I was not prepared for the experience that awaited me when I delivered the message. I had seen the Valar - everyone had - though not at such length, or so close, or so many of them in one place. All eyes in the room trained upon me as I recited the words Feanor had said first to the host and then to me.
"And you bowed to him?" interrupted Manwe from his throne.
"I… yes, I did, but from atop Nahar. It was… I was taking my leave of him, and I thought, well, it-"
"You will not bow to him again," Manwe said.
"He is cursed and he is banned," spoke Tulkas. "He is not king as he seems to think. Let me stop them," he said, to Manwe now, who held up his hand and shook his head.
"No. Let them go forth. If they wish to walk to Middle-earth, so be it. They will take one look at the ice of Helcaraxe, and that will be the end."
No one spoke for some time, and so I turned to Orome, whom I stood next to and asked, "What of Feanor? He has been thrown out."
Orome smiled sadly and said, "Manwe would not decree such a thing, so loved is Feanor, though he is a troublesome child. He must understand and be punished, though. Yes, he has those who will follow him, but they will only follow so far. Some oaths should be broken, and pride swallowed when the deed is done. All will be well in time," he finished. For some reason, I was not as certain as he was.
"Enough talk, until they return," Manwe said, and he seemed so very certain, too, that Feanor and his host would come to him to ask forgiveness and walk once more upon the shores of Aman. As I pondered this and my doubts of it, I suddenly came to realize I was being watched by every other pair of eyes in the hall. "Orome, it seems you brought to us a souvenir of your time spent with the Eldar?" Laughter echoed through the hall, and I couldn't help the hurt look that came onto my face. "Child, do not be angered by my words. Come and sit with me," he said, waving his hand to a spot on the stairs surrounding his throne.
Something that is not written about, or spoken much of, are the children of Eru's children. Nearly all of the Valar had a son or daughter, and sometimes both or more. Orome gave me a nudge at the small of my back and whispered, "He has a great love of the young ones. All of our children he bids sit with him when they are here, and he tells them the secrets he knows, and teaches them of the sky and the storms and the birds and such. He is a marvelous storyteller and a glorious singer."
And so, for one brief day, I knelt before the king of Valinor and sat down at his feet and watched my cousins play games on the steps, and listened to them sing and play their harps. I did not know their names, nor did they ask for mine, but I felt like a child again and fell asleep peacefully for the first time in many years, nestled in some strange softness that I swear to this day must have been a cloud.
