone, in fear that you would be taken, and ultimately unable to overthrow this dark power."
"Why would you leave me to roam the lands alone if I am so important? I know nothing of these powers given to me, I could have hurt an innocent, or something worse."
"You were in no danger, not one soul of these lands knows of the power you were born with. I gave you freedom because I wanted you to learn of your power in the most natural way. Now that you have discovered it, if you permit, I will train you in what I know with my abilities. After I have taught you all I am able, there are others who will aid you where I will not be able to."
"Where would I find these individuals?"
"They will find you." Valaira gave her mother an exasperated look. This was getting a bit overwhelming. She was supposed to be a secret weapon, supposed to hunt down the most powerful being on their world, but Valaira was still quite young. Still a child in the eyes of her elders.
"None of this was my doing. This has been planned since before you were born. I advise that you embrace it, if not, you will lose yourself." Her mother explained to her, trying to make her see that this was her destiny. Valaira was not one to believe in the idea of everyone having their own destiny. Free will was something she held with high regards. And her mother telling her that her future was already planned out for her did not sit well.
Later that night, after bathing and trying to tame her hair, Valaira was so mentally exhausted that she fell asleep.
When she awoke, there were a group of people surrounding her.
"Welcome, our daughter." A blond haired man greeted.
"We have been waiting for centuries for this day." A dark haired woman continued.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Valaira asked.
"We are the Holy Ones. I am Manwe, the King of Valar. "…I must have hit my hard really hard… Valaira thought with wide eyes.
"We have made many mistakes in the past. Giving power to those who would abuse it. We fear it will become much much worse. But you, we have great faith in you." The king said.
"You have a strong, wise mind for one so young. " The woman said.
"We gift you with this token, guard it with your life for it will give you strength when you need it most." The King presented her with a ring. It was made of silver and in the center was a glittering white diamond.
"The stone is capable of storing energy, you may take it from yourself or life around you. But be cautious. Do not try to use it until one of your mentors teaches you of its dangers."
"But we have faith in you, we have no doubt that you will succeed in your duty. Our brother must be overtaken before he becomes too powerful. Have faith in yourself, and you will succeed." The woman said in farewell.
The last thing she had in her mind was "…why me?"
Her mother, Lady Galadriel was her first teacher, she had taught her the basics of magic, how to use it, when to use it, and the consequences of using certain types or too much at a time. Apparently many have died trying to control their magic…or the lack of controlling it. But it seemed as though mother and daughter were not quite on the same page. This became an issue that the two could not sort out, no matter how many time Celeborn had intervened. She needed her next mentor.
The next few mentors were very old and very wise elf witches and wizards. With powers far more powerful than her mothers. Valaira learned how and what they were used for, but could not use them. Everyone had different abilities. And it was Valaira's duty to learn what she could. She then could develop them on her own when they came to her in their own time. This was the best way for her to learn, or that's what the Arda thought.
Soon she learned all that she could from whom she now called friends. She then went of exploring. Not sure what she was searching for but she knew she had to leave. It was a gut feeling.
In the wilderness she met Arvellon.
Valaira had come across his home in the middle of the forest at the foot of the Mountains. At the time no one was there, but the outdoor fire pit was still warm. She nosed around for a few minutes, not finding anything particularly interesting. She was just heading out when she had that feeling that she was being watched, but she kept walking. Even when she was minutes away from the cottage, she was sure she was being followed. She fired a warning shot where she thought the eyes would be. The arrows' tip was glowing as it had been since that first night, the spark hit its target, but the target deflected it, sending the ball of energy up into the sky.
"I mean you know harm." A male voice soothed from a distance. A tall figure emerged from the trees, with arms raised. He was an elf.
"What do you want?" Valaira kept her bow trained on him.
"I would like to know who found my little dwelling." He replied, lowering his hands.
"It was not hard to find, just lying in the middle of the forest." She explained, lowering her bow, he was weaponless.
"I beg to differ, no one has found my home in centuries."
She gave him an odd look at that. "Who are you?" She questioned.
"I am called Arvellon." He answered smoothly.
"What are you doing here?"
"I live here. I think the better question is what are You doing here? This is in fact my home, but you on the other hand, you on the other hand are trespassing." He smiled.
As it turned out, Arvellon was exactly what she was searching for. Her last teacher.
Arvellon taught her how to feel her surrounding, literally. By focusing on the life surrounding her she could tell If an insect buzzed, or a bird flew in her vicinity. She could direct its movements, dig in their thoughts. Elves had a natural talent for communicating with animals; Valaira had learnt how to take it a step further by being able to control them. She would never take advantage of life around her, never would harm anything, unless they deserved it. If this was the case, she was more than capable of seriously harming it. Arvellon taught her the consequences of misusing this gift….she had unknowingly killed a baby bunny rabbit, by leading it towards what she soon found out was a snake's home.
He had been one of the mentors that her mother had spoken of, but he didn't admit it at first. Decades passed, their friendship grew, and then came a point where he did not have anything else to teach her. But she couldn't leave, she loved him, and he loved her.
She loved him, but he was killed before they could do anything serious about it. They were elves, time wasn't one of their worries. They traveled the forest surrounding the mountain together. Arvellon helped her master the skills he had taught her. She learned that smaller animals were much easier to control then bigger ones, like dear or wolves. Arvellon had told her that controlling anything bigger then herself was mostly impossible, but there are always circumstances in which anything can happen. He talked her into trying to control himself, something she thought was so wrong, but tried anyway. It didn't work out well, for her. He easily blocked her efforts, she hadn't known that was possible at the time, and he took control of her own body and guided her lips to his own. This was something that happened often.
But one night in Arvellon and Valaira found a tunnel at the base of the mountain. Both could feel that there was definitely something down there. But what it was they were not certain. Curious creatures that they were, they ventured into it.
The tunnel itself looked as though it was hardly used. But what they found under the mountain was completely unexpected.
An army. The tunnel stopped, well not really stopped. If one was to take another step forward, they would fall to their death. A vast cavity had been lying underneath the mountain. Most likely an ancient lake. But instead of water filling it, hundreds of Orcs were crawling in its depths. Unprepared to fight them, the elves quietly made their way out of the tunnel. At the mouth of the tunnel, awaiting their arrival, was Melkor.
There wasn't a day that passed that Valaira did not think about him. As time passed, the pain lessoned, but the memories would be clear as crystal in her mind forever.
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