"Are you worried?" Elrond approached the figure at the rail, watching the rapidly nearing quay. The other ellon turned to look at him, grey eyes calm with none of the apprehension the Peredhel had expected.

"Not anymore. I was worried at the beginning of the trip, that the Valar might choose to do something dramatic during the journey. But we seemed to have made it safely through the Straight Road. Even if Manwë takes it into his head to hit the ship with a lightning bolt to drown me, we're close enough to the shore that the rest of you can swim to safety." Maglor leaned back and shaded his eyes. "I'm not seeing a company of Maiar on the docks to escort me to the Máhanaxar so I'll take that as a good sign."

Indeed, when the ship docked there was only a small contingent to meet them. Galadriel had taken it upon herself to be their spokeswoman and commented on the lack. The head of the delegation apologized, "We were indeed warned by Uinen and other Maiar of Ulmo, but 'The Ship bearing those who fought against Sauron will arrive soon' doesn't actually give a time frame for expected arrival. Your parents, Princess, could not take leave of their duties for such a great time period to meet you here, although word will be sent to Tirion to let them prepare a celebration for your arrival."

"That is acceptable," piped in Elrond. "But the ship that left prior to ours should have given word that we would be the next."

"Indeed they did. However, they did not know if a new ship would be built from scratch or if you would take whatever was available or if you would wait a few more years to tie up any loose ends or even what the weather conditions would be like."

Now it was Maglor's turn to interrupt. "Practical enough. But I believe you were told that not only the leaders of the Resistance would be coming but also a notorious criminal. Were there no preparations made for that?" The Teleri ner simply looked confused, and the Feanorian realized that he was far too young to have known who he was currently speaking to. To make his point clear, the eldest Elf there slipped off his black leather glove and held out his hand, palm facing the other. Even then, it took the Teler a few minutes to understand what the bright red design on his hand meant. "Oh, uh, yes, we were informed. Again though, we weren't sure if the rumors that you had chosen to return was true." Maglor put his gloves back on and spared a bemused glance to his cousin and foster-son. "Well, as you can see, it is. Perhaps we might get things over with and you can escort me to Máhanaxar so that I may face the judgment of the Valar."

Brown eyes looked away, the ner darting glances back at the Noldo. "That won't be necessary. There will indeed be a trial over your actions back in the First Age, but the advocates from Tirion, Alqualondë and Tol Eressëa will need at least a month to prepare. In the meantime, given your good behavior since then, your bond has been given to your family. You can spend the wait in Formenos, catching up with them."

"My family? Surely you must be mistaken. My mother and grandparents perhaps, but my family has been condemned unto the Void for being unable to fulfill our Oath."

"With the exception of Maedhros, the rest of your family has returned from the Halls of Mandos. And given that you've returned, I'm sure your last brother will also be released soon." Before any of the three Elves could comment, the Teleri delegate continued. "I'm a bit surprised you mentioned facing the judgment of the Valar. Surely Olorin and Aiwendil had mentioned that the Valar no longer rule Aman." That statement made even Galadriel jump.

"Truly?"

"The Valar have not ruled since the end of the Second Age. Did not Curunír or any of the other Istari tell you so?" Before they could respond, they heard Bilbo gasp behind them. "Why Gandalf! You look so young!" Turning around they saw that Olorin had returned to his form of shining light. (Trust a hobbit to describe it as looking young.) Tired but still compassionate eyes looked over all of them.

"I think it's time for you three to see the truth of Aman."

The cavern was deep underground, underneath the crater of what had been the Máhanaxar. It was cut off from any wind or light. Inside the gloom they could hear a thin, reedy voice, begging for news of the outside world, for someone to answer its cries. "He once was the King of all the Valar in this world. But when the Downfall of Numenor occurred, so too was the Ring of Judgment struck. The Noldor eventually discovered this cavern while searching for new veins of ore. Now he crawls alone in the dark, blind and deaf to anything around him."

Galadriel and Elrond were struck speechless. Only Maglor had the presence of mind to respond and even he took more than a few minutes to recover. "How did this happen?"

Olorin shrugged, as much as any being of light could. "The survivors are not certain but the most popular theory is that it is Eru's punishment. The Valar exist as custodians of Arda and as guides to the Children of Eru. By the time of Numenor, it may have been that they had failed all their duties."

"I can think of plenty of ways they failed the Elves but how did they fail otherwise."

"They ruled the Firstborn but aside from the Maiar sent to help the creation of Numenor, ignored the Secondborn completely. As for they're other duties, they restricted themselves to Aman."

"Some of that was fear of Melkor. But even after he was gone, very little effort was made on their part to repair the damage from the war."

