A Story of the Sea

Chapter 3

The three higher beings stood out the way of the sailors with King Arafinwë, watching as the shores of Valinor came into view.

The ships skirted round Tol Eressea to the Jetties used by the Lindarin sailors who brought fish to sell to the other elven races in Valinor. The Valar had clearly warned the elves that the army was returning. Suddenly Arafinwë grinned and rushed to the railings round the edge of the boat and waved at a Lindarin elleth waiting at the front of the crowd. Michael grinned at the other two.

"His wife I would guess?" Eönwë grinned and nodded as Anna pulled an 'aww' face. Both Michael and Anna stood a little back and tightened their holds on their power to make sure no hint overflowed before they were ready. Eönwë noticed the pair of them doing it and smiled wickedly in their direction and grinned even more when both lifted the hoods on their cloaks, their fana being as recognisable as their auras to the Valar.

It didn't take long after that for them to dock, though it was clear that it was far too long for the elf king who was only held back from hanging over the railings by a life of being a senior member of the royal family. As soon as the gangplank was down he was leaving the ship and pulling his wife into his arms and kissing her soundly.

Eonwe followed his somewhat more sedately and then Anna and Michael after him, each careful to keep their identities secret for now.

"Well met my Herald. I see you return in triumph." In front of them appeared all fourteen Valar, smiling benevolently at the returning elves. Eönwë bowed to him and smiled, cheeks dimpling as he did so.

"Indeed my lord. I have also brought you back a rather special guest." Manwe's eyebrow rose at his herald, who held his arm out to Michael.

"The Archangel Michael just happened to pop by and I agreed to him sharing a ship back so he could visit with his younger siblings." They all gaped as Michael dropped his hood and let his aura loose, though still controlled enough no to overwhelm the elves present. Manwe stared at the archangel in pure shock for a long moment before holding his arms out and pulling him into a rough hug.

"Well met, big brother. It has been far too long." Manwe said with a smile. Michael was then passed between all the Valar as they all greeted him fondly to the general bemusement of the watching elves. Those who were still dismounting the arriving ships whispered to those waiting on the shore that were greeting them who the mysterious being was that all the Valar called their older brother.

Once they were done greeting the archangel Manwe smiled at him.

"Make no mistake that we are very glad to see you here brother, but I know you would not be here without reason?" Michael smiled wickedly at him.

"Well there are assorted reasons for being here but the main one actually concerns Ulmo." The Lord of the Sea, once again in his humanoid incarnation, stepped forward with a slight frown. Michael smiled at him, something about the expression clearly not reassuring the most reclusive of the Vala at all.

Michael held out a hand which Anna took as she let her aura out and let her hood drop as her mentor drew her forward.

There was a stunned silence and Ulmo paled in shock as her stared at her.

The Vala wobbled on his feet slightly as he stared at her then in a moment had stepped forward and drawn her into his arms.

"Oh, thank Atar, you are well!" He gasped as he clung to her and Anna quite happily hugged back. Michael watched on with a smile. "When my people could not track you I feared the worst, for all they said it was and being alike atar that took you."

"Well, that answers one question at least." Michael commented dryly. Manwe looked over at him from where he had been watching Ulmo hug Anna with a certain degree of bafflement. Michael smiled at the questioning look.

"Whether he knew she existed, and for that matter, why did he not search for her if he he did, which is actually two questions now I think on it." Manwe raise an eyebrow at him, silently asking for more explanation. "The One, Atar or whatever you choose to call him, brought her to us as a baby with nothing more than the names of her parents and the racial background of her mother, we obviously did not need that for her father. We were given orders as to her upbringing but no back ground. I knew that If Ulmo knew his daughter was alive he would not stop looking for the child so we speculated that he didn't know about her but we needed his side of it before any specific conclusions could be drawn." Manwe nodded as Ulmo finally released her long enough to look at Anna, running a tentative finger down her cheek.

"You look so much like your mother..." He whispered softly and Anna gave a slightly wet laugh as she flung herself back against her father's chest and hugged him again.

Everyone watching sort of stepped back and pretended to ignore the pair to give them some semblance of privacy as both began sobbing against each other in joy and a release of many years of pain, fear and doubt.

"So what can you tell us of our new family member Michael?" Manwe asked with a smile.

"She's his daughter with a peredhil elleth, beyond that I do not know any of her ancestry before she was brought to us, as I said. The only other thing we were told was her name, Anna. When she was brought to us we were instructed to find her a foster family she could have a good normal upbringing with. So we found a wealthy and kind family in one of the most peaceful and civilised parts of our world who wanted a child. They happily took her in and raised her. We had been given a range of instructions of what to do when her heritage inevitably showed through. Thankfully she decided to go full valar as an adult which simplified things a lot because we got to simply edit people's memories to think she had been lost at sea and take her back to heaven."

