136: The Elder King’s Defense

Manwë took a moment before speaking, gauging the reactions of the elves to what they had heard from the various witnesses. Oddly enough, it appeared as if the Amanians were more upset than the Tol Eressëans by what they had heard. The one group that looked the least upset were the Reborn, but they had a slightly different view of the world than the Once-born. He had to admire young Findaráto, though, for the manner in which he had presented his case. His time as King of Nargothrond had been well spent, for he was proving to be a canny magistrate, his arguments carefully and logically laid out. It had taken great courage for him to even lay these accusations before them. That the other Children went along with him, especially Ingwë, spoke volumes concerning the respect they all had for this grandson of Finwë.

So now to see what to do about it.

"All that you have heard from these witnesses," Manwë finally said, "is true... from a certain point of view."

"Does this mean you are saying that our point of view is invalid?" Morcocáno demanded sourly.

"You are out of line, Morcocáno," Ingwë said sternly. "Pray remain silent and allow Lord Manwë to speak."

Morcocáno glowered but did not disobey the High King. Manwë nodded to Ingwë.

"Invalid?" he asked. "No, not invalid. Simply incomplete. Your accusations are based on what you know, but what you know may not be the complete truth. Let us take the witnesses one at a time. Everything Glorfindel told you is the truth. We did suppress his memories of Eärendil and his ability to see the star. This was not a unanimous decision on our part. There was a great deal of debate on the subject. In the end, though, I decided that for Glorfindel’s own safety, it would be best to suppress some of his memories until such time as we felt he would be able to handle them. That time came sooner than we expected, but the end result is that Glorfindel went in search of Eärendil and in finding him gave us the opportunity to use him to bring Eärendil and Elwing here to this Council."

"So why can I not see the star?" Glorfindel demanded. "Why is it kept hidden from me?"

Manwë turned to face Glorfindel, his expression sad. "I do not know, Glorfindel. By all rights, as soon as you started to remember Eärendil you should have been able to see Tancol. There is no reason for you not to. Our own thoughts about it is that Ilúvatar Himself is preventing you from seeing it for His own purposes. It was He, after all, who made it possible for you to remember Eärendil in the first place. Had we had our own way in the matter, it would have been years, if not centuries, before you would have remembered."

"It makes no sense," Glorfindel complained.

"No, it does not," Manwë agreed. "I can only tell you that you must trust that Ilúvatar knows what He is about. I am sure you will someday see the star when you need to see it."

The Elder King paused for a moment, but when Glorfindel did not speak again, he turned back to Ingwë and continued. "Falmaron is, admittedly, a different case. We were grieved that his family were unable to come to terms with Falmaron’s Reborn attitudes and have, in fact, worked to see him reunited with his family ever since he left Alqualondë."

"How?" Falmaron asked, looking puzzled.

Manwë smiled. "Do you think it was just happenstance that led you to enter the Blue Seashell Guesthouse on your first visit to Avallónë where you met a certain fellow Reborn?"

Falmaron gave a startled gasp. "You mean Glóremmir?" He turned to where the Reborn Noldo was seated, looking equally nonplused. "I... I just decided to go in."

"And... and I just thought it was interesting to meet a Telerin Reborn," Glóremmir said faintly. "I... I helped... I mean, I was there when...." But he couldn’t go on and his expression became one of anguish as he looked, not at Lord Manwë but at Lord Námo. "Did I... I mean...."

Námo shook his head. "Does it really matter, my son?" he asked gently, his amaranthine eyes full of deep compassion. "Does it matter to either of you?" He looked at Falmaron as he spoke.

For a moment, the Teler just sat there staring first at Námo and then at Glóremmir, whose expression remained anguished. Then he shook his head. "Glóremmir and I are good friends and we always will be," he said quietly, giving his friend a smile, which Glóremmir returned somewhat tremulously. Then Falmaron looked at his atar. "And it matters not to me if he was the one."

Olwë’s own expression was one of pain, his lips tight, his hands clenched, but at the last he took a deep shuddering breath and nodded, accepting what his son was implying.

"You were going to go to another guesthouse further along the street, one that had been recommended to you by one of the sailors on the ship that brought you to Avallónë," Manwë then said with a slight smile, bringing them back to the matter at hand, "but at the last minute you changed your mind, or rather, one of Ulmo’s People inspired you to stop at the Blue Seashell instead. That’s where you met Glóremmir and became friends. He and your other friends, such as Brethorn, have been encouraging you to reconcile with your family all along, haven’t they?"

Falmaron nodded, looking chagrined. "I wouldn’t listen, though." He gave Glóremmir and Brethorn an apologetic look. "I wish I had."

"So do we," Manwë said kindly, "but you Children are a stubborn lot and so we eventually decided to take more direct measures and that is where Glorfindel comes into the picture." He flashed the ellon a quick smile.

