Arda's Eye

Authors Notes: Okay first of all a lot of the firsts parts of the fiction take place in the Undying Lands. I've taken the liberty of creating a few places (i.e. elven settlements) because the map I had of it only had Lorien and Aqualonde. As for the Lorien in the Undying Lands… I don't think it's actually ruled by Galadriel but I've decided to write it that way in the name of artistic liberty. Also the Ainur and the Elves called the Undying Lands 'Aman' so I have used both terms interminably.  Oh yeah, Olórin is what the Elves of Aman know Gandalf as. I've tried to get my facts correct but probably have invariably made some huge blunders so please correct me! Also an author needs encouragement to keep writing and so keeping with the spirit of fanfiction.net---- please Review!

 

One – The Council of Elven Kinfolk

The Undying Lands, 562 years after the War of the Ring

Two young elves raced past him, niphredils threaded through their fair hair, scattered by the wind to lie peacefully on the grass where Elven feet would not take care not to tread on them. Before him was the nightfall, still and quiet, the stars of Valar threaded through the sky. There was a sweet fragrance coming from Lorien, and the mallorn trees grew strong West of the Sea. Legolas Greenleaf remembered well his surprise when he saw Lothlorien the True, fairer than even Galadriel's realm of the same namesake. Here the leaves in the forests did not fade, nor did they fall, and for a great many years had brought peace to his heart. He had lost count of the years he had spent in the Aman. Gimli had counted it- Gandalf told him that Sam too had vigilantly kept tally though Bilbo and Frodo had known better. But they were all of them gone now, and so too, seemingly, had the years. Legolas did not deny that sometimes thinking of his friends who had come, or those he had left behind whose footsteps now also wandered some other Place, a bitterness would be released in his heart as though a hidden wellspring which when released bled clear and utterly, yet here in the Undying Lands, unhappiness did not sit well.

Of the Fellowship, only Mithrandir and I remain now, Legolas thought and turned to look unwillingly East. Only the Firstborn and the Maia. We endure and the others wander paths that are lost to us.

He had thoughts like that sometimes- it would well up in him unbidden, but his Elvish heart understood the tides of change too well, having lived through it so long. Yet by the standards of the Teleri and Vanyar Elves here he was still young.  And not only young, but also a Sindarian. A wood elf, one of those whose ancestors had chosen starlight. And there were many of them, from Lorien and Imladris, some from his own kingdom in Ithilien and others from long lost Doriath of Thingol Greycloak (though most of them were Noldar) and other Elven dwellings on Middle Earth in ages past. They dwelled together now with the High Elves in the many kingdoms of Aman, learning and taking pleasure in the nuances of each passing day, for the two things never seemed to come to an end.

Or could it?

Legolas gripped the intricately wrought steel of the balcony in his home of Annunfaie, watching the lights the Elven homes in the trees, and the spring welling gently through the white mountains. He placed his hand over his heart. What had come over him? It was worry of the Council of Elven Kinfolks no doubt. It had gone on the whole day already. For the first time he could remember in a long time he had been counting the hours. What as thank Mithrandir so long to come?

Surely, Legolas sought to reassure himself. They will think of a solution. For we could not possibly have allowed such a mistake to come into being. Not now, not in this time of peace.

He remembered as if yesterday though it must have been over twenty years ago when the name Arda's Eye was first mentioned to him. His friend Arafaern had mentioned it to him in passing conversation they walked through the forests, returning from speaking of the history of Numenor with Elrond Halfelven was now ruler of Mallmalen 'Golden Circle'. Arafaern had said, "I heard from Arufin and Tírluin that they were expecting all their labors to come to fruit any time now."

"Truly?" Legolas had been surprised. He was aware that Arufin- being a great archer and skilled in the arts of battle who had been training under Glorfindel only submitted to the more scholarly arts of his brother Tírluin due to his love and his unwillingness from them to be separated. "What labors are we speaking of?"

Arafaern's eyes glistened. "It is some secret. I was only told after Arufin became inebriated one day – you know the day his sister was wedded – and he revealed it to me. He made it all pompous and everything- some new spell or something. He was calling it 'Arda's Eye'."

