CHAPTER 1

Russafëa and Arallë sat playing dolls contentedly, the former swinging between bossy and mothering towards her far younger cousin. Both sets of parents sat watching the girls with amused glances.

Daffyd held his wife as she curled against his shoulder, much like his aunt was against Eönwë. Ever since the young Maia had found his wife, a Maia of Yavanna called Tuimahen, Riona had taken great pleasure in returning the teasing he had ladled on her. When Tuimahen had been introduced to them, Riona had looked at her nephew with a raised eyebrow and promptly shortened the name to Tuima. Eönwë had rolled his eyes, but otherwise not commented. He had resigned himself to Riona shortening of the fancier Quenya names about the time she had insisted on shortening their daughter's name to Fea.

Knowing that if he gave his own daughter a ridiculously complicated Quenya name, Riona would deliberately massacre that as well, he had chosen a simple one when the little girl was born. Though she did at least usually use the full name most of the time, even Arallë got an abbreviated form of her name.

Daffyd gently put his hand over his wife's swollen stomach and revelled in being able to sense his new child's life. He grinned slightly at his daughter and cousin, knowing that the moment the child was born, it would become both girls favourite doll – when he was unable to save his youngest child from that.

XXX

The extended Maia family sat on comfortable chairs in the sitting room of Manwë, a place totally different from the throne room in which Riona and Daffyd had first met the Valar.

Daffyd could tell his aunt was getting irritated with the way the Lord and Lady were playing country-gentry without getting to the point of why the two Valar had asked them to tea. Once there was nothing more that Varda could do as hostess to procrastinate the point, both sat opposite the adults of the family – the children, all three of them, were being entertained by Aulë. Eönwë had been a bit reserved about that choice of baby-sitter at first, but the crafter had turned out to be an excellent carer for the young children. Riona had said something about male mental ages coming into it.

The silence stretched uncomfortably until Riona pulled a silly face at Varda. The Vala looked at her very shocked, obviously having never had someone pull faces at her. The pure, undiluted shock on their faces caused all four Maia the suppress laughs, though the two born Maia were rather sheepish about their amusement, for neither were entirely sure about laughing at their king and queen.

"The reason for calling you here is for a sadly melancholy necessity." Varda started and looked at her husband awkwardly. Daffyd had a distinct sinking feeling, knowing that with an introduction like that, especially with the atmosphere that hung about; it would not be a good conversation.

"We have need of Maia in Arda, but Maia unknown and this is where you come in." The four looked at each other after their lord's pronouncement. Riona, unsurprisingly, got selected as spokeswoman.

"Erm, but of all the Maia I can think of, Eönwë, Daffyd and I are the most conspicuous Maia you've got in fact, bar Melian maybe." Daffyd resisted the urge to laugh – every Elf in the army of the Valar remaining in Arda would know their faces. His uncle had led the army and everyone knew about the two otherworldly captives and could recognise the floating auburn hair of his aunt. Daffyd might have been slightly less conspicuous as he'd last been seen as a child but still...

The celestial couple looked at each other. The look was definitely worrying.

"We were not talking so much of you going, but your... err... your children," Varda said uncomfortably. All four parents' eyes narrowed. Riona's tone became low and very dangerous.

"You mean you wish to take our children from us?" she spat softly. The expression on Varda's face said that was exactly what they wanted. "You have to be joking me. You really think parents of young children would ever consent to having their children taken from them simply so you can have sleepers." Ice could have formed from her voice alone.

"Sleepers?" Manwë asked in confusion. If it hadn't been such a serious situation, Daffyd would have laughed at his confusion.

"Cold War term for a type of spy that affectively become naturalised citizens of their adoptive people." The lord nodded in comprehension before frowning again.

"What is 'cold war'?" he asked. Daffyd answered this time.

"The Cold War was a period in history of the world we came from, where the two greatest Superpowers were openly hostile, but did not fight as they would in a hot war. Any outbreak of aggression between the two Superpowers was through proxy side which the two countries supported. They never actually directly fought each other – not with weapons anyway. Competition was carried out in the form of things like technology." He knew he sounded like a text book but it was that or go nuts. They wanted to take his children!