"Exactly. So when they called on Eru to defeat the Numenorean invasion, apparently Eru decided if they were going to be derelict in their duties, they should not have the benefits of power that went with their position."

Eyes that still glowed with the light of the Trees contemplated the black hole in the ground. "Surely they are not all like this. The Telerin delegate mentioned Ulmo."

"No. Ulmo, Aulë, Irmo, Nienna, Estë, and Vána have all been seen since then and appear to have retained their duties. They have given up ruling the Firstborn but will offer advice if one seeks them out."

"May we see any of the others?"

"The other Valar are scattered across Aman. However, Yavanna is close by and we can walk to her prison within an hour."

Not far indeed. Yavanna was standing on the mound where the Trees had once grown. The strike that had destroyed Máhanaxar had also caused the hills around it to cave in. The Giver of Fruits was dressed in rags of brown and as far as she could see, nothing grew. She did not move, staring at where her greatest creations had fallen. "Not all of them are uncommunicative and still. Varda and Vairë were only struck blind-"

"Given those two, that's punishment enough." stated the Feanorian dryly.

"On the other hand, Nessa, Tulkas, and Oromë were all encased in partially in stone. And we're not precisely sure about Mandos. He still rules over the Dead in his Halls but he hasn't left them since the end of the Second Age."

"I'll bet he makes no more prophecies either." The Vanyarin guide gave Maglor a funny look. "You're right about that. How did you know?"

"It's fairly obvious. Eru must have quite a sense of irony or humor. Manwë had the winds bring him news from all over the world now he knows nothing about anything. Yavanna was in charge of growing things now all she sees is sterility and decay. Nessa, Tulkas, they never stood still and now they can do nothing but. Varda loved the light, all she sees is the dark. For Mandos, he ruled over the Dead but also the living and pronounced Doom over the Firstborn. Although I suppose he didn't fail his duty, just tried to rule over the living Eldar and reduce their free will. Maybe that's why he's still Ruler of the Dead."

The blonde looked too much like his step-grandmother, and Maglor's tone was more condescending than perhaps he intended. "Tell me, did the decision to reduce themselves come before or after the end of the Second Age?"

"I-I don't know. Nienna, Ulmo and some of the others had long withdrawn away from Taniquetil before the Incident occurred. But the others, Vana and Nienna were still seen."

"Hmm, I'll bet then, that the ones who were punished were the ones who voted to let Eru take care of the Numenorean problem."

"I can't confirm that."

"I suppose even the Valar have their own secrets."

"Cousin." Maglor turned from where he was saddling a horse. Last night it had been decided that he would await the trial in Formenos with his family. Elrond would follow later, after meeting with his wife in Lorien. Galadriel had not yet decided if she would go to Tirion to meet her parents but was staying longer on Tol Eressëa to take the time to make up her mind.

"Cousin," he responded in kind.

"What you said yesterday, do you really believe the Valar deserved what happened to them?"

Glowing grey eyes looked into the same. "Artanis, do you agree that the Valar abandoned their duties to Aman after the War of the Wrath?"

Reluctantly she nodded. "Melkor was gone. They could have helped us all rebuild and did not."

"And do you agree that they also abandoned the Secondborn?"

"I'm not so sure about that. But certainly, aside from the Gift, no aid ever came to them after the First Age. And really, the only thing that happened before was Ulmo trying to warn Gondolin and that wasn't even for the benefit of the Secondborn."

"What about their treatment of Melkor?"

Here her face hardened. "No, they were definitely in the wrong there. It's all well and good to say that Manwë didn't understand evil, but even after being shown he was wrong, they took no responsibility for his actions until the War of Wrath. Melkor was a Vala, one of them. Instead, they abandoned the rest of us, Noldor, Secondborn, Sindar, everyone to the mercy of him and his lieutenants."

"Then I take it the part you object to is their treatment of the Eldar?"

"Maglor, they are not like us. They couldn't possibly understand what they were doing was wrong."

"Perhaps. There have been times when I too want to believe they had good intentions and were merely misguided. Certainly, the line between advising and guiding and actually ruling is very blurry." His eyes were as hard as hers. "But even if I ignore the crimes to our family, that still leaves them guilty of three out of four charges. And I think even one of those still shows an unforgivable breach of duty, with no signs of remorse or restitution in sight. In my view, Eru is only handing out the just retribution those of Arda would inflict if they had the power to do so." He finished saddling the horse and easily mounted despite the scarred hand.

"Talk to others here, cousin. Life is more complicated now than it was during the Years of the Trees. But I think you will find most are satisfied with the trade-off of more responsibility in return for freedom."