40: Damage Assessment

Glorfindel remained unconscious for some time after Námo brought him back to Vanyamar. Ingwë had insisted that his own people care for the ellon rather than any of the Powers or the Maiar.

"I think you have all done enough damage," Ingwë said to Manwë with barely suppressed anger. What had happened to him had been frightening, but his anger was directed at the Valar for placing him in a position of helplessness, knowing he could do nothing to protect his people. Manwë had not argued the point.

Besides Glorfindel, the only other "odd" case was Lirulin. She, in fact, was not a victim of the "temporal displacement of the fëar" (Ingwë memorized that particular phrase, pondering its meaning for a long time afterwards), but rather, waking of her own accord, she slipped out of her hröa and sought out the gates of Mandos on her own. Námo actually found her huddling against the main doors and decided a little shock therapy of a different kind might be in order. What he said to her, no one ever knew. All anyone knew for sure was that Lirulin woke in her hröa three days later asking for food and demanding to see her daughter. The healers were overjoyed, though understandably bemused. Námo was disinclined to tell any of his fellow Valar what he had said to Lirulin and none of them pressed the point. They were just happy to see the poor child reach for Life again.

All the other elves of the city woke feeling refreshed and invigorated and appeared to suffer no ill effects from what had happened. Nevertheless, for the next week or so Maiar walked unclad throughout the city, keeping an eye on the elves to assure that none were suffering unduly.

"Which elves were affected?" Manwë asked Fionwë, four days later, as the Maiar were giving their assessment reports to the Valar.

"Interestingly enough," Fionwë said, "save for Glorfindel, and if we discount Lirulin as a special case, all the other elves were older. All remembered Cuiviénen and the Great Journey. None of the younger elves were affected."

"Is that significant, do you think, my beloved?" Varda asked, noting the expression on Manwë’s face.

"Perhaps," Manwë nodded. "All these elves have entered or are entering the third stage of their existence. That might be our first clue."

"They all originally came from Cuiviénen," Oromë said. "I know most of them by name, for I spent much time among them. Yet, only these few were affected. Why not all the elves who left Cuiviénen to make the Great Journey?"

Aulë spoke then. "Perhaps, as Manwë says, their age is our first clue. Ingwë is the oldest Elda in Vanyamar and he woke first. Which brings me to another question? Why was he the only one affected by the time dilation? None of the others suffered it, only the temporal displacement."

"An interesting observation, brother," Námo replied. "I think Ingwë will prove to be the key to this mystery. I am thinking that he may have been the zero-point from which everything else flowed, which is why only he experienced the time dilation."

"A ripple effect, then," Manwë said with a frown. "So it’s possible that eventually all the elves would have been affected."

"Except they all woke up at the proper time," Varda said.

Manwë sighed. "I am afraid our good intentions backfired."

"Or not," Námo countered and all the other Valar gave him enquiring looks. "I noticed that in the two cases where the elf made it to his ultimate destination, neither arrived at any spatiotemporal coordinate where they were likely to meet themselves or others who knew them. I remarked to Erunáro as we were pursuing Glorfindel that possibly Eru himself had a hand in it, steering our fleeing elves to a spatiotemporal point well after the significant historical event in question. In Ingwë’s case, that was after the elves departed on their Great Journey; for Glorfindel, it was well after all had perished or fled Gondolin, leaving only a dead ruin."

"Then you think Eru was responsible...?" Yavanna started to ask, her expression one of surprise.

Námo shook his head. "Responsible for the near disaster to Ingwë and the others? No. Capable of taking advantage of the situation when it arose, I have no doubt." This last was said with a knowing smile.

"Nor do I," Manwë said, his eyes twinkling with humor as well. "I think this is a matter that will require long thought and much discussion. In the meantime, we should keep an eye on those, like the High King, who were affected. This might have been a fluke, or it might be a harbinger of things to come. None of them should have been able to do what they did, yet the evidence is before us. Unconscious ability or not, it is a dangerous gift and we will need to monitor the situation closely."

"And that brings us to Glorfindel," Námo said with a slight smile. "Our little Balrog-slayer is just full of surprises, isn’t he?"

There were rueful chuckles all around.

"If I didn’t know better," Varda said with a straight face, "I would think Eru inflicted Glorfindel on us purely for his high entertainment value. Ilúvatar obviously had a gleam in his eye when he brought that impossible ellon’s parents together."

