Maeglin's Choice by chrissystriped

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Chapter Ten

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Earendil couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned in his bed – finally a real bed again. He’d travelled on a boat for the first time today. They’d visited the king on the island, but more than meeting the stranger who was somehow related to nana he had enjoyed to see the sail billow and the feeling of the boat flying over the waves. The rush of the sea and the crying of the gulls satisfied something in him he hadn’t known he missed.

Earendil quietly opened the window of the house thy lived in – it was much smaller than their old house but at least it didn’t leak when it rained like their tent sometimes had – and took a deep breath of the salty air. Earendil rubbed his eyes, not sure if he was dreaming. He could see a bright light on one of the roofs in the middle of the camp, as if a star had fallen from the sky. He wanted to see what it was.

Earendil slipped out of bed and dressed, listening at the door, but he could only hear ada snore. He climbed back on the bed and from there on the windowsill. Uncle Maeglin had told him that his sword Anguirel was forged from a fallen star. Maybe this was a star like that, he’d have liked to have such a mighty weapon.

Earendil ran through the dark, empty streets of the camp. It had nothing of the beauty of Gondolin, the streets were of earth not white stone, but Earendil knew they were save her from the ones who’d destroyed their city. One day he would go back there and win it back from them.

The light was on the other side of the fence that separated the camp in two parts but it wasn’t high and he climbed over it easily. Earendil knew that it was rude to do that, you didn’t just walk into a stranger’s house either, but he wanted to find the star. He lost sight of the light as he came closer to it because the roofs were in the way, but finally he stood in front of the house where the star glowed on the roof. Earendil didn’t hesitate for long to climb up.

To his surprise, he found a girl there, sitting on the ridge and holding the star in her hands. She was so lost in thoughts that she didn’t even notice him when Earendil sat down beside her. Up close he could see that what he’d thought a star was a clear, glowing gem set in a necklace. He didn’t think it was possible to make a sword from it – and then he realised what the girl was holding.

“Are you Lúthien?”, he blurted out and the girl flinched.

She quickly wrapped a cloth around the Silmaril and plunged them into darkness.

“I’m Princess Elwing of Doriath, daughter of Dior Eluchíl, son of Lúthien Tinúviel and Beren Erchamion”, she said disdainfully. “And who are you, boy, to slink around here at night? The Silmaril is not your business.”

‘Arrogant cow’, Earendil thought. She talked like a grown up, but she couldn’t be much older than him. Well, everything she could do, he could do better. “I’m Prince Earendil, son of Tuor, son of Huor of the House of Hador and Idril Celebrindal, daughter of High King Turgon the Wise, son of Fingolfin, son of Finwe.”

His teachers had told him countless times how important it was to know his lineage and for the first time he felt that they were right. He lifted his head proudly. She couldn’t tell him what to do! To his surprise Elwing moved closer, looking curious.

“You have a Man in your family, too? I know no one else who is like me. How old are you?”

“I’m nine. But everyone says I’m tall for my age. Ada always says elves don’t know anything about how humans age. He grew up among them, too. How old are you? Do they all think your ears fascinating?” He always tried to wear his hair over them, because everyone wanted to touch his round ears.

“I’m nine, too!” It was dark, but Earendil thought she was smiling at him. “But I have elf ears. My ada and my... my brothers”, he voice broke. “They had round ears, but... they are dead.”

Earendil leaned his shoulder against hers. “I’m sorry. Did the orcs attack your city, too?”

“No.” Elwing’s voice became icy. “It were Feanor’s sons, cursed Noldor! They wanted the Silmaril that Iaurada and Iarnana took from Morgoth, but they didn’t get it.”

“Not all Noldor are evil”, Earendil said firmly. “The Gondolindrim had nothing to do with that!”

Elwing stayed silent for a while, but she didn’t ask him to leave, so he stayed.

“Maybe”, she finally answered. “You don’t seem so bad.”

