Disclaimer: See previous chapter

Many apologies for the delay in posting. Ill health and extra treatment has made me tardy. I am obviously going to bring this to a close within the next two chapters and may start on a sequel very soon.

"[Foggy and Clegg are climbing a hill that provides a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside]

Walter 'Foggy' Dewhurst: Every time I come up here, the spirit soars! You can't help thinking what a wonderful place it would be to set up a machine gun! Give me a small squad of hand-picked men and I could defend this place indefinitely!

Norman Clegg: How long have you been a nature lover, Foggy? " -- The Last of the Summer Wine (BBC TV Series)

Chapter 65 – And Life goes on

The home of Alun Davies on the edge of the Forest of Dean, circa 2007

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" is a philosophical riddle that raises questions regarding observation and knowledge of reality. Maglor had indeed heard the saying many times, but since Elvenkind had superior powers of observation and a sense of reality far surpassing those of the Secondborn, the lack of sound from the forest was utterly deafening.

He stood on the path leading into the outskirts of the Forest of Dean with Coco prancing excitedly around him, running from bush to bush, snuffling out tantalising smells and looking for something to chase. Maglor's head was cocked to one sound as he filtered out the ever pervading sounds of the modern world such as aircraft high overhead and tuned into the trees and nature.

Maglor was not a Silvan elf like Legolas and his kin, or even as attuned as Celeborn and the elves of Laurelindorenan were to the language of the trees, but all elves had the ability to understand even at a basic level that the trees were alive and spoke often. Mankind seldom heard it, if ever and even the cries of agony from trees as they were felled were drowned out by noise from the buzzsaws and shouts of the tree fellers.

What worried Maglor today was not the sounds of the forest, but the lack of them. It was as if whatever darkness surrounded Alun Davies was spreading outwards like the ripples on a pond. Something was happening; the evil spread by Morgoth and Sauron had searched long and hard for a conduit to use and they had found it in one human being.

He sighed and silenced the excited dog with one finger. Coco's ears pricked up and his pink tongue lolled out of the side of his wide grinning mouth. The sight of it lightened the elf's heart and he laughed softly at the animal.

"Ridiculous dog." He chided and Coco whined and slobbered over his soft suede boots. "I am trying to listen and all you want to do is chase rabbits!"

Coco barked sharply. Rabbits. Now there was a word he understood perfectly. Maglor once again lifted his finger. "Hush now."

His tone was gentle, but firm and Coco finally recognised that his new bestest friend really did need him to be quiet. He whined softly once and lay down beside the now silent elf, resting his chin on his paws. Maglor smiled down at the dog and stretched his arms out to the surrounding trees and bushes. He immediately heard the agitation and distress of the trees and drew on his own inner light at the same time silently beseeching Yavanna and Orome's assistance to push away the darkness.

For for what seemed like the longest minutes of Maglor's life there was no response, although the forest hungrily drank in the light emanating from this creature of nature. Maglor felt his knees weaken and realised that he had given more of himself than he should have, but he was reluctant to stop.

Then just when he sagged to his knees and was about to give up, Coco, who was now anxiously nosing him and trying to lick the exhausted elf, gave a sharp joyous bark of what Maglor recognised as welcome. He raised his head and through the sharp prickling of the lights of exhaustion across his vision he saw a tall figure wearing a hooded cloak. Tears glistened on his cheeks when the figure threw back the hood to reveal Yavanna herself smiling at him tenderly.

"You came..." He whispered and would have fallen forward had strong arms not caught him from behind. "My Lord Orome..."

"Did you think we would not answer your call for succour child?" Orome's brown eyes, shot through with the green of the forests he loved so dearly, twinkled merrily at Maglor.

Maglor drooped in relief against the Vala. "I wasn't sure. I don't have the best track record with the Valar."

Orome's laughter boomed out heartily and the darkness withdrew cautiously as if afraid of this new and powerful sound. He gently stood Maglor on his feet and bent down to scratch Coco's ears. Yavanna looked sorrowfully around her at the drooping and fearful forest.

"So much fear and sorrow." She said softly, stroking the bark of the nearest tree which shivered ecstatically under the caress.

"Can you help the forest?" Maglor asked with a note of pleading in his voice.

