I know what you're probably thinking. Outside worlds…meh! Well, it wasn't
meh to the Elves of Arda. It was a tremendous accomplishment to have those
who were locked within the confines of the world find a safe passage out.
"Well, we didn't exactly find a way." Said Lady star to the presumptuous narrator. Hey! That's me! Grr! "We kind of made one. Now shh! Don't go blabbing all of our secrets!"
"Huh?" Said Lord Secret looking up, "Someone call me?"
Just then there came a pounding pounding on the gates into the Head Council Chambers, and Lóst, Guardian of the Council leaped up to answer it.
Raven and Vinyavagor, two Investigation Correspondents strode into the hall, walked up into the circle, and bowed before the Lady and Lord. They had both been summoned to a private meeting between them and Lady Star and Lord Secret. Lóst stood watch over by the door, out of hearing range.
Lord Secret directed them to two Beanbag Chair/Thrones that had been placed opposite him and Lady Star for the two to sit in. When they were seated he asked them, "Do either of you know why you were summoned here this day?"
"No Master." They chorused. They were younger elves, only around 1100 or so years old. And yet, through their vigilance and steadfast during the rebellion a decade before they were both made Investigator Correspondents.
They were two of the Investigators who determined what was to be done about situations of great importance. Vinyavagor was the Correspondent to the Protection division of the order. Raven was the correspondent to the Head Council, he reported directly to Lady Star and Lord Secret, as did Katra, the head of the Investigation division.
"Then you shall be told now." Said Lady Star in her usual calm melodious voice. "Arda is not alone in the Universe, in fact it is only by the efforts of the Valar that we are protected from outside forces. The main problem with this is we Eldar are trapped in here as well."
"But, aren't we not allowed out of this world?" Raven asked bewildered by her statement.
"We are limited to this realm, this universe. We should be allowed to go far past the edge of the outer sea, as the Men have done already. But we sit quiet and still, here near the Blessed Realm."
"Men have made their way out?!" Vinyavagor exclaimed.
"You forget Vinyavagor my friend," Lord Secret said, "To men is appointed a much shorted existence in this realm than that of ours. In but a mere thousand years they went from the ways of magic to the ways of a lore they call technology implementing engines and such. They have passed the outer sea long ago, and managed to escape the circles of the world while we were resting in our Hidden Halls.
"Men are now scattered amongst the stars, but sadly due to the powers of the Valar protecting this world in which we the firstborn live, they were shut out and were forced to find other worlds in which to live, where they multiplied and spread further, finding other races made after they. So by now they have forgot this world, and those who live here venture out no more, due to the disappearances of those who left long ago."
Well, after the two sat there letting the words of their two leaders sink in, they maintained a vague look on their faces. Then Raven cocked his head to the side, and Vinyavagor scratched his noggin. Evidently they were thrilled with the news.
Then, they realized what was said to them through the strange way Lord Secret had explained it, and saw what they meant. A look of deep understanding developed on their faces, as if they had just passed gas.
Raven finally asked one word. "How?"
"I'm ever so glad you finally asked!" Exclaimed Lady Star cheerfully. She had been worried the brains of the two young elves had been fried. "Well, we do not use technology as you know." She said.
"Right." Agreed Vinyavagor, "No tecnomology."
"No, no Vinya, it's techmology."
"No, you're both wrong." Lóst called over. "It's Cosmology."
"Enough of this!" Lady exclaimed. "It's technology! End of discussion!" She took a moment to regain her cool and then continued. "Well, since we do not use that, we used our good old standby."
"Bribery of the Valar?" Lord Secret asked.
"Shh! Exnay of the ribery-bay." She muttered. "No, we use Enchantments."
"You mean like in the stories of the old ages where elves just sang stuff into existence?" Vinyavagor asked. "You mean they really did that? I thought it was just a myth. Besides," He added, "I was never that good at singing."
"Why's that?" Raven asked, looking puzzled.
"Well, I never got a chance to really practice. Every time I tried people would scream and yell at me and hold their ears. Some how I got the feeling they didn't like it." He explained.
"Getting back to business." Said Lady, trying to control her rapidly growing temper, "We are sending you two through the portal to investigate the worlds outside."
"Why us?" Raven asked.