"Why was it so important for me to be reconciled with my family now, though?" Falmaron asked. "Would it have mattered so much if Glorfindel and I had not met until next summer or whenever?"

"As to outcome, no, it would not have mattered when you and Glorfindel met," Manwë answered, "and yet it would have mattered much, for there were many other factors involved. In spite of the fact that many Tol Eressëans are related to the Teleri, being descendants from the same Third Clan, your people have been less than welcoming of their sundered kin, whether Reborn or Once-born. This apathy was, I fear, a consequence of your own family’s reluctance to accept you and the people of Alqualondë took their cues from them. Your reconciliation will go a long way towards counteracting the apathy the Teleri have towards the Tol Eressëans, and Olwë allowing Glorfindel, who was one of the Exilic Noldor, to come to Alqualondë has helped begin healing the rift that lies between your people and the Exiles."

He paused briefly to allow the elves to digest what he had said and then went on. "So, if what we did to ensure that you two met so that you, Falmaron, would see your way clear to return and reconcile with your family is manipulation, then so be it. We prefer to think of it as inspiring you and others towards a particular course of action which ultimately will prove beneficial, not only to you, but to others. We have never ordered you to do or not to do something. We learned that lesson a long time ago, but we will try to inspire you towards a particular action without interfering with your free will. We can only inspire, never command, for contrary to popular opinion, we are not your masters. Rather, we are your elders who are here to guide and teach you. And when you cooperate with us in this respect then we are free to take advantage of the situation."

"It still sounds like manipulation to me," Glorfindel muttered, though they all heard him.

"We did not stop you from looking for Eärendil," Manwë said somewhat sternly, "and we gave you a traveling companion to see you safely to Aewellond. All that you have done, Glorfindel, has been of your own free will. If we see fit to take advantage of that, that is no more than any of you have done among yourselves, seizing the opportunity to advance some desire of your own when someone else makes a free will decision to do or not to do a thing. The difference is, you Children tend to forget that you are not the only inhabitants of Valinor and so you tend to be selfish about it, seeking to benefit yourself but not necessarily anyone else. We Valar seek always that which will benefit all."

"Contingency plans," Finrod said in the silence that followed Manwë’s speech. Others gave him startled looks, not sure what he was talking about, but Manwë smiled and nodded.

"Precisely."

"What about me, though?" Vondo asked, sounding distraught. "Did... did you want me to get hurt?"

Manwë gave him a sad smile and gestured to him. "Come here, Child."

Vondo did not hesitate, so used to obeying a command from Valar and Maiar alike, but rose immediately and went to stand before the Elder King who gazed upon him fondly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The last thing we wanted was for you to be hurt," he said. "Selmacas’ actions took us by surprise."

"I find that hard to believe," Arafinwë said, his tone cold.

Manwë looked at Arafinwë, his expression suddenly unreadable. "Then you are forgetting your own lessons, Pityahuan."

Arafinwë went still and his eyes darkened with painful memories. Ingwë placed a comforting hand on his arm and the touch seemed to bring him back to the present, for his expression lightened and he began breathing again. He glanced at Ingwë for a second before turning his attention to Manwë whose own expression was unchanged. Vondo had instinctively sought comfort in Manwë’s arms, for the Elder King had him now in his embrace, gently rocking him, though he kept his attention on Arafinwë.

No one else dared to move or speak, but finally Arafinwë lowered his gaze. "I stand corrected," he said softly.

Manwë nodded, looked down at a clearly confused Vondo and smiled, planting a gentle kiss on the ellon’s forehead. "We let you come here because we were curious to know what you planned to do when you arrived. We did nothing to hinder or to let, except we forbade the Maiar to give Laurendil assistance in catching you."

"I was too clever for that," Vondo sniffed, clearly pleased with himself for having outsmarted the former Ranger and many hid smiles at the Reborn’s ingenuousness.

"At any rate," Manwë continued, "Selmacas’ reaction at seeing you was as shocking to us as it was to everyone else, though perhaps it should not have been." He glanced up to where Selmacas was sitting. The ellon blushed, then turned white, and refused to look up.

"So you are saying that what happened with Vondo was an accident?" Finrod asked.

"In so far as we Valar had anything to do with it, yes," Manwë answered, gently pushing Vondo out of his embrace and motioning for the ellon to resume his seat. "Oh, I’m sure that you will say that if we had stopped Vondo from coming all this would have been avoided, but that’s putting the cart before the horse. We will not interfere with your free will except on those rare occasions when your actions present a danger to yourself or to others, much as a parent will curtail a child’s whims for the same reason. However, in our case, we intervene directly only rarely. The last time we did so, most of the Noldor up and left." This last was said somewhat wryly and many of the Noldor present, even the Reborn, found themselves blushing and not making eye contact with anyone.

