Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo! You may have realized by now that if we
open with this phrase, it's EHAB, not Phe-chan, so I'm not going to restate
the obvious in future chapters. That said, I may steal Phe-chan's word
'peeps.' So-lá, peeps, this chapter is full of songs, but it is also full,
chock full, of prophecies and blatant hints. "Muppets" belong to Jim
Henson, and we do not own "Dollywood" or "10th Kingdom." Finally, to answer
a question posed after Chapter 6, no, Andy Circus ( won't turn back into
Gollum because he wasn't Gollum to begin with. Gollum is dead. Andy's just
a normal actor who was pulled into the thick of things by association.
That's what Megan meant when she said that "[All had come], and one extra."
This subject will be more fully explored in later chapters. Thanks and God
bless you all! – EHAB
Chapter 8: "Sailing for Adventure"
Eldír stood on a broad, white, semicircular balcony watching two long, sleek Elven vessels pass into the depths of the horizon. Between them on the rolling waters the light of the setting sun was thrown blazing, a brilliantly burning road to eternity. What terrified the delicate Elven creature was that this "road to eternity" was exactly what the voyagers sought.
"Can you open the road to the fire by the power that is in you? If you could, who among you would dare traverse it?"
Her soft query was lost in the breath of the sea's wind, and as she stared at the fiery path, she saw mirrored therein things of the yet to come. It was a wheeling kaleidoscope of vivid imagery: a man hurled from a rampart by the upheaval of the earth below, and a woman, despairing, fainting after; an indescribably beautiful lady weeping tears of fire onto bitter ice; a great worm, golden like the sun, forcing three figures, stumbling, back with the heat of his flame; and at last, very clearly, a terrible shadow stretching forth its hand to take the heart of small, copper-haired Elven child.
Eldír dropped to her knees and leaned her head against the rail.
"I stand unsure of what to do, So I'll seek answers first from You. They're sailing ever nearer You, So why their course now do I rue?
"The water shows me things to come, Things most warriors would flee from, And in Time's steady, pulsing drum, I wonder how they'll make it home.
"I will not pray 'May this never be,' For You know so much I can't see, But if I had one request of Thee, Bring them safely home to me.
"In Jesus's Name, Amen."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On board the ship Mirëar, the mood was far less solemn. Tony and a group of the Regulars had banded together and were dancing around annoying the Elven crew, singing "Sailing for Adventure on the Big Blue Wet Thing" from Jim Henson's "Muppet Treasure Island."
"'Heigh-ho, we'll go Anywhere the wind is blowing; Hoist the sails and SING! Sailing for Adventure on the Big Blue Wet Thing!'"
Tony came in on Jim Hawkins's solo, and a mysterious smile, betraying acute irony, passed across Sivi's lips as she listened.
"'The salty breezes whisper. Who knows what lies ahead? I just know I was born to lead The life my father led.'"
Jeremie's deep baritone took up Long John Silver's lines:
"'The stars will be our compass Wherever we may roam, And our mates will always be Just like a family, And though we may put into port, The sea is always home!'"
Louie the chef mimicked Fozzy Bear humorously well: "'A'right, Mr. Bimbo! I didn't know you had such a good singing voice!... You're welcome!'"
Jesse plunked a pirate hat down over the helmself's eyes. The poor tormented Elf had already been subjected to five different object lessons in American culture. With a noble sigh, he pushed the hat back a little and continued steering due West.
"Lessing 'Cabin Fever!'" Tony exclaimed. "No, we don't sing that one until next week," Sivi quipped.
The boy's attention had already wandered to his mother, who was bent nearly double over the ship's railing.
"Don't fall off, Mama!" he warned.
The poor woman's reply consisted of a convulsive shudder and an unpleasant present for the ocean below. She had cause. The waves, though not far enough inland to cap and form breakers, were of an all too regular frequency and singular amplitude, so that the ship rather rollicked in than rode them. As though to further aggravate the situation, the sun had been uncomfortably hot earlier in the day in just that manner which so aids a roiling gut. With horrible unfairness and an apparent total lack of compassion, Ulmo took great delight in ribbing his ailing mortal companion.
"You, of all people, seasick!" he guffawed.
"Don't laugh at my mommy!" Tony shouted and promptly began beating Ulmo with the foam sword he had been bought from "Dollywood" on his previous Spring Break.