Legolas frowned and for a moment a flash of premonition threaded through his veins. His friends were no younger than he, and elves of great strength and promise, but he had once being one of the Nine Walkers and had ruled a Kingdom- and the experiences had not left him untouched. He said now, "A great name for a single spell. Arda: the world. It is strange, is it not?"

"Yes," Arafaern frowned. "I had not thought about it in that manner. You needn't be so gloomy about the whole thing. No doubt Arufin was exaggerating. Tírluin came and made his brother shut up. Pity."

Legolas smiled lightly. "I was not being gloomy. Merely if Tírluin and Arufin are hiding matters from us- it cannot fail to be a thing of importance. Arufin, as you know, is not a man of tact. Also Tírluin's master Asagil… I do not trust the man. He is a man of great power and you need not laugh for although I am more inclined to the crafts of war, I do not scorn him merely for his absorbance with his Elvish magic. Yet there is something unsavory about him… he is wise but I fear his wisdom is blinded by his vanity."

Arafaern became grave for it seemed to him Legolas was speaking truly. He had not thought about it that way. Yet those were times of peace and the two friends could not see what was to come. Now Legolas cursed himself for not bringing the matter before Elrond faster. In the end it was Galadriel who raised the commotion that brought the whole affair into the light. Having caught wind of the rumors no doubt from one of her own people and having the wisdom to take the whole thing seriously, she had immediately dispatched riders to Asagil's Windsedge. Soon after Asagil was marched off to the dungeons of Aqualonde where it's King had scarcely had use of it, and the Council of Elven Kinfolks being called. Now the rumors spread like wildfire over all the land and each piece of gossip that reached Legolas' ears was more frightening than the next. He was wise enough to dismiss most of it as excited imagings but there was no doubt of the gravity of events…

Gandalf who had gone to the Council had promised to return quickly and tell Legolas who had happened but the Council had already wiled the whole day and showed no signs of ending. Galadriel's realm of Lorien where it was held was barred by tight-lipped Quenya-speaking elves and it was impossible to get through them.

"What's the use of  going to the lengths of learning the Quenya tongue if they won't even talk to us?" A frustrated Sindarian elf was heard muttering. But truly it was not personal. Just nobody was allowed to talk.

Now Legolas paced up and down the balcony. Downstairs he heard a familiar whistle and looking down, his keen Elvish eyes saw Arafaern waving up at him.

"Has there been news?"

Arafaern said, "Aye, but not from Lorien. Let me in and I will tell you."

Legolas admitted his friend and noticed his agitation. No sooner was the door closed did Arafaern pull a scroll out of robes. "It's from Arufin. He and Tírluin have been arrested!"

"With Asagil?" Legolas asked.

"Yes," Arafaern said. "All of the apprentices have been arrested. Lord Glorion's orders apparently. Arufin was close friends with one of the guards and managed to get this letter to us."

Legolas took the letter from his friend. It ran;

Legolas and Arafaern,

Cormamin lindua ele lle (My heart sings to see thee)! But I fear the song would be in vain for there is none to hear. I cannot speak much- there is no time to write. But I could not allow Tírluin and I to be disgraced in our friends eyes so I shall endeavor to get this to reach you somehow.

We did not do it. Or at least we did it and had no idea what we were doing. Alas that I did not speak with more force and had taken Tírluin with me to Glorfindel's Halls where we would not have met such disaster. It is a terrible thing- Arda's Eye! Tírluin is crying now for he did not know what he was helping unleash into the world. It is an affair of the Valar and truly Legolas you were right when you often said- "We elves are wise, but our wisdom is clouded by our vanity". It was vanity that led Asagil to do what he did and…

I cannot speak more for there is someone coming. Tírluin says it is the guard that has come to take us away. We have been expecting them for some time. I shall not struggle. Bear my words to my father. Perhaps we shall meet soon. Until then, namaarie!

Arufin son of Arumentir

Legolas felt his heart chill. "Have you told his father?"

"Nay, Arumentir went to the Council of Elven Kinfolks at dawn and this letter came into my hands some ten minutes ago. I ran all the way here."

"And in good time too," Legolas's ears had picked up a familiar step on the stairs. "It is Mithrandir. Quick- open the door!"

Arafaern leapt up the open the door. Gandalf slipped in quietly.

