When I was born my home, the forest that we called Doriath, was like any other forest. Monsters could come. Wolves, beasts without name. My parents hid with me in the tallest trees and tried to keep me quiet. [She remembers it in the way that the children of the Eldar could, and those of men could not. She remembers everything since she was conceived. There had been fear and horrors that did not bear repeating, but there had also been love. So much love and warmth even when it was too dangerous to light fires or even stray below the canopy of the trees. Mithiel swallows, ignoring the ache in her heart as she remembers the young faces of her parents who had been so brave for her. Whispering her stories and promises they did not know they could keep.]
You see our King was missing for centuries and we lingered, looking for him and in that time my parents made me but the world was dark then. Frightening. And then we found the King and also, it turned out, his Queen. Melian the Maiar. A powerful being who pushed all evil out of the forest and kept it out for all the centuries of my life.
Until her husband died, stupidly as I said, and she left us as though we were nothing.
I was sheltered because I did not have to face the world. The evils that visited us never pierced the girdle, or at least never got far and a simple elf-maid such as myself who cared only for minding the forest and making friends out of rabbits and trees was left to know only the wonders of the world and forget those early horrors.
For a time, anyway.The King has passed into the West and I can only assume she did as well. The princess is long dead, her children ruled briefly, though mortal young things they were and now it all sinks deeper and deeper below the waves and I have had my eyes forced open for good.
[Even though there are some of these words that Set does not understand, he gets the message. Perhaps in some ways, he had been sheltered as well. Set understood the evils of the world, had gone through his own darkness, but there had been things he had been blind to. As a royal god.
And maybe some things he had simply stayed ignorant of. Purposely. Without him truly knowing so.]
The reason you are here may be because of that. [it is the first time he does not sound short, annoyed.] Maybe there is meaning to it.
[She would not have taken offense if he bristled again. It seemed to be his nature, and in truth she could hardly blame him when thinking about how foreign and unknown this all was rather made her want to scream... but for perhaps the first time since they met he answers her in a way that almost feels like she is talking to one of her people.
Mithiel tries not to think about the fact she may never talk to another elf again if this truly is another world.]
I would like to think so. It is hard to live in a world without meaning or reason, though that so often turns out to be the case.
[Her words make him think. It would be hard to live in a world without meaning. Just chaos, just nonsense. He may have been the god of disorder but he didn't think it was something he understood.]
When the Nile floods, sometimes it does destroy. People lose their lives. But it leaves behind valuable fertile grounds and is necessary. I think that is how the world is meant to work. Bad and good must happen...
[Otherwise it is meaningless.
He shakes his head.] I am not a scholar. No need to listen to me.
[The many rivers and streams around Doriath seldom so much as slipped their banks let alone flooded before all came to ill. Whether that was their nature or her Queen had protected them from the rivers as well, Mithiel didn't know. The common elves were not really privy to such details even if now she thinks perhaps they should have been.
But her King and Queen had been wise and all-powerful. It had seemed fine, until it hadn't.
A soft sigh falls from her lips, bereft of all the words she might want to say or scream about because it was pointless and Set probably didn't want to hear it anyway.]
There was always chaos in the music that made us. Morgoth, once called Melkor, was there from the beginning. Or that is how the stories go. I suppose they could be lies as well. [They weren't. One thing a mere forest elf could understand just as well as a King was that Melkor was ancient and powerful in a way that could not be fully put into words.]
I am no scholar either, but I do know there has always been a lot of good in the world. Even in the time before the stars and before the sun or the moon took flight in the sky. There has always been hope. And always, a new day comes.
[Set listens and he thinks that she obviously has wisdom in her as well. Maybe he should listen, try to make sense of what she is saying even when it confuses him. He does need to listen more, Thoth always says. And Set knows he does.]
I would know there is good because I am the bad. [It was the point of him being king right now. To keep balance until good, Horus, would ultimately destroy him.
He continues walking and they are closer to the Nile now, with all of the people working. They all bow their heads to Set and he barely acknowledges them. Set must always continue to be cold, it fits the tyrant he must be.]
I am not so sure that is true. Even though I am sure you didn't like finding me, you still offered sanctuary. And I think not just because I am strange and novel. [If anything, Mithiel feels certain that being strange and novel was more of a disincentive to help her than if she had been something or someone he could easily comprehend and understand.
As they walked, Mithiel watched the people whom Set seemed almost determined to not notice. They were unlike her people, of course, but in many ways they felt familiar. If not like elves then like the men who had come west in these later days and worked harder for the labours the elves took for granted to be simple.]
