In An Age Before – Part 24
That morning came all too soon for her liking, and just as Anar topped the horizon, a guard led Helluin up the stairs of an adjoining mallorn and to a walled talan set in the upper branches. 'Twas pleasant enough, she thought, with an admirable view, but thither stood a pair of guards at the stairhead and a lock was fixed upon the door. From within came a crash, perhaps not the first of the day. Her guard winced. Helluin rolled her eyes.
"I have come hither by order of the king," Helluin stated blandly, "to Udûn in the trees."
The guards snickered and one undid the lock. The other made ready to curtail any attempt at escape. The door was quickly opened and Helluin thrust inside ere 'twas slammed shut and hastily relocked. She could hear the guards tittering through the slab of wood. Looking about the talan, she noted that 'twas indeed well appointed if one disregarded the broken crockery, spilt food, and clothing flung about. A partial height wall subdivided the space, and from beyond it came voices raised in passion. She could just see the crowns of two heads, one with hair of silver, the other silver-gold.
"Thy concern has long fled all proportion and has become an obsession!" Celeborn.
"I am not obsessed! I am seeking the treasure she claimed lay hidden in this realm, and I shalt find it if I must search every inch of this land and tear every tree limb from limb!" Galadriel.
"Whyfor? So thou can'st again claim thy primacy in height o'er her? Has this not gone too far? Thy fixation with her has bought our confinement! I cannot stand being cooped thus, like a capon awaiting the cook pot! Whyfor thy lifelong contestation with Helluin? That I have ne'er understood…why Artanis? Why?" Celeborn (yelling).
For long moments there was a blessed silence, then another crash. Helluin flinched and her eyes lit on the remains of a handheld harp lying broken on the floor nearby.
"Because the princes of the Noldor well 'nigh swooned in her presence! Nay, at the mere mention of her name did the hearts of the Amanyar flutter like crows in their death spasms and the most eloquent amongst them fall tongue-tied as robins choking on worms! And she a commoner, anti-social and cold, the breaker of more hearts than now beat in all the Blessed Realm!" Galadriel (screaming).
"Then this is but a fit of jealousy run out of control?" Celeborn (incredulous).
"Jealously! Jealousy! Imagine thou, centuries of watching my brothers drooling o'er her, Finrod breathless, cousin Turgon sculpting likeness after likeness, and not just they! My own father and mother befriended her…Uncle Fingolfin as well. Fëanor made his first gems blue as her eyes! After Nerdanel left he tramped the countryside in her footsteps writing her sheaves of verse in his new letters. Maglor endlessly sang songs, yet neither dared approach her for lack of courage…seeing it well 'nigh drove me mad.
And did it cease after we came to the Hither Shores? Nay! Nay! To escape her was half my reason for accepting exile, but then she came too. 'Twas no escaping her. I swear; she was my own curse from the Valar!" Galadriel (panting in agitation) continued. "In popularity should there have been none but Aredhel and myself amongst our host. Only in two things did I find solace; that she had millennia to establish herself ere I was born, and that I stood above her by half a head."
"Still I see not thy reasoning, Artanis. All that was 2,000 years ago and more! Aredhel has long passed away, and Helluin strays abroad for centuries. Wherefore comes this rivalry, truly, whither this grand and lifelong animosity?" Celeborn (exasperated).
Silence again, grown so heavy it could crush a horse. Helluin dared not breathe. Indeed she was well 'nigh struck dumb by what she had heard. Ne'er in her wildest dreams had she realized the impact of her presence on the princess. Ne'er in her weirdest nightmares had she imagined the devotion of her potential suitors. Fëanor?! She began wildly searching the room for someplace to hide should Celeborn or Galadriel come hither, but 'twas no place to conceal herself, and so she hunkered down into a shadow and froze 'neath her cloak as Beinvír had taught her. A moment later, Galadriel took up again her rant, though now in a subdued flood of cathartic self-exposition.