"Because you two are our most trusted investigators." Lord Secret informed them. "Now go and meet with Heír, our Lore Master, he will fill you in on what we know of the world we are sending you to first, and who you will meet there."
And with that the two rose, bowed, and exited the chambers. After showing the two out the door, Lóst came over to the two leaders and asked rather bluntly, "Why did you really send those two?"
"They're completely expendable." The two answered, and returned to their meditations and tic-tac-toe game they were playing using the force to levitate their pencils. Lóst merely shook her head, and wandered off in search of lemonade.
After exiting into the Main Hall, Raven and Vinyavagor walked a brisk mile and took the first door to their right. It brought them into the great Hall of Lore, archives of the Elven Jedi Council.
They approached the nearest loresperson, which turned out to be Lylene, the Apprentice Master of Lore. She was a nice looking female elf, and she didn't seem to be in her 1200's even.
"We're here to see the Master of Lore, Heír." Raven told her. "Do you know where he is?"
"Nobody see's the Lore Master! Not nobody not no how!" She exclaimed frantically.
"Oh please!" Exclaimed Vinyavagor leading Raven around and away from her. "We are so sick of the Wizard of Oz bit."
"No you misunderstood." She said, catching up with the two. "What I mean is, he isn't here right now so you can't see him."
"Oh." Said Vinyavagor, dropping Raven's hand, which he had been leading him by. "Sorry."
"That's all right, I'm used to it by now." She said. "I just like to deliver people bad news in a good way. Well, he's out quizzing the younglings right now, and will be back in about twelve hours or so. You're welcome to sit and wait of course."
"Sit where?" Asked Vinyavagor looking around for a chair.
"Pick a stack of books if you like." She said, heading off, "It's not like we don't have millions!"
It was true; they did have millions and millions of books, most larger than they were. The shelves took up all the walls in the large hall, reaching up all the way to the forty-foot ceilings. There were leather books, paper books, stone books, magic books, spell books, Jedi Manuals, cook books, dictionaries for hundreds of different languages, Harry Potter books, a strange set of books called The Lord of the Rings Trilogy; well, you name it and they had books on it. Even books on how to walk and chew gum at the same time, and art vital to everyday Elven Jedi life. There was also a large history book sitting in the center of the library on a large pedestal that was being composed by the Master and Apprentice Master of Lore, called the Silmarillion. (Sadly, this book would later be stumbled upon by an author from another dimension who decided to take the book and claim it as his own work).
So, the two chose large books to sit on, and two smaller books to read for the time being. Raven read, "How to keep from getting motion sickness when traveling through a magical gateway leading out of Arda". A lengthy title, but good reading. Vinyavagor, being a typical protector was reading a picture book entitled "Elven Jedi Wet Tee-Shirt Contests". It was somewhat obvious to tell who would do better on this mission than the other.
So the two sat there and waited. And they waited. And they waited. And they (guess what) waited. Raven was nearly finished with his book and Vinyavagor had nearly memorized all the pictures in his when low and behold, the Lore Master himself, Heír strode up to them.
"Well come along!" He said belonging them to follow him with his hand, "We've got a lot of material to cover and not enough time to do it in." And with that he set a brisk pace off up one of the stairs leading up towards the top of the shelving, and off to the other end of the library. There, after the others had caught up with him he pulled a book out of the shelving, and instead of the bookcase swinging open like the two investigators were expecting he thumbed through it and found a map of the Hall of Lore.
"What are you doing?" Asked Raven.
"I'm trying to find where my office is supposed to be. The door leading into it was buried underneath a large pile of books long ago and now I have forgotten where it was." Soon he found the location of his office and led them down the stairs of the other side of the Hall and back towards the Main Hall. Halfway there he stopped and flung a large pile of ancient tomes off to the other side of the room using a bit of concentration and TNT. Sure enough, there was a door leading into a long forgotten part of the Hall of Lore.
He opened the door and beckoned them in. Inside the room was full of a variety of objects of all sorts, and everything was buried in a layer of dust a foot thick.
"How long has you office been missing?" Vinyavagor asked bewildered by the look of the place.
"Eh, around a century now I think. I've been busy you see." He explained offhandedly, as if it was a common thing. Which to him it was. One time he had lost the exit from the Hall of Lore and he and his associates were missing from Head Council meetings for a decade.
