The Unlikely Visitor

Chapter 22.
In which Sauron breaks someone’s tibia, ties the knot, and gets a new name.

“Are you nervous?”
Sauron sent his love a slightly orange glare. As time had passed, they had become less mysterious with each other, and expressing annoyance or frustration no longer felt wrong or out of place. He growled.
“What do you think? You just told me you have seven older brothers!”
“Half-brothers. They are from my mother’s first marriage.”
He was a millennia old Maia, and he was not nervous, not nervous at all, to meet Sinistra’s family. As long as he kept telling himself that, he would be okay. He hoped. He glared daggers at the locket on the table, an International Portkey that would take them straight to Sinistra’s birth village.
“Why didn’t you tell me of your family? I thought you were an only child.”
“My brothers all have families of their own by now, and I haven’t seen any of them in many years. It simply did not occur to me… I’m sorry. Besides, I do am my father’s only child.” She smiled. “Aren’t you used to big families? You lived with the Weasleys after all…”
Sauron sighed. If Sinistra’s family was anything like the Weasleys, he wasn’t sure if he would survive in one piece. One large, messy family to quasi-adopt him was more than enough… Sinistra massaged his shoulders.
“Relax, my beloved… They will see how I love you, and that will be enough for them.”
Sauron took a deep breath. He was nervous as he had been after the debacle of Tol Sirion, and back then there had been Melkor, armed with a fiery whip, to teach him a lesson about losing strongholds to the enemy… His nervousness now was absolutely ridiculous in comparison.
“Very well. Let’s get it over with then.”
He took Sinistra’s hand, and together they took up the locket. He felt a tug at his navel, and the next moment they were somewhere else… Sauron looked around in surprise. Huts made of clay were standing next to or were attached to dusty brick buildings, often adorned with colorful murals. People in colorful clothes were bustling about, calling out at each other in a strange language, and right before his nose a woman passed who was herding a bunch of goats. There were people carrying baskets full of things he couldn’t identify, children were playing, men were talking in hushed tones while sitting under a tree on the central square, and the warm air was filled with scents he couldn’t place. It was not as small as he had imagined the village would be, and far from as quiet… Sinistra laughed happily.
“Welcome to Kokeb Meda, Sauron…”
He was as stunned as he had been that first time in London, now already more than a year ago… Sinistra pulled him with her while he looked around in wonder. Many of the people were carrying Istari-like staffs, decorated with feathers, beads, teeth, stones, metal and ribbons. He also noticed quite a few people were using magic, but often without pointing their staff of speaking a spell. Sinistra had told him that the magic of her people was very different from what was taught at Hogwarts, but still… he had not expected this. Eventually, they reached the property of Sinistra’s family. In the front yard a woman was stirring a cauldron while chanting something. She was dressed in deep green, colorful robes, and held a staff decorated with bones and pieces of scrap metal. When Sinistra pushed open the gate she looked up, and a broad smile appeared on her face.
“Alitash!”
She abandoned her cauldron and came to them, embracing Sinistra tightly. From closer by, Sauron could see that Sinistra looked very much like –who he presumed was- her mother. The woman and Sinistra conversed in their own language, and he felt strangely left out until Sinistra’s mother turned to him. She had the same obsidian eyes as her daughter, but they were more piercing, harsher and older. Sauron was under her scrutiny for a while, until she spoke in heavily accented English.
“Me is Fana, mother of Aurora. My Alitash has found in you her foreign spirit. Me is glad in my heart. Be welcome in our family, Teferi.”
Then she said something else to her daughter in her own language, and went back to her cauldron. Sinistra smiled at Sauron’s apparent confusion.
“My mother can seem a little strange for those who do not know her… But she has accepted you.”
“How do you know?”
“She named you. My mother has insight, and the names she gives people reflect how she sees them. Using them is a sign of friendship, kinship even. Had she not liked you, she would have addressed you as Sauron.”
It was all a bit much for Sauron. He looked at the woman who had named herself Fana, and felt a certain apprehension as her strange chant reached his ears.
“Teferi… what does it mean?”
“Admirable one, he who inspires fear and awe.”
Sauron couldn’t help but swallow visibly…