"At last!" Legolas said. He gestured to a seat and Gandalf sat down wearily. Arafaern closed the door quickly.

Legolas felt the fear in his heart rise just by Gandalf's limp stature, often now he looked kingly, walking tall and proud with Narya the Great proudly on his finger. Círdan had refused it's return, saying it belonged more to Gandalf now. Even the stone looked dull now on Gandalf's finger. Yet, a whisper in his mind told him, he could remember a time when Gandalf looked similarly weary. It was before he became White, and they were in the depths of Moria…

He pushed those thoughts away now. Instead he asked slowly, making sure his voice was even, "Gandalf, what news?"

Gandalf sighed, his white hair seeming to have lost it's glow. "Even how I do not know whether I should speak of it to you. You are a dear friend but it is not something I would like to bring unto friends. Gandalf- bearer of ill news! As always."

Legolas shook his head. "If all I have heard already has a ring of truth, then this is something that everyone will hear about soon. You are not bringing it upon anybody. Speak now, though I do not want to be hasty. Two of our friends have become ensnared in this mess and I would like to know why."

Gandalf's eye opened. "Two friends?"

"You know of them- Tírluin and Arufin, both sons of Arumentir. Recently they were occupied as Asagil's apprentices. They have both been arrested."

"I see," Gandalf took a deep breath. "Well here it is but beware! Guard your ears and your minds well. It is the affair of Arda's Eye and it is no small matter. I wonder if you were aware of a being called Maelvar?"

Legolas shook his head and even Arafaern who thought himself well read could not place a face to the name.

"It is no surprise. He is one of the Valar, the Greater Spirits."

"But I thought we knew all the Valar and the Maia… you Olórin are after all…" 

Gandalf shook his head. "There are countless Valar in the Timeless Halls. Who knows why they dwell and why they choose to reveal themselves to us? Yet Maelvar has come- and indeed I knew his presence but I too has made the mistake of overlooking it. Not Asagil! That is unfortunate. You did not know what Tírluin and Arufin were meddling  at Windsedge?"

Arafaern shook his head. "Nay, they would not speak to us of it."

"And no wonder." Gandalf shook his head. "For they were playing with wildfire. Wildfire that can little be contained. The power of creation! Such that no Elf, Maia, or Valar before has controlled. That, my friends, is Arda's Eye. Now if you wish to hear something more frightening- this morning five black dragons flew over Aqualonde."

The next day Legolas accompanied Gandalf to the Council of Elven Kinfolks, for according to Gandalf next to nothing had been decided on the first day. Arafaern was dispatched to Aqualonde where he was to find out what exactly had happened to Tírluin and Arufin and to watch out for low flying dragons. Legolas was worried for him for although Arafaern was no novice he had never known War (being unborn as of yet in the events of the War of the Jewels and the Elven Kinslaying), and events were moving at a pace and at a breadth few could comprehend.

"You say that Maelvar has taken this power from Asagil?"

Gandalf sighed. His horse Vathar made an uneasy sound even as he moved steadily and lightly through the forests of Annunfaie. Vathar was of the lineage of Shadowfax the Great, blended with many lines of elven horses.

"Indeed if it were not so I would not be so grieved. Asagil is a proud, foolish man but not evil. He is a High Elf and has never willingly sought the harm of another living creature. He knew what he did but nonetheless managed to persuade himself that what he did was for the good of all the elves."

Legolas looked away suddenly. Very quietly he voiced a question that had weighed on his mind ever since Gandalf had told him the extraordinary news. "What… drew Asagil to Arda's Eye? After all what does he lack here in Valinor?"

And Gandalf was silent for he had been both expecting and dreading such a question. Legolas did not press. He was rewarded for his patience when Gandalf finally said, "Arda's Eye has the power to create and recreate. Asagil's son was lost in the War of the Jewels and though it is said that Valinor releases the souls of the fallen Elves back into the Undying Lands… Asagil has not heard from his Teanör. Who knows, perhaps it is not time yet? But Asagil fears. Thus as you can see, he fell all  too easily into Maelvar's trap."

Legolas took a deep breath and for the first time he could remember the forests lost color for him. "And you mean to speak that this Eye can also restore to us our heroes and our… fallen friends?"