"I…I have been wroth with her well 'nigh all my life, at first for want of attention from those she ignored…I wanted to…to hate her for it. Worse yet…I couldn't…for I…found myself craving her…wanting for her attention, her friendship, just like all the others. It seemed to me that everything she did she excelled at, and whether with ease or not, it appeared so…and she seemed not impressed at all. How I came to envy her. Yet she merely trudged endlessly about the land, sleeping amidst rocks or 'neath trees, or camping in the houses of the Valar with equal comfort. She woulds't come thence to Tirion, smudged, with twigs in her hair, dressed like an Avari, and still all loved her!
But later she grew enamored of the Trees. 'Naught amongst us but approached them in awe, even the Vanyar, and yet she…she would stand disrobed 'neath the fall of their Mingled Lights, alight herself and unharmed by that which we dared not, for fear that Holy Light would smite us as with fire. Thou hast surely heard the Silmarils suffered not the touch of the unclean? Think now of their most pure source! No sight had I e'er seen in any Age to arouse me so thoroughly in all ways save that, and no image might I conjure to displace it. And so I am torn and cannot mend. I envy that born 'neath me yet rose above, love that which I have hated for no reason save my own weakness, and desire such as desires none." Galadriel (miserable, here actually commencing to sob).
Helluin was so thunderstruck by her words that she literally blacked out for a heartbeat and crashed against the door. Her only conceivable recovery was to kick the door again making even a greater noise and then call out, "anyone home? 'Tis Helluin, come hither by order of the king."
From beyond the partition came the sound of a gasp, choking, and then stumbling feet, accompanied by an exclamation from Celeborn of, "thy timing… surely thou dost jest!"
"Celeborn?" Helluin asked with convincing innocence. "Art thou and Galadriel decent?"
She was answered at once by the flight of a flagon directed with admirable precision at her head. Indeed she barely ducked in time to avoid it and hear Galadriel screaming:
"You? You! Why hast thou come hither? Has Amdír ordered thee to torment me? That knave! He hath imprisoned us and summoned thee, obviously hoping to cheat me of my rightful due! Well, I shalt not stand for it! I shan't!" Her eyes had been locked on Helluin's from the first moment, and now Galadriel rounded the partition, demanding imperiously, "thou shalt reveal the secret of thy stream to me and no other, or I shalt exile thee to Mordor myself! Celeborn, seize her!"
Helluin noted that the princess was in a shocking state of agitation, wild of eye and hair, indeed as one who had just run for her life. Her movements were awkward and angular in her haste, and an expression of mania shaped her features. For the first time in Helluin's recall, Galadriel's eyes were flaring with a ril of silver light, and she could almost see steam rising from the princess' brow. Additionally, Helluin marked that she now wore an eagle-shaped pendant of silver that bore a green stone, eerily familiar. Galadriel came striding forth towards her with purpose.
Celeborn, appearing frustrated and haggard, stepped 'round the partition in Galadriel's wake and glowered at Helluin. He relished not the notion of grappling her at his wife's command, thus to follow lunacy with madness. Indeed the old and upsetting reports of Helluin Maeg-mórmenel had always made him nervous. Long had he been convinced that her civility was but thinly veneered o'er a propensity to unrestrained slaughter. With much relief he marked that Helluin wasn't armed.
In two more strides Galadriel was almost nose to nose with her tormentor; indeed she would have been save that she now stood just o'er three inches shorter. Noticing this, she withdrew a step to diminish the perception of the disparity, though she had calmed not at all. Helluin was watching her carefully, indeed expecting the pummeling to begin at any moment. Instead of fisticuffs, 'twas Celeborn, who with his last harried effort at diplomacy, proffered a solution.
"Helluin, if thou hast some secret, I beseech thee, speak it now ere all propriety flee," he begged. "Thou hast besmirched our reputations, and our domestic tranquility has degenerated to that of a Yrch lair. I fear Lord Amdír's patience grows as threadbare as my own. I pray thee, for the sake of my marriage and my sanity, share what thou know."
'Twas really 'naught else that she could do, what with Galadriel seething not a foot away and Celeborn standing 'nigh in an attitude of such pathetic suspense. Still, the walls had ears, the trees had eyes, and every Elf in Lórinand had no doubt become possessed of a ravishing desire to know the outcome of their conversation. Helluin beckoned him o'er so she could meet their eyes together and speak in silence, mind to mind.
