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1.21.18
Now single though thy eye be to his glory, much amiss you in these tellings, and readings, overlook; yet, til those interpreters are given reading by one thus appointed, here we two struggle, to put into ink on paper some resemblance of what was;
Now proceed apace in this long tale, where the House Broken shall be remade, and stronger blended to Eru’s own; He too turned over governance of that realm liberated, to Finwë and Feanor, also, as steward in the lord’s absence, to decide as he might, when not near; And departing elsewhere, Eru gave over that scepter, purged as it were of the worm of avarice, and nothing more than an implement, to honor by giving, that receiver;
And the tale of those days, long on Endar (as it came to be called), someday will be recalled, but those we pass over, without discretion; when on a time of feast, in remembrance (by Eru ordered) of our passage thus out of Melko’s chain, enciricling as Ekkai, to take up our own fates, and spin where we would; on this day, a Merry Day, came bedraggled as a wanderer lost, Eru, hauling as a catch, that once-lord, Melko, downcast.
And his decision was given to Finwë, and his council, whether to bind in those dark pockets within the void, alone; or to recuperate and seek the spirit’s health restored;
How so? Inquired Eru,
How to reclaim his light, foresworn in oath
Only to himself, and no other lord taking?
How to burn out that charcoal, when
All remains is charred, cold, ash?
Think you light here, other than what is reflected,
And being these sent back crooked, deceives
The onlooker? If so, take and give him quarter,
But warily, and watchful, ever; lies he breeds,
As flies of a swamp; in all hearts, wheresoever
He is, and that, if it be, be alone Ea of Melko.
And Eru knelt again as before, not laughing, with sternness set his hand upon the captive’s chest, and then smoothed his brow, and burned there an imprint of that one hand, marking him ever, branded, fugitive, escaped of Eru’s Halls, so none misjudging, be misled again, wheresoever also Eru be told in tales; And this in signs to all interpreting, that mark displayed (or told): Lies only, and Ever, Hither swirl, and Hence proceed.
Yet Eru abided also, to see his captive housed in a jail, and guarded well; and supping at the house of Finwë, gave these words in counsel, as to a friend long in parting:
Blessing now I leave also imprinted on thy brow,
Forever, be ye thus bodied or otherwise:
That though no crown upholding, this brow is
A seat of wise counsel, and shall in time come
To seat in judgment, even as Melko once sat,
To misery’s content; other shall thee decide,
In mercy, and to thy house’s dominion, though
Its denizens be parted, and throw forth arrows
At one another, all shall be to thy glory, and
To mine, too; and this is the glory of we two:
To liberate all anywhere bound, unjustly,
By oath on-taken, willfully, yet later rued, and
Would be foresworn, if the consequences abiding,
Slept instead; so shall I in my wise purpose,
Break even heart from mind, as eye from face,
Leaving one without sight to guide, and the other,
Nowhere to turn, inward in reflection;
These words shall not break, though all thy
House Entire, without exception, dispossessed, even
To their loss of own lore, of self, house,
And in mercy also, of Eru.
Other counsels too he gave Finwë, in secret kept, promised to come forth in his own day, far off, when alone, without friend or kin to hear or guide:
Dyacôm shall thee be called,
Out of thy being resonate,
When my hand again will extend, to thee
But not only; farewell, friend-son.
And Eru departed, revelry ensued, and some of the wicked deeds down put by Melko, again arose, and these grieved King Finwë, until no longer did good abound in all that broad place, a realm of light, dimming, and cast under the shade of pride, and self- knowing, and in foreknowing that each in turn would rule, even as king or queen, their own; so sought some victims of Melko, as to heal, and make whole; but otherwise they purposed: to learn of his strategies, tactics to defend against such cunning as the Dark One devised; and whether in keeping ill, they might comprehend and understand how to abide this evil, then confined; so came they to wonder, wrongly, at that captive’s work; evil deeds, implacable save by Eru’s in-reaching;
And some too saw their hearts turning wholly to dark places, there to abide outside, if not entirely beyond the reach of light, to do all that none else considered, being enamored of first-making, and declined to honor those who improved only what was: a second-maker, and likely less straight, they snorted, in passing; save only those works without precedent, seeming; And the Seeming of Melko was aroused, though its master tarried not beyond a jail’s walls; so seeming too was thought upon, and fallen into those waveless waters, as it were, without fathom to measure, nor height to withdraw oneself upward and out, many were lost, in heart receiving lies without giving battle thereto; in mind, stretching the heart’s wiles, to craft as-if only, in thought, all new things, beyond the world’s scrutiny; each a king or queen self-proclaimed, toadied about one another, in false obeisance, sneering contempt for deluded idols, by false priests (themselves!).