The Lord let out a quite 'oh'. Riona continued to glare at them flatly.

"Whatever, I am not letting you take my daughter," she spat icily.

XXX

The three children stood in the middle of the room looking at their parents, clearly terrified. Varda knelt down in front of them with what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile. It definitely didn't work, mostly because the children could feel the tension in the air.

Daffyd watched Eönwë tighten his grip on his wife, as he did the same. It was easier to watch the other couple than what the gods were doing to his children. His eyes flickered back to them and his arms involuntarily tightened round his own wife even more as he saw the children, looking almost the same but with elven features.

Beside him Riona let out a cry and pulled herself out of her husband's grasp to kneel down by her daughter and sweep the little girl into her arms. As she held the girl close, Fea disappeared with a terrified look on her face, leaving a sobbing Riona with her arms out. She turned her head to send a look of pure loathing at the two Valar.

XXX

The patrol group were preparing to split up when they heard a quite whimper from a little way out into the forest. The Wood Elves looked at each other, as if to reassure themselves that they had heard the sound. Then they heard another whimper and began cautiously making their way towards it.

A little walk out into the tree line found two small children holding each other and looking terrified. The little boy was barely a toddler and the girl was only old enough to be learning to talk herself. They were obviously siblings, both having dark brown hair and green eyes. Even wide with terror the eyes were noticeably beautiful.

The patrol leader knelt down and held out his arms, hoping to appear non-threatening to the children. The little girl looked up at him with wide eyes and asked for her mother, to his surprise she spoke in Quenya.

The little children took some convincing to go with the Elves and they refused to be more than an arm's length away from each other. As they took the children back to safety, the patrol leader debated what on Arda he was going to do with two lost children.

XXX

The young Peredhel wondered the woods of Lindon, taking the opportunity of privacy to curse life. Why, in Morgoth's name, had his twin chosen the life of the race of Men? Granted, he had lived many hundred more years that most Men, but he was still mortal and now he had died.

He had known for what felt like an Age, but hadn't been free to mourn his brother until the news had come by more official channels than his twin bond. He was just about to give in to his urge to swear at his brother when his sensitive elven ears caught a plaintive cry for mother, in Quenya. With barely a thought, he dashed towards the sound. It took a little while to find the child, but he gasped in surprise when he did see her.

She had dark reddish brown hair and large, smokey-green eyes – almost like a mix of forest-green and dark-grey. The colour was startling. She looked up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. Cautiously, Elrond knelt down before her and smiled a little bit.

"Do you know where my mama is?" she whispered. "She was here then she wasn't. We were in the big building and she was holding me, but then I was in the wood and Mama wasn't here anymore." Elrond shook his head.

"No, I don't know where your Mama is. Why don't you come with me and we will go to a safe place where your Mama can come looking for you." She looked at his outstretched arms dubiously.

"Do you know if Mama will be there? And Ada? Ada makes places safe. He's a big fighter who leads armies against nasty Mor-gof. It must be safe if Ada is there." She sounded very sure of herself.

"I don't if your Ada will be there, but if he led army against Morgoth then he will have been where I'm going to take you. All the leaders of the army have been there." If she seriously believed her father was one of the leaders of the army of the Valar, he'd play along – if nothing else just to get her to come with him. The little girl, obviously a Peredhil herself by her colouring, considered this answer for a little while before apparently agreeing that wherever it was, was safe and holding out her arms to him and allowing herself to be scooped up into the older Peredhil's arms.

Elrond suspected that she had fallen asleep and while her parents had been travelling they had been attacked. Obviously they had managed to leave the daughter somewhere safe before being killed. He would have to send a patrol out to this general area to find anything left. There was a small chance of the parents being alive and they would probably go to the city to find their daughter once they realised she was gone – if they were indeed alive. As he carried the small child snuggled to his shoulder, the Peredhel Lord swore that he would look after the child for as long as she needed him – Peredhils needed to stick together in a world that was distinctly anti half-blood.