19. Nonus decimus | Video

[5thchild]

[ it has been a while since Kaworu showed his face and made a post, hasn't it? This time around he is at the park. His really pale skin is red from the sun - probably burnt, too, because Kaworu is like an albino - and it's obvious he is feeling the heat, but he is sitting under a tree in the shade ]

Hello. [ have a gentle smile, everyone! ] I hope everyone is alright, even though recent events show us it is getting more dangerous. Even so, there is still much to see and learn in this world. Only recently I've found there are small fans to place inside houses to refresh the place. [ yeah he didn't know about that sort of fans )8 ] Even after so long here, there is much for me to learn.

I suppose it makes me curious: what is the most fascinating thing you have seen in this world?

I do have another question. [ but of course. And it'll be a bit more personal ] After the war has ended and if the Gods and the travelers win, would you wish to stay in this world, or would you rather return? And why?

Comments

[5thchild]

Are they very different from the ones you've met in your world, Maglor?

Who would you like to bring along with you? [ Kaworu smiles and shakes his head softly ] I must return. There is still much for me to do.

[bythewaves]

Yes and no... people will be people, eh? Here or elsewhere. But to hear the tales of distant worlds, and to meet the people from them... ah, now that is something a bard like me can draw real pleasure from.

Mm, I would take any who wished to see them in truth - but there are two here especially dear to me...

I hope you will find time yet to explore, istyar.

[5thchild]

I believe I understand. Would you like to visit such worlds?

Do you wish to go with you? or would they want to return to their own worlds?

[ the angel nods ] I have been enjoying everyday I'm allowed to spend here. And I do know because of it, I'm quite glad. When I leave, I'll bring everything I have seen, learned and done here, in my heart.

[bythewaves]

I would. [ Maglor smiles wistfully ] New worlds, new stories, new people. Long ago, we dreamt of seeing new lands. It was one of the reasons many followed my father. Those dreams turned rapidly to dust and ashes, but I still hold them in my heart.

They have both told me that they would follow me - there is little for either in their own worlds.

Mm, I have found much here to rejoice in also - 'twould be a shame if they were to be forgotten.

[5thchild]

Would you not miss home? Your world?

I see. I hope that will be possible for them, then. [ but regarding "forgetting"... well, Kaworu has to wonder. A lot of people have left and some, when they return, forget it all. ]

Even if they are forgotten, those times still exist. Our place in this world has left a mark, it always does. And that will be proof of the times lived, even if they are gone from our minds.

[bythewaves]

I will always miss it. But I carry her in my heart, always - the white towers of Tirion and the grey walls of Amon Ereb, the Valley and the Wood, the Sea and the Mountain. Curiosity has ever been the hallmark of my kin, Kaworu - in me the urge for distant shores is no less than in others.

As do I - I would fain not have them return to their own worlds either, from what I know of them. Aye - well spoken istyar. Nothing is ever truly forgotten.

[5thchild]

I see. Is your world very vast? Or you believe you've seen it all?

And I'm glad it isn't. The proof that something exists like that, makes all of this worthwhile, I think. Even the smallest action.

[bythewaves]

She is wide and fair, is Arda. [ and the love in his voice rings clear ] I have seen but the smallest parts of her shores, and yet... the stars Kaworu... there are worlds out there where Men walk amongst them. Ah, but that would be a wonder indeed.

Mm, I begin to think so as well. Every note in the Song has value, for who knows where its echo will reach?

[5thchild]

[ he smiles, listening to Maglor ]

You know, Maglor, many try to look at smaller and smaller things, such as what forms each object. Many also try to look further and further away, into the dark sky, the stars and the planets. And they also try to look back in time, when there was nothing, when you were still growing, and other try to look further ahead, into the future as it'll give them all the answers.

Maybe most have forgotten to look at something that is neither the small nor the large, it's here and existing now. Yourself.

Do not forget there is still much to be discovered within yourself.

[bythewaves]

Mm perhaps, and perhaps not... irregardless, istyar I look forward, ever, for so they called us, once - those who reached out to see what was beyond. We failed at that, my people, growing complacent with what we had. But Men are ever striving, ever reaching, and with that I may be content, knowing that our future is in good hands

[5thchild]

Growing complacent often means to accept and never to question. It's right, questioning may aid you to grow and learn more. Never to stop and always to look further. Such is the nature of lilin. [ even if sometimes looking further may do more wrong than right, but Kaworu doesn't judge ]

By wanting to go further, you are learning more about yourself, in any case.

[bythewaves]

The Eldar are often accused of always looking back - it is the price, I suppose, of a memory that endures as long as its wielder, and that is inviolate. We do not forget, and those memories may hold us tightly, if we are not careful.

[ We are... going to ignore that bit about ourselves entirely. Yes. ]

[5thchild]

Looking back is not always something negative. With the past, you can learn from mistakes and regrets and hope not to do them again; with the past, you can learn from your happiness and joy, and reach for them once more.

But everything has a balance. Past and present and future, do too.

[bythewaves]

Mm, but if all you do is look back then you never move forwards. I never saw her, but Gondolin, they say, was a copy of Tirion-on-Tuna, as close as Turgon could build her in Middle-earth, and he loved her so much that he did not heed the warnings to flee, and so died in her when she was overthrown. And even the Golden Wood was beautiful while my cousin ruled there, but when she had gone it withered and failed, for it was a beauty trapped in amber, and it could not remain without her to sustain it. We Eldar are fond of that ...the swiftness of change in mortal lands is always a grief.

[5thchild]

The change happens faster than you are willing to accept. Hence why there is a balance. Usually, not much good comes from exaggeration.

[bythewaves]

[ a soft amused chuff ]

All change is swift to us, who watch the Ages of the world pass us by. But you have the right of it istyar - there needs to be a balance. Perhaps that it is why we are firstborn and Men the aftercomers - us to hold the memory, and Men to press forwards.

[5thchild]

Wouldn't that make you a dying race, however? If you do not press forward.

[bythewaves]

[ Maglor shrugs a little ] A stagnant one, perhaps - but we Eldar are tied to the life of the world, remember - so long as Arda exists, so also do we. In that sense, we do not, and will not die.

[5thchild]

I see.

Perhaps it's not such a bad existence, Maglor. Each race has their own way of life, and even if stagnant you exist. I don't think such existence is bad.

[bythewaves]

Perhaps, but it seems to be a shame. Once, we were great and glorious, but we are only a fading memory now - things change, I know, and our time in Middle-earth is done, but to dwell forever in the memory of the past seems to me ill-done.

[5thchild]

Are you the only one who thinks so? or are there more sharing the same opinion?

[bythewaves]

I do not know, in honesty - I have not come among our people for near six thousand years of the sun. But it was always one of our failings, that we dwelt too deeply on past glories.

[5thchild]

Perhaps others feel the same now, as well. perhaps they have met others beyond their kind and realized changing might be the only way of survival.

do you not believe so?

[bythewaves]

I do not know [ Maglor shrugs a little ] I would hope we learnt our lessons, but... I suppose unless more of my kin are brought here I will never know for certainty.

[5thchild]

The possibility of ever meeting one of your kin does not exist anymore? Even if they travel to the places you travel to?