Yavanna's musical laugh was accompanied by the rustling of leaves. "Together we will help the forest Pitya. Orome and your little friend here..." She indicated the dog. "...will protect us while we work."

Coco sat up straight and barked again. He was ready for anything, especially since he could sense the hesitant and wary return of the small animals of the forest who recognised that powerful beings sympathetic to their plight had come to their home to aid them.

A group of hikers who had been preparing to go on a walk through the trees but were on the point of changing their mind because the forest seemed darker, unfriendly and more impenetrable than it had a few hours previously, caught sight of a growing golden light to the north of where they were planning to enter. Their leader frowned and then dismissed it as late rays of the sun peeping through the clouds rather than anything celestial.

"Perhaps we should head north." He said. "Looks like the best of the sun is that way."

They resolutely turned their backs on the dark silence and took the path north as the light from beings not seen in the forests of Middle-earth for millennia pervaded the Forest of Dean and brought it back to life.

A short distance away from where Maglor, Coco and the two Vala stood, Alun Davies lay on the couch in his living room resting. It seemed to him as if that was all he was capable these days because the exhaustion was all encompassing. His wife watched over him anxiously with half an eye on the television in the corner, but as a pure beam of golden light thrust like a spear of pure sunlight through the living room window and played across him, he turned restlessly towards it and sighed deeply.

She got up to try and soothe him, but stopped when she saw him smile in his sleep as the room lit up like a beacon. She suddenly felt an overwhelming need to rest, sat back down heavily in her chair and her eyelids drooped. A moment later they were both deep in peaceful and healing sleep.

The television murmured quietly to itself in the corner.

ooOoo

Kim was dreaming about Eonwe. There was nothing unusual in this, she dreamt about him nearly every night, some dreams were good but mostly they were frustrating. She often dreamt that she was trying to call him in the Officer's Mess, but when she went to dial the number her fingers stubbornly refused to press the right numbers. She would start dialling and then realise that she either couldn't remember the rest of the number or her fingers would turn into fat, obstinate digits apparently with minds of their own.

Or she was often running down long carpeted corridors looking for his room and would end up in her old room in the Sergeant's Mess instead. She had worked it out in her own mind that it was simply because he was out of reach that she was dreaming these frustrating events. It was because she couldn't just lift up a phone and call him, just to hear his warm rich tones reassuring her that she dreamed of being too stupid and clumsy to make something as simple as a telephone call.

When these dreams came, and they often came thick and fast, often contuining even after waking up after one of them, she woke up hot, sweaty and tearful. The weight of the baby pressing on her bladder meant that trips to the toilet became more and more frequent and just lately the baby had taken to rolling around lazily in her womb. She would lie on her back and watch the mound of flesh which was her swollen abdomen literally roll like waves until she actually felt dizzy and seasick with it. The doctor assured her that it was normal and there was nothing to worry about, so she tried not to worry, but her nights were seldom peaceful now.

She was often so tired that she fell asleep in the middle of conversations. The last time she had done it was at Chief's house and to her intense embarrassment the whole family had tiptoed around her while she slumbered. Chief hastily assured her that there was no drooling but she wasn't convinced.

"You mustn't worry so." Chief Knowles' wife tried to reassured her. "Everyone feels like that towards the end. I used to wish like hell that I could take the bump off and put it on a chair for a few hours. The baby will settle down once the head is engaged."

Kim had dutifully laughed but was not convinced, but what had followed was the many pre-birth tales teasingly shared by both Chief and Mrs Knowles which were meant to make her laugh, but actually filled her with fear.

How was she to cope when the baby came? She felt woefully ill-equipped to deal with a baby and her misery at not seeing Eonwe or having him there to help and support her was growing exponentially.

She had put Gary/Eonwe's penthouse on the market and then suffered terrible guilt for doing so without his approval, which she then justified to herself by saying that he wasn't there and she had no guarantee he would ever be there. Unfortunately that was hardly very reassuring for her state of mind. She bounced from emotion to emotion, up and down in mood and although being assured that mood swings were common with pregnant women, she also felt extremely annoyed with herself for giving in to them. It was only Chief's firm assertion that Eonwe's presence would have made no difference whatsoever to her moods other than put him in the doghouse permanently that lightened her depression.