They all laughed at that and Manwë opined that Varda was closer to the truth than any of them imagined. A wave of laughter from beyond the Circles of Arda passed through Aman and they knew that Eru was enjoying the joke as much as they.

"So why was he affected?" Aulë asked when the laughter had died down. "He’s quite young, even taking into account the period of time he spent in Mandos."

"He’s the only Reborn living in Vanyamar," Námo replied. "His fëa now exists on a slightly different level of Reality than those of the Once-born, as he so fondly calls them. I suspect that if any of the other Reborn had been here, they too would have fled into the Past."

They all pondered that in silence for some time, but none had an explanation for why Glorfindel was able to do what Ingwë and the other elder elves had done. In the end, it was decided to keep an extra guard on the ellon and Manwë ordered Manveru and his brother Erunáro to walk unclad beside Glorfindel until further notice.

"Glorfindel is not to be left alone for any reason," Manwë ordered and the two Maiar bowed and left to take up their duty.

"And now we must deal with Ingwë’s anger," Manwë concluded on a note of sadness. "I fear we’ve lost his trust. It may be difficult to win it back."

"We will have to tread carefully for a time, my beloved," Varda said with a nod of agreement. "I do not think trust has been entirely broken. Ingwë has sat at our feet too long and loves us too much to turn from us entirely."

"Let him come to us in his own time and fashion," Nienna added. "If we try to push ourselves back into his good graces, it will only make matters worse."

Manwë agreed and the meeting ended, but not before Olórin appeared with news of his own, his expression bland.

"Glorfindel is awake... and he’s not amused."

"Why am I not surprised," Námo said with a rueful shake of his head and then started to laugh. Soon the others joined in.

****

Glorfindel, in fact, was fit to be tied, literally. He had awakened in the infirmary wing of the palace demanding to see Ingwë, Alassiel and Námo (in that order). The healers attempted to calm him, insisting that he remain in the infirmary until they knew for sure he was fine. Since none of them understood anything at all about his condition, this was a moot point. Manveru and Erunáro, standing unseen in the Balrog-slayer’s room raised identical eyebrows at the maledictions coming from Glorfindel’s mouth, most of them in Sindarin, so the healers had no idea what he was saying, but they could guess at their meaning.

In the end, it took five Vanyar to hold Glorfindel down long enough for them to place restraints on him. All the time Glorfindel continued shouting, but when the final restraint was in place he collapsed and began weeping. The healers were glad to leave him to it, many of them already sporting bruises and even a bloody nose or two.

When all had left the room, the two Maiar manifested themselves just enough to lay their hands on the weeping ellon’s head and offer him what comfort they could. Eventually, Glorfindel cried himself into a fitful sleep.

Námo arrived, took one look at the restraints on Glorfindel and uttered an oath that left the two Maiar with their mouths hanging open. He knelt down and ran a hand over the sleeping ellon’s body, ascertaining its state, then with a single thought, unbound the elf and lifted him into his arms.

"Come with me," he said to the two Maiar and they hastily complied as the Vala strode out of the room and down the corridor to where several elves were gathered. One of them looked up to see Námo and the Maiar guards approach and blanched. The others, when they noticed, fell to their knees in obeisance.

"Who ordered the restraints?" the Vala asked in a quiet tone that fooled no one.

One of the elves looked up from where she was kneeling and tentatively raised a hand. Námo stared at the elleth for several moments, his expression unreadable. The healer started trembling. Námo nodded, as if he had received the answer he was looking for. "I am taking Glorfindel to Ingwë. He is no longer your concern."

Without waiting for a response, Námo left the infirmary wing and headed for the royal apartments. He found Ingwë in his study, closeted with his advisors who were making their own assessment of what had happened. All the elves, including Ingwë, shuddered at the cold expression on the Vala’s face. The fact that he was accompanied by two warrior Maiar didn’t go unnoticed either.

"My Lord Námo," Ingwë acknowledged, his expression carefully neutral. "Did you wish something?"

Námo’s smile was not at all pleasant. "I do not like what I am seeing, Ingwë. Your Chief of Healers will be here soon to explain. In the meantime, I will tend to Glorfindel myself. Have Ingwion come to Glorfindel’s room in an hour. He can give me a hand."

