Month: December 2015

masteroftheseas:

ji-indur:

misbehavingmaiar:

“Thank you, Cousin.” Sauron bowed as best he could while floating. “You make me a happy maia this day–”  
Oarni shot past him in a flurry of grim-faced precision, and he watched as they cut away his line of support and stripped him of defenses. This did not surprise him, and though the lack of his anchor rope gave him pause, it was not until he saw Ossë push the wraith’s ship groaning backwards across the water (just a flick of his wrist, a tilt of his pearl-laden head, and the mass of the sea did his bidding!) that he felt his stomach shrivel. 

Ji would not know what had occurred beneath the waves, and his last means of escape was gone– gone! 

He swallowed dry and shook his head, long curls drifting in eddies around his shoulders. This was no time to panic. His first and best line of defense had always been his words, and he was not, after all, entirely helpless. There was peace for the moment. He did not plan to disturb it– he was aware how fragile it was. 

“Thank you.” He said again, sincerely, meeting Ossë’s eyes. “You are generous, and I, humbled. I will make the most of my hour, if I can but learn to move…” He smiled with a hopeful crook of his lips, and kicked his finned legs in excitement, surging forwards too boldly and making his guards flare in warning. “Easy, my friends. I am only experimenting… You make this look effortless and I am not hardly so nimble yet!” 

In demonstration he swam a small circle around the guarded waters, testing the balance of his new muscles, completing the circuit by turning a backwards swoop with a pointed grin. “Happily, I am a swift learner.” 

The high-contrast planes of his skin gleamed as he swam and twisted, facing every point of the compass is seemed with increasing pleasure, his maia’s eyes piercing far into the ocean realm.

“Ossë, Ossë! I hardly know where to begin! What are these square-headed creatures called, with wings and tails that seem to eat only water as they fly? What are those, riding the shark’s back? I saw a huge spotted monster with a gaping maw that no fish seemed to fear– why? I have too many questions, I cannot choose what to examine first!” He beamed. “Come with me?” 

@ji-indur  @masteroftheseas

Ji Indur had kept his eyes on the water all the time, on the spot where his master had dove into the deep blue sea and had disappeared into the depths. The maelstrom had grown less in power and with the ship no longer being whirled about he finally dared to leave the helm to hurry down to the railing where the rope and everything affixed to it was dangling over board just to vanish in the darkness below as well. He could still make out one or two of the glass baubles, still unsure about the use of them as he knew that the Maia did not need air like a secondborn did. 

Clutching the ornament wood he kept peering down, red eyes trying to pierce the inky blackness that grew a few feet down but he could see naught- neither the Maiar nor anything else that would be useful to him. Was this the final calm before the storm would break loose? Before a true battle would begin? He hardly noticed how tense his body was, jaw muscles showing as he gritted his teeth. What should he do? Diving after Sauron would most likely do nothing to aid the Maia and most likely he’d only end up between the battling parties. He could not fight under water and to anger Osse would be not in his interest either by taking his master’s side. But just waiting up here until the rope was pulled? Could he truly lift Him then when both were raging?

Then he found the rope suddenly moving and clutched it hastily, hoping for a sign that the Dark Lord had decided to return to the ship. But there was no pull so the wraith worried what the movement had meant, deciding to tug after all. To his confusion and the utter shock he found the rope so much lighter -too light- and he continued to motion in a sudden worry just to find it cut after a third way down, But before he could fully process the meaning of it the sea suddenly reared up as if the waves were bucking wild horses, the corsair ending up tumbling back and across deck before hitting the other side of the railing. The Kraken groaned and creaked under the the onslaught of the water and tilted a bit to the side even as it was pushed away and Ji Indur had to cling to the railing or else he would have landed in the water as well. 

As the ship was forced away the wraith tried to gather his senses, his head and body aching where he had hit the wood, trying to stand again and halt the vessel. Should he return to the spot? Aye, it was clear that the Master of the Sea wanted him to leave but he was bound by his promise to Sauron….

@misbehavingmaiar @masteroftheseas

Ossë could not hold back the light chitter of amusement at Sauron’s first attempts to swim. His Oarni were so quick to assume the worst, and yet he knew that clumsy feeling well. It was hard to stay stern and distant when his cousin was drifting helplessly, but he hid his slip of emotion swiftly. No need to give Sauron extra ammunition.

Was it a very clever ploy or genuine interest that lit up those contrasted features? The rapidly fired questions were not unlike the eager demands of an Elfling going for its first boat ride, peering over the edge to watch the world soar past, fascinated and innocent and thrilled. Ossë’s countenance softened as he watched his cousin spin eagerly. If it was a ploy, it was a very convincing one.

He nodded to his Oarni with a sharp dip of his chin, then launched forward to easily brush past his cousin with a whip of his fins, gliding effortlessly ahead and below to continue his own work. If this was a very convincing ploy, he would not allow himself to be made a fool so easily.

“Our lord has other tasks that demand his attention,” the smaller of the Oarni answered as Ossë’s glow dimmed in distant shadows. “but we can guide your tour just as well. Perhaps you should like to meet the sidirziqtu? The ‘square-headed fliers’, as you identified them.” His large, pale eyes glanced briefly at the Maia before peering out at the distant rays.

@misbehavingmaiar

Ossë’s smooth scales brushed him as passed in a blur of iridescence and sinew, leaving him with an impression of both brutal strength and the pliant softness of aquatic flesh. The pressure of a collapsing vacuum made Sauron’s ears pop uncomfortably, and he found himself making a clicking whine of protest in his cousin’s wake– a startling sound he’d never made before. 

“Ososai–!” But he was gone, a vanishing glimmer in the sea. 

Well. That was that.  But he had an hour in a new kingdom he had never set foot– or fin, in before. He mouthed the word “sidirziqtu” with savor. 

As he and his entourage of wary Oarni drew nearer the serene winged creatures, he recognized them as larger versions of the rays that were often sold in Adunaic fish markets  That, he realized, was the extent of his marine knowledge– what he had seen brought up in nets, beached on the shore, or spied from the land. And there was so much more to be seen!

Every crevice, every rock and ledge, was colonized by something enterprising. Even on the floor of the bottommost sea trench, there were vents that supported a host of brightly-colored organisms that thrived on the boiling heat and microscopic nutrients. There were indescribable horrors drifting in the layers of darkness beneath, all eyes and teeth and tendrils of self-made light. 

He thought of his Master then, how Melkor would have appreciated the tenacity of life here. Sauron swam ahead alone through a divide in a deep sea cliff, watching yellow-green eels curling through soft drifting weeds, hearing the resonating song of behemoths miles away.  What a sad music they made, being ages old… 

On a whim he dove far down, down to the seabed to examine a sunken wreck. It intrigued him, seeing what portions the sea had reclaimed, and which had survived untouched by time. 

“How much remains of the ruins of Beleriand, I wonder… What submerged forests and drowned citadels are home now to new life.” He mused aloud, running his hands over an ancient bronze chain. “I wish I had time to see it.” 

Together, the dark-eyed Oarni raised a call, thrumming a single note in unison amid a veil of bubbles.  The hour was up. 

@masteroftheseas @ji-indur