Earendil would have liked to see the Silmaril again but he didn’t want her to think he wanted to steal it.

“I have to go home now, before someone notices that I’m gone. You can visit me. We can go sailing together! Good night, Princess.”

This time he was sure that Elwing was smiling at him. “Maybe I will. Good night, Earendil.”

 

Elwing knew she’d have to sneak away, if she wanted to play with Earendil. Her grandfather and the other advisors would never allow her to have close contact to a Noldo. She’d have said the same until a few days ago, but he’d been nice and he was her age — there ware rarely any children in the camp and most of those who were, were below her station and thus not allowed to play with her either.

When her nanny left the room after laying her down for her afternoon nap, she immediately opened her eyes again  and stood up. She pulled her hunting clothes from her chest and quickly dressed, then opened the window of her room. Her window led into a courtyard that was guarded, but Elwing was a princess of the woodland and she could climb. She pulled herself up on the roof and slid down on the other side to the street before her house.

She knew where Earendil lived, they’d returned King Turgon’s visit, although her grandfather had been very tense about it. It would have been discourteous not to do so — and the Noldor did have more soldiers. Elwing was very aware that her advisors didn’t trust the newly arrived Eldar. The Nargothrondim were one thing, there were Sindar among them and they’d always been in close contact with Doriath, but King Turgon and his people had turned up unexpectedly and they did not know them.

Earendil sat outside the house he lived in, whittling a block of wood, she couldn’t guess yet, what it would turn into.

“Hello”, she said, stopping before him.

Earendil’s face lit up in a smile. “Hello, princess!”

Elwing sat down beside him. “What are you making?”, she pointed at the block of wood in his hands.

“A swan”, he answered. “It’s the sign of my father.”

Elwing cocked her head. It didn’t look much like a swan to her, but she didn’t say that, she didn’t want to insult him. Earendil laid it aside.

“Want to go with me down to the harbour? I love to watch the seabirds and the boats.”

“Yes, I’d like that.”

Earendil stood up and offered her his hand to help her rise. Elwing took it with a smile.

“Just a moment”, Earendil said, opening the door to his house. “I’ll fetch my fishing pole, we can catch us dinner.”

 

Rog laid his hand on his sword when an agitated looking Galadhon barged into the room, armed guards behind him.

“Where is my great-granddaughter, you two-faced, lying piece of…”

“Peace”, interrupted Gildor, First Councillor of the people of Nargothrond, who’d invited Turgon, Idril and Tuor to his home.

Rog had come as honour guard and he was glad, it was him, because he at least wasn’t a Noldo, when Galadhon glowered at Gildor and hissed: “Don’t try to silence me, Noldo, of course you are in league with him.”

“Lord Galadhon”, Rog said, stepping forward. “I can see you are agitated. And as you seem unwilling to talk to a Noldo, maybe you will settle for a Hwento. What is it, you accuse King Turgon of?”

Galadhon eyed him suspiciously. “Who are you?”

“They call me Rog.”

“What kind of name is that?”

“The kind you earn by killing a lot of orcs.” Rog gave him a grim smile. “But I don’t think you came here to discuss my name.”

“Princess Elwing vanished!”, Galadhon snapped. “I want to know where she is. What have you done to her?”

Rog saw the incredulous stares of the other people in the room.

“You think, King Turgon abducted her?”, Rog clarified. ‘Are you mad?’, he thought.

“That’s preposterous!”, Turgon snapped. “Why would I do such a thing?”

“To get hold of the Silmaril, of course!”, answered Galadhon, glaring at him.

Rog wished, he’d stayed silent. He could feel the air crackle, if anyone lost his nerve and drew a weapon… he was not sure a third kinslaying could be prevented.

“Please”, he laid a hand on Turgon’s arm. “Of course we did no such thing. I’m sure there’s a perfectly normal explanation for all this. Can we help you search for her?”

He could feel Turgon take a deep breath. “My liegeman is right, we’d gladly help to find the princess — and prove that it was not our doing.”

