What Happens at Camp Eglarest, Stays at Camp Eglarest by polutropos

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Lúthien

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“I think we should look for it,” Beren said, propping himself up with his elbows in the sand.

“What?” Lúthien turned and peered at him from under the arm she held over her eyes to block out the sun.

“Maglor’s necklace.”

“Are you insane? You can’t swim and I’m certainly not going down there for it.”

“No, I mean, maybe it’s on the beach somewhere. It sounds like it was pretty unique, it’d be a shame to just abandon it.”

She scrunched up her face and considered it. It would be something to do, at least. She’d been looking forward to relaxing on the beach after the others decided to take the car and come back for them later. As hesitant as she was to let Celegorm drive (and in his present condition, she trusted Maglor even less) the idea of spending a few hours without them was too enticing to pass up. What had she been thinking, opening the invitation to the Finvesens? She was altogether too nice.

Be that as it may, lying on the sand quickly became boring and Beren was obviously vibrating with restlessness. She did love that about him – never a dull moment.

“All right,” she agreed, sitting up and dusting the sand off her calves. “Let’s look for it. But if we find it, I’m keeping it. Maglor made it quite clear he does not want it back and by the sounds of it we could retire on it. Maybe we could use it as ransom to get a house from Finvesen.”

Beren gave an amused grunt. “I don’t know about that. I don’t think I want to get tangled up in that family’s mess.”

They put some clothes on over their swimsuits and started scanning the beach for any signs of a shiny opal. They got a nice collection of pretty shells and rocks but after a good forty minutes of searching there was no necklace to be seen.

“He must have actually lost it in the water,” Lúthien said. When no one replied, she straightened and looked around. There was no sign of Beren.

“Beren!” she shouted. “Where’d you go?”

Nothing. What had he gotten himself up to now? Wondering how long she’d been attentively searching while he was off doing something else, she let out an exasperated huff and started walking down the beach in search of him.

“BEREN!” she shouted again. “Where the hell are you?!”

“Here!” came a faint voice from somewhere along the rocky ledge where the forest dropped off towards the sea. She stumbled over the rocks towards it and a few metres on she came upon an opening in the rock, leading back to a dark cave. Of course he was in there.

“Babe,” she said, somewhat curtly, “don’t just disappear on me like that.”

“Sorry, birdie, but isn’t this cool?”

It was pretty cool. Dark moss, occasionally glistening green under a ray of sunlight, clung to the damp cave ceiling and walls.

“You could live in here!” Beren said, wandering further into the cave. He almost disappeared in the darkness. “Oh, check it out! Someone does live here! Looks like a little fire and stumps for sitting back here.”

Oh great, she thought – a creepy dark cave with an unknown inhabitant. “Maybe we should leave then?”

“No, come on, let’s explore just a little further.”

Against her better judgement, Lúthien followed him deeper into the cave. Sure enough as her eyes adjusted she could make out a little sitting area and few pots and pans piled by the cave wall. Her foot struck something soft and heavy.

“Who’s there?!” A gruff voice sounded from her feet and she gasped, her heart racing. Beren screamed and stumbled over to where she was.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, “we didn’t know–”

“Get out of here!” the voice replied, and she could just make out a body swaddled in a sleeping bag sitting up beneath her.

“So sorry to disturb you, sir,” Beren addressed the human form in the same tone as one would address a potential employer at a networking event. It was a quirk of his that she both loved and couldn’t stand, depending on her mood. Right now, in a dark cave with a grumpy stranger, she was leaning towards the latter.

“We were just admiring this very cool home you have,” Beren said.

“Very cool. Hah,” the man grunted. “Yeah, it is damn cold, that’s for sure.” He threw off his blanket and stood, leaning back against his hands. Lúthien could hear the crack of his spine. “Well, kids. Why don’t you let me see your faces in the light before I decide what to do with you.”

He stalked towards the entrance of the cave with them following behind, pausing at the opening and squinting. “Ah, must be late afternoon already, eh? I lose track, y’know, dozing away my life, scuttling out now and then in search of a morsel like a miserable old crab. It’s not such a bad thing to have a couple visitors.”

