Chapter Twelve: Sinag-Tala

Maedhros spun round when he heard the voice. I did not expect that, he thought as he, along with his companions, drew towards the port side of the ship, the side that was facing the reef.

And he blinked at what he saw.

A rather small, but slender young woman was standing on the wall, her left hand holding a spear, while her right rested on the handle of the dagger that was tied to her right side. She seemed as if she had swum to get to the wall, because her jet-colored hair was wet and dripping water. Droplets glistened on her tanned skin, catching the dying light of Anar like golden crystals, casting a warm glow of light around her.

She narrowed her eyes at them then when none spoke. "Again, I ask you: state your names, strangers, and your purpose in these waters. This is my people's territory, and you have come into it without our knowledge."

"Hail and peace, lady," Telpeär responded then. "We mean no harm to you or to your people. We are merely folk who have lost our way, blown into your seas by the storm."

The woman's eyes narrowed further, and little lines appeared on hr brow. "You have explained how you got here, but you did not answer my questions."

Telpeär seemed to color slightly at that, and responded. "Forgive me, lady. I am Telpeär, and these are my companions: Ereinion, Glorfindel, Ecthelion, and Maedhros. We were on our way to the port of Yaminah, but the storm blew us off course, and we found ourselves here. We would proceed with our voyage, but we seem to have lost our bearings, and our ship has taken damage from the storm. We seek sanctuary here for the time being, until we are able to repair our vessel and make her seaworthy again."

The woman tilted her head back slightly, gazing upon them more fully. When she did so, Maedhros felt a shiver of familiarity run up and down his spine.

Her eyes were silver-gray – a particular shade that was present only in the Elves and those of Elven descent. But Pallando's journals had made no mention of an Elf being present this far south, much less an Elf being the parent of a child. And he was certain that Pallando would have made mention of it, if he knew.

But what if, by some chance or accident, he had not?

For some odd reason, Maedhros remembered his brother. The girl's shining silver eyes were so like to Maglor's, and the almost ringing clarity of her voice when she spoke could almost have been that of his brother, save higher, more feminine, and with a different accent. Could he have fathered this child?

He shook his head. No, it was impossible, illogical. Maglor would not have done that. He would not have wed a mortal woman and gotten her with child. It went against his nature.

But what do you know of Maglor now, a small voice demanded in his head. What, indeed, did he know of Maglor, after so many thousands of years of separation? Many years spent living in Arda could have changed his brother, could have made him different. Maedhros was well aware of that fact.

I am clutching at straws, he thought. He could not hold such a hope, lest it be proven false. This child might have been sired by any number of people from the north who had gray eyes. It was, after all, an easy trait to pass from parent to child.

A deep, almost hollow sound echoed across the waves from the shore, causing Maedhros to look up towards the source. The sound lasted for five heartbeats, before it stopped, leaving a crystalline silence in its wake. And then, that silence was broken by two more short blasts, each lasting two heartbeats each.

Sinag-Tala smiled slightly then as she looked over her shoulder. "Ah, it seems that the escort is on its way." She turned back to them, her smile becoming just a little graver. "I hope that you will forgive me for my curtness a moment ago. There is war in the air, and I cannot afford to be lax. If you wish, I shall take you with me back to shore."

"And what of our ship?" Ereinion asked. "She is damaged, but still seaworthy if we can make repairs on her."

"We will bring her in when the tide is high enough," Sinag-Tala said with a wave of her hand, as if dismissing the next obvious question: when would high tide be. She smiled then, perhaps sensing their anxiety. "You need not worry for her safety; we have vessels enough of our own, and we certainly do not wish to damage such a beautiful ship as yours any further."

Maedhros relaxed. Glorfindel was right. These folk were good people. They would be safe in their land and in their company for the meantime.

He raised his head slightly then, and noticed that four canoes were headed towards them. Spear tips and naked sword blades gleamed in the last rays of sunlight, and he realized then that these were no ordinary escorts. These were warriors, and apparently well trained in fighting, for they held their weapons with a wary ease.

He noticed that there were also women amongst the men, armed as well with spears or swords. Maedhros frowned. He remembered a few women who, in the First Age, had fought at the side of their men to protect their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Haleth, Lady of the Haladin, was the foremost of these women. But such women were the exception, and not the norm.

Sinag-Tala's attention was now diverted away from them, for she was speaking with two of the warriors who had come in the boats – one a woman, the other, a man. They seemed quite similar to Sinag-Tala in that they also possessed the same golden skin, and the same raven hair as she did, but unlike Sinag-Tala, their bodies were covered with tattoos.