A little further down the deck, John Sallah was leaning against a mast, feeling all too conspicuous and wondering where his friends might be. He was also trying to force himself not to wonder WHO his friends might be, without great or evident success. Rubbing his temples, he prayed,
"Lord — forgive me; I don't know Your Name in this world... I know it's the same You, but it is alright if I call You by the Name You use in our world? I suppose it must be... God, what's going on? Half of me is screaming, this can't be real; a fourth of me is saying, look at the proof; and... and a fourth of me... I think it's yelling, wake up, idiot! I have this sickening feeling those proportions will be shifting very soon."
John paused in thought, and he felt almost sure he heard a gentle Voice prompt,
"Go on."
"Well, I — I'm confused, is all, and I was, well, wondering... wondering... what to believe."
"You believe in God?" the Voice said, with a warmth of tone that was surely a smile.
"Yes, of course."
"You believe also in Me?" the Voice pressed, still with an understanding patience.
"Yes."
"It is enough, is it not?"
"Oh, yes, Lord; I —"
"Shhhhh... Wait."
"Yes, Lord."
"John!"
"Yes, Lord?!" John cried aloud in a panic.
"Did you just call me 'Lord'?" Andy Circus asked incredulously.
"Did I — No! No, I was praying, and you — you startled me, and —"
"Oh, sorry. Do I need to g —"
"No, I'm finished."
The glittering turquoise sea; the wooden deck; the hithlain rigging; their silver sister ship, Ëarmir; all came tumbling into place around John as he refocused on the here and now. Andy noticed that his friend was breathing considerably harder than usual.
"You okay?"
"Have you ever been praying, and then — you can HEAR Him?" John asked.
"Oh, yeah," Andy replied reverently.
After a moment, he shuffled his feet and inquired,
"Did He have any commands, you know, not just for you, but for all of us?"
"I think so. He said to wait. We're all confused and worried, but it's enough just to trust Him and wait. You might want to talk to Him in person, though."
"I'll do that," Andy replied.
"So, ah, where's Viggo?" John asked with a half-chuckle.
"I think he's on the other boat. Most of the others are. You and I got on the ship with all these mad Regulars," Andy grinned.
"I was following Orlando, and I think he was following the little redheaded princess," John explained.
"His wife?" Andy said, and there was a thicker underlying query.
Giving the answer he had not wanted to voice, yet in his innermost self (the fourth of him that was yelling 'wake up, idiot!') knew to be true, John returned,
"Yes."
Andy swallowed noticeably hard, battling a fear and an uncertainty that had not yet occurred to John.
"So," and Andy's voice cracked unnaturally, "where's Orlando?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She stared at the stars over the water as the silver ship sailed ever towards the west. The sea mirroring the dark sky made her imagine she was floating out in space, as if she could turn and look back to see the world as a spinning globe.........
"I'm wishing on a star to follow where you are. I'm wishing on a dream to follow what it means. I'm wishing on a star to follow where you are. I'm wishing on a dream to follow what it means. And I wish on all the rainbows that I see. I wish on all the people who really dream. And I'm wishing on tomorrow, praying it'll come........."
As she sang softly to the night, the ocean seemed almost to shimmer, making the mirrored stars dance and spin. Andrea leaned closer to watch them, gasping as they began to shine brighter than those of the true sky. And as she did so, they stopped, once again becoming mere reflections. Puzzled, Andrea stood once again and resumed her song with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I never thought I'd see, a time when you would be so far away from home, so far away from me........."
The stars in the water began to dance again, only this time Andrea continued to sing.
"Just think of all the moments that we spent. I just can't let you go. For me you were meant........."
The swirling pool of starlight was all around her now, and when she turned, she saw the Elven ship sailing over the horizon. The watery starlight now flowed away, back to the calmness it had been, leaving her standing on the surface of the undisturbed ocean. She was still singing.
"And I didn't mean to hurt you but I know that in the game of love you reap what you sow........."
There were images in the water now, ones that were not in the dark air above her. Finally falling silent, she watched the forms below as an empty feeling settled itself in her heart and tears traced salty paths down her cheeks.
There was Legolas, laughing up from the water, as if he were standing over her shoulder and was mirrored there with her. The "her" was not the one that looked down, but was laughing as well. And there were.........
"I keep being told we're married, but you seemed to be doing everything possible to avoid me," Orlando said, startling Andrea from her vision.
Andrea let out a squeak as reality crashed around her again. Orlando gave her a sideways glance, his eyes unreadable.
"Are you as confused as I am, Squee?" Andrea looked at him, shock showing in her widened eyes.
"How.........you remember my-"
"Not really........." Orlando mumbled, feeling guilty at letting the girl down. "But when I see you......... I just think of that name. It is a name isn't it? Your name?"