Manwe nodded.

"I presume you then proceeded to train her up?" Michael nodded with a grin towards Anna who was now standing with her father's arm round her shoulder as they listened in. Anna gave a long suffering eye rolled, though she was also smiling.

"I wasn't that bad uncle!" Michael snorted with laughter.

"You threatened to muck up our world's oceans and weather systems!" Anna poked her tongue out at him while the Valar gaped at her.

"Not deliberately and you were being an arse at the time!" Ulmo raised an eyebrow.

"Why do I get the feeling life is about to get more interesting?" Both of them snorted with laughter as Eönwë grinned.

"Possibly because it takes all of about five minutes round those two to start getting very amusing but often shocking stories of life in heaven?" That comment got a distinctly jaundiced look from the Elder King and three innocently grinning faces.

"Out of curiosity how on earth have you got Anna fully trained? It has not been nearly long enough since she was born." Ulmo asked, squeezing his daughter a little bit. Anna smiled and snuggled against him.

"Atar permitted us to use a mixture of a time loop and outright taking us outside of time itself. Once I was fully trained I entered this world at the point necessary to sort out one of your most massive mistakes." Manwe flinched back slightly at the hint of condemnation in her voice, which was layered with a hint of someone else. Michael's smile turned a little grim.

"And that is an issue we will discuss while Ulmo settles Anna with him in his home." Manwe and the others were more than a tad white at the implications of the comment, while Ulmo raised an eyebrow at the fact he obviously wasn't included in whatever it was.

"Anyway, I believe you lot are here to welcome your army home. I believe most of this lot are disembarked now." Michael said with a smile, and indeed, looking at it the ships had finished letting off their passengers and said passengers had all greeted their family waiting for them.

Manwe took the hint and stepped forward, catching the attention of everyone who had been watching them out of the corner of their eyes curiously and started to formally welcome them back home.

XXX

Ulmo rather proudly showed Anna round his palace beneath the waves, looking just a tad nervous. He needn't have been, as she responded with all the awe of a person who by the age of fourteen had decided to become an oceanographer and dedicated her studies in that direction.

Ulmo grinned at she looked through the transparent walls which allowed her to watch the deep sea life with awe and a massive grin on her face.

"This place is utterly awesome!" She whispered after some while. The Lord of the Sea looked at her with a pleased smile. "I mean I was pretty sure I'd find your home awesome anyway but this is actually more awesome than I expected."

"You were already sure?" Ulmo asked with a smile. Anna grinned at him.

"Well uncle Michael always said I take after you one hell of a lot so I assumed any home you'd build would be something I would love." Ulmo grinned and led her into a comfortable sitting room. The two took a large couch and Anna sighed happily as she snuggled up against Ulmo's side, enjoying her father's affection and the waves of love she felt as he held her.

"Was your childhood good?" He asked her nervously, watching her with soft eyes the hid a hint of apprehension. Anna smiled reassuringly.

"It was good, and my then family was very kind and supportive. For all it is technically not that long, it for me was a very long time ago. Michael has been most of my family for most of my life. A pain in the arse on a regular basis and full of embarrassing stories about just about everyone, but wonderful family." Ulmo raised an amused eyebrow at her.

"Embarrassing stories?" Anna grinned.

"Yeah, he took to telling me bedtime stories at one point and they were universally ones of things the Valar and others got up to in the Timeless Halls when they were young." Ulmo closed his eyes.

"I am very very scared." He commented dryly and Anna grinned.

"Just be glad that you're not included in the chat Uncle Michael is having with the rest of your brethen." Ulmo raised his eyebrow again, very expressively. Anna was quite impressed.

"Dare I ask?" He asked archly.

"Basically their releasing Melkor was a big mistake and their actions afterwards were pushing the edges of what The One allows them so Michael is verbally goring them with a few dire warnings about improving their conduct." Ulmo stared at her in shock. "Apparently you disagreeing about letting Melkor out and cutting off Beleriand and all that lived in it. The valar do not have the right to command the elves to do anything, nor make their care conditional. The way they cut off the Noldor when the whole thing was a result of their own mistakes was also severely not good as well." Her father conceded the point with a little smile.

"So I am the only one not considered negligent because I objected, got out voted and then proceeded to do everything I could to help the elves anyway." Anna smiled at him and grinned.

"Yep. And I am intensely pleased that you are that one Valar who isn't an arse. Meeting the rest of them is going to be so fun." Ulmo grinned and laughed softly.

XXX

The rest of the valar were indeed having a very uncomfortable time.

