Finding Lost Family by chrissystriped

---

Chapter Eight.Two

---

Sharû jumped off the boat into the shallow water and ran the last bit through the waves, he was too impatient to wait any longer.

“The Valar have decided”, he called out to his men who already waited. “We are free. We can stay on the island.”

He saw how the tenseness left them and was swept up into a happily shouting crowd, hands patted his back and shoulders. Ithrû and Estel, who had come over to wait with his brothers, embraced him laughing.

“Well done, big brother”, Ithrû said.

“I didn’t do it alone”, Sharû answered. “Without Ecthelion’s help it wouldn’t have happened. And without the help of the Angband-Elves we would still be dependent on food deliveries.”

Ithrû nodded. “You’re right. We should invite them to a party – everyone who helped us. It’s a good reason to celebrate.”

“That’s a wonderful idea.” Sharû grinned at his men. “But today, I’d say, we can already celebrate without them. Who is in favour of tasting our first self-brewed beer?”

He laughed cheerfully at the deafening approval. He could feel the tenseness, the uncertainty that had made them grumpy at times, fall off them. The Valar had given them a future. Did they know how much that was worth?

 

Sharû sneacked away from his celebrating men and walked along the shore whistling softly. He looked into the night sky, watched the stars whose names he now knew and his heart flowed over with happiness. He was free, really free. Sure, they could only leave the island on invitation, but many Angband-Elves had become friends and although the Teleri weren’t elated that they had been given ‘their’ island for good, Maiwe was still favourably inclined towards them and they had started to trade with some of the fishermen. Sharû hoped that they would be able to persuade them to show them how to build boats.

“Sharû?” Estel had run after him and laid his arm around his shoulder. “What are you doing here all alone?”

“Stargazing.” Sharû smiled at him. “Mother loved them so much.”

“Do you think...” Estel took a deep breath. “Do you think she could be reborn someday?”

Sharû stared at him. “I... I never thought about that. Rebirth for an orc? Or was she elf enough?”

Estel shrugged. “I don't know, but I hope. Comes with the name.” He winked at him. “We have eternity now. Who knows what might happen. Ithrû would like to come back to Laiquanan with me, are you coming, too? I’d like to show you how my family lives.”

“And we would be welcome there?”

Estel nodded. “They wouldn’t welcome a whole regiment of orcs, but my brothers? Yes, of course. I told them everything about us and I’m so glad that it doesn’t have to be a secret anymore. They know what you did for me – and you especially – to free me. And they know that Ithrû is my twin, that means a lot to them.”

“It would be my honour to be introduced to them”, Sharû said. “But first I have to settle some things.”

Ecthelion had repeated his invitation to show him Tirion after the Valar’s judgement and Sharû had readily agreed. While he was in Tirion, he would also talk to the leader of those elves who wished recompense for their suffering, what that would look like. He wasn’t too worried.

He knew many of the Angband-Elves very well by now and although those who still held a grudge probably hadn’t come to the island, yet, he was sure that they wouldn’t abuse them. He had already talked to his men about it and he intended to offer those elves their services, he hoped it would be enough. Estel nodded.

“Just write to me when you are ready, you can come anytime.”

“Thank you, little brother.” Sharû leaned into him. “I look forward to see the main land and the word you live in.”

 

 

“That’s your house?” Sharû stared up the front open-mouthed. “At the risk of sounding simple: That’s not a house, it’s a palace!”

Ecthelion shrugged, almost a little embarrassed. “The palace is much larger, we can visit it tomorrow, if you’d like to.”

Sharû gave him a look that told him clearly that the orc was overwhelmed.

“You knew who I am”, Ecthelion mumbled.

“Yes, but I didn’t realise what that means. You know what serves as my standard.”

“This is not Angband”, Ecthelion answered with a smile.

“I can see that.” Sharû shook his head as Ecthelion led him up the stairs and into the hall.

“And it’s not mine, by the way. My mother is head of the family in my father’s absence, and I wouldn’t have the time, anyway, to see about the management of our lands. I’ll show you to your guest room so you can rest a little and later I’ll give you a tour through the house.”

“And your mother really doesn’t mind me being here?”

“No, you are my friend.” Ecthelion wasn’t sure, if he worried about meeting her, so she added: “She’s not in Tirion at the moment.”

Sharû relaxed visibly. “You aren’t nervous to be alone with me?”, he glossed over his feelings with a joke and Ecthelion laughed.

“No, even if we really were alone. We both know I’m a better fighter than you”, he answered, but he thought: ‘I trust you.’

“I doubt that!” Sharû puffed up, but his eyes glinted with humour. “Do you want to challenge me?”

“Maybe later.” He opened the door to the guestroom, that had been made ready for Sharû. “I’ll let you settle in now and come back in an hour to give you a tour of the house. Or is that to early?”

Sharû shook his head. “That’s fine.” The orc turned around in the lavish room.

“If you need something, just ring, the servants are prepared for you.”

