"Will You Go Back?" -- The Ritual

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"Your Kin Love You So Much"

Irmo speaks gently. "You have failed us? In what way may I ask? Darkness did take you, but those of your kin love you so much to conduct this act to purify your body. You are most loved by many, Lord Olwe. The darkness has not yet been defeated. You must go back and repay your debt to those for their love."

"We saw you fighting the unclean thing within your mind.  You did not give in to it.  This was no failure," adds his sister. "Will you go back?"

Olwe bows his head for a moment, at hearing their words, the impact coursing through his fëa. At Nienna's question, he looks up and shyly meets her eyes.  Slowly he reaches out and takes her hands, turning to her the open gaze of a child.  "For you, who have comforted me as a mother, when my soul's heart ached nigh to breaking...." he feels as though tears must be in these eyes that are not of earthly flesh.

"For your people, who wait and pray for your return," rejoins Nienna.

Olwe nods at the Valar of Compassion's words.  "And for my people." Olwe turns that childlike gaze to Irmo.  "And  also for you, my lord, who soothed me with dreams."  Olwe brings the hands of the Valar of Compassion up to his face and kisses her palms gently.  "If it is Wish of Eru, the Will of Valar, I gladly obey."

Nienna smiles, and brushes his cheek, as a mother would a child's.  Holding Olwe's hand, she begins to drift through the trackless space, toward the physical realms.  As they drift back, OIwe turns to Irmo. "My lord?"

Irmo turns to Olwe listening.

"Why me, Lord Irmo?  Why not the Noldor, or the Vanyar?  I was given the task of leading the Teleri to the West, after my Brother disappeared, yet I failed to bring them all with me; only part of the host of the Teleri arrived.  I failed, too, in seeing the great madness of the Noldor, when they came demanding the swanships, and failed to protect all my people from their brutality.  How should it been I not fail you yet again?"

Irmo contemplates Olwe's words a moment before answering. "We have all failed at times, but there are those that continue to fail and not learn from their mistakes. You, Olwe, are mighty among the firstborn. You have benevolently led your people in these new darkening days. This is why you were chosen to combat this new evil, and not the Vanyar or Noldor."

"But the Valar never fail, my Lord."

"How can you be sure of that, Lord Olwe?" Irmo responds thoughtfully.

"If that be so, then consider that the 'unfailing' Valar have chosen you."  Nienna smiles ruefully at his confidence. "Ah, Children," she thinks to herself. "They so want to believe that we are perfect."

A flash of insight comes into Olwe's mind. "My Lord," he answers and reaches out to grasp lightly, unthinkingly, Irmo's sleeve.  His mind churns.  If groups of his people stayed not in Middle EArth, how would elves have populated the mortal world?  And was the blood of the kin slain upon his hands, or  upon the hands of those driven by their own mindless madness? He purses his lips, and then, heedlessly, he threw open all the doors of his mind, so that the two Valar now guiding him could read plainly his heart and thoughts.

Irmo closes his eyes, seeking to calm Olwe's mind. Speaking directly into his mind, he says, "Olwe, we are not only characterized by the things that were or are, but also by our choices. You are chosen to confront this evil with your kin. Your future remains unwoven in the fabric of space and time. How, now, will you act to unite and bring hope to your kin and confront this evil?"

An elation sweeps over Olwe at feeling the touch of the Lord of Visions in his mind, and he considers the words carefully, though the joy threatens to overwhelm him. "I will act in accordance to the Will of Blessed Eru, my Lord, and at the direction of the Valar." Then he adds, turning over Nienna's words in his mind, "Bearing in mind, even they are not perfect."  He gazes intensely into Irmo's face to see how his response is received.

Irmo nods and smiles. "This is indeed what we ask of you, Lord Olwe, Elder King of the Teleri. Soon now you will be reunited with your body. Share in their joy and happiness, for you are the beacon of hope for all the Children of the Mortal World."

Olwe bows his head for a moment.  'I feel not worthy, my Lord, but all I am, I will give to the task set upon me."

"We ask no more," Nienna tells him.

"My Lady, when we return, will I again be able to know the presence of the Blessed Ainur?"

"Will I Again be Reuinted with Tilion?"

"Will I be again reunited with Tilion?  Will the Valar bless this love between us, for he has my heart, my Lady, such that it can never belong to another."

"Manwe has not discussed that with me.  But," her eyes twinkle as she speaks, "for myself, I think it would be impossible to keep the two of you apart." Irmo grins a little at Nienna's response.

Olwe brightens at her answer before his face grows again serious. "The...Voice..." he says slowly.  "Is the Enemy still in his prison?"

"So our watchers tell us.  But his evil influence has always found ways to take shape in the world. If this Voice could so affect you, it could affect other minds as well."

Olwe digests the answer, remembering the months spent captive by its hold.

"Olwe," says Irmo, "you have survived this ordeal, but the Enemy is likely to strike again. You are familiar with this tactic and could be foreshadowed of another attack of the Enemy. You could warn us of anything that seems to be suspicious, for we are closer to you in Alqualonde than you may realise."

"Would that you could have been in Alqualonde, My Lady, My Lord, as it pulled me ever downward into madness."

"Just so did we stand beside you, powerless to help," replied Nienna. "We are forbidden to use our full powers in the mortal realm, and that darkness had closed your mind to us."

Estelin Sits with Olwë Before the Ritual

Olwe tightens his hold on Irmo's arm and turns his gaze from one to the other.  "You...you were both there?"

Irmo nods. "Yes, we stood beside you. It is time that we reveal our disguise to you. Our forms in Alqualonde you have already met as the wandering musicians Estelin," he then nods to his sister, "and Apakenwe. But To you alone we reveal this information, for our work is not nearly finished."

The Musician Apakenwë

Olwe gives a gasp of surprise as his mind rushes to access every memory of every encounter with the musicians.  Then, he blurted out, "The soup."  He looks from one to the other.  "It explains much, my Lord," he finishes lamely  Then he remembers the healer and the vial he was given to drink of the contents and wear as an amulet.  "The healer," he looks down at where the necklace would hang on his mortal body.

Irmo nods. "The healer," he says, smiling, "is my wife, Este."

Nienna chimes in,"The best of all healers."

"I was in the hands of the Valar and knew it not," responds Olwe, with reverence in his voice.  "I will cherish this knowledge all my days,"

"The Valar will never abandon you, Lord Olwe," assures the Lord of Dreams.

Olwe knows it is but a projection of his mind, his thoughts, but his spirit eyes fill with tears. "Nor will I abandon them, My Lord.  I swear."

"We are nearly back to your body."  Nienna makes a small shift, to bring them to a time only moments after Olwe left his body.  "Are you ready now?"

"I am."

"You will see us less clearly, in the physical realm.  But know that the Valar are always with you."

Olwe turns to Irmo, and, with an impulse reminiscent of the young elf that grew to familiarity with the sacredness of the Shining Lands, he embraces first Lord Imro, resting his head for a moment of the shoulders of the Lord of Dreams, as would a son to a father and slowly released him.  Then he, with a shy smile, turned to the Vala of Compassion and hugs her, bowing his head and whispering, "Thank you."

Nienna embraces him fondly.  "All is according to the will of Eru."

Olwe nods and echoes her.  "According to the will of Eru."

"According to the Will of Eru." Irmo nods to King Olwe

"I am ready to go home."



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