Gandalf looked at him sharply and Legolas lowered his eyes. "No don't answer that question. I understand. Truly it's a terrible thing this power. None should wield it and play Ilúvatar."

"Indeed, none should." Gandalf looked up. Before them the forest looked as though it had been bathed by a golden rain.  There were many elves congressing here, most of them wanting access to the Council. A few were voicing heated opinions and gathering crowds.

"It's Olórin! And Legolas of the Nine!"

They were instantly surrounded by Elves, wanting to know what had happened. Legolas noticed that many of them were young- only in their first century or so. He made non-committal answers and allowed Gandalf to pull them through the crowd. At the gates of the Council, it was barred by two Teleri Elves dressed in full battle gear. Legolas blinked for rarely had he seen such war clothing. Beside him Gandalf was cursing, "Foolish, foolish. Lord Glorion's doing no doubt. Elrond could not have let his happen." Legolas understood. Two War Elves dressed for battle only incensed the crowd further.

They were admitted and the spears closed behind them. They walked up the long tree stairwell full of golden lights. Today there was no song- only Elven voices calling to each other. They walked until even those faded. In the realm of the Council, Galadriel presided over with absolute silence. She was sitting on her golden throne in her a white and gold mantle, her long golden hair falling about her shoulders. She lifted her head as they entered, her blue eye falling over them keenly. She smiled then and though the smile was grave, her beauty and might lifted Legolas' heart. For it seemed to him that Galadriel was fairer than even when she was in the Lothlorien of Middle Earth. For her sadness had been stripped away from her, her fading crown disappeared but now a living dream had replaced it. And as often when he saw the Lady Galadriel he could not help but lament the continual absence of Lord Celeborn the Wise. This, also, invariably led thought to that of his own father Thranduil. The two Elven Lords yet still wandered somewhere in Middle Earth and the thought brought a wave of nostalgia over him.

Galadriel's brother Finrod King of Nargothrond was there in his blue and silver mantle. Many great Elven-Kings were there, and the gloom and power in their faces oft made Legolas' heart grave for it seemed many years of wisdom was laid upon them, burdened with much responsibility. Yet he was lifted by relief also. And Elrond was there, and he smiled at Legolas, though the smile was grim. There were also many other elves he recognized; Glorfindel and also Finrod's son Lasgirad, Lord Glorion and his daughter Fréa the Serene of whose beauty and wisdom songs had been spun. Her eye fell over him now and it seemed to him that she was sad, unbearably, heartbreaking so for one who dwelt in such bliss. His eye wandered and to Galadriel's right, he beheld a man as though a middle-aged man which dark coarse hair and muscled brown limbs, and yet not so. This was Kilkarad- known as the King of the Horses and a Maia such as Gandalf.

They were bade to sit. When all had arrived, Galadriel stood. "Vedui' il'er (Greetings all). All present here today already know the reason for which we have come. Because of our foolishness and our softness grown in years of peace we have ignored a threat which has been working in the very Kingdoms we claim to uphold. This threat is Arda's Eye and our own disregard has made

escalated into a calamity that we can ill afford to put aside any longer. Already what we could have destroyed at the root with little effort, we must now struggle with the strong branches of a tree almost grown. Yet I say, act now! For when the tree has become a forest- then there will no longer a place for Elves."

"Act we must and act now," Finrod agreed. "For already Maelvar has taken the Eye from us and gone over the Sea. We have not known it but for many decades already he has been polluting that land, waiting, preparing to make it his home once his task was finished here. Mor'locki already have flown over Aqualonde and the fool Asagil whispers of yet darker things. We cannot afford to wait any longer than we have already tarried."

Legolas knew better than to make a sound of surprise but a great darkness fell over his heart at the news. For many years he had waited for his father and in the eyes of Elves five hundred years or so years was not a long time to wait. Yet it had not occurred to him to worry. He lifted his eyes to look at Galadriel but her eyes were veiled from him.

"Yet,"  Glorion spoke up now. "If he has taken the Eye over the sea, then it is no longer a threat to us..."