I hope these hippos and crocodiles of yours aren't too close to all of these good people.
You are the foreigners god, is that not what you said? I do not think it is Thoth's wrath alone that motivates you. [Her tone has a gentle edge of teasing to it, though all amusement drains from her features at the thought that these people were being attacked every day.]
Every day? And neither they nor the animals can find a way to coexist? Can they not be spoken too? [It sounds like she means the people, but she definitely also means the hippos and crocodiles.]
[The teasing quality to her words is completely missed by him.] Most people see me as being foreign myself for that. They do not take it as you do. [As usually, foreigners were seen as a negative part of any growing lands.]
No beast can speak or understand human language. [His tone seems like this should be obvious.]
I don't expect they take much as I would. I am a strange, foreign thing after all.
Human, perhaps not. But not even your tongue? The elves taught the trees to talk and many beasts as well bend to our will through speech alone. [Elves do not consider themselves magical, so she doesn't think of it as a power or a magic, but maybe she should.]
Some of the Ainur change shape all the time, though not usually to animals. They like being trees, or mist, or fields of flowers. Some even like being flames.
Though I suppose some could be animals and I would never know.
We can be without particularly impressive talents together. I do not think it makes you any less interesting. [Or less worthy, though it feels too presumptuous to say that.]
But I will ask him when he is asking for every little detail about my people.
Then your interest in me is the same as Thoth's. [Not that he cares much.]
You are correct about him. But he is...[How does Set explain Thoth? Without giving it all away.] He will be kind to you. No matter what. [It's best just to leave it at that.
Finally they get to the river, with all its papyrus and people fishing from it. One of the people there ask if they want to boat and he looks at Mithiel.] Would you?
Perhaps it is, I do not know him well enough to say if our thoughts align. [And there was not the free sharing of information as there often was between elves, so she knew even less than she might have at home.]
Kindness is all I can ask for, and hopefully return. So that is more than enough for me.
[She looks at the mortal and then the river.] I have never been on a boat... I would like to, if it is not too much trouble.
[Set can't think of much else to say. He cannot promise her kindness because he still does not think he understands the term. But also he can't promise something that isn't for his kingdom.
But he can give her the boat ride.]
How have you never been on a boat...? [That's just weird and he nods to the worker, who offers Mithiel his arm for her to get onto the boat. Set just gets on himself because there's something comical about a human helping a god do something as simple as getting on a boat. It's a spacious one, with seats and people to quickly start fanning them against the heat. Once they are safely on, Set nods for the man to start rowing them down the Nile.]
Our rivers have bridges. [She answers quickly and easily, but the corners of her mouth slip and begin to frown before she can fully stop the flare of emotion.] They did, I mean. [Before. Always before everything went so wrong.]
We weren't really supposed to cross most of them anyway, but I never had need of a boat. [She doesn't need help either, her balance is impeccable to the point of being almost uncanny but she accepts it anyway, thanking the worker before she settles into the seat beside Set.]
My people have always loved water though. We were drawn to the stars and the sea and Ulmo, the Valar of the sea, has always been good to us. They say he argues our case more than any other. [Though it hardly seems to have mattered in the end.]
This is a magnificent boat. Unlike those I have seen, though they are few.
[Every time she says anything, Set is only more confused by her. Why shouldn't you cross them? Why could you not? Her lands were strange, her home was strange. Would Thoth ever be able to make sense of it?
It must seem like he does not listen to her but he does. Her words just make no sense and he is not sure what to say.]
Even a poor family can have a boat here. [So it is absolutely nonsensical she never did.]
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You see our King was missing for centuries and we lingered, looking for him and in that time my parents made me but the world was dark then. Frightening. And then we found the King and also, it turned out, his Queen. Melian the Maiar. A powerful being who pushed all evil out of the forest and kept it out for all the centuries of my life.
Until her husband died, stupidly as I said, and she left us as though we were nothing.
I was sheltered because I did not have to face the world. The evils that visited us never pierced the girdle, or at least never got far and a simple elf-maid such as myself who cared only for minding the forest and making friends out of rabbits and trees was left to know only the wonders of the world and forget those early horrors.
For a time, anyway.The King has passed into the West and I can only assume she did as well. The princess is long dead, her children ruled briefly, though mortal young things they were and now it all sinks deeper and deeper below the waves and I have had my eyes forced open for good.
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And maybe some things he had simply stayed ignorant of. Purposely. Without him truly knowing so.]
The reason you are here may be because of that. [it is the first time he does not sound short, annoyed.] Maybe there is meaning to it.