Galadhon didn’t look convinced, but he said: “We’d appreciate your help. But I’d ask that one of my people accompanies each of your search parties.”

Turgon sounded very tired, when he said: “I’m sure that can be arranged.” He squeezed Rog’s hand and whispered: “Thank you, that could have gone very wrong.”

 

Maeglin looked up from his work when Rog entered their forge, a sullen looking Sinda in tow. Rog had that wrinkle between his brows that said he was worried.

“What’s wrong?”, Maeglin asked.

“Have you seen Earendil? I know he often comes to watch you work.”

Maeglin shook his head. “Not today. What happened?”

Rog sighed deeply. “Elwing vanished and the Sindar accused Turgon of abducting her.”

Maeglin stared at Rog. “That’s insane!”

“Yes, well, we realised Earendil is gone, too, so maybe they are together. Do you have an idea, where he could have gone with her?”

Maeglin frowned. “I didn’t even know they’ve talked to each other. Have you tried Annael? I know Earendil is very fond of Tuor’s foster father. He’s talked a lot about wanting to learn to do wood carvings as well as him.”

“Tuor is on his way to him. Anything else? I admit, I hoped he’d be here.”

“Maybe… he loves the sea. Idril told me, he wants to go down to the harbour every day. Maybe he went there with the princess.”

“We’ll try that next, thank you.”

“Wait”, Maeglin gripped his sleeve. “Should I help searching?”

Rog shook his head. “Better stay here, in case he shows up. Idril is at home, bring him there, if he should.”

“Tell me, as soon as you find them.”

He wasn’t really worried about Earendil, the boy was running around on his own half of the day anyway, but he could see how tense Rog was. If they didn’t find him and the princess… this could go badly for them, if the Sindar decided, they were, in fact kidnappers. He shuddered and turned back to his force, trying to push the thoughts out of his mind with the sound of the hammer on iron.

 

Earendil looked up from the waves lapping on the quay when he heard quick steps behind them. He’d taught Elwing how to cast the line and they had three fishes in a bucket, they would make a nice dinner.

“Here you are, Princess Elwing!” An agitated elf pulled her up and away from Earendil. “You shouldn’t just wander off, you worried us very much!”

Earendil noticed Rog standing further back, a look of relief on his face. He didn’t understand what the fuss was about. They’d just gone fishing!

“I was not in danger.” Elwing said, raising her chin. “Earendil showed me how to catch fish.”

“He is no fitting company for you, my princess.” The elf threw him a sneer and Earendil wondered, what he’d done to him.

“He is a prince!”, Elwing snapped. “If he is no fitting company for me, who is? I want to play with him!”

The elf sighed and steered her toward the stairs that led up to the camp.

“Let’s talk about this later, my princess.”

Earendil watched them leave and wondered, if they’d be allowed to meet again. He didn’t understand it. But he smiled when Elwing turned around and waved at him.

“Have I done something wrong?”, he asked Rog, when they were alone.

“You should have told someone, where you were going.” Rog sat down beside him on the quay. “People were worried.”

“But we aren’t in danger here, are we?” Earendil shivered. He wouldn’t have thought to be in danger in Gondolin, either.

“No, we aren’t.” Rog squeezed his shoulder. “But Elwing’s people don’t trust ours.”

“Because of what the sons of Feanor did, I know.” Earendil looked up to Rog. “But we aren’t like them!”

“No, but they don’t know that. They’ll need time to get used to us.” He smiled at him. “Do you remember how you were scared of me when you were smaller because of my scars?” Earendil nodded and blushed. “But now you know me and are scared no longer. Don’t worry, they’ll get to know us, too, and realise we are no danger to their princess.” Rog stood up and took the bucket with the fishes. “Let’s get you home now.”

Earendil followed Rog up the stairs. What he had said, sounded understandable. He felt better now and hopeful that he’d see Elwing again, soon. They liked each other, the grown-ups would just have to get used to it.