In the light, Lúthien surveyed the scruffy old man. Long grey beard and hair wafted over a threadbare 70s band t-shirt. He wore salt-encrusted, loose trousers and his bare feet were blackened with dirt. Lúthien glared at Beren, mouthing ‘Let’s go,’ but she knew her fiancé was far too curious to walk away now.

“Where are you kids from?” the man asked.

“Beleria,” Beren said, “though I grew up in Dorthon.”

“Dorthon, eh? They’ve got nice mountains there. And oil up north – used to be beautiful plains before they dug it all up for some dinosaur juice. You an oil man?”

“Uh,” Beren replied sheepishly. “I used to be.” The man scowled and tugged on his beard.

“He came from nothing,” Lúthien said, coming to his defence. “Family of refugees, he lost his parents when he was in highschool… he had to do something for money.”

“Nah, don’t worry, kid,” the man said to Beren. “A necessary evil, eh? Good on you for leaving.” He gave Beren a pat on the back. “And you found a nice woman. Smart. Saving that money, I hope?”

“Yes, sir,” Beren replied. “My girlfriend and I have been working hard – we’re going to move to Dead Man’s next spring, actually. Live off the land.”

“Har har har!” the man cackled dryly. “Imagine that. You kids, choosing to rough it. You seem like nice folk, though, I wish ya luck.”

“How did, uh…” Beren started.

The man looked at Beren and nodded slowly. “Hmmmm,” he hummed, “yes. You were gonna ask: how did an old fart like me end up living on the beach?”

“Well, uh, not in those terms,” Beren answered. “Just, I figure you probably have an interesting story.”

The man hummed again and lowered himself onto a log. “I made mistakes. Many mistakes.”

They sat cross-legged in the sand and listened. He’d come from a wealthy family, had been Maestro of the Beleria Symphony, but seemed to have had a rough life despite his good birth and success. He’d lost every single one of his family who’d moved to Beleria to various bad life choices, then he’d spiralled, gotten himself arrested (for reasons he wasn’t totally forthcoming about, though it seemed theft-related), which got him laid off from the Symphony, only to lose all his property in the recession as soon as he’d served his sentence. That’s when he’d given up and resigned himself to living out the rest of his life on the beach.

“It’s not such a bad place,” he said, but there was a sparkle of tears in his eyes. “Beautiful scenery. If only…” he trailed off.

“What?” Lúthien asked eagerly. The old man’s tale had completely won her over.

“Ah, it’s nothing,” he said. “Just would have loved to end my days back home. Still got some family there, far as I know.”

“Where’s home?” Beren asked.

“Valin,” the old man replied. “Yep, came from there when I was still a young man, ambitious and full of vigour.”

“Hey.” Lúthien had a thought. “What if we could help you get sorted and get home?” Beren looked at her with equal parts adoration and confusion.

“You kids?” the man asked. “Nah, don’t give up what you’ve worked for for a sad old crab like me.”

“No,” Lúthien said. “I think there’s something else we could do to help. I’m not sure we can pull it off, but we’ll give it a go. Beren,” she turned to him and grabbed his arm, “come on, I have an idea.”

“Oh?” Beren said with excited, wide eyes as she pulled him up. “All right!" He looked back at the old man. "Nice to meet you, sir! We’ll be back – I think?”

“Ha ha ha!” he laughed. “See you, kids!”

Lúthien dragged Beren all the way back to the rental shop, keeping him guessing at her plans. They loved trying to outdo each other like this, keeping their design a secret as long as possible.

“Okay, birdie, you gotta tell me what you’re up to!” Beren insisted.

Lúthien grinned and smacked her lips to his. “Oh, this is going to be fun!” She turned to greet the shop attendant. “Hi, good afternoon! I was wondering if I could rent some scuba equipment?”

It had been a while since Lúthien had been diving, but she had been an instructor in her 20s and her licence was still valid.

Beren looked at her, stunned and in love. “You’re gonna… dive for it?”

“Yep! We’ll give it to the Maestro!” She winked, still grinning.

After some pleading with the shop staff, Lúthien managed to convince them to take her out for a last-minute dive with an offer of dress circle tickets to Neldoreth Dance Company’s upcoming season. Suited up in a full-body wetsuit with a tank strapped to her back, one of the staff motored her and Beren out to the spot where Maglor lost his necklace.