Maedhros did not know whether to feel revulsion or fascination for the markings that these people bore. While on one hand he had an aversion to tattooing, he also had to admit that the patterns and designs that rippled and undulated on the skin of these people were quite beautiful – nothing like the crude, savage images that the Orcs painted themselves with.

At length, Sinag-Tala looked back at them, and waved her hand. "Come," she called. "You must come down from there. We will take you to shore now."

Sinag-Tala watched as the five strangers disappeared from her sight to another part of the ship – perhaps to get together whatever supplies they might need for when they got to shore.

"Are you sure that this is a wise thing to do, bringing these strangers to our land?"

Sinag-Tala turned to look at Hiraya, and she tried to keep her voice steady, trying to betray nothing of the anxiety and confusion she had felt when she was speaking to Talim only moments ago. "I believe that I am doing no wrong," she replied. "They are as they say: strangers who have lost their way during the storm."

Hiraya's eyes narrowed. "And what do you make of their ship? It is unlike the ships of Rûmenyen and Khemet."

"No, they are not. You are right on that point." Here, Sinag-Tala smiled softly, remembering warm summer nights spent on the seashore with her father, as he told her stories that he had heard during his own childhood – tales and legends of the North. "This is a ship out of the stories that my father used to tell me when I was a child. Those who command these ships would do harm to no one."

"She is right, Hiraya," Talim said then, and there was a smile on her face. "Did you not see their faces? They looked like your father, Sinag! They were handsome and tall, and their voices were made for songs and the telling of tales. Do you think they are of the same kindred as your father?"

Sinag-Tala laughed as she looked at Talim. It was such a surprise to see the normally cool and aloof Talim suddenly act like a girlish maiden who has just seen a fine warrior. "Perhaps they are. I will have to ask first if they are indeed of my father's kindred."

A small pang made her heart twinge when she thought of her father. If these were, indeed, her father's kindred, perhaps they would tell her who her grandsires – her father's parents – were. Maybe they would tell her where she would be able to find them – and, she hoped, perhaps they would lift some of the mystery surrounding her father. Perhaps they would be able to answer the questions that her father had refused to answer before.

The knots of a rope ladder thudded against the keel of the ship, and one by one, the men she had been speaking with descended to the low wall of the reef to stand just in front of her.

She inhaled sharply, hoping that they had not heard her. They are so similar to Father, she thought. They were indeed tall, though the one with the deep red hair was taller even than his other companions. They had the same grace of movement, the same fair faces, and the same demeanor.

Yet she kept herself in check. There will be time for questions later, she thought as she drew herself up, smiling as courteously as possible at the newcomers. She gestured to the canoes behind her. "Come, let us go to shore." So saying, she stepped into the nearest one.

The strangers glanced at one another for a moment, and chuckled. The one named Glorfindel – he with the golden locks – said: "We would willingly go with you, lady, but I fear that our companion can get quite seasick."

The one who had been introduced as Ecthelion glared at his friend. "After such a ride as last night, I doubt that I could possibly get seasick again."

The one with the dark hair – Ereinion – smiled. "Then it is well. At least you will not embarrass us in front of our hostess." Here he bowed his head slightly to Sinag-Tala.

Sinag-Tala felt a stinging heat rise to her face, and returned the nod with one of her own before she turned away. The darkness of the evening was beginning to settle all around, and she was grateful for that: it would mask the blush that, surely, would be clearly visible in spite of her dusky skin.

Why was she allowing herself to be so affected by it? She tightened her grip on her spear. It was not as if she had never seen a handsome man before. Hiraya was judged to be one of the handsomest men in Ma'yi. Many of the young women sighed and fluttered their lashes at him all the time. And yet, only last night, he had asked for her hand in marriage.

Last night had come as a shock to her. She had never viewed herself as desirable before, never seen herself as beautiful. She had always considered herself too different from her peers. When she was nine – the age when most children got their first tattoos in Ma'yi, according to tradition – her father had expressly forbidden it. The only time she finally got her tattoos – her only tattoos – was when she turned nineteen, a full ten years late. Also, she had none of the dark, languishing beauty that was highly prized amongst her people. Her skin was a shade too pale compared to theirs, and her eyes were the gray of steel – nothing like the deep, shadowy beauty of the other women.

But all that this stranger had to do was smile at her, and she understood then what it was like to be desired.

She shook her head imperceptibly. My mind is playing tricks on me, she thought. She still hadn't quite gotten over the shock of Hiraya's proposal from last night. Perhaps that was why she was feeling this way.

After assuring herself that no vestiges of a blush remained on her face, she turned around again, and noted that three of the strangers had seated themselves in the canoe she was in, while the other two sat in another one. Talim and Hiraya were in the other canoe; the former looking quite fine with the arrangement, but Hiraya did not look pleased.