That night, Sauron couldn’t sleep. The strange environment, the heat, all the new things… He honestly felt lost. Perhaps even more lost than when he first fallen into this world. Sinistra held him in her arms, but although her touch was comforting he didn’t succumb to sleep. After a bit of tossing and turning, he said.
“Sinistra…I have seen many people with staffs. Are those your people’s wands?”
“In a way. We use our magic in a different way than the people in the west; they need their wands to do magic, whereas we do not. When our magic starts manifesting itself, we start making our staff. We do it ourselves, and no one tells us how to do it. Dreams, intuition and instinct lead us to the materials we need to make it, and while making it we are actually practicing our magic, coming in deeper contact with it. When the staff is finished, we have much better control over our powers, simply from exercising the skills needed to create the staff. It helps with complex spells, grounds us and stabilizes us, but we don’t truly need it to do magic.”
Sauron thought about that.
“It’s so strange how much differences there are in your world.”
“Are they not in yours too, then?”
Fair point, the people of Harad could hardly be compared to the people of Rohan. He had never really paid attention to the customs of different races in Middle-Earth, simply because he only met with them on the battlefield. It was odd to realize that there surely was a lot he didn’t know about his own world and its people…
“Your mother called you Alitash. What does it mean?”
“May I always find you, my precious, may I never lose you.”
That was… ironic. But he had stopped keeping track of the many ironic things in his life long ago already. The names did surprise him. He had been shocked, but also oddly pleased when Fana had given him a name so close to what he had been called at creation… it was almost as if he finally reclaimed the name he had lost in Númenor. Turning from his musings back to Sinistra, he stated.
“She also called you Aurora.”
Sinistra chuckled.
“Aurora is my birth name, the name my father gave me. It means “dawn”. Alitash is the name my mother gave me. Sinistra is technically my last name. Normally it is not used to address someone, but while I lived in England I have begun using it as my first name.” She hesitated a moment. “It’s not complicated. You still have a lot more names than I do.”
Sauron sighed.
“Yes. I do. Not all of them are very flattering.”
“Remember what I told you about context?”
“How could I forget that? Wasn’t it that conversation that ultimately brought us to this point?”
Sinistra kissed his neck.
“Ah, Sauron… You worry so much. Tomorrow you will meet my father and brothers. They don’t all live in this village, but mother told me she was going to organize a feast for my return, and they will all attend.”
“A feast?”
“Oh yes. I have not been here for ten years. They will all want to meet us.” And then she told him not to worry. Tsss. “Try to sleep now, my beloved. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