"Foolish!" Gandalf spoke up. "The Evil will grow if you let it linger. Maelvar is depending on our very reticence to allow him to build a stronghold- and that we have allowed  already! Then when he has built up sufficient power and has corrupted all of Middle Earth, where do you think his eye would turn to next?"
Lord Glorion thinned his lips and his gray eyes fell displeased over Gandalf. "So Olórin," he said. "You council War then? And how, do you propose, do we stop Maelvar? For he is a Valar as Morgoth. And we have little idea how to wield the Eye."

"Not wield it," To Glorion's obvious shock, his daughter Fréa now spoke. "For that would be folly. Yet father, if you would remember, Morgoth was felled by a mortal. Beren son of Barahir, lover of Lúthien Tinúviel."

A expression of pain crossed the face of one of the Elven-Kings. Lúthien was his niece.

"So the question is," Elrond spoke subtly now as one used to maneuvering between the words of others. "Firstly whether to act, and then how to."

Finrod spoke, "We must act. Have all agreed?"

"Yet the Eye-"

"Peace, Glorion," Elrond was not a senior among the Elven Kings but his opinion was deeply respected. He was after all, a descendant of Melian. "We are only discussing the prior and not the latter."

"To act," Galadriel agreed. "For we have created this error and we must correct it."

"To act," There was a general consensus to Legolas' relief.

"And now how?" Gandalf said before Glorion could speak once again. The room was suddenly cloaked by silence as they Elves considered. Kilkarad made sounds at the back of his throat as a horse might, slightly impatient.

"We must… we must send Elves back to Middle Earth." One of the Elven-Kings spoke now. There was power in his voice and yet sorrow also. "Elves prepared for war."

"Yet what is to say that we are not sending them to their deaths?" Glorion countered. "We cannot send our children to a certain death without some hope of victory!"

"And hope there is!" Galadriel said, silencing the others. "For we are not without hope. Maelvar is yet young, he knows little of the ways of Middle Earth, and their resistance to his rule."

"There are only men there. With the Numenorean blood spent, what is there to resist him?" Glorion defied her as always.

"Yet even the ways of men are obscure and often unexpected." Legolas was forced to speak now, even his Elven patience would not allow him to keep his peace while Glorion spoke ignorantly of what he did not know. "You think not highly of men Lord Glorion, that the Council knows. Yet I must speak now to say that they are often honorable and though perhaps they have not Elven wisdom, they do not lack in bravery and resources. In times of desperation, men have their own ways of keeping faith."

"Legolas speaks truly," Galadriel was pleased and she let it show. "I have known men, and though their ways are different from ours they will not bow to Maelvar's ill ruling. But they cannot do it alone. We must send Elves. If only to scout and report what has happened while we have sat here, blind." Glorion was forced to concede to this.

"Very well then," Finrod said. "First we will send Elves to scout, and they will report back. The next course of action will proceed from there."

"May I suggest," Elrond said. "That we take care to learn as much as possible of the Eye from Asagil? We will need his knowledge in this matter."

"Two groups of Elves must now be sent," one of the Elven-Kings spoke. "One to Aqualonde to learn to secrets of Arda's Eye. And another across Middle Earth to learn what has happened. Who of this Council will lead them?"

There was a silence. Suddenly Galadriel looked up and it seemed to Legolas that the light of her eyes pierced his soul. Yet he could not speak. A vision rose before his eyes of his home in Annunfaie and the trees there that do not loose their leaves, elven laughter and songs that do not lament. Eventually Lasgirad said, "I will go across to Middle Earth. I have oft wanted to know it's ways and I grieved when we were sealed from it."

Kilkarad nodded. "I will come with you for I have been there before."

A slight strain of pain crossed Finrod's face but he did not let it show in his voice. "Let it be so. Lasgirad will pick a band of Elves from my own land who well versed in magic and battle."

"And the party to Aqualonde?"

Feeling like a coward, Legolas said, "I will go. For I know well two of Asagil's apprentices. They will assist me in this matter."

Elrond agreed. "That is well. Your friend, Legolas who you brought to see me some days ago. He is well versed in magic. You must bring him. Mithrandir, you perhaps would accompany them?"

Gandalf said decisively, "It was my intention from the start."

Thus the Council had decided.

Up next is 'Two Elves and Two Traitors'. If you want to read it sooner I suggest you REVIEW

(^__^). Don't forget to tell me how you like it so far, and any mistakes I may have made (plenty I'm sure).