Andrea nodded sadly, turning to look out at the water again. Orlando moved to stand beside her, leaning his crossed arms against the railing.
"What does it mean?" he asked softly.
"It......... you told me once that I squealed, squeaked and squeezed......... and you called me that ever since." Her eyes seemed to be shining with the sadness he had come to associate with her. Orlando had a hard time picturing her as the happy fangirl type; she seemed too much like a puppy who was often kicked.
"Do you?" he asked. She sighed, letting her head hang so that it almost rested on the top of the ship's railing.
"Not so much now........." was the near silent reply. Though the idea still wouldn't mesh with logic, Orlando couldn't help but believe what he and his friends had been told......... and it had more to do with the sight of the small redhead than the fact that he was now in Middle-Earth.
"Tell me." She looked up. "About you, about us......... about me........." There was a small smile on her lips as she began.
"You saved me. That's how we met. You must have thought I looked sad and pathetic or something like that." Andrea shivered as a cold breeze blew up suddenly.
*'Atar, she is but a child. Surely she could not have come to do harm. Look at her. She is shaking.'*
"And then......... You were the only one who was really nice to me. No offence meant, but a lot of the elves in Mirkwood were really stuck up. Especially Morniwen. I remember wondering why you couldn't see how horribly she treated others, but then, it was always when you weren't looking." She cocked her head to one side, smiling a little. "You were different, though. You treated me like......... like I was a person. When you found out how much I loved painting, you gave me the greatest set of paints."
*She stood, her long copper hair shining in the light of the sunrise, splattered with paint. Her summer forest eyes laughing, and a streak of sky blue paint adorning her small nose, and the hint of rose on her cheeks grew every second as her laughter bubbled over. Her simple gown was most likely ruined from all the smudged paint......... and she was......... beautiful.........*
Orlando blinked at the sudden image, but it faded as Andrea went on.
"That's when the dwarves showed up, the ones from 'The Hobbit.' I actually spilt water on Gloin, though that's not in the book. Your father thought it was funny, even though it made me feel bad. And then.........I left." There was a pause.
"Why?" Orlando asked. Andrea shook her head.
"Morniwen. She told me things, things that hurt. They weren't true, but I had no way of knowing that......... and if they had been true......... I think I would have died of a broken heart. Because......... I loved you. I still do. I........." she stopped, sobbing softly. Gently, Orlando reached out and placed a hand on her back. When she turned and cried into his shoulder, he let her. Because something somewhere inside him was crying as well.
EHAB again! Brownie points to whoever can come up with the reference (book, chapter, verse) from the Bible where Jesus says, "You believe in God. Believe also in Me." I'll give you a hint: it's in the New Testament. ^-^ God bless you and keep you... peeps. ^-^
Chapter 8: "Sailing for Adventure"
Eldír stood on a broad, white, semicircular balcony watching two long, sleek Elven vessels pass into the depths of the horizon. Between them on the rolling waters the light of the setting sun was thrown blazing, a brilliantly burning road to eternity. What terrified the delicate Elven creature was that this "road to eternity" was exactly what the voyagers sought.
"Can you open the road to the fire by the power that is in you? If you could, who among you would dare traverse it?"
Her soft query was lost in the breath of the sea's wind, and as she stared at the fiery path, she saw mirrored therein things of the yet to come. It was a wheeling kaleidoscope of vivid imagery: a man hurled from a rampart by the upheaval of the earth below, and a woman, despairing, fainting after; an indescribably beautiful lady weeping tears of fire onto bitter ice; a great worm, golden like the sun, forcing three figures, stumbling, back with the heat of his flame; and at last, very clearly, a terrible shadow stretching forth its hand to take the heart of small, copper-haired Elven child.
Eldír dropped to her knees and leaned her head against the rail.
"I stand unsure of what to do, So I'll seek answers first from You. They're sailing ever nearer You, So why their course now do I rue?
"The water shows me things to come, Things most warriors would flee from, And in Time's steady, pulsing drum, I wonder how they'll make it home.
"I will not pray 'May this never be,' For You know so much I can't see, But if I had one request of Thee, Bring them safely home to me.
"In Jesus's Name, Amen."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On board the ship Mirëar, the mood was far less solemn. Tony and a group of the Regulars had banded together and were dancing around annoying the Elven crew, singing "Sailing for Adventure on the Big Blue Wet Thing" from Jim Henson's "Muppet Treasure Island."
"'Heigh-ho, we'll go Anywhere the wind is blowing; Hoist the sails and SING! Sailing for Adventure on the Big Blue Wet Thing!'"
