AN: Okay, this chapter is important, so pay attention!
Elrond kept Elladan in bed the next day, just in case. Elrohir sat with him most of the morning, but in the afternoon Arwen told him to go out and get some fresh air.
"Are you sure?" he said hesitantly. "I just want to be certain that—"
"I will be fine, muindor-nín," Elladan said with a chuckle. "I would be outside right now if Father did not want me to stay under observation for one more day."
"If anything happens, I will send for you and Father," Arwen said firmly.
Elrohir smiled. "For an invalid and a little sister, you two are very forceful," he teased them. But he did as they asked.
000
Vivian had taken to referring to herself, Elrohir, Erestor, and Katie as "our little study group". The four of them met in the hall and took a walk. They ended up at a cool, shaded little promenade where a few chairs were set overlooking the river.
Vivian closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she sat down. "This is lovely," she said blissfully. "The colors are so beautiful, I could almost eat them!"
They soon returned to their ongoing discussion of the Athrabeth. The more Katie had thought about it, the more she understood the idea that humans were corrupted. She was always irritated by her own lack of grace and strength, especially when she compared herself to the Elves. And as Vivian had said, every teenage girl, and a lot of other people as well, hated their bodies. Sometimes Katie looked in the mirror and almost didn't recognize herself, because her self-concept somehow didn't jive with her body and her face. It was something she had discussed with her girlfriends at home, and they had agreed that they had experienced the same thing. She could readily accept that Men were a fallen race and Elves weren't.
She also understood that Arda was marred by Morgoth. Nature was beautiful; she would never deny that—especially here, in Rivendell, where its beauty surrounded and enfolded her. But it was somehow corrupted too, like humans. Trees died, flowers died, animals died, and the world itself would someday end, and then all the beauty of the world would end with it. Erestor had even pointed out that diseases were a result of the Marring, which made sense. Diseases were caused by viruses and bacteria, which were basically tiny animals. They had become destructive, just as wargs and so forth here in Middle-earth. Humans were screwed up, and the world was screwed up.
"Where do the Valar come into all this, then: this story of Men being changed?" Katie asked Erestor during a lull in the conversation. "They're all through the stories of the Elves, but they don't seem to have been involved in the origins of Men—well, except for Morgoth."
"Finrod said that perhaps Men had fallen so far that they were beyond the reach of their help, and that is why the Valar did not deal in the affairs of Men after Men had fallen."
"And before?" Katie prompted.
Erestor gave a strange smile. "Perhaps you were too great for them to govern. Perhaps Men were once greater than the Valar—sole masters of yourself within Arda, under the hand of Ilúvatar."
Katie's eyes widened. "Greater than the Valar?" she exclaimed.
Vivian gave much the same smile as Erestor wore. "Do you not know that we will judge angels?" she murmured.
"The Ainulindalë did say that the Valar would come to envy Men because of the gift of death that was given to them," Elrohir reminded Katie.
"Well, what was so great about humans bodily leaving Arda?" Katie asked, confused. "I don't get it."
"The bodies of the Children of Ilúvatar are made of the material of Arda," Erestor explained. "And so, when the bodies of Men were released from the circles of the world, that would mean that Arda, or a part of it, would be healed of the taint of Morgoth and would even be released from the limits that were set on it—the limits of Time and of Space. 'What was designed to be when Arda was complete— living things and even of the very lands and seas of Arda made eternal and indestructible, for ever beautiful and new… This then, I propound, was the errand of Men: not to be just those that come after the Elves, but the heirs and fulfillers of all: to heal the Marring of Arda and to do more, as agents of the magnificence of Ilúvatar! For that Arda Healed shall not be Arda Unmarred, but a third thing and a greater, and yet the same.'"
"You mean," said Katie very slowly, trying to put all the pieces together, "that humans, in our original state, were created by Ilúvatar to fix the world? To make it even better than it was before it was screwed up by Morgoth?"
"Yes," Erestor said simply. "And you would have saved the Elves, as well. 'By the Second Children we might have been delivered from death. What lies before us is the completion of Arda and its end, and therefore the end also of us children of Arda. And then suddenly I beheld as a vision Arda Remade; and there the Eldar completed but not ended could abide in the present for ever, and there walk, maybe, with the Children of Men, their deliverers, and sing to them such songs as, even in the Bliss beyond bliss, should make the green valleys ring and the everlasting mountain-tops to throb like harps.' Finrod said he believed the feeling of homesickness Men get when the look at the beauty of Arda is actually a longing for that Arda Remade."
The thought made joy swell up in Katie's heart and made her lift her head. And she saw that her grandmother's face was full of the same joy. The idea of the beauty of the world—a beauty that was even greater than that which it currently possessed—continuing forever! And themselves in it as well, with no more death, or sickness, or pain… Never becoming bored, never wishing for something else, but being completely at home in joy… Walking with the Elves as equals and even as their saviors! It was a wonderful thought. Then her heart fell again.
"But that'll never happen now," she said sadly. "We screwed up. Men disobeyed Ilúvatar, and we can't take our bodies with us when we die, and now there'll never be an Arda Remade, and all the beauty of nature will end, and the Elves will all die when the world does, and… Well, and that's it." Her shoulders slumped. She felt like she had been shown a tiny glimpse of a beautiful garden, and someone had said she could explore it, and then someone else shut the door and locked it, and now she would never get in. She felt her eyes fill with tears.
"You have to have hope, gwathel-nín," Elrohir said softly.
Katie felt the snap of anger. "What's the point? What's there to hope for if we know it can't be fixed?"
"You misunderstand me," Elrohir answered, still in the same gentle voice. "I mean, have estel. Have trust in Ilúvatar. We are truly His Children, and He will not allow Himself to be deprived of His own—not by Morgoth, or Sauron, and not even by ourselves. All of His plans are to give us joy."
