More about Maglor by Himring

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Half-Elven (Maglor & Gilmith I)

In his wanderings, Maglor encounters a half-elven child.
Inevitably, this evokes memories of two other half-elven children.

Written as a gift for Independence1776 for Fandom Stocking 2014

Rating: General audiences.

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• For Independence1776.

With my best wishes as a Christmas gift for Independence1776.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

In that year Maglor came to the bay of Belfalas and, wandering along the shore, for the first time he heard the voice of Amroth echoing among the sound of the wind and the waves. He stopped to try and fathom what this might mean. But all too soon he concluded that the voice that called from the sea was beyond help. Yet he found a strange companionship in it and for a while he lingered there, interweaving his own lament with Amroth's.

Lingering thus, he became aware of someone come seeking among the dunes, a stranger who was not the mere echo of a voice, but alive. This seeker seemed young and perhaps lost and so, after a little hesitation, he built a fire of driftwood and allowed her to find him.

The girl approached his fire warily, but with an air of resolution, and, with a quick pang, he saw that she was half-elven and it seemed she had blood of the Teleri in her.

'Where is my mother?' she asked him, without preamble.

For a moment, he could not speak--for, although in his head he knew better, in his heart he could not but feel it was the whereabouts of Elwing that were being demanded of him, in swift, fierce reproach. But this child, although distressed, was not accusing him.

'I do not know where your mother is, young one,' he replied, finally.

'But she is an elf, like you!' said the girl. 'Surely you must know where she is!'

'I fear I am a wanderer, young one. I would not know the elves of this region. But this I can tell you: she has not passed by here. I have seen nobody who could be your mother, not since I arrived. When did you last see her?'

'She left two years ago,' said the girl heavily, sitting down suddenly with a small bump. Maglor saw how weary she was, as much with long-held-in grief as with today's stumbling among the dunes. 'I woke up one morning and she was gone.'

Ah, this was a harder case than he had expected--not merely a child astray whose mother could be tracked down in an afternoon or at most a day or two. This was a mother who had gone truly missing and, it seemed, of her own accord.

'Two years ago?' he repeated. And because he could not at once think what to say to that, he started rummaging in his pack to see whether he had anything to offer her, but all he had was a small pack of cram. Yet she must have been famished, for she accepted and chewed valiantly.

There was a short silence.

'Master elf, did my mother leave because I'm not elven enough?' the girl asked abruptly.

'No!' said Maglor, shocked and with complete conviction. That had never been a reason why he would have dreamed of leaving Elrond and Elros. Not that his own reasons had necessarily been better ones...

The girl looked not entirely convinced, but a little comforted.

'Maybe the sea called her,' said Maglor, rather helplessly, 'and she could not resist. Maybe she had to go to Valinor.'

'Valinor? Where is Valinor? Are you going there, too?'

'Not I.'

Then why would my mother have to, the expression on the girl's face asked, but she did not say it.

Girl, Maglor thought, I have no answers. How can I explain about your mother, whom I've never seen, when I can't even explain myself to myself, how I could have left?

'What is your name, young one?' Maglor asked. 'And your mother's?

'I am Gilmith,' said the girl. 'My mother is Mithrellas.'

'And your father?' Maglor asked cautiously.

'Imrazor,' said Gilmith, with a vague handwave in an easterly direction along the shore.

So she was not an orphan, as he had feared! And indeed she seemed a child well-tended, adequately fed, despite her hunger, and dressed with care, although her clothes had clearly been slept in.

'Gilmith, will not your father worry where you are?'

Gilmith's mouth had set.

'He's stopped trying to find my mother.'

'You wouldn't want him to think,' said Maglor gently, 'that you'd left him, too.'

Gilmith opened her mouth. But just then a hoarse shout rang out over the dunes.

'Gilmith! Gilmith! Where are you? Gilmith!'

'That's Galador, my brother,' said Gilmith. 'He's looking for me.'

Her face had brightened. Lucky Gilmith, despite everything, to have a brother looking for her. No, he should be happy for her, not envious. After all, they'd had it all, he and his brothers, before they'd lost it...

'Listen, Gilmith,' said Maglor, forcefully, 'never doubt you're a daughter any elf would be proud to have.'

It was only ever a flaw in me, my dear boys, there was none at all in you.

'Now, go, young one, run, your brother sounds anxious and exhausted, you must not keep him waiting...'

Later, when Gilmith and Galador tried to find the strange elven wanderer again, he was gone.

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Chapter End Notes

For continuation see the second half of the sequence from Gilmith's point of view in the next chapter.