"Now." He said brushing off the three chairs around his desk for them to sit in, "I trust Lady Star and Lord Secret have told you about what they managed to find."
"Would we be here if they didn't?" Vinyavagor asked rather arrogantly.
"I don't know." Growled an annoyed Heír between bared teeth, "Perhaps you were just here to read dirty books, and had no knowledge of your mission."
Vinyavagor gulped and shut his trap. "That's a good youngling." Said Heír rather insultingly. "I don't care what you did during the rebellion, if it were up to me you'd still be a Padawan." He turned to Raven; "You on the other hand haven't spoken hardly a word the whole time you were here. Why is that?"
"What do you expect me to say?" He asked. "Hire a maid or fire the old one?"
Heír chuckled slightly and then cleared his throat and decided to get back to business. "Well, since you know you will be arriving on another world, I am guessing you will be wondering which one. Well, I'll tell you what we know…
"The planet Naboo is inhabited by what would be considered the descendents of Numenorians. That means that they have a small amount of Elven blood in their veins. So, if they use some of their poor excuse for lore-"
"Techmologiney?" Vinyavagor interrupted.
"Whatever it is." He said, choosing not to bother scolding him for the interruption. "If they use it to determine what race you are they will see they have something in common with you, and will help more readily."
"And what if they decide not to help?" Raven asked.
"Use a mind-trick." Said Heír offhandedly. "You're going to be a ways from home and you will be allowed to do anything in your power to keep yourselves safe. Anyways, from there you will simply contact the Jedi Council that exists out there, (We know there is one, we can feel them), and you will represent us and arrange for meetings."
"Is it just us whose going?" Vinyavagor asked.
"A company of seven others will be appointed to aid you." Heír informed him."
"Why nine?" Raven asked.
"Why it's tradition in there stories!" Heír exclaimed shocked at their ignorance. "Why just for that you two will sit here in this office and read those stories until the rest of the company is read to go!" And sensing Vinyavagor's thought he turned to him and added, "And no they don't have pictures. And with that Heír left them sitting in his office as he went off to fetch the books. As he left he muttered, "That Vinyavagor's gonna end up just like Boromir!"
"Well, we didn't exactly find a way." Said Lady star to the presumptuous narrator. Hey! That's me! Grr! "We kind of made one. Now shh! Don't go blabbing all of our secrets!"
"Huh?" Said Lord Secret looking up, "Someone call me?"
Just then there came a pounding pounding on the gates into the Head Council Chambers, and Lóst, Guardian of the Council leaped up to answer it.
Raven and Vinyavagor, two Investigation Correspondents strode into the hall, walked up into the circle, and bowed before the Lady and Lord. They had both been summoned to a private meeting between them and Lady Star and Lord Secret. Lóst stood watch over by the door, out of hearing range.
Lord Secret directed them to two Beanbag Chair/Thrones that had been placed opposite him and Lady Star for the two to sit in. When they were seated he asked them, "Do either of you know why you were summoned here this day?"
"No Master." They chorused. They were younger elves, only around 1100 or so years old. And yet, through their vigilance and steadfast during the rebellion a decade before they were both made Investigator Correspondents.
They were two of the Investigators who determined what was to be done about situations of great importance. Vinyavagor was the Correspondent to the Protection division of the order. Raven was the correspondent to the Head Council, he reported directly to Lady Star and Lord Secret, as did Katra, the head of the Investigation division.
"Then you shall be told now." Said Lady Star in her usual calm melodious voice. "Arda is not alone in the Universe, in fact it is only by the efforts of the Valar that we are protected from outside forces. The main problem with this is we Eldar are trapped in here as well."
"But, aren't we not allowed out of this world?" Raven asked bewildered by her statement.
"We are limited to this realm, this universe. We should be allowed to go far past the edge of the outer sea, as the Men have done already. But we sit quiet and still, here near the Blessed Realm."
"Men have made their way out?!" Vinyavagor exclaimed.
"You forget Vinyavagor my friend," Lord Secret said, "To men is appointed a much shorted existence in this realm than that of ours. In but a mere thousand years they went from the ways of magic to the ways of a lore they call technology implementing engines and such. They have passed the outer sea long ago, and managed to escape the circles of the world while we were resting in our Hidden Halls.
