A/N: Language-Mangling
Sues Week rolls on. This may be the last actual Sue for this week, since I
don't know if I'll be able to write Friday or not.
I don't own the Tolkien characters, as usual. Also, the Grelvish language was
developed and elaborated from Quenya and Sindarin by the Grey Company, and the
bits of FR Elvish in here were developed by Wizards of the Coast. Any actual
Tolkienien Elvish is probably accidental.
The Game of the Gods, 27
"You don't want to talk about it?"
"No," said Morgoth busily, still digging in his box of Sues. Nienna
insisted that she wanted a try at playing the game, too, which Morgoth thought
was rather strange when she had just seen Fëanor run towards the west of
Valinor. Surely she should want to go after him and prevent more escapes from
Mandos.
But Nienna seemed more intent on "helping" him, whatever that meant,
and so Morgoth was still sitting where he had been and looking for another Sue.
"It's hard, isn't it?"
Morgoth glanced up, realizing too late what he had probably done by saying,
"What do you mean?"
"To be all alone," said Nienna. "The Dark Power of the world,
Fëanor named you, but was he ever considering your feelings? No. I think not.
You should have told him off for that. I will, very severely, the next time I
see him."
Morgoth felt nauseous for a moment, at the very thought of what Fëanor would
say if he told him that. Then he shook his head. Either way, he thought, he was
well past that. Fëanor had obviously dashed off in pursuit of a goal more important
to him than taunting Morgoth, and would not be coming back.
Which didn't mean there weren't others out there waiting to hurt him. There was
Maedhros, and Morgoth was now convinced that that one was crazy enough to do
anything. There was Finwë, and the deadly diary in his possession. Morgoth
winced at the thought of Finwë reading that aloud.
"Morgoth?"
Morgoth came back to himself. Nienna was rising to her feet with a look of
concern on her face. "You look tense," she said. "And you
obviously weren't paying attention to what I was saying. Do you need a shoulder
rub?"
Morgoth shuddered in spite of himself, then cleared his throat. "No, thank
you," he said. "I think we should play the game if we're playing
it." He hesitated, and then curiosity overcame him. "Are you sure you
want to do this?"
"Of course," said Nienna. "You're just as important as anyone
else, and you deserve just as much help."
"But Fëanor-"
"Oh, I know what he's doing," said Nienna comfortably.
Morgoth blinked at her. Well, it wasn't impossible that she could have known
Fëanor when he was still in Mandos, he supposed. "You do?"
Nienna nodded. "This is just his way of working out his abandonment
issues. First his mother died and left him, and then he became estranged from
his wife, and then, of course, death parted him from his father and his sons.
It means that he feels he doesn't get enough attention-"
Morgoth laughed, unable to help himself. Nienna frowned at him. "You are a
fellow sufferer yourself, Mor. I would think that you'd feel more
sympathetic."
Morgoth hastily moved his Sue forward. "Here."
"How typical is she?" Nienna asked. "I was busy trying to
counsel Curufin once again when you played this before."
"Why should it matter how typical she is?"
"I want some insight into your mind."
Morgoth sighed. "Pretty typical."
"All right, then." Nienna nodded serenely.
Morgoth inched the Sue cautiously forward. This wasn't one he would have tried
getting away with were he playing Varda, since she would have objected at once,
but he thought Nienna felt sorry enough for him to give him a break.
------
"Amin mela lle..."
Those were the words that A'mael sighed again and again to herself, as she rode
towards Ithilien to join the Prince she had loved from childhood. Of course,
she couldn't marry him, since she was only a servant and he was the Prince; he
had to marry a Princess. But she could go to Ithilien and gaze with longing and
lovesick eyes on Prince Legolas, and that would have to content her.
"Amin mella lle" was the refrain that haunted all her dreams.
"I love you" she dreamed of saying to Legolas Greenleaf, and seeing
his blue eyes fill with love as he smiled back.
Sometimes A'mael held out hope in the prophecy of her name. She was called
"beloved," after all. That meant she would be so.
But would Legolas ever say, "Amin mela lle" back to her? Would
he ever?
-----
"A moment."
Morgoth glanced up, cheer somewhat restored by Nienna frowning at the Sue. She
was still going to let him get away with this, he thought, but she would have
some distress about it first. Good. Morgoth needed something to remind him that
he was supposed to be the dark power of the world at the moment.
