001 | video | open to both courts

[extramural]

[ The locket is floating.

It’s the only explanation for the view that the item gives – a young man, out on the walls of one of the castles, the moon curved behind him. His arms are crossed in front of him, not touching the device as it records. Black eyes (all black, like the depths of the sea) regard it for a moment and then one hand moves, gestures at the locket. ]

Well, well.

[ His head tilts, and while his lips don’t turn up, one may get the feeling that he’s smirking. ]

I must say, this is an interesting turn of events. One that even I did not see coming.

[ His voice is almost monotonous, but there is something like music in it – like whale song. ]

To be pulled away to the Drabwurld, asked to take part in this war. I wonder if they truly know what they are doing. [ His hand returns, head moving back so that he can look straight at the camera. ]

I hear there was a battle. One should expect such things, in war. I suppose I should ask about it. [ He doesn’t. Instead- ]

Tell me, Shardholders, something... interesting.

Comments

[bythewaves]

I have stood on the docks and heard the cry of the gulls, and the Song of the deep. [ He cannot hide the soul-deep longing in his voice for the Sea-longing is awake now, for all that he cannot answer it ]

I have smelt the salt on the breeze and watched the breaking waves on the shore. But they tell me the oceans are small here, and there is no place to sail beyond the edge.

[ There is no way home he does not say ]

[extramural]

No ocean is truly small. If it is not wide enough, look into the deep.

[ His own voice sounds old, the leviathan of legend instead of the young man. ]

I would see the oceans of this place and know its secrets.

/edits to credit Sea Fever by John Masefield since I'm stealing lyrics

[bythewaves]

[ The smallest spark of interest stirs, but Maglor is so very tired ]

Perhaps so... if one could reach such depths. But most of us are not so fortunate.

I must go down to the seas again [ He sings softly ] for the call of the running tide; Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied

[extramural]

There are ways.

[ Not ways he can give, here, but- ways. ]

[bythewaves]

So they say. [ the shrug is almost audible ] But the call of the sea is to her waves, and not her deeps, for me...

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking

Although I suppose if her Lord and Lady were here that might be a different story... I wonder if they have forgiven me yet.

[extramural]

The sea can be as cruel as she can be kind. Or do they control her temperament?

[ He's never met another god, after all. ]

Where would you go?

[bythewaves]

Lord Osse loves a good storm, but the Lady Uinen may tame him a little, if she chooses. But both of them will yield to Lord Ulmo, if the Lord of the Waters speaks.

I? I would go where the wind and the waves carry me. My heart will always lead me West, but that road is closed to me.

[extramural]

And what is West?

and now I will pinch from Bilbo's tale of Earendil...

[bythewaves]

Home [ and it is breathed with all his desperate love and longing, and the aching, soul-deep knowledge that it is barred to him forever, and then he sings, love and loss and hopeless devotion, the words painting images of far away places he visits only in his memories, for not even his dreams will carry him there any longer ]

O wanderer escaped from night
to haven white you come at last,
to Elvenhome the green and fair
where keen the air, where pale as glass
beneath the Hill of Ilmarin
a-glimmer in a valley sheer
the lamplit towers of Tirion
are mirrored on the Shadowmere.
And at last you hear on strands of pearl
where ends the world the music long,
where ever-foaming billows roll
the yellow gold and jewels wan.

/chinhands

[extramural]

Many have left their homes to sail across the sea.

[ The Outsider did, at least, wait until Maglor was done. It was quite a nice song. ]

Only a few ever return, and they are not as they were.

some days I cannot be bothered to write my own =p

[bythewaves]

Mm, I have heard it said that the Sea captures many hearts and never lets them go. Among my people it is said that those who hear the Horns of Lord Ulmo will never again be satisfied without the sound of the waves in their ears.

HAHA i sure as hell would be the same

[extramural]

The people of Dunwall are perhaps... less romantic. But it is as you say.

[bythewaves]

Is Dunwall where you come from then? Mm, well - the Sea-longing lurks in the hearts of all the Eldar... in some in slumbers deep, drowned by the call of Wood and Leaf, but in many of us it takes only a little to wake. And for some not even the return to Elvenhome may assuage it.

[extramural]

It is a place I watch in the world, part of a larger empire.

And what do they do then?

[bythewaves]

And what draws you to Dunwall, rather than the rest of that empire?

Ah now. We called them the Teleri, "Those who come last", for they lingered long by the shores of the rivers and seas they love. But they call themselves Lindar, the Singers, for their songs held ever the echo of the waves they dwelt beside. And so they are the Falmari, the Wave-folk, and it is said that no boat built by their hands will founder before it sights its harbor.

[extramural]

It is the capitol, and currently beset by the plague.

[ Well. 'Currently'. Time is weird. ]

A gift that many would enjoy, I'm sure, in my own world. The seas are as dangerous as the far continent.

[bythewaves]

I suppose a Capitol is always a place where things happen, aye. Although I have found that sometimes it is what happens in far away places amongst the common folk that has more impact than the machinations of the powerful.

The seas are always so, but Lord Osse and Lady Uinen are fond of them, and their blessings may carry one far. [ or cause any ship to founder, if it bears one accursed he thinks, but does not say ]

[extramural]

And sometimes it is so. But when an Empress is murdered, a plague unleashed on her city... things change.

[bythewaves]

A murdered Empress would certainly change things, and swiftly - particularly if plague came alongside. 'Twould not be a pleasant place to be, I imagine. [ not... that plague matters much, to the Eldar ]

And what was your part, in that tale?

[extramural]

Before, though it matters little. [ It will kill many more, after all. ]

I watched, as I have for some time. I gifted her failed protector with the very gifts her assassin had received from me years earlier. I offered her assassin one last gift and he saved the mind of her child.

[bythewaves]

And so you play both sides against the other? [ He is getting some serious creepy vibes here ]

For what reason, one wonders. But I am glad that at the least something was saved from the destruction.

[extramural]

What they decide to go with their gifts is their choice. I offer hints, at times, but I do not interfere. Daud killed the Empress because he thought it was just another job.

[ He doesn't drop the name on purpose, as no idea that one of his Marked has been here and gone. ]

He was wrong, but I imagine he got rather used to that very quickly.

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor on his end freezes and pales, although the Outsider cannot see it. When next he speaks there is ... well, he is too good a bard to allow much emotion through, but there is definite interest there at least. ]

You know Daud?

[extramural]

[ There is a pause. Once again, he finds himself surprised. ]

I do.

Do you?

[bythewaves]

For the brief time our rulers held him here I considered him a friend, and fancied he thought the same.