Outsiders of Gondolin Mutual Defence League by Himring

Salgant Attempts to Soothe Maeglin with Music

Salgant of the House of the Harp attempts to comfort his bereaved new friend Maeglin, who is feeling less than happy in Gondolin, with music and song. It is not a straightforward task.

[This was written for B2MeM 2018 and is not fixed-length.]

‘I could ask Sindar to teach me songs from Doriath’, offers Salgant, meaning: maybe they were sung in Nan Elmoth, too?

‘Thank you’, says Maeglin, meaning: don’t.

‘I can learn how to adjust my style to make it less Noldorin’, says Salgant.

‘No, thank you’, says Maeglin, even more firmly, meaning: that is just what I’m worried about.

But the familiar songs of Gondolin won’t do, not on a day like this, with Maeglin in such a bleak mood that even the sky above Gondolin and the earth beneath his feet seems to trouble him, nor will songs of Valinor do, for Maeglin refuses utterly ever to indulge in dreams of unattainable white cities on green hills again.

But, even though he has neither Maglor’s voice nor Ecthelion’s skill, Salgant’s faith in music is not so easily shaken and, despite the lack of encouragement, he goes on trying, taking up his harp and plucking a few notes, observing Maeglin’s reaction, until eventually he finds that Maeglin can enjoy songs and stories of Nevrast, even on dark days; he likes to think of his mother riding by the sea, despite the fact that he has never seen it, or of her hunting by lake Linaewen, long before she met Eol.

It seems like quite the achievement to see Maeglin soothed by songs of wind in the reeds or waves breaking along the coast, but Salgant later comes to regret it—for when Tuor arrives from Nevrast, with the favour of Ulmo on him, it seems to make things worse: Maeglin silently turning his back on what had until then been his favourite tunes as if they, too, have now betrayed him.

Chapter End Notes

Written for B2MeM 2018 and its general theme Music of the Waters. The prompt used was the image of a pond with trees (initial prompt no. 29).
I have interpreted the prompt as Lake Linaewen in Nevrast.

If anyone would like some harp music to go with this piece, I would suggest Alan Stivell's "Ys" (found on YouTube in several versions, including a cover version by Sylvain Demonchaux with beautiful images of waves).

I uploaded this as a separate story in the same series on AO3.