They were quiet for a few minutes, while Katie wiped away her tears. She saw that her grandmother was looking at her with pity, but without the sorrow that she herself felt. She wondered why.
If everything that they had said was true, and Katie had no doubts that it was, then what a complete disaster Man's fall had been! Now everything was utterly hopeless. There was nothing to look forward to in death but a separation from her proper being, and a separation between herself and her loved ones forever. The world she lived in would end, the Elves would die—go out to no return, beyond even any hope of return. This beautiful world, no matter how much it had once satisfied her or not, would be gone. And it was all they had. All the animals and trees would be gone forever, the twilight and the starlight and the sunshine forever lost. And the world she had barely glimpsed and longed for so desperately, the vision of Arda Remade that Finrod had seen—it would never, ever come to pass.
The tears had fallen hot and fast, but they seemed to stop now. It was too unbearably sad, even for tears. It was a deep mourning that was taking root in her heart. If there was no Arda Remade to look forward to, there was no goal to history. It all led up to nothing. All the epic wars with Morgoth and Sauron, even all the things she had learned about in school—overthrowing Hitler, the civil rights movement, ecological conservation—what did any of it matter? It was all going to end, the world would cease, and none of it would have achieved anything. People who died so nobly and so greatly for a good cause: they had died in vain. In the end, what would it matter if the Nazis brutally murdered millions of innocents, if minorities were oppressed and rejected, if Mankind completely destroyed nature, which he was made to protect? It was all going out to no return. Hadn't someone once said, "Meaningless, meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
It was no wonder Andreth despaired. Even having hope in Eru Ilúvatar—the One, the All-Father—to love them and save them was useless. How could he? They had put themselves beyond the aid of the Valar. Man had fallen. Man had screwed himself over. It was their choice, and they had blown it, and blown it for everyone. How could anyone hope? How could Ilúvatar save them from a decision they had made wrongly? How could he keep them from being separated from him, even by their own choice? And why would he? They had wronged and disobeyed him. How could he still love them and want them?
In the silence, Vivian turned to Elrohir and began to quote a poem Katie had never heard her recite before.
"Oh, yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final end of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;
"That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroy'd,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;
"That not a worm is cloven in vain;
That not a moth with vain desire
I shrivell'd in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.
"Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last—far off—at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.
"So runs my dream: but what am I?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry."
Katie felt the tears welling up again as her grandmother finished, and clenched her fists in her lap to try and keep herself from crying.
But Vivian immediately turned to Erestor with a knowing look on her face. "But that's not all, is it?" she persisted. "You know something more."
Katie frowned. Something more? Could there be anything that would not lead her in the end to despair?
Erestor nodded. "There is something more, but it is almost too fantastic to be believed. But if it is true, then there is indeed hope for the Creation, and for us. Andreth spoke to Finrod of something she called the 'Old Hope'." His voice rang out in the open hall and made the very trees tremble. "'They say,' said Andreth, 'they say that the One will Himself enter into Arda, and heal Men and all the Marring from the beginning to the end.'"
Katie saw with amazement that her grandmother was crying now, weeping with absolute joy, her face shining. She lifted her head and declared, "He will come. In our time, He already has!"
Erestor and Elrohir were gazing at Vivian with the same look of wonder as that on Katie's face, but their joy was deeper because they understood better. "You seemed different to us," Elrohir said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Like a human, and yet not like any human we had met…" He trailed off.
Vivian nodded. "I am a Woman Remade," she said. "I'm part of the New Creation, part of Arda Healed."
TBC
AN: Now ya know. Toldja the philosophical conversations were important!. :) And they'll be even more important presently.
Kudos to cat, who figured it out first! And to Thalion, who got it right before this post.
"Do you not know that we will judge angels?"—1 Corinthians 6:3a
""Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.""—Ecclesiastes 1:2
"Oh, yet we trust"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from In Memorium. In Memorium is fantastic. So's all of Tennyson's work, really…
Napolde: Ain't that the truth!
Fk306: Yeah, it definitely helps to know your way around. Good luck!
EresseElrondiel: —chases after reviewer, wielding a flyswatter— You bring that elf back here! He's mine! —whap whap whap—
Darkened Dreams: lol!
Princess Siara: —hugs back, then stuffs the twins in her suitcase, trying not to get Elladan's hair in the zipper—
IwishChan: Well, rat poison is a good thing to have around. The buildings in Rivendell are very open, so it would be easy for rats to get in. So they keep a bit of rat poison in a lot of the building (particularly the kitchens and the stables, etc) just in case.
Ravens Destiny: Very barbaric.
Laer4572: "Female" does tend to imply "not male". lol
theycallmemary: You may be right, but at that time/culture, rats would probably have been quite prevalent, and no matter how much you love living creatures, you don't want them biting the horses and getting in the food. No, I posted before I left. Now I'm back from camp. :) Legolas won't be in this sequel, but he will in the next, I promise.
Doredhil: Thanks. It just makes all the philosophy of Middle-earth so much closer to home when you realize that it's the same world.
Erasuithiel: Actually, I don't think any of the Elves really faded all that much until after the War of the Ring, when they really did a lot. Orain worked under Dorlarth, so he probably knew him pretty well and liked him. Blowin' smoke with the hobbits!
Thalion: It was indeed the fifteenth. Congrats! You got it right. BTW, I didn't actually say that you could worship God equally well in a synagogue, mosque or church, I just said that you could worship him in any of them. Jews, Muslims and Christians all worship the same God, so if you want to worship Eru, those are your options, that's all.
Thanks also to werewolflemming and Madd Hatter!
Please review! If you didn't get any of what was said in this chapter, please ask! It's very important to the theme and plot.