As Sinistra had predicted, Fana had already begun with the organization of a large feast in the village, mobilizing people, animals and food in large quantities. She didn’t need to yell at or command anyone; the woman appeared to be gifted with a natural authority. Saron didn’t understand a word of what she was saying, but in its own way it looked rather impressive. He could see where Sinistra had gotten her strong character from. They also met with Sinistra’s father Richard, or Makari as Fana had named him. He was an elderly white man with brown, greying hair, kind blue eyes, and a large scar that ran from one side of his face to the other, diagonally over his left eye.
“Aurora, I need to speak with him in private. Would you leave us for a moment? Your mother can certainly use help with the preparation of the food.”
Sinistra hesitated, looking at Sauron. He nodded, trying to act more self-assured than he felt… She left, and he looked nervously at her father. The man gave him a pointed, but not unfriendly look.
“Sauron Gorthaur… My Fana named you Teferi. A good name… Has Aurora told you what it means?”
“She did.”
He nodded.
“I will not ask after your past, for you are a foreign spirit. All I want to know is your future. What do you want with my daughter?”
Sauron felt constricted. Telling Sinistra he loved her came naturally to him, but saying that to her father? Eventually he pushed himself and uttered.
“I… I love her. I would do anything to make her happy.”
“You hesitate, but I see you are truthful. Will you bond with her?”
Sauron nodded.
“Yes. I don’t know your customs, but I would like to bond with her. That was what I came here for, to ask your… permission.”
Richard didn’t respond to that, instead he asked another question.
“And can you give her children?”
Could he? Melian had carried a child from an elf, but Sinistra was a wizard. Were they compatible with Maiar too? Sauron didn’t know. On the other hand, what nature didn’t provide he was certain could be done with magic, in the purely hypothetical situation he would ever want to reproduce. Which he didn’t. He nodded again.
“I think I can. We are not of the same… physiology though, so it might not be possible the natural way.”
Richard chuckled.
“You truly are a very foreign spirit, are you not?”
“I… Yes, I am.”
“Do not worry about your offspring. The ancestors would not have sent Aurora on your path if she would remain barren; after all, a marriage without children is as a vase without flowers. When you want them, you will have them.”
“That is… reassuring.”
Sauron could not really imagine having children. He was not a father figure at all, and small children still annoyed him to no end. He hoped Sinistra didn’t want offspring… he definitely had to talk with her about that. Richard Sinistra smiled however, oblivious of the Maia’s thoughts.
“It is Fana’s plan to have you wed Aurora at this feast she is organizing. The whole village is helping with the preparations; my wife is the village healer and they all love her very much. I just thought to warn you.”
Sauron was a little baffled.
“But… I haven’t even formally asked for a betrothal yet!”
Richard chuckled.
“Our ways are different. Besides, am I wrong or have your souls bonded already through the means of the flesh?”
He and Sinistra had refrained from having sex in her parents’ house, but apparently their intimacy was quite obvious. No wonder that Richard and Fana wanted them to get properly wedded soon…
“Do not be embarrassed, Sauron. Aurora would not have given herself to you had she not foreseen this. Nothing is held against you.”
That was a relief, strangely enough. It would have been nice though had she told them that they were to get married on this trip… Not that he was surprised; no one ever told him something. Grateful to the gods of this world as he was, they did have a strange sense of humor. They continued to talk, and Sauron found that Richard Sinistra was pleasant company. When he told the wizard about his interest in muggle buildings, materials and science, Mr Sinistra surprised him by revealing that he too had studied Muggle sciences after completing his magical education. Soon the conversation was about building techniques and metal work… From the door opening to the kitchen, Sinistra and her mother watched the men.
“Two foreign spirits meet…”
“Father will not harm him, will he?”
Fana chuckled.
“Your father? Alitash, you know him better than that. It’s your brothers he’ll have to watch out for. Especially Demissie and Iskinder, you know how protective they are.”
Sinistra frowned at her mother, who was grinning smugly.
“That’s not funny.”
“Aye, it is Alitash, it is…”
When Fana foresaw things, she was awfully smug about it. Sinistra knew this, but it still made her roll her eyes.
“Whatever you say, mother…”
No matter how old she got, her mother would always be able to make her feel like a child…

Later on, Sauron would recall his stay in Africa and his bonding feast with Sinistra as a flurry of colors, sounds, scents, and impressions, blending in his mind to a rather synesthetic experience. Certain things however he remembered crystal clear…
For one by example, the seven tall black men who glared daggers at him from the moment they spotted him. They reminded Sauron unmistakably of a certain bunch of Noldorin princes, despite the lack of physical likeness. If only from the way they all challenged him to a fight you’d think their half-sister was a silmaril he was trying to steal… Their indignation at his courting of their little sister resulted in him spending a good portion of his stay in Sinistra’s village rolling over the ground fighting with various members of her family. Broken noses, sprained wrists and ankles, bruises, scratches and even a broken tibia were all part of the game… A game that, according to Richard, was completely normal; it was their duty as brothers to make sure their sister wedded a decent husband after all. Sauron didn’t tell him what he thought of said custom, but it was nothing flattering. His current “physical manifestation” was rather slightly built, and even though he had his Maiarin strength, not all the fights were easy. Stubbornness, pride and determination counted for something too apparently, when it came to wrestling each other to the ground; they just wouldn’t give up! He won every fight though, sustaining only minor damage, and as Fana treated her son’s injuries the men grudgingly accepted that he was to be their brother-in-law. Although Demissie –the one with the broken tibia- did nickname him Ganel, meaning “The Demon”. Sauron accepted the title with a grin…