Tony came in on Jim Hawkins's solo, and a mysterious smile, betraying acute irony, passed across Sivi's lips as she listened.
"'The salty breezes whisper. Who knows what lies ahead? I just know I was born to lead The life my father led.'"
Jeremie's deep baritone took up Long John Silver's lines:
"'The stars will be our compass Wherever we may roam, And our mates will always be Just like a family, And though we may put into port, The sea is always home!'"
Louie the chef mimicked Fozzy Bear humorously well: "'A'right, Mr. Bimbo! I didn't know you had such a good singing voice!... You're welcome!'"
Jesse plunked a pirate hat down over the helmself's eyes. The poor tormented Elf had already been subjected to five different object lessons in American culture. With a noble sigh, he pushed the hat back a little and continued steering due West.
"Lessing 'Cabin Fever!'" Tony exclaimed. "No, we don't sing that one until next week," Sivi quipped.
The boy's attention had already wandered to his mother, who was bent nearly double over the ship's railing.
"Don't fall off, Mama!" he warned.
The poor woman's reply consisted of a convulsive shudder and an unpleasant present for the ocean below. She had cause. The waves, though not far enough inland to cap and form breakers, were of an all too regular frequency and singular amplitude, so that the ship rather rollicked in than rode them. As though to further aggravate the situation, the sun had been uncomfortably hot earlier in the day in just that manner which so aids a roiling gut. With horrible unfairness and an apparent total lack of compassion, Ulmo took great delight in ribbing his ailing mortal companion.
"You, of all people, seasick!" he guffawed.
"Don't laugh at my mommy!" Tony shouted and promptly began beating Ulmo with the foam sword he had been bought from "Dollywood" on his previous Spring Break.
A little further down the deck, John Sallah was leaning against a mast, feeling all too conspicuous and wondering where his friends might be. He was also trying to force himself not to wonder WHO his friends might be, without great or evident success. Rubbing his temples, he prayed,
"Lord — forgive me; I don't know Your Name in this world... I know it's the same You, but it is alright if I call You by the Name You use in our world? I suppose it must be... God, what's going on? Half of me is screaming, this can't be real; a fourth of me is saying, look at the proof; and... and a fourth of me... I think it's yelling, wake up, idiot! I have this sickening feeling those proportions will be shifting very soon."
John paused in thought, and he felt almost sure he heard a gentle Voice prompt,
"Go on."
"Well, I — I'm confused, is all, and I was, well, wondering... wondering... what to believe."
"You believe in God?" the Voice said, with a warmth of tone that was surely a smile.
"Yes, of course."
"You believe also in Me?" the Voice pressed, still with an understanding patience.
"Yes."
"It is enough, is it not?"
"Oh, yes, Lord; I —"
"Shhhhh... Wait."
"Yes, Lord."
"John!"
"Yes, Lord?!" John cried aloud in a panic.
"Did you just call me 'Lord'?" Andy Circus asked incredulously.
"Did I — No! No, I was praying, and you — you startled me, and —"
"Oh, sorry. Do I need to g —"
"No, I'm finished."
The glittering turquoise sea; the wooden deck; the hithlain rigging; their silver sister ship, Ëarmir; all came tumbling into place around John as he refocused on the here and now. Andy noticed that his friend was breathing considerably harder than usual.
"You okay?"
"Have you ever been praying, and then — you can HEAR Him?" John asked.
"Oh, yeah," Andy replied reverently.
After a moment, he shuffled his feet and inquired,
"Did He have any commands, you know, not just for you, but for all of us?"
"I think so. He said to wait. We're all confused and worried, but it's enough just to trust Him and wait. You might want to talk to Him in person, though."
"I'll do that," Andy replied.
"So, ah, where's Viggo?" John asked with a half-chuckle.
"I think he's on the other boat. Most of the others are. You and I got on the ship with all these mad Regulars," Andy grinned.
"I was following Orlando, and I think he was following the little redheaded princess," John explained.
"His wife?" Andy said, and there was a thicker underlying query.
Giving the answer he had not wanted to voice, yet in his innermost self (the fourth of him that was yelling 'wake up, idiot!') knew to be true, John returned,
"Yes."
Andy swallowed noticeably hard, battling a fear and an uncertainty that had not yet occurred to John.
"So," and Andy's voice cracked unnaturally, "where's Orlando?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She stared at the stars over the water as the silver ship sailed ever towards the west. The sea mirroring the dark sky made her imagine she was floating out in space, as if she could turn and look back to see the world as a spinning globe.........