"As I said earlier, we can inspire but we cannot command and our actions are predicated on taking a much longer view than you Children. For all that your lives are bound to the life of Arda, you do not always see the big picture and only rarely do you see the future. We Valar, who sang Arda into existence, see further and more clearly than any of you, but even so, we are not omnipotent. Our actions are limited by what others in free will do or not do, and while we can anticipate the logical consequences of events and make contingency plans, as Prince Findaráto put it, we work under a disadvantage, namely, that we had nothing to do with your creation and so in one sense you lie outside our purview. That is why I said we are not your masters, but your elders and fellow creatures under Ilúvatar."

"You claim that you take no direct action towards having us do or not do a thing," Finrod said, "yet it seems to us that even taking indirect action is tantamount to manipulating us."

"And you do not do the same?" Manwë retorted. "Can your kings claim not to influence their subjects by means both direct and indirect to accomplish a desired outcome? Do not be so naive, Findaráto. You yourself have done so in the past as King of Nargothrond. But this is the main difference between you and us: we keep to indirect methods of persuasion, whereas, with you, more often than not, if indirect means do not work, you resort to more direct ones. That is not necessarily a bad thing where you are concerned, but for us to do so usually results in disaster. In fact, whenever direct means are taken, they are taken by Ilúvatar, rather than by us."

"Oh?" Finrod said and he was not the only one to look skeptical.

Manwë nodded. "You already know of one such intervention on Ilúvatar’s part when you and Glorfindel decided to incorporate Songs of Power into your tournament match, but let me give you another example from your own life. You may recall when you decided to run away to the mountains how you kept being inundated with snow?"

Finrod went an interesting shade of pink as all eyes turned to him and he nodded.

"Yes, well, that was us, or rather, me. Did you think all that snow falling directly on your doorstep and nowhere else was coincidental? But you were so stubborn, you refused to give up, even when all the game in the area disappeared, forcing you to hunt further and further afield."

"That was you, as well?" Finrod asked.

"Actually, you can blame Oromë for that." Manwë turned to look at the Lord of Forests who smiled and waggled his fingers at Finrod.

"Then the bear...."

"Now, that is where it gets interesting," Manwë said, nodding enthusiastically. "None of us had anything to do with bringing the bear into your camp. Much too dangerous. You could have easily been killed rather than just ending up breaking your leg and Námo would have been... upset." The slight pause caused a few people, including Finrod, to shudder at the thought of just how upset Námo would have been.

"Especially when I’d just gotten rid of you," the Lord of Mandos interjected. Finrod responded by making a face at him and sticking out his tongue, much to the consternation of everyone except the other Reborn, who merely smiled. Námo’s only reaction was a raised eyebrow but those sitting near him thought they detected a slight smile on his lips.

Manwë chuckled at the levity. "No, the bear was not our idea, though Oromë did admit that he wished he’d thought of it."

"So it was just a coincidence that it showed up when it did," Finrod said, though his expression was doubting.

"If you believe in coincidences," Manwë replied equably, giving him a significant look.

Silence reigned throughout the room as the elves digested that bit of information.

"Still," Ingwë said, "that blizzard you dumped on us was anything but indirect."

"Think you so?" Manwë asked with an amused smile. "It was actually less direct than what Tulkas was planning to do to you all for your intransigence."

Every eye turned to the Vala known as Astaldo, the Valiant, to see him smirking and several there began to rethink certain truths about their view of the Valar.

"Besides," Manwë continued, "none of you seemed to mind too much, especially when you started playing in it. We were rather amused by the snowball fight at the end."

"You had a snowball fight without me?" Glorfindel exclaimed, glaring down at Finrod. "That’s not fair! I’m always missing out on all the fun."

The next thing anyone knew, snowballs appeared in the hands of several of the elves, who stared at them in dumbfounded shock. Then Finrod chuckled evilly, stood up and unerringly threw his snowball at a still fuming Glorfindel, eliciting a squawk of surprise. Immediately, everyone else with a snowball launched them at Glorfindel as well, those sitting near him ducking to avoid being hit. When the last snowball had been thrown, Glorfindel sat there wiping the snow out of his eyes.

"Feeling better?" Manwë asked with a wicked grin.

"Yes, much. Thank you," was Glorfindel’s dignified reply while puddles formed about his feet, and everyone broke up in laughter. They laughed even harder when several towels appeared out of nowhere and fell onto Glorfindel’s lap and the ellon set about drying himself off.

When the laughter had died down, Manwë turned back to the kings and Finrod. "I rest my case," he said.

That recalled everyone to the purpose for which they were met. Ingwë looked at Olwë and Arafinwë and the three held a whispered conversation for a moment or two, then Ingwë motioned Finrod to join them. The ellon stood and moved to stand between Olwë and Ingwë and there was more whispering between them. Finally, Finrod nodded and returned to his seat. The kings straightened in their chairs and Ingwë spoke.