However the penthouse had sold, even though the housing market was quite bad and the Chief and his wife had sat down with her to look for a nice family home. The General had been very good to her also and had invited her to functions as the wife of Major Matthews and he and his wife, Mrs Colonel, had protected her from the mutterings of the other officer's ladies by their apparent public approval of her.

So after all the dust had settled she had now moved into a nice large family house just outside of Guildford and close enough to Headquarters Aldershot where the General had hinted that Eonwe would be posted to if and when he returned. All it needed was one errant husband, who would understand that his lack of presence may make him public enemy number one for a little while.

She was a lucky girl, she knew that. She had a home, good friends and enough money to live well without working. However the one most important thing to her and the baby was the one thing that was missing from her life.

Eonwe wasn't there.

She was finding it hard to get her head around why he wasn't there. She had no idea that his memories had been removed and were only now being allowed to filter back. Somehow, inside that muddled head of hers, she had decided that he simply didn't want either her or the baby and had just gone back to his life in Valinor without a second thought for either of them. She alternated between distress and misery and anger at him.

For his part Chief Knowles knew how she was feeling and also felt angry with Eonwe, although he suspected that the Valar would have done something to prevent the Herald from eating his heart out for millennia while the human race scrabbled up to the level they were at now. However Kim was in no mood or emotional state to listen to anything like that. The good thing was that now Chief was driving to Kim's new home with some uplifting news, and that uplifting piece of news had taken the form of a tall, slender red-haired elf sitting calmly in the passenger seat of Chief's car apparently quite at home in a vehicle which moved without the use of horses.

"Will Lady Kim be pleased to see me do you think?"

The sudden question after miles of silent driving along a motorway startled the Chief, who glanced at his passenger. "I think she'll be very pleased to be honest. I'm glad you were able to be spared from assisting Alun Davies." Chief replied honestly.

Maedhros nodded and said nothing for a little while. He merely glanced out of the window at the streets, houses and shops flashing by through the car window. They had turned away from what Chief referred to as a 'motorway' and onto suburban roads, something Maedhros found a lot more interesting. He liked to watch the mortals going about their business, children in strollers or coming back from school. He didn't like the built up, claustrophobic feeling of modern living, but he could appreciate the fact that nobody seemed in want or hungry.

In his few weeks in modern Middle-earth, he had become accustomed to the many restaurants, food outlets and fast food joints that pervaded modern society. Alun's son and Maglor had even taken him to something called Pizza Hut and ordered a pizza for him. When he asked Maglor to explain what a pizza was, his brother had just laughed and told him to wait until he had tasted it. Poor Maedhros was completely unsure of himself and no more so than he was after being presented with a large, flat, round piece of bread, suffused with a rich red savoury sauce, drooling with cheese and dotted with pepperoni and onion.

Alun's son and Maglor watched with glee as Maedhros lifted a wide slice of the pizza and tentatively tasted it by nibbling a small piece off the corner. They fell about laughing when he proceeded to stuff the delicious foodstuff into his mouth and became frustrated with the long elastic strings of cheese.

"We could have made this back in the early days." He had mumbled enthusiastically around a mouth filled with pizza.

Maglor had chuckled. "Yes, if we had ever managed to find tomatoes and mozzarella cheese somewhere in Middle-earth."

"True." Maedhros admitted. "The Secondborn have created some wondrous things and have come far yet despite all of this plenty and ease of living, there are still people in poverty and hunger. None of it seems aimed at curing any of that."

Maglor had nodded soberly. "Yes, there is great poverty and need, but there is also great ignorance and those who have do not always wish to be reminded of those who do not have. It creates great inequalities. Those who do care often do not have the wealth to help others and so it is easier to ignore them. It is not a good excuse, but evil has been set in the world since the beginning and it still works its ill magic in Middle-earth. If ever a place needed someone like Lord Eonwe to come and spread his light, this does."

Chief had turned the car into a long leafy lane. Maedhros noticed that the houses on this road were set further back than in the more built up areas. They had high fences and hedges with gates set in them and long driveways up to large houses. Dusk was beginning to fall and some of the windows glowed with welcoming lights.

Finally Chief pulled up outside a pair of large wooden gates set in a low brick wall which was topped with neat evergreen hedging. Maedhros jumped out and unhinged the lock to pull the gates back so that Chief could drive in. In front of them stretched a curving red paved driveway which wound in between tall trees and bushes. Maedhros could see that there was a wide green swathe of smooth lawn through the trees and an old red Mini stood outside a double garage alongside a silver grey Range Rover.