"I'm wishing on a star to follow where you are. I'm wishing on a dream to follow what it means. I'm wishing on a star to follow where you are. I'm wishing on a dream to follow what it means. And I wish on all the rainbows that I see. I wish on all the people who really dream. And I'm wishing on tomorrow, praying it'll come........."
As she sang softly to the night, the ocean seemed almost to shimmer, making the mirrored stars dance and spin. Andrea leaned closer to watch them, gasping as they began to shine brighter than those of the true sky. And as she did so, they stopped, once again becoming mere reflections. Puzzled, Andrea stood once again and resumed her song with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I never thought I'd see, a time when you would be so far away from home, so far away from me........."
The stars in the water began to dance again, only this time Andrea continued to sing.
"Just think of all the moments that we spent. I just can't let you go. For me you were meant........."
The swirling pool of starlight was all around her now, and when she turned, she saw the Elven ship sailing over the horizon. The watery starlight now flowed away, back to the calmness it had been, leaving her standing on the surface of the undisturbed ocean. She was still singing.
"And I didn't mean to hurt you but I know that in the game of love you reap what you sow........."
There were images in the water now, ones that were not in the dark air above her. Finally falling silent, she watched the forms below as an empty feeling settled itself in her heart and tears traced salty paths down her cheeks.
There was Legolas, laughing up from the water, as if he were standing over her shoulder and was mirrored there with her. The "her" was not the one that looked down, but was laughing as well. And there were.........
"I keep being told we're married, but you seemed to be doing everything possible to avoid me," Orlando said, startling Andrea from her vision.
Andrea let out a squeak as reality crashed around her again. Orlando gave her a sideways glance, his eyes unreadable.
"Are you as confused as I am, Squee?" Andrea looked at him, shock showing in her widened eyes.
"How.........you remember my-"
"Not really........." Orlando mumbled, feeling guilty at letting the girl down. "But when I see you......... I just think of that name. It is a name isn't it? Your name?"
Andrea nodded sadly, turning to look out at the water again. Orlando moved to stand beside her, leaning his crossed arms against the railing.
"What does it mean?" he asked softly.
"It......... you told me once that I squealed, squeaked and squeezed......... and you called me that ever since." Her eyes seemed to be shining with the sadness he had come to associate with her. Orlando had a hard time picturing her as the happy fangirl type; she seemed too much like a puppy who was often kicked.
"Do you?" he asked. She sighed, letting her head hang so that it almost rested on the top of the ship's railing.
"Not so much now........." was the near silent reply. Though the idea still wouldn't mesh with logic, Orlando couldn't help but believe what he and his friends had been told......... and it had more to do with the sight of the small redhead than the fact that he was now in Middle-Earth.
"Tell me." She looked up. "About you, about us......... about me........." There was a small smile on her lips as she began.
"You saved me. That's how we met. You must have thought I looked sad and pathetic or something like that." Andrea shivered as a cold breeze blew up suddenly.
*'Atar, she is but a child. Surely she could not have come to do harm. Look at her. She is shaking.'*
"And then......... You were the only one who was really nice to me. No offence meant, but a lot of the elves in Mirkwood were really stuck up. Especially Morniwen. I remember wondering why you couldn't see how horribly she treated others, but then, it was always when you weren't looking." She cocked her head to one side, smiling a little. "You were different, though. You treated me like......... like I was a person. When you found out how much I loved painting, you gave me the greatest set of paints."
*She stood, her long copper hair shining in the light of the sunrise, splattered with paint. Her summer forest eyes laughing, and a streak of sky blue paint adorning her small nose, and the hint of rose on her cheeks grew every second as her laughter bubbled over. Her simple gown was most likely ruined from all the smudged paint......... and she was......... beautiful.........*
Orlando blinked at the sudden image, but it faded as Andrea went on.
"That's when the dwarves showed up, the ones from 'The Hobbit.' I actually spilt water on Gloin, though that's not in the book. Your father thought it was funny, even though it made me feel bad. And then.........I left." There was a pause.
"Why?" Orlando asked. Andrea shook her head.
"Morniwen. She told me things, things that hurt. They weren't true, but I had no way of knowing that......... and if they had been true......... I think I would have died of a broken heart. Because......... I loved you. I still do. I........." she stopped, sobbing softly. Gently, Orlando reached out and placed a hand on her back. When she turned and cried into his shoulder, he let her. Because something somewhere inside him was crying as well.
EHAB again! Brownie points to whoever can come up with the reference (book, chapter, verse) from the Bible where Jesus says, "You believe in God. Believe also in Me." I'll give you a hint: it's in the New Testament. ^-^ God bless you and keep you... peeps. ^-^