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Mithiel tries not to think about the fact she may never talk to another elf again if this truly is another world.]
I would like to think so. It is hard to live in a world without meaning or reason, though that so often turns out to be the case.
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When the Nile floods, sometimes it does destroy. People lose their lives. But it leaves behind valuable fertile grounds and is necessary. I think that is how the world is meant to work. Bad and good must happen...
[Otherwise it is meaningless.
He shakes his head.] I am not a scholar. No need to listen to me.
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But her King and Queen had been wise and all-powerful. It had seemed fine, until it hadn't.
A soft sigh falls from her lips, bereft of all the words she might want to say or scream about because it was pointless and Set probably didn't want to hear it anyway.]
There was always chaos in the music that made us. Morgoth, once called Melkor, was there from the beginning. Or that is how the stories go. I suppose they could be lies as well. [They weren't. One thing a mere forest elf could understand just as well as a King was that Melkor was ancient and powerful in a way that could not be fully put into words.]
I am no scholar either, but I do know there has always been a lot of good in the world. Even in the time before the stars and before the sun or the moon took flight in the sky. There has always been hope. And always, a new day comes.
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I would know there is good because I am the bad. [It was the point of him being king right now. To keep balance until good, Horus, would ultimately destroy him.
He continues walking and they are closer to the Nile now, with all of the people working. They all bow their heads to Set and he barely acknowledges them. Set must always continue to be cold, it fits the tyrant he must be.]
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As they walked, Mithiel watched the people whom Set seemed almost determined to not notice. They were unlike her people, of course, but in many ways they felt familiar. If not like elves then like the men who had come west in these later days and worked harder for the labours the elves took for granted to be simple.]
I hope these hippos and crocodiles of yours aren't too close to all of these good people.
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Her second question is easier even if he knows she will not like the question.]
These people are attacked every day. Hippos do not like their territory encroached upon. Crocodiles attack far less but it is not unheard of.
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Every day? And neither they nor the animals can find a way to coexist? Can they not be spoken too? [It sounds like she means the people, but she definitely also means the hippos and crocodiles.]
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No beast can speak or understand human language. [His tone seems like this should be obvious.]
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Human, perhaps not. But not even your tongue? The elves taught the trees to talk and many beasts as well bend to our will through speech alone. [Elves do not consider themselves magical, so she doesn't think of it as a power or a magic, but maybe she should.]
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No. We can be...beasts ourselves. And we can turn into them but we do not speak their tongue. They are their own thing.
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...You can turn into them? [Sorry. WHAT?] Any of them or particular ones? [They were definitely Ainur of some kind.]
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But some could turn into any one they want.
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Though I suppose some could be animals and I would never know.
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Thoth could tell you more. I'm one of the only gods without magic.
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But I will ask him when he is asking for every little detail about my people.
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[He considers his next words and settles on:] Thoth will find you interesting.
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You are interesting to me, whether that meets your approval or not. [A beat passes before she adds:] Your Majesty.
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You are correct about him. But he is...[How does Set explain Thoth? Without giving it all away.] He will be kind to you. No matter what. [It's best just to leave it at that.
Finally they get to the river, with all its papyrus and people fishing from it. One of the people there ask if they want to boat and he looks at Mithiel.] Would you?
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Kindness is all I can ask for, and hopefully return. So that is more than enough for me.
[She looks at the mortal and then the river.] I have never been on a boat... I would like to, if it is not too much trouble.
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But he can give her the boat ride.]
How have you never been on a boat...? [That's just weird and he nods to the worker, who offers Mithiel his arm for her to get onto the boat. Set just gets on himself because there's something comical about a human helping a god do something as simple as getting on a boat. It's a spacious one, with seats and people to quickly start fanning them against the heat. Once they are safely on, Set nods for the man to start rowing them down the Nile.]
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We weren't really supposed to cross most of them anyway, but I never had need of a boat. [She doesn't need help either, her balance is impeccable to the point of being almost uncanny but she accepts it anyway, thanking the worker before she settles into the seat beside Set.]
My people have always loved water though. We were drawn to the stars and the sea and Ulmo, the Valar of the sea, has always been good to us. They say he argues our case more than any other. [Though it hardly seems to have mattered in the end.]
This is a magnificent boat. Unlike those I have seen, though they are few.
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It must seem like he does not listen to her but he does. Her words just make no sense and he is not sure what to say.]
Even a poor family can have a boat here. [So it is absolutely nonsensical she never did.]
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No hippos or crocodiles either.
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