 

“But maybe I’m not prepared for them”, Sharû mumbled after Ecthelion had closed the door behind him.

He let his duffle bag with his spare clothes slide to the floor and sat on the bed. Yes, he had known that Ecthelion was a nobleman, he just hadn’t been able to imagine what that meant. He slid his hand over the soft fabric of the green-golden coverlet and looked up to the stuccoed ceiling.

It was so easy to be around Ecthelion, he hadn’t known how much separated them. Sharû shook his head. This didn’t separate them. Ecthelion sometimes made comments about his younger self that implied that he had been conceited, but he wasn’t any more. ‘You are my friend’, he had said only moments ago, as if it were the most natural thing for an elf-lord to have an orc as his friend. Sharû laughed. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve this, but it made him happy.

He got up to use the water in the washbowl to get rid of the road dust on his hands and face. It was only the second time he’d made the journey to the mainland and had been very aware of the elves’ glances. He didn’t wear a sword, just a hunting knife that he didn’t consider a weapon, but just his looks made him a threat in the eyes of many. Sharû wondered how it would be to walk through Tirion at Ecthelion’s side. He shouldn’t care about being stared at so much, but it felt like a threat and he found it hard to not react to that.

Sharû moved to the window looking out on the street and down the hill. The houses were built of pale stone or painted in bright colours like yellow and linden green and everywhere trees and bushes could be seen, flower boxes on balconies and windows. Sharû leaned against the window frame and sighed with a smile. The view touched something he called his elvish side in the privacy of his mind. He looked forward to look around. But first he had an appointment with Matil, the speaker of the elves who wanted compensation. He didn’t particularly look forward to that but he knew that it was necessary and he didn’t blame them for it.

Sharû turned around at a knock and Ecthelion looked in.

“Are you ready?”

The elf had a smile on his face and Sharû wondered if he had as much fun showing him all this as he had looking at it.

“I am.”

“Then, important things first, I’ll show you the way to the dining room.”

Ecthelion winked at him. On their way along the hallway Sharû noticed among the pictures of elves a young man who he thought he knew.

“Is that you?”, he asked and pointed at the painting.

Ecthelion nodded. “Now you know what I looked like before the accident.” He touched his scarred cheek with a melancholy gaze. “They called me the most beautiful elf in Gondolin and I was very proud of that.” Ecthelion shrugged. “There are more important things, I suppose.”

‘You are still beautiful’, Sharû thought but he didn’t dare to say it.

Orcs weren’t known for their sense of beauty, his words would probably hurt more than help.

“These are paintings of assorted members of my family, but I don’t want to bore you with my family history. And my favourite painting is not here, anyway. Do you want to see it?”

Sharû nodded and followed Ecthelion down the stairs, the elf pointed the dining room out to him before he led him to the next room.

“There’s another larger representative reception room that goes out to the garden, but this is my mother’s drawing room and our private living room. And this is my favourite painting, my sister and me. My mother did it. I can’t remember the day but when I look at it, I immediately feel happy and at home.”

Sharû looked silently at the painting. Two children sitting in a flower meadow. The boy was putting a crown of daisies on the girl’s head while she was braiding a second one.

“You look like you were fond of each other.”

“We were. We could be at it hammer and tongs but usually we got along well. She married a Vanya and lives in Valmar. You have three brothers, don’t you?”

“Yes. No.” Sharû sighed. “I have three surviving brothers. I had eight siblings, six brothers and a sister and a stillborn brother, but only Zak, Ithrû and Estel survived.” Sharû gulped.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Ecthelion touched his arm.

“We were soldiers”, Sharû answered. “Death was our constant companion, but they were my family and I loved them.”

“Of course you did. Come, I’ll show you the rest of the house and then we should get ready for our meeting with Matil.”

 

Sharû’s shoulders were tense as they walked to Matil’s house.

“We’re almost there”, Ecthelion said softly, sure that Sharû’s nervousness about the meeting wasn’t made better by the looks the other pedestrians threw at him.

Sharû nodded curtly, his jaw moving. Ecthelion saw how he clenched his hand before stretching the fingers again. He fought against his nature... no, his training, Ecthelion corrected himself. Some elves thought orcs were little more than wild beasts, following only their instincts, but he knew that wasn’t true. They were capable of choosing their behaviour and that made it in one sense worse – could you hate a wild animal for following its nature? – but it meant too that they could change and Sharû had already at their first conversation been so far from what he’d expected from an orc.

He was clever and brave and ready to go through fire and water for his men. He treated the Angband-Elves with respect and if one of his men said something deprecating, he immediately intervened. Ecthelion hadn’t heard any complaints from the elves that had helped the orcs to become self-sufficient. Ecthelion looked at the orc’s profile and wondered when he’d started to think of him as attractive. He looked away quickly. A romance would only complicate things more and he knew that Sharû thought himself in his debt, he wouldn’t put it past him to offer him sex as payment if he noticed his interest.