She sighed at that. Hiraya had no right to act as if she was already his wife. They were not wedded yet, and thus he had no say about her actions – and even if they were married, he still had no right to control her. For a brief moment, she was glad that she had not accepted Hiraya's proposal.

She glanced at the warriors who held the oars, and gave them a nod as she sat down on the narrow bench that had been built into the canoe. The warriors took up their oars, and dipped them into the water, propelling the craft forward. She glanced at her side, and watched as the craft carrying Hiraya, Talim, and the others went forward as well. The two other canoes, along with two warriors, remained close to the reef, and, Sinag-Tala knew, would stay there until dawn.

The stranger who had introduced himself as Telpeär looked over his shoulder at those who had been left behind, and when he spoke, there was a trace of anxiety in his voice. "Why do they stay behind, lady?"

"They remain to guard the reef from sharks," Sinag-Tala explained, as she turned around on her bench to face them, laying down her spear along the length of the canoe.

Maedhros raised an eyebrow. "Sharks, lady? But we have seen none since we arrived here."

Sinag-Tala offered a small smile. "No, you do not see them, for they do not come up to the reef in the daytime. Normally, we do not hunt sharks, but it is the dolphins' breeding season, and so we must protect them. The sharks will smell the blood from the birthing and will come swarming in to take the mothers and the babies if we are not around to stop them first. By day, the reef protects the dolphins, but at night, the tide comes back in, and the sharks can swim over the barrier. That is why the best fishers will go to the reef armed with spears and daggers, to harpoon any shark that draws too near to the edge of the reef."

"We saw a dolphin wearing an ornament on its fin," Ereinion said then. "Why is that so?"

Sinag-Tala smiled more broadly now. "It has been so since the beginnings of our nation. The dolphins and we, the Ma'yen, have lived closely with one another for generations. We safeguard the dolphins during their breeding season, and in return, they aid us in our daily lives and when we are in need. A majority of my people depends upon the sea for its livelihood, and thus our relationship with the dolphins is beneficial to us, and to them as well. We have learned to understand their speech, as they have understood ours, though we cannot speak their tongue any more than they can speak ours." She paused, and then asked, "What was the ornament you saw on the dolphin?"

"It was a white ring, covered with markings of some sort," Maedhros replied. He glanced at the sides of Sinag-Tala's legs. "In fact, the pattern on the ring is like the tattoo on your leg."

"Ah, that was Sindala whom you saw. She is a friend of mine, and has been so since my childhood."

Telpeär smiled. "You speak of this dolphin as if it were a person."

Sinag-Tala shrugged. "What difference does Sindala's being a dolphin make on the friendship that I share with her? She is not human, but that does not matter, and it has never mattered. One does not have to be a human to befriend another if one so wills it."

Maedhros laughed. "We did not mean to reproach or question your people's ways. It was merely curiosity. We are not from these lands, and so your ways are unfamiliar to us."

"I understand that," Sinag-Tala said softly. Perhaps now was the best time to ask them. "Where are you from, if I may know?" She lifted her head slightly in hope. "Are you of the people from the North?"

"Well…yes, I suppose you could say that," Ereinion said slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"My father…he was from the North." Sinag-Tala bowed her head then. "As you may have noticed, I am taller and somewhat paler in comparison to my companions, and only I have gray eyes."

"What happened to your father?" Maedhros asked gently.

She swallowed then, the memory threatening to push tears into her eyes. "He was lost in a storm ten years ago. My mother begged him not to go, but he insisted, and he left. When he did not return, we knew that he was dead. Even the dolphins said that they had lost track of him. After that, my mother lost the will to live. She lingered for a year, and then died."

She closed her eyes, and reproached herself fiercely for wearing her emotions so openly. Simply because they were like her father did not mean that they had known him. Do not cling to a hope as elusive as the last rays of the moon before dawn, she thought, chiding herself.

She lifted her head again, her voice steady as the emotions in her heart calmed somewhat. "When my mother died I was but eleven years old, and had no training to be ruler. Up until then I had been schooled as a priestess – babaylan is the word in our tongue – and how to be a warrior. Due to circumstance, I forced myself to learn the intricacies of ruling, diplomacy and politics. I know that many were not inwardly pleased with the idea of me being ruler, but they accepted it because of the respect they had for my parents."

She pressed her lips together into a thin line. "It has been hard, balancing my dual roles of priestess and leader, but I am pleased with what work I have managed to accomplish. I would like to believe that, if my parents could see me now, they would find no fault in me or in my work."

She heard a soft crunching sound as the canoe slid to a halt on the sand. She turned around, and realized that they had touched shore. She picked up her spear, stood up, and turned to her guests. "We have arrived. I bid you welcome to Ma'yi."