Day of leisure at the riverside by Aprilertuile

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Day of leisure at the riverside

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All in all, it took them about 5 days to reach a new gulf that’d allow them passage from the drowning land to Eriador. From there, they walked another few days to reach the river that threw itself into the gulf.

When they finally reached it, they both seemed rather undecided to leave the place so quickly. The place was beautiful. Sunny, peaceful looking… There was also no trace of civilization anywhere nearby, but traces of animal life aplenty.

“I suggest we make a camp here for the day. Take the day to rest. I doubt the camp of the Host is anywhere close to reach this place. Maglor noted.

-… You think?

-I’m pretty sure yes. Two travelers are far quicker than so large a group, besides they have injured they need to be careful to move, and they are in no hurry as they have at the very least one Maia with them to show them safe passage.

-If they arrive…

-We’ll see them coming from afar, and we’ll be gone before they even notice us.” Maglor promised.

Elrond hesitated but nodded. They put their bags against a rock, and despite his misgivings, Elrond was first in the fresh water.

Maglor smiled seeing that. He kept the bare minimum weapons at hand, and joined Elrond in the water. His dagger wouldn’t appreciate it probably, but it saw worst and he wasn’t about to go anywhere without a weapon at hand, so…

The water was almost cold, but it was relaxing, after walking for so long.

“It feels nice, doesn’t it? Maglor said, joining Elrond where he was swimming.

-Quite. I missed that feeling you know. Relaxing without waiting anxiously for the next emergency to trouble us. There were bets by the end. Bets on what kind of emergency it’ll be next, and how big. Elrond answered.

-Oh?

-After you and uncle Maedhros sent us to Gil Galad, and we both decided to go to the humans instead we had little to no time to spare for leisure so…

-We sent you to Gil Galad for safety, because you were far too young to take an active part in this war. Maglor noted unhappily.

-It wasn’t our wish, atto. Elros hated it there. The court was stifling. They were constantly hesitating between believing us too young to bring anything of worth to the table, and believing us to be spies in your service, if they didn’t straight up believe that we weren’t who we claimed to be but convenient twins born in your fortress that you could use as weapons against them somehow.

-Even at their worst none of my brothers, including Nelyo and me, would ever have killed children in cold blood or used children that way! Children aren’t warfare tools! Maglor exclaimed with shock.

-So he went to the humans instead. And to them, not only were we adult and well trained; we were also more experienced than all their younger men and not considered pawns in an ancient feud between warring factions. It’s not for nothing that Elros became quickly a leader among them, even if he never was part of their clans. And… Well… Elros wasn’t wrong. Gil Galad put us to lessons and tasks that were awfully lacking in substance, just because we were young and he had no time for us and so put us in the general level for elves of our ages living in sheltered area, or because he thought us spies he needed to control, whichever. We barely ever talked before I left so I’m not sure which.

-I see. Maglor answered clearly unhappy.

-The master healers were very careful to keep me from seeing and studying anything of worth, even the theory of it was something forbidden. I think I saw something like two salve recipes worth the time, and did them over and over and over again.

-Those salves might have been needed.

-They might. But I doubt the healers needed thousands of pots of burn salve while safely on Balar.

-They… Might have provided for outside the island?” Maglor offered with hesitation.

Some actions were hard to excuse and explain, admittedly.

“Please, atto, I beg you, don’t take me for an idiot too.

-… Fine, it was probably work to do to keep your attention on something specific. But it might not have been.

-So… I joined Elros over with the humans at the first opportunity. For all their faults, at least they treated us as adults able to do more than draw pretty pictures while the adults talked, and not like we were likely to turn against them and kill them in the dark if they so much as blinked in our presence.

-Gil Galad probably just wanted to spare you from the…

-Realities of war that we already witnessed one way or another? That was useless, and pushed Elros nicely in the arms of the second-born.

-I’m sure that Gil Galad didn’t mean any harm.

-And yet he did us harm. Either he believed the whatever some of his counselors thought of us, and he treated us as spies by keeping us in the dark from everything and at arm’s length until he got more information on the matter of us, which I could almost forgive, or he treated us as helpless children he absolutely had to shelter from reality, like we hadn’t been living it for years already. Elros was never going to stand for that.”

Maglor thought on it a moment and then strategically decided to leave the question of Gil Galad, and Elros’ choice, aside for a _much_ later time. They had been walking almost non-stop for a while now and he too wanted to rest without starting an argument that would see no winner but two unhappy elves.

Instead, he came closer to the younger elf and offered to help him with his hair. What an idea to go in the river with braids intact! It’d have been easier to take them off before getting his hair wet.

“Where do you want to go now? Still West? Elrond asked curious.

-I have no specific destination in mind. I’m afraid I’ll have all the ages of the world to visit all places.”

Elrond grimaced at that.

“Surely not.

-I’m too old and bitter to have much hope to see any elven civilization again before the end.

-Yes, oh! most bitter elf, I’ll keep hoping that forgiveness isn’t an impossible task and that you will be forgiven and allowed to go home some day.

-I’ll let you hold on to hope for the both of us, then, for I lost all illusions about the Valar’s ability to work with elves. They’ll forgive their siblings mindlessly, without a single proof of remorse on their part. And when proof of wrongdoing comes, they’ll let him hurt and destroy far too many people and places for the sake of their own egos, but far from them to even think of forgiving elves who didn’t follow their orders.