The feast itself was again a different type of celebration than the ones he had witnessed before. There was food being shared from large common bowls, strangely enticing music being played on drums and snared instruments, and people were chatting, dancing and drinking strong liquor. All that faded into the background though when Fana and her daughters-in-law led Sinistra outside. She wore magnificent robes in vibrant hues of orange, red and gold, and her hair was hidden underneath a special head wrap. From her ears dangled large beaded earrings in the colors of the dress, and anklets tinkled on her feet when she walked. She looked like fire; molten lava in the shape of a woman, Sauron thought the moment he laid eyes on her. And for once, instead of scolding him for being ridiculous, his mental dark lord voice couldn’t help but agree.
If Sinistra’s song that first night in the Astronomy Tower had surprised and ensnared him, it was nothing compared to the song that the villagers sang for their bonding ceremony. The ceremony began with Fana binding their hands together with a thick red rope, while everyone was silently observing…
“No matter you do, do no untie the knots until you is alone and your door is closed.”
Sauron didn’t have the chance to ask what she meant, because the moment she made the last complicated-looking knot and hit the floor with her staff, it began. She sang, and the other people answered in song, lines they all appeared to know and which sent shivers down his spine. There was a hierarchy in the song, a message, an obligation… The sudden power in the music hit him like a wave, it was so strong that it somewhat destabilized him, and he was grateful that the knots gave him a good excuse to tightly hold Sinistra’s hand. From the way she clenched his, she was at least as affected… The song echoed through his fëa like a command, a compulsion… He didn’t remember exactly when they had begun dancing, but at a certain point they had, and many people with them. The music was leading their steps, and Sauron found he didn’t need to think about them at all, that he wasn’t even capable of thinking about them, instinctual as they were. The feast lasted until the dawn of the next day…

When they finally retreated to their home and the privacy of their room, Sauron learned why untying the knots in public would have been a very bad idea. The moment the red rope freed their hands an almost animal desire took hold of him. Sinistra was no better; she actually tore his robes in eagerness, her obsidian orbs hazy with need. It was different from the longing of his fëa he usually felt, it was completely physical… and he had no hope of resisting it. His mind clouded with lust, and they ravished each other like wild animals, clawing and biting and even drawing blood in their passion. Every release just seemed to make the longing worse, making them slaves to their bodies that screamed “More! Again!” with every completion… When the spell of the rope finally subsided, exhaustion overcame them before even a word could be spoken, and pulled them both into an unnaturally deep slumber. And so it happened that Sauron spent the first day of his married life practically comatose. A promising start it certainly was…

(Author's Apologies)

This is going to be a long one.

I placed Sinistra's village in (drumroll) Ethiopia. This can be deducted from the details I give, and it's for more than one reason. Aurora (Sinistra's first name, as we learned here) in Greek Mythology is the goddess of dawn, but also the mother of Memnos, first king of Ethiopia. A funny fact about this is, Aurora married a mortal man, and she begged Zeus to grant him immortality. Zeus did, but didn't give the man eternal youth. You can imagine the consequences. (Why exactly this is funny you'll learn in another chapter)
Another reason for picking Ethiopia is the language, Amharic. It contains a couple words that seem to come straight from Quenya, funnily enough. Fana (means "light", but also the Quenya word for the body that the Ainur use when they incarnate) and Aman (means "peace", but is also the Quenya term for the Undying Lands) are only a couple examples. There are more, but they escape me.

Sinistra's mother-name, Alitash, means (as is said) “May I always find you, my precious, may I never lose you.”
Sauron's newly given name, Teferi, is the Amharic translation of Mairon, literally "Admirable one, he who inspires fear and awe".

Then onto Sinistra's family!
- Fana (light), her mother
- Richard Sinistra / Makari (wise man), her father
Her seven half-brothers (only two are named here, but I actually have names for all of them, so here they are, from oldest to youngest)
- Tessema (He has been heard)
- Demissie (The Destroyer)
- Iskinder (Defender of the people)
- Daniachew (You be their judge, arbitrate between them)
- Tamirat (Miracle)
- Tesfaye (My Hope)
- Sisay (Omen of good things)
Yes, I actually put effort in finding fitting Amharic names for characters that I didn't really use. I'm a moron.

The village name, "Kokeb Meda" means "Star Plains" in Amharic

The wedding ritual is slightly inspired by a handfastening, but with more magical mumbo-jumbo around it. The red cord actually does symbolize passion in a handfastening.

The conclusion we draw from this: I do too much research. Much too much.