They were gathered in the throne room of Ilmarin and for all Manwe was seated on his throne and Michael stood before him, there was no doubt as to who was in control. The rest of the Valar ranged around the archangel trying not to let their nervousness show through into their fana as the more powerful being stood before them not needing to look at them all to be the complete centre of attention and make it clear his ire was aimed at the lot of them. Mandos stood beside Manwe, frowning deeply as it was clear those two were the main targets.

Michael stood utterly still as he quietly addressed them. At one point Namo made the supreme mistake of objecting to Michael's point on the subject of their behaviour towards the Noldor and at that moment Michael turned icy eyes on the younger being, stopping him in his tracks.

"I am here as your last warning, child, you are not in a position to object. This is also not a trial – yet. Listen now and listen well, adjust your actions to what I am telling you or else it will become a trial and we all know that the judge will be Raguel and you will be having to defend yourselves from being handed over the Chayyiel and the Holy Hayyoth, which I am sure we do not want." There was the sense of a collective gasp. "Yes, you are toeing that line. Be glad the One is tolerant of mistakes and give you prior warning rather than just lets you walk right in to a mistake that big."

Namo looked almost sulky.

Michael turned back to Manwe with icy calm and took a long breath that was wholly for effect. After a long moment he drew in another breath and began again politely yet viciously tearing into the Valar's behaviour. After a long while Nienna raised a hand tentatively.

Michael looked at her and nodded imperiously.

"May I ask why Ulmo is not here?" Michael gave her a humourless smile.

"Can you not think why he might me exempt?" He asked in the tones of a teacher making a point. This seemed to offend them but the archangel didn't particularly care. Then they looked between themselves, trying to work out what was different about Ulmo.

"He argued against our course of action in the events you have mentioned?" Manwe ventured, trying not to sound unsure. Michael gave them a half smile, eyes still icy.

"Amongst other things. Any other ideas?" He asked and they looked between themselves with a complete lack of clue. "No?"

There was a vague sense of them shaking their heads. Michael sighed again.

"He not only disagreed with you but he went out of his way to do what he was able to counter your errors and do what he was tasked with, unlike any of you. Even those who did not fully agree with a course of action did nothing to mitigate any damage." They all looked between each other.

"He has?" Varda asked with a hint of surprise. Michael smiled.

"Yes." He got a lot of looks for that unhelpful answer but he wasn't here to tell stories, he was here to give them a warning and telling off. He could tell that they weren't very happy but as he said, he wasn't here to make people happy.

"Are we done with questioning who I have called to take to task and who has not?" They all nodded, beginning to look like penitent children rather than rebellious ones being told off. That was an improvement. Maybe he wouldn't be here for the next few millennia getting it their heads.

XXX

"Nice place you have here." Michael said looking round Ulmo's palace. Anna rolled her eyes at him.

"Ignore him Atto, he's being deliberately annoying." She said as Ulmo smiled and shook his head.

"Did you have fun goring my brethren?" He said instead and Michael grinned.

"It took a lot of work but I think I've got through their heads, though that was one hell of a difficult task. Namo is particularly hard headed." Ulmo rolled his eyes.

"That is no news. Namo has always been unforgiving and grumpy, possibly because of his depressing day job." All three snorted. That was one way of putting it.

Quite a lot of small talk followed, observant eyes watching the interaction between father and daughter. After some time Michael thought them relaxed enough to ask a question that he'd wanted to know since he'd first been presented with a baby Anna by The One.

"So what happened with your mate?" He asked, trying to be delicate about what was probably a raw question, especially as it was very recent by the Sea Lord's reckoning. Ulmo's eyes went sad in a second. He sighed deeply as he held his daughter close. It was a very long moment before he finally spoke.

"It was not long before Earendil sailed and the kinslayers attacked Alqualonde. I was walking along the sands of Beleriand, trying to deal with deep loneliness. Nienna and I are the only unpaired Valar and I longed for someone to complete me, to provide me the support my brethren have from their partners. As I was walking a storm hit. Some time later I was hailed and saw a lady with a little house on the shore calling me.

When I entered it became clear she knew not who I was and simply thought me an elf caught in the storm. Not willing at the time to disabuse her of that notion I accepted her hospitality and for a time revelled in her company. The longer I stayed with her the more I grew close and fond of her, feeling which she returned. I never told her who I was, not once throughout our relationship in which I revelled in simply being an elf for a little while. It was only when I was begging her to come with me after I had to return to Valinor that I told her who I was in an attempt to get her to come with me for I knew it was not safe where she was."

He sighed deeply again, running his free hand through his hair, unconsciously tightening his grip on his daughter.