-Yes… You know… I’ll keep hoping. And I guess we’ll see which of us was right in the end. I hope for a happy ending myself, and I will tell you that I told you so if it ever happens.

-In which case I will be able to claim that despite your probably advanced age by then, you’ll still be acting like your 15 years old self.”

Elrond splashed water at him and Maglor laughed slightly.

“I’ll have you know that I was always a delight, no matter the age.

-Oh you were something, certainly.”

Elrond pulled his tongue at him and went briefly under the water to get his hair out of his face without it looking awkward.

He resurfaced moments later, and came to settle against Maglor near the bank.

“The weather is starting to be chilly.

-Today is nice. I’m not speaking of winter traveling problems today. Elrond huffed.

-You might catch a cold.

-I don’t know. Perhaps, and perhaps not.”

Maglor smiled at that complete non answer, and let himself lean on the bank, Elrond at his side, to enjoy the sun and warmth, even while enjoying the cold of the river water.

Soon enough, they left the water drawn by hunger, and Maglor went to pick his bow to try to go and hunt something.

Well, he’d try despite the burn on his hand. Truth be told, if he was alone, he probably wouldn’t have bothered…

Maglor sang a tune to attract a prey, and killed neatly the first rabbit that came. His brother Celegorm had often complained that it wasn’t fair practice, but Maglor wasn’t alone and he would certainly not risk his son’s health out of a misguided desire to honor some hunting practices from Oromë’s woods, thank you very much.   

He knew he could have gone earlier to hunt, but the idea of the fresh and clear water had been so appealing after days of walking that he just gave in the temptation.

By the time he was back to the place they had claimed, he found that Elrond had managed to pick up some fall berries, root vegetables, and a couple other edible plants that he’d never have thought to put together… Ever.

Elrond smiled at seeing his face.

“The leaves are to be used on the rabbit while it’s cooking. This one is to actually eat.

-Oh. Good. Excellent.

-I’m not *that* bad, atto.

-I do seem to remember a young elf experimenting with herbs and cooking. The most that could be said of those experiments is that no one actually died. Although I’m about sure that it’s the reason why Elros actually got sick that one time.

-It was really not. Elros had been to the human settlement that one time and it’s there that he caught ill. I knew better than to cook anything that could have gotten us sick. And if the taste wasn’t terrible, none of the plants used was sickness inducing.

-I’m going to pretend I believe that, and for peace’s sake, you’re going to pretend to believe me.”

Elrond shook his head at that, slightly amused:

“I’ll grant you that trying to integrate some mild healing herbs in my cooking wasn’t a very bright idea.

-Quite. And I’ll have you know that Maedhros waited for years to hear you admit it.

-Alas, that my cooking skills were so disparaged!”

Maglor emitted a wordless sound that carried his skepticism, his opinion on the matter more than clear, letting Elrond take the rabbit from his hands to prepare it for cooking.

While Elrond took care of the rabbit, Maglor went to ready the fire for cooking. They worked side to side in companionable silence for a while.

“What would you have done if you had attracted something far bigger than a rabbit? Elrond asked suddenly, curious.

-Cursed my luck and let it go? I don’t see either of us able to eat something like a deer in one day. And unless you have talents you didn’t tell me about, I doubt we could have prepared and stored the meat of such an animal as we currently live.

-Fair enough.”

It took time before they could eat, but the relaxed and slow motion was like a balm after their hurried race out of sinking Beleriand. A pause in their otherwise rather more hurried than they strictly appreciated race forward.

When night fell, Elrond and Maglor were lying on the grass together. Elrond had his head on Maglor’s shoulder, and was listening to him humming parts of the Noldolantë.

Elrond was quite sure he knew it by heart by now. And still he wasn’t sure if the Noldolantë was a way for Maglor to beat himself up over and over again or a healthy way for him to express his feelings regarding the whole Silmaril tragedies.

One day, he promised himself, he’d gather the courage to ask Maglor directly. And perhaps even Maglor would have the courage to really think on the answer, and say it truthfully, even though Elrond wasn’t quite sure which it was. Perhaps both, perhaps neither. Perhaps one and then the other alternatively.

As far as he recalled the Noldolantë, Maglor was currently stuck on the part of the song that focused on the two trees.

“Why this part?

-The moon made me think of the trees. Of before. And I couldn’t think of it without thinking of how the disasters started.

-I see… Do you want to talk about it?

-There really isn’t much to say.

-Oh? “Not much to say” seems strange for something that started the whole Silmaril series of catastrophes. Elrond noted with obvious skepticism.

-Then perhaps it’s truer to say I don’t want to speak about it. Maglor answered gently.

-I can believe that more easily.” Elrond answered with warmth in his voice.

Elrond fell back into silently listening to his foster father, and slowly, he fell asleep there. He woke up at dawn the next morning, with bits and pieces of songs stuck in his mind.

That was the hazard of living with Maglor, though Elrond had the sneaky suspicion that living with another similarly skilled minstrel would have been the same.

That happened so often with Maglor… Even Maedhros at his most grouchy had abandoned the idea of complaining about that specifically. Well, to Elrond’s knowledge at least.