"It is the opinion of this court, having heard both sides, that this matter is too weighty for only us to decide, therefore, we ask that the heads of the delegates, other than Prince Findaráto, adjourn to a private room and discuss the matter and come to a decision as to whether the Valar are guilty as charged."

There was a moment of indecision and then Eärendil stood and cast his gaze upon the other delegates. "Let us adjourn then," he said and began making his way towards the door. The other heads of the delegations followed him. When the door closed behind the last of them, Ingwë sighed.

"And now we wait."

****

The wait was actually not long, perhaps twenty minutes. During that time many of the elves stood and mingled, speaking softly to one another. Lord Manwë remained standing while the other Valar stayed in their seats. No one, not even the kings, bothered them. No one, that is, except Vondo, who went over to Lord Irmo and began excitedly telling him all about his adventures eluding Laurendil. The Valar smiled indulgently as they listened to the Reborn speak.

Then, without warning, the door opened and the delegates filed in. The silence was palpable as everyone else took their seats. All the delegates save Eärendil went to sit down. The Mariner made his way to the dais and spoke quietly to the kings for a moment. Ingwë nodded and gestured for Eärendil to stand in the center.

"What decision have you made?" Ingwë enquired.

Eärendil bowed to the kings and then turned to face Manwë. "We agreed that, while the Valar admit to...um... inspiring events and people indirectly, they have not done so in a wilfully manipulative manner nor have they acted against our deepest wills." He then turned to face the kings. "We therefore humbly submit to your Majesties our request that all charges against Lord Manwë and the other Valar be dropped."

Immediately there was pandemonium as elves stood and cheered. Even those who privately thought that perhaps the Valar were not as guiltless as all that were relieved that they would not be faced with the prospect of actually having to censure the Powers. Ingwë raised his hand demanding silence. When it finally came he addressed Eärendil first.

"Thank you, my lord. You and your fellow delegates have executed your duty to this court well." Eärendil bowed and then turned and bowed again to Manwë before heading back to his seat. Ingwë then addressed Manwë.

"My lord, it appears that thou and thy fellows have been acquitted of the charges made against thee. We thank thee for thy courtesy and patience during these proceedings and beg that thou wilt forgive us our impudence in bringing these charges against thee."

"I assure you, Ingwë, that neither I nor my fellow Valar have any ill feelings towards you." Manwë paused for a second and then smiled. "Indeed, we have found it a most interesting and enlightening experience. And now, if we can put this behind us, perhaps we can concentrate on the reason why we are all here in the first place."

Ingwë nodded and stood, as did Olwë and Arafinwë. "Agreed," he said. "This court is adjourned. The Council will meet again tomorrow. My Lord Manwë, I trust that the Council chamber will be as it was when next we meet."

"Yes, it will be," Manwë said, "but it will not be here. Tomorrow, we will convene in Lord Námo and Lady Vairë’s mansion."

There were expressions of consternation among the elves at the thought of having to walk the spiral and not a few wondered aloud as to how long it would take for them to all walk it and then recover from its effects. Námo stood and all eyes went immediately to him.

"Since it would take too long for everyone to walk the spiral, I will have the Council chamber constructed elsewhere on the grounds of my estate."

There were expressions of relief on the elves’ faces.

"We will leave you then," Manwë said. "Until tomorrow."

Before anyone could respond the elves were overwhelmed by flashes of multi-colored lights as the Valar shed their fanar and faded from their sight. When they recovered, the elves were somewhat subdued at the display of power and they left the Council chamber in a more somber mood.

"I am so glad that is over," Finrod said earnestly and with much relief as he joined Glorfindel and the others.

"You were the one who brought up the charges," Glorfindel retorted. "I would think you would have wanted them to be guilty."

"No," Finrod said. "I knew they were not guilty."

"Whoa!" Glorfindel exclaimed, and everyone around them stopped to stare at Finrod. "If you knew they were not guilty, then why did you bring up the charges? Why did you accuse them?"

"Because I knew others were of a mind to do so," Finrod answered, looking pointedly at Herendil, who had the grace to look abashed.

"Because of me?" Vondo asked, looking a little sick.

"Because of a lot of things," Finrod assured him. "I deemed it a good opportunity to clear the air about many things between us and the Valar."

"Whose idea was it for the heads of the delegations to deliberate on a verdict?" Sador asked.

"Mine," Finrod said.

"Why?" Sador was not the only one who looked puzzled.

"Because that way the burden of deciding to convict or absolve the Valar did not fall exclusively upon the High Kings of Aman but, in a sense, on all of us gathered here, including the Tol Eressëans," Finrod answered.

Glorfindel raised an eyebrow, his expression one of amused admiration. "You’re getting very devious in your old age, aren’t you?"

Finrod just smiled. "Come on. Let’s go find some lunch."