Ingwë bristled at the Vala’s tone, but bowed in acquiescence. Námo nodded once then strode out of the room, finally coming to Glorfindel’s room where he laid the still sleeping ellon on the bed and made him as comfortable as possible. Námo reached out and plucked the ellon’s favorite stuffed toy from its location in Tirion and nestled it into Glorfindel’s arms, giving him a kiss on the brow before sitting in a chair deep in thought.

One hour later there was a tentative knock on the door. Námo sent a thought that opened the door of its own accord. "Come in Ingwion," he said without looking up, his gaze still on Glorfindel, who had curled into a ball around the stuffed toy. Námo had been pleased at that for it meant that the elf had finally fallen into a natural sleep.

"M-my lord sent for me?" Ingwion said uncertainly. He had not been present when Námo had interrupted his atar’s conference and had been shocked when informed of Námo’s request. He had never had any fear of the Valar, only reverential respect, even love, but the Lord of Mandos was no one you wanted to be on the bad side of.

Námo looked up at the ellon and smiled. "Yes, child, come here."

Ingwion complied readily enough, though he still looked wary. He stared down at the sleeping elf, a look of surprise followed quickly by one of dismay flashing across his face as he saw Glorfindel cuddled with the stuffed toy. He feared his estimation of the Noldo was sorely misplaced. "Is he going to be all right, lord?" he asked somewhat stiffly.

"With your help, Ingwion," Námo replied, having taken notice of the ellon’s reaction to seeing Glorfindel but declining to comment. "He suffered a terrible psychic shock and I’m afraid the healers did not take that into account when they placed him under restraints."

Ingwion sucked in a breath and felt suddenly ill. Now that he knew what to look for he could see the bruises on Glorfindel’s wrists and shuddered.

"Wh-what do you wish of me, lord?" Ingwion finally asked, feeling more sympathetic towards the sleeping ellon.

"Stay with him," came Námo’s reply. "Let him see a familiar face, the face of a friend, when he awakens. He will make demands to see me, Ingwë and even Alassiel, though not in that order." Námo gave the elf a deprecating smile and Ingwion returned the smile with an understanding grin of his own. "Inform your atar when he awakens. Leave Alassiel out of this for now. She is with Lirulin and Lirulin needs Alassiel more at the moment than Glorfindel does."

"And you... my lord?" Ingwion enquired.

"I will be here as soon as he awakens. My people will inform me."

Ingwion found himself surreptitiously looking around, wondering how many unclad Maiar haunted this room. Námo hid a smile at the ellon’s curiosity and stood up. "Here, you might as well sit down. It may be a long wait." He motioned for Ingwion to sit and the ellon reluctantly complied. Námo clapped him on the shoulder and nodded.

"What Glorfindel needs now is a sympathetic friend, Ingwion. Findaráto is not here or he would fill that role. Are you willing to take your cousin’s place, if only temporarily?"

"I hope it’s more than temporary, lord," Ingwion said with some feeling. "I like Glorfindel. More than that, I admire and respect him... or that is...."

Námo’s expression softened and his tone became more solemn. "Be gentle with him, Ingwion. In many ways he’s younger than any twelve-year-old and has far to go before he reaches full maturity. Yet, never forget that once he was a lord of Ondolindë and stood mighty in the counsels of Turucáno. Never forget that he fought against my Fallen Brother’s Maiar slaves, though it cost him his life. His courage should never be in doubt however he might weep from time to time like any elfling bereft of a favorite toy, or act in a childish manner."

Ingwion nodded, chagrined at his earlier reaction. His heart went out to the poor child. "I want us to be friends, lord. Someday, I hope to love him as my brother... that is, if he will let me."

Námo smiled warmly. "I do not see where that will be a problem, child. Glorfindel gives of himself freely and openly. Treat him the same way and I know you and he will be otornor before long."

Ingwion smiled shyly. "I would like that. He’s... he’s so fascinating. Are all Reborn so fascinating?"

The Lord of Mandos chuckled. "No less fascinating than you are, my son, or any Eruhin, though I will admit that Glorfindel is a bit more fascinating than most." With that, the Vala took his leave, though not before planting a kiss on Ingwion’s brow in blessing and doing the same with Glorfindel, whose only reaction was to snuggle even closer around his stuffed toy.

For a long while Ingwion sat there staring at the sleeping ellon, contemplating the words the Lord of Mandos had spoken. Without conscious thought he began humming the ancient lullaby he had heard the Valar sing, unaware that Manveru and Erunáro had joined in.

****

Otornor: Plural of otorno: sworn brother.

Eruhin: Child of Eru.