"Yes?"
"I thought Legolas knew Sindarin and Silvan," said Nienna.
"I would assume that he does."
"Then what is that?"
"Elvish."
Nienna twisted her head around and squinted at the phrase as if to see if it
would make more sense. Then she said, "No, it's not."
Morgoth grinned. "It's like Elvish, though, and surely near enough to be
called so. After all, isn't it easier than cudgeling your brains trying to
learn Quenya and Sindarin?"
"They're not hard languages," said Nienna plaintively. "Valarin
is tough for Elves, of course, but Elvish is not." She paused.
"A'mael-" a twist of her lip "-is an Elf, I presume?"
"Of course."
"Then she should know her own language."
Morgoth clucked his tongue. "She is a Sue, Nienna."
Nienna looked unconvinced.
"With abandonment issues," Morgoth added, and continued the story.
-----
A'mael didn't remember her mother or father. She had been found sobbing softly
in the woods one morning, with a strange golden pendant around her neck. Or at
least A'mael's foster mother had told her that much, but when A'mael looked at
the pendant, she saw only a small and crude carving of wood. There was nothing
to indicate that she was special, though she would have liked to believe so-
especially because she had red hair and green eyes, unlike any other Elf.
-----
"Not true," said Nienna, who was trying to look stern, and failing.
"Yes, but they don't know about Maedhros and Nerdanel and the twins,"
said Morgoth.
"How can they not know?" Nienna asked.
"She's really lonely, Nienna."
Nienna looked tempted to continue harassing him about the Sue, but then sighed
and said, "Awww."
Morgoth smirked and continued reciting.
-----
But, of course, A'mael was considered ugly among the Sy'Tel'Quessir, the forest
Elves-
-----
"I know those don't exist," said Nienna hotly.
"It's really hard to learn Quenya and Sindarin," said Morgoth.
"Especially for someone who was abandoned at an early age, and made to
grow up feeling unloved and unwanted."
Nienna watched him in silence for a moment. Then she said, "What about
someone who started out with high prospects, and then crashed in ruin because
of the malice of one person?"
"Yes, it is hard," Morgoth agreed.
Nienna's eyes narrowed. "I was talking about Fëanor."
Morgoth stiffened. "That was his own fault as much as mine," he said
defensively. "Besides, you said he had abandonment issues to work
out."
Nienna's eyes narrowed further, but she said nothing.
Morgoth hurried on with his story.
-----
And she would never have a chance of winning Prince Legolas's heart.
"Amin mela lle, dan n'lle mela amin," A'mael whispered, and
kicked her horse into a gallop.
-----
"And what was that?"
"I love you, but you do not love me," said Morgoth expertly.
Nienna closed her eyes. Then she said, "I am trying to understand, but
this is as unintelligible as Fëanor telling me in Mandos that he preferred to
talk to Vairë about her weaving because 'at least she was entertaining.'"
Morgoth kept his face innocent. "She has abandonment issues."
"But she was raised in Mirkwood?"
"Yes."
"Like Legolas?"
"As a servant of the Court, and not a Princess, but yes."
"Elves don't have servants."
"They might."
Nienna sighed.
------
A'mael listened with tears in her eyes as Legolas bid farewell to the friend, a
dwarf, who had come to visit him.
"Namaaarie," he was currently saying. "Farewell."
-----
"That's a misspelled Quenya word," said Nienna. "What's it doing
there?"
She sounded more resigned than anything else, Morgoth noted. He grinned.
"Serving a purpose."
"To make me hate your Sue?" Nienna snapped.
"You don't hate anybody," said Morgoth. "Remember? Even Fëanor
is just misunderstood. You should have no trouble liking A'mael."
"She's not going to sing, is she?" Nienna asked.
Morgoth smiled. "Maybe."
------
"A'mael! Cormamin lindua ele lle!" Legolas called, as he came
up to her. "My heart sings to see thee."
A'mael blushed furiously. She hadn't ever dreamed of a greeting like this.
"Prince," she said, bowing her head. And then, unexpectedly, the word
she had never meant to speak to him came out. "Melamine." My
love.
-----
"Plastic?" Nienna asked.
Morgoth glanced at her. "What are you on about?"
"She's calling him plastic?"
"She's calling him 'my love.'"
Nienna just shook her head.
-----
A'mael stood with her eyes down, trembling. What have I done? she
thought. He will kill me. He cannot love a servant!
