Voice, Open

[bythewaves]

[ Grief, as deep as the sea, as endless as the sky. Pain, like sheeting ice, in the voice that speaks... and for those with ears to hear, a tiny, quiet envy and relief. ]

For those who knew them, the list of those freed from this world now includes the Lady Galadriel and her husband, the Lord Celeborn, their daughter, the Lady Celebrian, the Lady Idril, and Maedhros my brother. Also, the Lady Sif, who counted us as family in lieu of those left in her own world.

Their things are with me, but they left no letters behind.

Comments

[bythewaves]

Aye. Far too few ever bother to ask. Most are only too eager to leap to do the bidding of the Rulers. "The are the enemy" and most are only too swift to accept that ruling. But when my kinsfolk stood across the divide? That was never an option for me.

[selfimage]

You believe that there are untruths afoot.

[ he says with a certain amount of curiosity. ]

[bythewaves]

I know that the Seelie Queen, at least, is a dissembler who wears one face and practices another. I know that the Unseelie Queen is a magnificent manipulator, and that tends to imply one less than truly honest.

[ He shrugs a little ]

I know that they will say they care, and in the same breath send children out to kill and die.

[selfimage]

That's war for you. [ not an excuse, really. in fact, it makes it all the worse. the Asgardians fought and killed in wars, for honor, victory and glory, among other vague and pointless ideals. ] I take it that the two of them are the ones that run this fiasco?

[bythewaves]

Aye. Although I would prefer them to be more honest about it! The two Queens seem to be the ruling powers, aye. They have Kings also, one apiece, and but the Unseelie King has sat silent on his throne all the time I knew him saving only on Samhain, and what I hear and see suggests that the Queens are the true power.

[selfimage]

I had expected fishy—but fishier and fishier this gets. You'd think it's high tide at the pier.

[ but of course something fishy was going on in the course of politics. he supposed he didn't expect anything less. ]

[bythewaves]

[ That startles a smile from him ]

You have a fine way with words, sir! I would that there were more of your ilk, perhaps then we would not dance so easily to the Rulers' tune.

[selfimage]

No, perhaps if they knew their true intentions no one would. Secrets and more secrets.

Conspiracy.

[bythewaves]

Even so. Wheels within wheels, I think I heard said once. So the lie becomes truth becomes lie again, until perhaps even they no longer know which is true and which is false.

[selfimage]

Many stories start as lies, but it doesn't make them any less true to the one telling them. [ lies for comfort, lies for gain, lies that eventually become truth due to circumstance. as the god of lies, he knew that nothing was ever so simple as being aware of falsehoods. ]

Perhaps they swallowed it long ago, that doesn't make it any simpler for us. [ there's a huff-like sigh. ] Ah, where's the shining light of truth when you need it?

[bythewaves]

True enough! And in a land like this? They likely slew it, long ago. I get the impression they do not much tolerate dissent. Which on one hand is fair enough, I grant! They are at war, after all. But equally so, to set kin against kin, to bar entry to kin on grounds purely that the other court claims them, when such claims begin to seem so arbitrary to begin with... There is an unwillingness to compromise here that I have seen once before - in myself, and my immediate family. And it destroyed us, in the end.

[selfimage]

Aye, and it makes one wonder if that's the goal.

To end everything, despite. War certain does do that.

[bythewaves]

It might be. Who can tell? And the Queens keep those whose powers might rival them locked down, so as to prevent their rule being usurped.

[selfimage]

Though I may say that if anyone rivaled the All-Father, that they would be locked away just as readily as the next. Is their sentiment the same as their powers, or are they ushered away so quickly that only ghosts linger behind them?

[bythewaves]

That, I do not know. There was only one here, who might have rivaled them. You will hear songs about in the the taverns. Mostly of praise, although there is one, which, I am proud to say I helped spread, which remembers that Reynaud the Fox was a madman who killed and lied and tortured indiscriminately. He did have a grudge against shardbearers in particular, and to many of those disenchanted with this world, he is something of a hero. He is dead now, and the shardbearers helped put him down, for a mad dog is a danger to all.

[selfimage]

Well isn't that discouraging? In death, has he left anything behind? Followers of this inconvenient tale, perhaps?

[bythewaves]

Sadly, he left only the rabble behind - a mad dog does like a pack of hounds, after all. He trained no one, or if he did, he trained them so well that they are so well hidden as to not be found, at this point. But if information you seek, ask for Lord El Melloi II and tell him Maglor sent you.

[selfimage]

Your aid is much appreciated, Mister Maglor. It'll be put to good use. [ there's a bit of a pause, and then as if he's suddenly remembered his manors. be good, Loki. ] Ah—comforting thoughts for loss, of course.

[bythewaves]

May it do you more good than it ever did me!

[ He tips his head in acknowlegement ]

Thank you for your sympathy for a stranger.

[selfimage]

Not so much a stranger anymore, eh?

[bythewaves]

[ Another shy, startled smile ]

No, I suppose not, any longer. I suppose a place like this engenders ... something of friendship swifter

[selfimage]

[ "friendship," huh. not the gap he would've crossed, but despite to the dissonance between his memories and his emotions, it sounds nice. no one knew him here. not to the extent that the resonance had rooted itself within his own world, and the Nine Realms themselves. ]

I'll take "something of," it's much better than "dubiously acquainted."

[bythewaves]

[ A soft chuff of amusement ]

Well I can use that term if you prefer, but I thought that at the least the conversation deserved better terms than that! It is not every day I am fortunate enough to speak with one of wit and wisdom to recognise manipulation early in this world.

[ Unless he hangs out at the Barrel, anyway ]

[selfimage]

[ manipulation and lies were kind of his thing. and not just in the simplest way that people generally expected. he was good with words. he knew how to twist them just a little. good things sounding bad, bad things sounding desirable. he was a master at it (along with being a master of perfected omission). even after so long, Thor became exasperated with it, both unable to stop Loki and at his whim. it felt like a very long time ago that he used such abilities to further any nefarious scheme or underhanded plot. ]

I'll stick with "something of" in context. Though it's quickly moving into flatter. It's not like you need to convince me.

[ so maybe he can't see, but he's fanning himself. ]

[bythewaves]

[ A corner of his lips quirk up in amusement ]

Of all the tales they tell of Maglor, this much is true - that I am, still, honest. I speak only as I see it.