The stream of which I spoke does indeed exist, but to protect it I have dissembled of its locale. I shalt require thee both to accompany me into the wilderness for some time, Helluin said to them sternly. The contact was wearying, so agitated was Galadriel and so nervous was Celeborn. Thou must come thither alone and in secret, and thou can'st ne'er reveal to any what thou learn, upon pain of death. Seeing the blind hope in their eyes, and knowing they'd promise anything at that moment, she added, a very, very slow and excruciating death, with such torment as would make Morgoth himself jealous. Dost thou agree? Of course they both immediately nodded vigorously in assent.
Can'st thou contrive to act rationally for a time so that I may achieve thy release?
Again, both nodded in agreement. Galadriel would probably do anything to achieve her goal at this point, Helluin thought, and Celeborn, anything simply to be free.
Then await me hither, and pray exhibit some levity to make the more convincing thy rehabilitation, Helluin suggested. Perhaps thou could laugh, or sing a song?
At this they both scowled and gritted their teeth, but still nodded their agreement, as Helluin had managed to make her suggestions with a straight face. Nodding to them, she turned and rapped upon the door, calling out to the guards, "I am done. I have need to speak with the king." A last glance back revealed Celeborn looking sadly at the remains of his harp.
Almost immediately the door cracked open and the guards looked in, unable to hide the gleam of anticipation in their eyes. Helluin was sure the two had set their ears to the door as soon as she had entered, and had memorized every spoken phrase for the gratification of their gossiping. Still, she had to commend them for their restraint, for neither asked a single question. Nor did the guard, who had accompanied her up and remained with his fellows on the stairs, ask 'aught of her the entire time they made their way back to King Amdír's hall. Thither she was quickly granted a private audience, and she noted that the king was as nervous as Celeborn had been.
"Say thou hast achieved some measure of success, I pray thee," he said, sipping nervously from a cup of wine. He poured her a cup as well and thrust it into her hand ere she even took her seat.
"I have had a measure of success indeed, O King," Helluin reported, amazed at the grand sigh of relief he produced, "and thy guests have promised to conduct themselves with dignity befitting their station as…guests. No more shalt they roam the land like thirsty beasts, nor promenade themselves 'nigh the borders. I am certain their word is good, and they were indeed much calmer ere I left." As I am certain thy guards shalt report, she thought, indeed thou shalt no doubt hear every word. She sighed no less dramatically than the king, as if commiserating with him in spirit ere she resumed. "I should be made the more credible in their eyes if thou would see fit to release them from thy custody and into mine for a while. Beinvír and I shalt be vigilant and note any backsliding."
For show, the king sat contemplating her proposal for some moments as they sipped their wine. In truth, there was little he would rather do than convey the responsibility for them unto Helluin for the duration. Indeed happier yet would he be if she somehow contrived to lead them hence, far, far away. For her part, Helluin knew a pause of protocol when she experienced one and endured it in silence. She could almost hear Amdír counting down the passing moments to accumulate what he deemed a proper period of contemplation for a decision of such gravity. He is a good king, she thought charitably, knowledgeable about the importance of appearances.
"Thy tidings bring me great relief, Helluin," Amdír gravely said at last, though unable to wholly hide his rejoicing at the outcome. "I was right to entrust this diplomacy to thee. Now that I have carefully considered thy proposal, I see not why such should not be. I shalt order their release immediately." He offered Helluin a smile that she returned.
"A small request I would make of thee, O King," Helluin said. At his nod, she continued. "I beseech thee to wait yet a while ere thou release them, for I should attend to my friend whom I left ere dawn, and then both of us should attend to breaking our fast. I know thy guests had been provided fare upon which to sup ere I came to them, and I should not force them to wait on us whilst we dine."
King Amdír nodded in agreement. Helluin had solved an awkward problem for him. He saw no reason to deprive her or Beinvír of their morning meal. His guests knew not of his decision, and would not 'til their release. Delaying that an hour mattered not.
"Go thou then to thy friend and take thy meal, Helluin. Again, thou hast my thanks."
To Be Continued