A/N: So to anyone who has been paying attention they know that this is my last one-shot in the "in-between years" of The Singer Saga and next Sunday we begin The Second Time which will cover The Hobbit and a bit more. I'm beginning to need something a bit stronger than tea. Where's my brandy or mead? I have weird tastes. Wish me luck and drunk happy muses. Or sing to Eru. Whichever works cause I'll need the help.
On a personal note. As most of my loyal (for years because I try not to mention this often) readers will know, I have chronic migraines and surprisingly lockjaw as well as a very weird life. So please have patience with me and I will keep hacking away at stories unless I am incapacitated for whatever reason, even if it takes me years. Hopefully not though.
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Much Love
JR
P.s. P-atreon and Ko-fi update: Why aren't there tiers and goals yet on either? Mainly because I'm trying to get used to writing regularly on them. I don't want to promise my patrons something and not be able to deliver. So I'm working on building slowly and getting my routine down, then I will be doing some patron-only content like polls for story design and personalized thank-yous and inspiration videos or packages that contain some of the things that inspire each story and other various things. So hang in there with me, I'm still learning, and sign up to follow me so that when the tiers and goals go live you'd be the first to know.
Songs Of Eru
In the mists of time before and those to come.
Many thought that Eru, the one called Iluvatar in the language of the elves, had left the realms of his children to them, abandoned them after his first songs had been corrupted by the darkness of Melkor. But he never had. But his intervening in their affairs needed to be discreet, he knew. They needed to make their own decisions. For what would it prove if he forced their will?
So when the Valar came to him with a problem they considered insurmountable, like an indulgent father, he asked them what they would suggest.
The argument had raged for days before it was finally the wildest of his Ainur stepped forward. "We need outside help. We have battled and we have failed. The only option to combat a problem we cannot solve is to think like someone else."
Iluvatar smiled and agreed, murmuring "one cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it." He nodded to his Valar. "So what are your thoughts?"
"The tale of this world has been told on another." The wild one commented, pacing back and forth slowly before him. "The way it should end was told. We only need to ensure it will."
"We bring someone from that world who is willing to fight for it." Another added thoughtfully. "Someone that the darkness and corruption do not know."
"Someone of wisdom and pure heart." A voice that sounded like sweet summer bells chimed in.
"Any ideas who?" He asked, looking first at one then another until all fourteen shook their heads. "I have seen the world of which you speak. There are many who are honest and true but few who have not been touched by evil." Iluvatar warned. "I suggest each of you give a gift to who I choose. I will set its limits and bounds. Then I will give them to you and you will choose when they are needed the most. But they will be the ones carrying out my will in those times. You will only be able to watch and guide them as you do the rest of Ea."
The Valar before him shifted uneasily. But finally one stepped forward.
"I will give them my speed, that they might be swift in their tasks." She said, bowing low to him.
"A fitting gift."
"I will give them my sight so that they may not lose their path no matter how dire the times." Another offered, bowing low next to the first.
"I will give them my strength," growled a third, taking his place in line. "That they may never falter."
"And I, my light. That they may illuminate even the darkest of days," the fourth offered taking her stand.
Looking at each other, two stepped into the line. "We give them my hands," the first began.
"And my heart," the second added. "That the might heal the body and mind and heart of those in need."
Nodding, Iluvatar placed his hands on their shoulders, patting them gently. "Those gifts will also be needed."
The last three of the ladies of the Valar stepped forward, following their sisters' example. "We gift them with our spirit, our hands, and our eyes. That they may always find the good in troubled times, that they may always encourage growth and that they may see what others have missed."
Iluvatar nodded to the three and turned to the remaining males. His lords of the winds, waters, earth, forests, and the dead. "And what do you offer to the champion you wish to add to those already pushing the evil back?"
"I would not wish the doom and death I see on anyone." The most serious of them began, slowly moving to take his place at the end of the line that had formed. "But if it aids them in their quest, I wish to give them my sword, that they may avert the doom of all."
The lord of the forests stepped forward next, snorting at his companion's gift. "Took the idea right out of my head." He groused good-naturedly. "I offer my bow that they may aim true."
"Seems all of the best gifts have been given." The lord of the earth and all that lay beneath chuckled, his great booming laugh echoing in the endless halls. "I offer humility, that they may know what is beyond their bounds and accept it, so that they may accomplish the song that is sung for them."
Iluvatar nearly grinned at his most humble Valar before he turned to his remaining two Valar. "And you two?"
The lord of the winds stepped forward, bowing low. "I offer goodness that they may use all their gifts in a just and right way."
Nodding, Iluvatar turned to the last.
The lord of the waters stood still and unmoving despite his hair that seemed to pulse with the life of his realm even when dry. Hands steepled against his lips, his brow furrowed, he pondered for a time while the others waited silent and bowed.
"Do you not wish to give a gift?" Iluvatar asked, inclining his head to his most untamed Valar.
"I am having difficulty choosing only one." He replied. "All of the others seem more than sufficient and yet not enough."
"Which gifts are you trying to choose between?"
"Spirit, wisdom, a home, and love." He answered.
"Why not all four?"
"It seems unfair to give four when the others offered so much with one."
"Perhaps you should explain why those four so that we may all understand," Iluvatar suggested.
"A spirit that may never be broken as wild as my seas." He began seeing the wisdom in the suggestion. "Wisdom so that they may act on the knowledge that the other gifts give and not be tossed here or there by the winds of war. A home that can never be taken away, so that they may rest and heal. And love, in its purest form, so that they may have a reason to fight."
Iluvatar lay a hand on his Valars shoulder, squeezing it in approval. "All selfless and necessary gifts. Blessed by all the Valar may the champion be, but by Ulmo most of all."
Turning to the group, he waved them to stand. "And I will give them a voice so that they too may sing my songs. Go," he ordered. "Tend to your duties. I must find the champion and sing them into life in our world."
As they filed out, Eru turned his eyes to a world far away. Searching, he found exactly what he needed in the desert. And at just the right time, when the champion he wanted should have died, he snatched her out of a moment in time and sang her awake, Maiar but not and elf but not elf just as she would wake human but not and dwarf but not with gifts of each and ones that no one knew, beneath the waves in the Gulf of Lune just outside of Mithlond in the time after the Valar had left for the west and the land of Arda drew into it's darkest ages yet seen.
Then he sang her back to her own world so that she could wake again when he needed her. She would grow stronger, he knew, for he had seen the song of her life stretched from beginning to end like a sonata. She was patient, she would use the time wisely and come back as the one called Gandalf by the small Halflings would. More capable to do what must be done. But she would be kinder, and the world would need that kindness in days to come.
About to sing once more, he was interrupted by Manwe with the news that the one called Caelann had been in an accident in her world as if he could not see that in the fabric of the song. But he had prepared for it long ago, her world was so very unpredictable. She would awaken in time for the end. But not just yet.
Now for the second one…