But Legolas's hand came down and touched her chin, and then he lifted her face
so that he could look into her eyes.
"I meant what I said," he whispered. "Melamine, amin mela lle."
And he kissed her.
-----
"Do you know how hard it is to take your Sue seriously when she butchers
Elvish like that?" Nienna asked.
"You're not going to do anything to stop her, though," said Morgoth
comfortably. "Or you would have by now. She can learn she's a Princess and
can marry Legolas easily enough."
Nienna tilted her head. "Exactly like Legolas, you said."
"Except for class distinctions-"
"The minor matter of class distinctions that don't exist, yes."
Morgoth rolled his eyes. "There has to be that kind of thing, or there's
no dramatic tension to the story."
Nienna glanced at the Sue, eyebrows raised. "There's dramatic tension
here? I really hadn't noticed."
-----
A'mael wandered in delight beside Anduin, dazed and happy. Legolas had kissed
her and told her he loved her-
-----
"Called her plastic-"
"Shhhh!"
-----
-and now there was only the minor matter of King Thraindul to worry about.
-----
Nienna winced. "Must you?"
"Do you really think she could spell his name right?"
-----
But they would overcome that. A'mael was certain of it. All they needed was
love.
-----
"She is stupid, then," said Nienna.
Morgoth shrugged. "If you want to think of her that way. But she still has
Legolas."
-----
A'mael was smiling to herself when she heard a sudden sweetly harsh sound, and
looked up.
A white bird flew above the river, feathers fired by the light of the setting
sun. As A'mael watched, it opened its beak and cried again.
A gull. It was a gull.
And the sea-longing grabbed hold of her so powerfully that A'mael knew she
could not deny it.
Dreamily, she walked forward, following the gull down Anduin. She would go to
Valinor. She would go to the west. She would go across all the waters-
Or she might have, if she hadn't walked dreamily into Anduin, and just kept
walking until she drowned.
-----
Morgoth sulked.
"Oh, come on, Mor," said Nienna, trying and completely failing to
contain her victorious smile. "You said yourself that she was stupid.
Imagine growing up in Mirkwood and not knowing her language or the name of her
King! She would indeed try to walk into the West without building a ship."
"You're no fun to play with anymore," said Morgoth.
Nienna opened her mouth to reply, and turned around as someone exclaimed
sharply behind her, "There you are! What did you think you were
doing?"
Yavanna ran towards them, her face a picture of distress. Nienna glanced at her
sideways. "We were playing this game."
"There's no time for it!" said Yavanna. "I've been looking
everywhere for you." For a moment, her gaze went to Morgoth, and he
shifted uneasily as he saw there was pity in it. "We have a chance to
recapture at least one of the escapees from Mandos, and I want you on the west
of him. I don't trust Aulë not to just let him go," she added, frowning.
"He's been strange lately. I'm sure that he was the one who gave Fëanor
access to that forge."
"Which one are we talking about?" Nienna asked, rising to her feet.
Again, that sideways gaze, and then Yavanna said, "Finwë."
Morgoth stood up. "Does he have the diary?" he demanded.
Yavanna said, "Um, well, yes."
"And is he going to read it?"
"He might have already read the first few pages-"
Morgoth began to run. Yavanna was beside him in a few minutes, giving him that
same doubtful look. Of course, she had never really trusted him since he
destroyed her Trees.
"You want to hear this?" she asked.
"Of course not," said Morgoth. "I want to stop him. You can
trust me even above Nienna, who thinks Fëanor deserves some sympathy. I have a
stake in putting them all back in Mandos where they belong."
Yavanna clucked her tongue. "And exactly how are you going to do
that?"
Morgoth held up the box of Sues.
Yavanna hesitated. "We should not turn to evil to stop evil," she
said.
"Yes, you shouldn't," said Morgoth. "But you're you, and on the
side of good. I'm evil, and perfectly allowed to do so."
Yavanna brightened. "That does make perfect sense. Come along."
Morgoth ran as hard as he could to the West, focusing his thoughts on stopping
Finwë. They would stop him and get the diary away from him, and then
everything would be back to normal.
Except that Fëanor would still be out there somewhere, with the Silmarils...
Morgoth whimpered a little.
"Stop that," Nienna scolded from the other side. "Accentuate the
positive."
So Morgoth is on the side of the angels.
Except not really, I suppose.