Restoration by Elwin Fortuna

Restoration

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The building was on a dirt road, flooded out half the time, and surrounded by a grassy meadow full of little hillocks. “It’s a bargain, I assure you,” the real estate agent said, holding out the paperwork.

Maglor took it thoughtfully. “It’s in a good location for my purposes.” He glanced over the building, then across the fields to the low hills beyond. There was a paved road some distance off, but at that time of day, no cars were passing. It was very quiet and peaceful. “I’ll take it.”

Fixing the building up took about a year. The road got paved, but still somehow managed to get flooded out half the time. He had the inside fully modernised, and added long windows to a section of the front of the building. Once it was finished, it seemed to be a combination of old and new, good solid bones of stone with steel windows and glass doors. Then he arranged for the grounds to be fixed up. Some of the grassy hillocks remained, but there was a large play area at the back that contained everything children could want.

Hiring people came next but that was the fun part. It had been literal Ages since Maglor had been responsible for anyone other than himself, and he found that he was actually looking forward to it.

Last of all was finding the children. Those most at-risk, those who nobody else would take, those who needed a place to go, a home and a school in one. They would live in the upper stories, go to school in the rooms on the ground floor, play out back, and live free from worries about their next meals or a place to lay their heads.

When after long last the first of them arrived, Maglor finally decided it was time to put a sign up on the building. “Welcome to Valinor Academy,” it read. “A safe place to go.”