"Men are now scattered amongst the stars, but sadly due to the powers of the Valar protecting this world in which we the firstborn live, they were shut out and were forced to find other worlds in which to live, where they multiplied and spread further, finding other races made after they. So by now they have forgot this world, and those who live here venture out no more, due to the disappearances of those who left long ago."
Well, after the two sat there letting the words of their two leaders sink in, they maintained a vague look on their faces. Then Raven cocked his head to the side, and Vinyavagor scratched his noggin. Evidently they were thrilled with the news.
Then, they realized what was said to them through the strange way Lord Secret had explained it, and saw what they meant. A look of deep understanding developed on their faces, as if they had just passed gas.
Raven finally asked one word. "How?"
"I'm ever so glad you finally asked!" Exclaimed Lady Star cheerfully. She had been worried the brains of the two young elves had been fried. "Well, we do not use technology as you know." She said.
"Right." Agreed Vinyavagor, "No tecnomology."
"No, no Vinya, it's techmology."
"No, you're both wrong." Lóst called over. "It's Cosmology."
"Enough of this!" Lady exclaimed. "It's technology! End of discussion!" She took a moment to regain her cool and then continued. "Well, since we do not use that, we used our good old standby."
"Bribery of the Valar?" Lord Secret asked.
"Shh! Exnay of the ribery-bay." She muttered. "No, we use Enchantments."
"You mean like in the stories of the old ages where elves just sang stuff into existence?" Vinyavagor asked. "You mean they really did that? I thought it was just a myth. Besides," He added, "I was never that good at singing."
"Why's that?" Raven asked, looking puzzled.
"Well, I never got a chance to really practice. Every time I tried people would scream and yell at me and hold their ears. Some how I got the feeling they didn't like it." He explained.
"Getting back to business." Said Lady, trying to control her rapidly growing temper, "We are sending you two through the portal to investigate the worlds outside."
"Why us?" Raven asked.
"Because you two are our most trusted investigators." Lord Secret informed them. "Now go and meet with Heír, our Lore Master, he will fill you in on what we know of the world we are sending you to first, and who you will meet there."
And with that the two rose, bowed, and exited the chambers. After showing the two out the door, Lóst came over to the two leaders and asked rather bluntly, "Why did you really send those two?"
"They're completely expendable." The two answered, and returned to their meditations and tic-tac-toe game they were playing using the force to levitate their pencils. Lóst merely shook her head, and wandered off in search of lemonade.
After exiting into the Main Hall, Raven and Vinyavagor walked a brisk mile and took the first door to their right. It brought them into the great Hall of Lore, archives of the Elven Jedi Council.
They approached the nearest loresperson, which turned out to be Lylene, the Apprentice Master of Lore. She was a nice looking female elf, and she didn't seem to be in her 1200's even.
"We're here to see the Master of Lore, Heír." Raven told her. "Do you know where he is?"
"Nobody see's the Lore Master! Not nobody not no how!" She exclaimed frantically.
"Oh please!" Exclaimed Vinyavagor leading Raven around and away from her. "We are so sick of the Wizard of Oz bit."
"No you misunderstood." She said, catching up with the two. "What I mean is, he isn't here right now so you can't see him."
"Oh." Said Vinyavagor, dropping Raven's hand, which he had been leading him by. "Sorry."
"That's all right, I'm used to it by now." She said. "I just like to deliver people bad news in a good way. Well, he's out quizzing the younglings right now, and will be back in about twelve hours or so. You're welcome to sit and wait of course."
"Sit where?" Asked Vinyavagor looking around for a chair.
"Pick a stack of books if you like." She said, heading off, "It's not like we don't have millions!"
It was true; they did have millions and millions of books, most larger than they were. The shelves took up all the walls in the large hall, reaching up all the way to the forty-foot ceilings. There were leather books, paper books, stone books, magic books, spell books, Jedi Manuals, cook books, dictionaries for hundreds of different languages, Harry Potter books, a strange set of books called The Lord of the Rings Trilogy; well, you name it and they had books on it. Even books on how to walk and chew gum at the same time, and art vital to everyday Elven Jedi life. There was also a large history book sitting in the center of the library on a large pedestal that was being composed by the Master and Apprentice Master of Lore, called the Silmarillion. (Sadly, this book would later be stumbled upon by an author from another dimension who decided to take the book and claim it as his own work).