"She refused, instead making me promise to return to her and then she would consider it. As soon as I could I did return but it was too late. Her house was burned out and trashed, and I remember searching the building in panic. The only thing I found was a crib and that was the first I knew of you." He looked to Anna with a sad smile. "I could not track you easily and so set my servants to finding your mother and you. They managed to trace your mother fleeing until the orcs who destroyed her home caught up with you. She managed to hide you in a tree before she was killed. All the servants could find on from that was a being akin to atar had protected you from the orcs and taken you elsewhere and could track you no further. I couldn't search for you any further than that, though goodness knows I tried." The two nodded and Anna hugged her father tightly.

"So what are you going to do now? You have Anna back and this war is done." Michael asked, trying to sound off hand about it.

"Apart from my duties? Annoy Namo until he released Lindariel so we can finally live as a proper family." Michael laughed as Anna grinned up at her father.

"Your daughter should be a great help there, while she is my most talented student ever, she is possibly the most annoying person I have ever met, in an oddly endearing way. The One has also decided she has free will, which means she is no way under the command of the Valar, any of them, and I think I have managed to hammer that into their heads." Ulmo's eys were dancing with a wicked grin.

"I sense stories here?" He said, looking between his daughter and the archangel. Michael grinned back.

"Of course, just be warned I have told her all of the incidents from the timeless halls you don't want ever repeated." Ulmo groaned even as Michael geared up for the first story.

XXX

Anna hugged Michael one last time before he returned to Heaven and his own world. As he disappeared Anna sort of sagged back against her father, sad to see the main constant her her life go. Ulmo seemed to understand and hugged her tightly.

"I believe we now have a member of my brethren to annoy." He said after a while, face lighting up with an evil grin and Anna immediately perked up.

Moments later they were standing in front of Namo who gave the pair a long suffering look and rolled his eyes.

"Not yet." He snapped. "I know what you two are up to and you both know I release people with Atar's permission and not before. I will tell you when it is time, just like everyone else." He said sternly and the two grinned at him. Anna then gave him an innocent wide eyed look.

"Uncle Namo, are we nearly there yet?" She said in her most childish plaintive voice. The Lord of the Dead stared at her for a long moment before going to the nearby wall and slamming his head against it.

"If this is atar's idea of cruel and unusual punishment, then he is doing very very well!" Anna burst out laughing and hugged the exasperated vala with a broad grin.

"Just be glad that Uncle Michael just made me promise to give the valar collectively as much trouble as I gave him – this way you get to share it between fourteen of you rather than have it all focussed on one person!" Namo smiled and hugged her.

"So there is some mercy involved then?" Anna nodded. "And Michael put you up to being annoying?" She nodded again. An evil grin spread across the chthonic vala's face. "If it is Michaels fault then I'm welcome to prank him in revenge if I want to aren't I?"

Both Ulmo and Anna's eyes lit up as they grinned.

"I'm more than willing to help if you want?" Anna offered and the three immediately began plotting.

In Heaven Michael shivered as he got that distinct feeling he always got when his former ward had been planning trouble and set to checking his defences.

XXX

Ulmo and Anna stood with a number of other families, all elven and watching the pair from the corner of their eyes with a hint of nerves, outside the Gate of Reunion. Each an every one of them was there waiting for a relative finally returned from the dead.

Soon the gates opened though they were shrouded in fog and a person appeared out of them, only to be swept up by their family.

Eventually, when they were the last two without a family member an elleth with black hair that glowed with a blue-ish silver sheen. Unlike the rest she was accompanied by Namo and Vaire themselves, who were each smiling softly at their brother Vala as they led the elleth forward.

"And finally returned to you is your wife, brother. Atar made some special exceptions for you. The part of her that was human and that should have been sent beyond the circles of this world has been replaced with that of the first choir, truly making Lindariel your equal." Ulmo stared at them in shock before looking at the lady standing before him nervously.

In a moment he had drawn her into his arms and was kissing her soundly.

A moment later they were broken apart by a grinning Anna.

"Ewww, atto, PDA!" The happy couple stared at their daughter, flushed red as both Namo and Vaire burst out laughing, knowing Anna far to well to think she meant that.

Lindariel blinked nervously before holding her arms out somewhat nervously to the girl she instinctively knew was her daughter and Anna flung herself into her mother's arms.

"I missed you nana." There was a soft laugh and the elleth held her close.

Eventually the two separated and Anna began bouncing.

"So Nana, since Name gave us plenty of time to prepare for your arrival..." Both vala and his half valarin wife smile affectionately as the girl began happily talking about just about anything that came to her head. Just before Ulmo took his wife home he turn to smile and nod in thanks toward Namo and Vaire who just grinned and nodded back.

Finite