“I’d never recognise you,” Beren said when they’d turned off the motor and the boat drifted forwards silently, “but you sure look cute like that.”

She slipped on her flippers and mask and tipped backwards off the boat. Even with her headlamp she could barely see the bottom and her bare hands stung in the cold water. Maglor was nuts, she thought, diving down there in nothing but his skin! She kicked herself down deeper, peering between the rocks at the bottom. The necklace could be anywhere, if it was even down here at all. After a few minutes searching, she popped her head back above the surface. Beren was leaning back on his arms, peacefully drifting off to sleep in the back of the boat.

“Are you kidding me?” she said, pulling her mouthpiece out. “Babe, looking for this thing was your idea, the least you can do is watch me do it!”

He sat up. “Eh? Sorry, birdie, it’s just so relaxing up here. Did you find it?”

“Not yet,” she said. “But I’m going to keep looking.” She plunged back beneath the surface.

A large crab scuttled along a sandy patch of the seafloor and her eyes followed it under a rock. Something glistened in the light of her lamp as the crab disappeared and she dove down to investigate – there it was! She’d barely noticed the pendant when he was wearing it – other than to repress her personal opinions on wearing jewellery camping – but staring at it now she was mesmerised by the way the stone’s colours shifted in the light of the lamp, accentuated by the rippling water. She stretched her fingers beneath the rock to grasp the chain and felt a firm pinch come down around her hand. Still clasping the necklace, she quickly kicked herself to the surface, tearing her mouthpiece out with her free hand and finally releasing a cry of pain as she lifted the other hand to see the crab still dangling from it.

“Whoa!” their driver exclaimed, while Beren leaned on the edge of the boat and shouted, “Are you okay?!”

“No!” Lúthien replied. “Get it off me!”

Half-distressed and half-laughing, Beren pried the powerful pincer off of her and made to throw the crab back in the water.

“Wait!” Lúthien said. “We can take that to the Maestro also. It’s plenty big enough to eat.” Beren scowled a little. “Oh come on, you’ll have to get used to eating animals eventually. Even you’ve said it’s not the same if you catch it yourself, and that bastard hurt me!”

“All right, fine.” Beren found a bucket for the crab and they both helped Lúthien back into the boat.

“I can’t believe you found the necklace!” Beren said as the motored back, wrapping an arm around her and giving her an excited shake.

*

Once Lúthien had returned all of her equipment and dressed, they walked down the beach to bring the opal – and crab – to the Maestro.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t return it to Maglor?” Beren asked.

“No,” Lúthien said. “You saw how upset it made him, he practically lost his mind over a silly heirloom! He’s better off without it.”

Beren rubbed his thumb over the stone. “It’s pretty beautiful…” he mused, “maybe you should keep it?”

“No!” Lúthien replied, remembering the awe that had possessed her when she'd gazed at it it under the water. That space gem had weird vibes. In fact, she was a little worried about giving it to the Maestro… no, that was ridiculous. It was just a rock.

“Oh ho!” The old man turned to them as they approached. He was still seated on the log where they’d left him, staring blankly out at the ocean. “My saviours!”

Lúthien handed him the necklace, explaining its value, and he nodded sagely. “Yes, yes…” His eyes seemed to sink into the stone as he studied it. “I think I have seen one of these before…”

The story he told about ending up in prison suddenly surfaced in her mind. Maglor said there had been three of the pendants. What if…? No – again, she was letting her imagination run too wild, making connections that weren’t there. She blamed her mother’s constant attempts to weave meaning into everything for that habit.

“Thank you,” he said, clutching the gift to his chest and closing his eyes. “You have no idea what this means…” The wind swept back his long beard and hair and he held the necklace out towards the sea like an offering. “Father,” he rasped in a deep voice. “You are avenged. Be at rest.”

He remained motionless as Lúthien exchanged a worried glance with Beren.

“Sir?” Beren said. The man lowered his arm and looked at him, all heaviness gone from his expression.

“Yes, boy?”

“Uh, we also brought you a crab.” Beren held out the bucket and the man peered in.

“Oh, hi there, little friend!”