So, the two chose large books to sit on, and two smaller books to read for the time being. Raven read, "How to keep from getting motion sickness when traveling through a magical gateway leading out of Arda". A lengthy title, but good reading. Vinyavagor, being a typical protector was reading a picture book entitled "Elven Jedi Wet Tee-Shirt Contests". It was somewhat obvious to tell who would do better on this mission than the other.
So the two sat there and waited. And they waited. And they waited. And they (guess what) waited. Raven was nearly finished with his book and Vinyavagor had nearly memorized all the pictures in his when low and behold, the Lore Master himself, Heír strode up to them.
"Well come along!" He said belonging them to follow him with his hand, "We've got a lot of material to cover and not enough time to do it in." And with that he set a brisk pace off up one of the stairs leading up towards the top of the shelving, and off to the other end of the library. There, after the others had caught up with him he pulled a book out of the shelving, and instead of the bookcase swinging open like the two investigators were expecting he thumbed through it and found a map of the Hall of Lore.
"What are you doing?" Asked Raven.
"I'm trying to find where my office is supposed to be. The door leading into it was buried underneath a large pile of books long ago and now I have forgotten where it was." Soon he found the location of his office and led them down the stairs of the other side of the Hall and back towards the Main Hall. Halfway there he stopped and flung a large pile of ancient tomes off to the other side of the room using a bit of concentration and TNT. Sure enough, there was a door leading into a long forgotten part of the Hall of Lore.
He opened the door and beckoned them in. Inside the room was full of a variety of objects of all sorts, and everything was buried in a layer of dust a foot thick.
"How long has you office been missing?" Vinyavagor asked bewildered by the look of the place.
"Eh, around a century now I think. I've been busy you see." He explained offhandedly, as if it was a common thing. Which to him it was. One time he had lost the exit from the Hall of Lore and he and his associates were missing from Head Council meetings for a decade.
"Now." He said brushing off the three chairs around his desk for them to sit in, "I trust Lady Star and Lord Secret have told you about what they managed to find."
"Would we be here if they didn't?" Vinyavagor asked rather arrogantly.
"I don't know." Growled an annoyed Heír between bared teeth, "Perhaps you were just here to read dirty books, and had no knowledge of your mission."
Vinyavagor gulped and shut his trap. "That's a good youngling." Said Heír rather insultingly. "I don't care what you did during the rebellion, if it were up to me you'd still be a Padawan." He turned to Raven; "You on the other hand haven't spoken hardly a word the whole time you were here. Why is that?"
"What do you expect me to say?" He asked. "Hire a maid or fire the old one?"
Heír chuckled slightly and then cleared his throat and decided to get back to business. "Well, since you know you will be arriving on another world, I am guessing you will be wondering which one. Well, I'll tell you what we know…
"The planet Naboo is inhabited by what would be considered the descendents of Numenorians. That means that they have a small amount of Elven blood in their veins. So, if they use some of their poor excuse for lore-"
"Techmologiney?" Vinyavagor interrupted.
"Whatever it is." He said, choosing not to bother scolding him for the interruption. "If they use it to determine what race you are they will see they have something in common with you, and will help more readily."
"And what if they decide not to help?" Raven asked.
"Use a mind-trick." Said Heír offhandedly. "You're going to be a ways from home and you will be allowed to do anything in your power to keep yourselves safe. Anyways, from there you will simply contact the Jedi Council that exists out there, (We know there is one, we can feel them), and you will represent us and arrange for meetings."
"Is it just us whose going?" Vinyavagor asked.
"A company of seven others will be appointed to aid you." Heír informed him."
"Why nine?" Raven asked.
"Why it's tradition in there stories!" Heír exclaimed shocked at their ignorance. "Why just for that you two will sit here in this office and read those stories until the rest of the company is read to go!" And sensing Vinyavagor's thought he turned to him and added, "And no they don't have pictures. And with that Heír left them sitting in his office as he went off to fetch the books. As he left he muttered, "That Vinyavagor's gonna end up just like Boromir!"