So Finwë proclaimed in his record, Of Days Ancient, before Arda’s making; Never did Eru return, though distraught;
Mistaught now were born children raised, in spirit to learn self-mastery, self-willed abiding unhappy, as tenets displaced, until taking homes out there, amid the wide spaces, far and near, habitating; still Eru abided without, nor came now ever word of his teaching, save in the domicile of Feanor, and when Finwë rose to speak, as decreed by tradition, ceremoniously – it seemed to those unhappily gathered;
Thus Feanor and his strong sons in secret took the jailer’s keys, and loosed the gate of Melkor’s keeping; and nothing found they, there, save this note, saying (in part):
Hah! There is not Melko, nor Eru either, abiding, here and there, is only
Being carried to Finwë to interpret its meaning, the note was seen, and thus a ransom, was rumored; that by trade, Finwë, would his own son send, in offering, a sacrifice, to gain what now was captive, held by Eru’s captive;
No son had he, neither daughter to barter, yet still was it insisted, some son awaited, to take his realm entire, and by that wicked scepter hold sway in Fate, all our souls; cantankerous were their words, mistrustful, deceit abounding: Who his son to supplant, when by giving away, gain us all, liberation of Melko’s Eternal Bond-chain?
Then over the long years rolling, came in time, in secret, one professing sonship of King Finwë, self-born to he alone as Father, in the midst of stars, where Finwë was want to go, in meditation of sorrow for his people’s folly:
Made he me, his better begotten, of his mind’s conceiving,
And now being full wrought, by my Father
Called in summons, to take away his crown
From off his head, and to break upon that scepter,
His little stone chair; so I come to overturn,
He who sent me out, alone, son, in trade of Melko,
For that foe’s kingship!
And many whispered, in recollection contrived, mostly false remembered, that note, and its finding; being left, they surmised, by such a son as now raised himself upon light before all gathered, in his “father’s” Halls. Many purported notes now were traded around, and confusion abounded, where only deceit once slumbered, awakening when opportune, and letting honesty otherwise rule the day;
So these people fell again to worship Melko a second time, and Finwë was captive, but neither would Melko feign to try his “Father,” as if being moved to royal mercy, lenience giving all who witnessed, more to ponder, this new king; alone of that place, save his own house (not all to his side allied), Feanor was left free, and though he feigned disinterest in the exiled Finwë, often his thought there turned; and he being cunning also, and woodcrafty, and a light bearer still though small in bearing, and nowhere to carry and deliver in that realm, Feanor cast a shadow-guise over his visage, to walk among Melko’s Chosen; in their utter dark, pall most substantial, removed of all thought, being wholly dead to all else save Melko’s wrath, to destroy, and annihilate, all under his rule there remaining, having no desire evermore, for slaves, or to be lord of thralls, but only this, his one wish: To unmake all that is, and to mock Eru thereby, He having nothing to turn to good.
So Eru abided without, ever watchful, to see who there would kneel, before that arisen-twice Lord in Darkness, and who refuse;
Feanor and Finwë, and those loving them still, loyal to their purposes, being taught still of Eru, Melko’s Vassal rebel, arisen to throw off, and to make new worlds, free of his spectre; and though all who kneeled, and oath of allegiance being taken, would in time be cast off, as kernels of dark planting, sent upon the space surrounding, as poison seeds blown by an evil wind, scattering; last remained in refusal, Finwë’s House, whose lord was now reckoned Feanor; to battle array came they, dressed in old garb long neglected, and though faithful one to another, in strategy and more, the end came swift, for Melko perceived their rebel-hearts, and cast them down in Fire, of his own making, evil, lightless, cold, burning to suffocate even spirit of will to be, other than as bond-wraith thralls of his whimsy;
So although escaped, and to new places, come, in dangerous straits, between consuming flame, and careless wreck, ever this family Is. Yet against neither wall was thrown, in destruction, for Feanor carried concealed that light, and set it as it were, before the barge on which floated the House of Finwë, dispossessed, yet remaining; and still they think upon those left in Melko’s domain, and by him tossed into the Dark, to wither and perish, down almost in nothing, being; though taking on they no oath of service loyal before Melko kneeling; still were they punished, and without trial, or decree.
Thus, Free are they – alone of that Arising of He in Might, Twice Deceiving – neither will that Music…
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