The Chief parked his Volvo behind the Range Rover and he and Maedhros made their way to the front door. On one side of the door Maedhros could see that there were two large glass doors behind which was obviously a very comfortable looking living room. He could also see figures inside, but not well enough to see who they were.

Chief reached out to press the bell, but before his finger even touched it, the door flew open and a delighted Kim rushed out and flung herself into the arms of a rather startled Maedhros.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it. I just can't believe it! It's so wonderful to see you." She gasped. Her face was glowing and Maedhros held her at arm's length to examine her.

"You are huge." He said smiling. "Are you sure there is only one child in there?" He gently prodded her swollen belly and laughed softly when the child gently kicked back at him.

Kim glanced down at her abdomen and patted it fondly. "As far as we know, there's only one, but she is going to be an all in wrestler...or maybe a kick-boxer." She turned to Chief who embraced her warmly. "I am so pleased to see you both, but you will never guess what has happened! Come and see."

She dragged them both into the house by the hand and across the hallway into the living room area.

"She doesn't seem very surprised to see me." Maedhros whispered to the Chief who frowned in bewilderment and shook his head in surprise.

They allowed themselves to be dragged into a warm well appointed and comfortably furnished room which ran the entire length of the house from front to back. In the middle was a large fireplace which was currently alight with burning pine logs and the scent from the resin filled the room with a glorious forest fresh smell.

It was only when they were properly in the room that the Chief realised that it had two other occupants. Sitting on one of the chairs, with one leg crossed over the other was a tall man with ebony hued hair and dark twinkling eyes. A man that both Chief and Maedhros instantly recognised. Lord Namo, looking relaxed and entirely at home in these most modern of circumstances, inclined his head to them in greeting.

But there was another tall and very familiar figure who was standing with his back to the door facing the dark haired man. He turned as they entered and Kim stood beside Chief and Maedhros, grinning from ear to ear at both as they stared in shock. The Chief was the first to recover.

"Well it's about bloody time, you fucking waste of space." He grasped Eonwe's hand warmly and the Herald returned his greeting with a warm strong grip of his own. "Where the hell have you been. I've been wearing myself out to a frazzle filling in for you! It's been like having two wives. I'm too old and tired to have two wives."

Namo chuckled loudly and Eonwe grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Chief, and by the way that would be 'fucking waste of space, Colonel, Sir', to you! I hear she's been giving you no end of trouble." He held his arm out to Kim who came into it and laid her head against him.

"Hmm, Colonel is it?" Chief pumped his arm once again. "Congratulations. You're the only soldier I know who can be absent from duty for months and ends up being promoted two rungs up the ladder."

Eonwe just laughed and dropped a tender kiss on the top of Kim's head. "Well some of us just have the talent and the charm, Chief. What can I say?"

Chief just shook his head in mock despair and went over to shake hands with Namo.

Maedhros stood uncertainly in the doorway, unsure of his welcome from either Eonwe or Namo. However the Herald beckoned him into the room and let go of Kim long enough to enfold Maedhros in a warm embrace.

"Welcome to our home Lord Maedhros." He said softly.

"Just plain Maedhros now. I came to help." Maedhros grinned at him. "But I see there was no need."

Eonwe gestured them both to sit. "Quite the contrary, I have great need of both you and your brother. We have a great deal of work to do here. Lord Namo is here to set the seal on our presence here and we have the General's blessing and support. Others have also agreed to return and offer their light and assistance. And, more importantly, I am here to welcome my daughter into the world."

"Flora-dora." Namo interposed with a sly wink at the Chief and Maedhros who laughed.

Kim blushed, waggled a finger at him in admonition and sat down heavily on the sofa opposite. "You said you weren't going to tease me about that."

Namo shrugged. "I think it's a lovely name." He said wickedly.

"Well don't hold your breath, because there is not going to be a Maia, half Maia or not, called Flora-dora any time soon." Eonwe said firmly, which only made them all laugh harder.

"Well you'd better think of a name quickly." Said Kim quietly, her face suddenly pale. "Because I think she's going to make an appearance tonight."

ooOoo