Just and Equitable Government by Himring

Epilogue

A long time afterwards, in Tirion

‘Principles of Just and Equitable Government’, says Maedhros wonderingly. ‘Findekano, what am I doing standing here with this book in my hand, as if I still might have a use for it? Don’t we both know, you and I, that Uncle Arafinwe would throw thirteen fits if I even tried to run a rag-and-bone shop in Tirion?’

‘Oh, I don’t know’, says Fingon vaguely. He has been deriving some entertainment in the past months from watching how, one by one, each in their own way, even the most suspicious and reserved  of his staff succumbed to his cousin, who didn’t even seem to notice he was gradually  twisting them around his little finger. ‘I don’t believe there is a single rag-and-bone shop in Tirion, actually’, he adds. ‘Arguably, you’d be filling a niche.’

He plucks the book out of his cousin’s unresisting hand and puts it back on the shelf. Then he takes Maedhros in his arms, very cautiously. It is not that he fears he might be unwelcome anymore, of course, quite the contrary, but what else is a millennia-long wait good for, if not to teach one a little patience…

‘Findekano, dear Findekano’, whispers Maedhros, gently cupping Fingon’s chin in his fingers, ‘you are holding your breath. Will you let it out, if I promise you to try and not blow away? I’m reasonably solid, I think.’

…or not so very much patience after all!

‘There is no way you are going to blow away’, declares Fingon, ‘because I am not going to let you!’, and holds his cousin tight.

Chapter End Notes

It is hardly possible to write about this period without pinching a few ideas from others (besides Tolkien, that is). I am aware I borrowed a couple from Marta, Lyra and Erulisse, but I think I transmogrified them pretty much beyond recognition. There may be others I am missing, though.