“Could you put Mo’s money to good use?”, Sharû suddenly asked and Ecthelion wondered with a shudder if he used some kind of instinctive ósanwe.

“Yes. There are many of us who might never be able to work normally again.”

And he was aware now that these elves hadn’t only survived because of the solidarity among the Angband-Elves but also because Mo and Sharû’s men had provided them all with larger rations.

“The money can help them to take more time to heal. And”, Ecthelion smirked, “the fact that one of Morgoth’s people had the decency to do this without having to be prompted, shamed a few of my peers into donating something, too.”

He'd have been happier if other arguments had convinced them, but he took what he could get.

Sharû grinned. “That’s good. You know, if I had money...”

“I don’t want money from you, Sharû.” Ecthelion shook his head. “And nothing else, either. It’s enough for me that we can be friends. We’ll hear now what Matil has to say and we’ll take it from there.”

They had reached Matil’s house, the workshop was dark, Ecthelion climbed up the outside staircase and knocked on the door. Matil opened almost immediately, he’d probably seen them come.

“Come in.”

Ecthelion saw his hands tremble and reminded himself that Matil wasn’t used to Sharû’s presence. He was here as moral support both for Matil and Sharû. Matil had insisted on meeting here and not at Ecthelion’s house, but he wondered if that really had been a good idea. Yes, maybe Matil felt more save in his own house, but on the other hand it couldn’t be a good feeling to let someone he was afraid of into his home.

Ecthelion jumped surprised when Sharû moved past him and knelt to Matil, his head raised – it took Ecthelion a moment to understand that he was offering him his throat.

“I’m here in my men’s name as you speak for yours. We incurred guilt, we want to atone for it.”

Matil slowly reached out and wrapped his hand around Sharû’s throat.

“You would give yourself into our hands, make yourself vulnerable?”

“Yes”, Sharû answered softly.

Ecthelion watched silently. Sharû had told him what he would offer in the name of his men, but he could see that Sharû had decided for himself to give Matil whatever he wanted. He saw Matil’s forearm tense when he squeezed and wanted to intervene but the moment was over before he could. Matil took his hand away and made a step back.

“Stand up, Sharû. Let’s talk.”

He led them to a table and offered them a seat while he fetched glasses and opened a bottle of wine.

“Thank you”, he said when he sat down with them.

“I haven’t done anything yet”, Sharû answered astonished and Matil smiled wryly.

“You agreed to meet me and you just gave me the feeling of not being helpless, of having power of decision. Do you know how valuable that is?”

Ecthelion saw Sharû hunch his shoulders in embarrassment.

“I can’t imagine”, he said softly. “How can we make up for our wrong deeds, Matil? My men and me are prepared to do that.”

"Ecthelion said that you told him about blood debts. I think you are right to compare this. We don’t ask for blood, but we expect your service. Me and likeminded people came to the agreement that it would be best to make you help with building the houses.” Matil threw Ecthelion a questioning look.

“The construction work is going well, but many of us still live in tents”, he said and nodded. “That really isn’t a bad idea.”

Matil smiled gratefully at him.

“We’ll help”, Sharû said and drank from his glass. “I can’t do without all my men, we have fields to till.”

“Of course”, Matil said.

“But I’ll come myself and I’ll bring everyone I can.”

Ecthelion knew that it meant that the orcs would have to live a while longer in tents, Sharû put the settling of their debt above their own comfort. He hoped Matil knew that and appreciated it. Matil looked a little surprised at it being so easy although Ecthelion had told him that Sharû wouldn’t make this difficult.

“I’m glad that we are in accord”, he said and continued. “I know a few people for whom this won’t be enough. They want personal revenge, they want to see you humiliated. I can’t deny that I think at times like that, too. It did me good to see you on your knees, for me there’s no malice behind it, but it helps me to put the past away, I think.”

“You don’t have to justify this, Matil. Orc justice is brutal, we are used to suffer for mistakes.” Sharû laced his fingers on the table top and looked seriously at Matil. “I can’t trust all my men to accept that from an elf without fighting back, but if you let me choose volunteers, it’s possible. I want a promise that no one is going to be maimed – and I know that is more than we gave you, but I have a responsibility for my men and I have to be sure that they don’t come to permanent harm.”

“Of course!” Matil took a deep breath. “I’ll ask around again, who’d want that. Most of them won’t want to be alone with you, so it’s going to be several elves together. No sexual assault, we don’t do that, and of course we won’t maim. I don’t think that anyone has a bone to pick with anyone specific, so you can choose of course. If there is, we’ll talk again.”

Sharû nodded. “I agree, Matil. I hope... is it asked too much to hope that all hatred between us is going to be buried afterwards?”

“No, it’s intended like that. We want revenge, redress and then peace. It doesn’t mean we’ll be best friends, I leave that to Ecthelion.”

Matil winked at Ecthelion and he knew he didn’t mean it as angry as it sounded. Sharû relaxed visibly. They touched glasses and Ecthelion breathed easier. He would be glad to close this particular chapter.