The Bird In A Cage by Himring

Prologue

Setting: Hithlum

Characters: Fingon, Turgon

You want to carry on with your plans, but you still don’t want to tell the Feanorians about them?’, asked Fingon incredulously. ‘Haven’t they proved themselves trustworthy allies during the battle? We couldn’t have won it without them. And already it’s being called the Glorious Victory—but you still want to go and bury yourself in the mountains?’

Turgon’s expression was stern and unyielding—Fingon was valiantly struggling not to call it mulish, because he knew that would be unfair. Fingon sighed.

‘All right, I guess we’ve been over all this before. You don’t have to explain it again. So, in your eyes, our victory changes nothing.’ He paused. ‘But please, do consider this. Whatever they are, our cousins aren’t stupid. When people start vanishing from Nevrast, they will notice. They will start asking questions. If they ask them too loudly, those questions might be heard in the wrong quarters. The Enemy might get wind of it. Are you prepared to risk drawing the Enemy’s attention just because you don’t trust our cousins?’

He took another look at his brother’s face and gave up the struggle. Mulish was simply the only word for it.