For Davivi

[osse]

The tinkling laughter of star song fades into the regular crash of waves upon the shores of Aman. The salty smell of sea spray and the warm chuckle off the Coast's Maia, as he draws himself out of the shoreline, in a form like a towering colossus, filled with a Music the speaks of danger and joy and love and something undeniably Wild.

"Come, Little One! We have much to see!" he cries, voice rich and deep, as he takes Maglor's hand and guides him with great strides along the paths of Arda, crossing leagues with one step and fractions of millimeters in the next. They traverse high mountains and deep valleys, oceans and seas and puddles each with the same care. Places that are utterly beyond Maglor's travels and some that are so intimately familiar.

Each fade-memory of pain is met with an encompassing love and affection. Each tear with quiet understanding. Each faltering step is met with arms that lift him up and over troubled ground until he has strength to walk again.

At the last they come to the gates of Utumno, and now at last Maglor knows what he is meant to face. Already he can hear the cries of slain kin, the aching bird-cry of a mother at her children's loss, and a thousand other sounds of battle and evil and pain. For a moment Maglor quails, but the Maia's presence is steady beside him, and that mighty hand is tightly in his grasp. He makes to step forward, deep into that place of death, but his arm extends back, and he realizes that Osse has not moved to follow.

The great colossus crouches down to meet his eyes. His voice is soft, the quiet rumble before the sky splits into storm as he says, "Here, Little One, I cannot follow."

He wants to cry, in denial and in despair. He feels abandoned and alone, until he sees that Osse is smiling at him, laughter in his eyes, and the Maia has shifted to kneel.

It is then that he can feel it behind him, a Great and Mighty Power. Wisdom and Strength and Love. Love like he has never before imagined, deeper than he can fathom, surrounded and held, as gentle hands lift him up and cover his face from the Radiant Presence of the One Who holds him now.

He lifts Maglor up and tucks him close against His Breast, and as He takes that great step forward at Utumno's gate, the darkness quails before him into radiant light.

"Come, My Child," He says, with Love, and all the world trembles at His Voice, though it seems so still and small "and walk with Me."