*

Celegorm was late picking them up and he came on his bike. He’d taken off Huan’s rack but there still definitely wasn’t room for three people to ride back on it, nor did Lúthien have any interest in being escorted back to the campsite in this manner.

“How are you going to get both of us on that?” She put her hands on her hips and glared.

“Oh, both of you?” Celegorm grinned – no, more like leered. She really wanted to find something to like about him, but he truly was the most insufferable person she’d met. “I was thinking I’d just take you, sweetie.”

Beren lunged towards him, fist raised, but Lúthien extended her left arm to hold her boyfriend back and lifted her right hand to slap Celegorm across the face as hard as she could. He leaned back, reeling.

“It was a joke!” he said, holding a hand to his already-swelling cheek.

“No, it wasn’t,” Lúthien replied. “Jokes are funny. Now, get off that bike. I’ll be driving us back on it. You can walk.”

He stared at her open-mouthed for a long moment. When she showed no signs of backing down, he slowly dismounted from the bike and backed away. Lúthien straddled the saddle and waited for Beren to get on the back, staring Celegorm down the whole while.

“Wait–” Celegorm started, grabbing hold of a handlebar. Lúthien didn’t let him finish. She just leaned close to his ear and screamed as loudly as she could – that got rid of him – then she started up the engine and they roared off down the road.

*

When they got back to the site, Daeron and Maglor both spun away from each other – clearly mid-argument – and looked at them with identical apologetic expressions.

“I’m sorry,” they said together.

Maglor offered his excuses first. “I told Daeron I was fine to drive, he wouldn’t let me go.”

“He’s not fine!” Daeron said. “Look at him, he’s still shivering!”

“Because it’s windy,” Maglor responded.

Lúthien rolled her eyes. “And why, pray tell, did you both let Celegorm leave on the bike in the first place?”

“Oh, um,” Daeron lifted a finger to his lips, “we weren’t here.”

“What are you talking about?” Maglor waved an arm in his direction. “We were here, playing backgammon–”

“Backgammon?” Lúthien said. “How old are you?” They stared at her blankly. “Ugh, nevermind. So you were so wrapped up in your backgammon that you didn’t notice. Well, okay…” She looked around the site, becoming aware of something missing. “Wait, where’s Huan?”

“He, uh… ran away.” Daeron winced. “There’s some really big dog here, he was howling and running around and Huan just tore after him.”

“Ugh!” Lúthien stamped her foot in frustration. “Great! Now we have to go find the dog! Much as I’d love to see the look on Celegorm’s face when he finds out he’s missing – well, he’s an asshole, but Huan is a great dog. Somehow.”

“Hey, hey,” Beren came up behind her and put an arm on her back. “I’ll go look for Huan. You’ve done enough for today, birdie.”

“So…” Daeron said as Beren walked off. “Did you at least have a nice time without us?”

Lúthien glared at her brother and slumped into a camping chair. “We did.”

“What… did you do?” Daeron asked.

She gave Maglor a long look, wondering if she should tell him. He met her eyes nervously, reminding her eerily of the way the Maestro had gazed into the opal. No, she definitely would not tell him.

“We met an interesting guy who lives on the beach,” she said.

“Oh?” Maglor asked.

“Yeah,” she replied. “He’s had a rough life. Been living there since the recession, lost everything. He said he used to be the Maestro for the Symphony.”

“Seriously?” Maglor’s eyes widened and his brows pinched anxiously. “That’s so sad.”

“Did he tell you his name?” Daeron asked, looking equally distressed. What was the matter with them?

“Yeah,” Lúthien said, recalling their last words with him. “He just said to call him Maestro Harper.”

“Fuck,” Daeron said. “What a terrible fate. He was incredible. And then he just disappeared. It freaks me out, you know? It could happen to any of us.”

Lúthien leaned back into her chair, propping her elbows on the arm rests, and looked between the two of them. She couldn’t believe her brother had managed to move in with the one person who shared his exact brand of weird. They were perfect for each other – now, if only they’d both stop futzing around playing ancient boardgames.

Looking like some tragic hero out of Shakespeare preparing for his soliloquy, Maglor strode towards the picnic table, lowered himself down gravely, and sank his forearms down onto his thighs.

“Oh god,” he sighed meaningfully. “I hope I never end up like that.”