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

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Celegorm

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From his chair at the corner of the site, Celegorm chucked a ball for Huan. His dog tossed his head and bolted after it, returning seconds later and dropping it at his feet. He looked up at him with expectant eyes, swallowing before he let his long, pink tongue fall out.

“You’re not bored yet?” Celegorm picked up the ball and scratched behind Huan’s ears. The dog barked and stamped his front paws. “I bet you would rather have gone to beach yoga with Lúthien.”

Huan whined.

Celegorm tossed the ball again. “Fucking beach yoga.” He slumped back in the chair and dragged a finger across his chin. His frown stretched into a smirk as he recalled how awkward Beren – the man from the sticks with his much older, much more gorgeous girlfriend – had looked in his green elephant-print pants and purple sleeveless shirt, printed with a giant lotus flower. Underneath all that, Celegorm knew, they weren’t so different. At the very least, he had the right ideas about beer and women.

He chuckled wryly to himself as he instinctively responded to the ball at his feet and threw it. There was a time he would have followed Aredhel to beach yoga in a heartbeat if she’d asked. Probably still would, he thought with a sigh, and squinted the thought away. No use going down that path.

Huan had become distracted sniffing at the ground outside Beren and Lúthien’s tent.

“Come on, boy!” he called. “I need to get out of here. Let’s go for a ride.”

Huan gave an excited yap and padded over. He set his paws on Celegorm’s knees and sniffed, big round eyes scanning his face.

“Oh, you want a kiss, do you?” Celegorm laughed, leaning forward to let the dog wipe his wet tongue over his face. “Okay, up!” Celegorm pointed to the back of his bike. Huan bounded off and assumed his usual co-pilot position in the rear rack: sitting straight up, ears perked so high they touched in the middle.

Celegorm threw on his jacket and straddled the seat, turning to give the dog a pat before taking off.

*

Despite his status as a fifth wheel (soon to be made official, he was rather sure of that), Celegorm was glad he came on the trip. Glad Curufin didn’t come, too. Beren and Lúthien’s shameless love would have made his younger brother homicidal.

But the company was at the very least amusing, and the setting was stunning. Ancient forests brimming with life that hugged long, quiet stretches of road. Expansive coastlines and a horizon that went on forever. It was hard to believe it was his first time getting out of the city since moving to Beleria. There just wasn’t time. Maybe if Dad paid his tuition like he floated Maglor’s useless career. How was teaching a whole new generation of children to prance around and sing at the tops of their lungs, terrorizing the whole community with their little ‘shows’ – in other words, unleashing copies of himself on the world – more important than becoming a vet? But they all knew Fëanor doted on Maglor for being the only one of his sons with any innate talent.

Celegorm had to pay for veterinary college out of his own pocket. “Congratulations, son,” Fëanor had said, peering over the rims of his glasses, when he told him he’d been accepted. “But we paid for your first degree. You chose to major in philosophy, now you’ll have to live with that choice. And you may thank me that you have a place to live at all. Do you know how many of your generation can’t even afford rent?” Celegorm hadn’t pointed out at the time that Fëanor was the reason.

So he worked evening’s at Curufin’s stupid microbrewery on the opposite side of the city, leaving no time to get away, into the outdoors, where he thrived.

He pulled himself back to the present. The bike whizzed over smooth asphalt, lines of trees blurring in the corner of his vision. He rounded a corner, greeted by cooler air and a glimpse of sand and white-tipped waves through the trees. Must be the surfing beach Beren had been on about their first night. ‘I bet I’d be good at surfing,’ Celegorm thought.

He pulled into the parking lot and no sooner had he turned off the engine than Huan leapt off the back and barked, bouncing joyfully back on his hind legs at the irresistible prospect of chasing a stick along the sandbars.

“Let’s go, boy!” Celegorm beckoned, patting his thigh and running off down the path.

Huan quickly surpassed him, launching himself over heaps of logs and driftwood, sniffing out the perfect stick. With a great deal of struggling, he dragged something over that was at least half his size.

“That’s way too big!” Celegorm laughed, trying to tug the stripped branch, bleached white from the sun, from his dog’s jaw. They played tug-of-war a few moments before Celegorm gave up and tossed a smaller stick. Huan tore after it.

He strolled down the beach, chucking the stick ahead as they went, towards a long spit of land that jutted out into the ocean. The waves weren’t so big where it protected the water from the westerlies. The perfect place for Huan to get himself soaked and filthy and jubilant, Celegorm thought with a grin. He wished he’d brought his own swimsuit – it was cold, but a bracing dip seemed like just the thing he needed to take the edge of this persistent sense of vague agitation that had been nagging away at him all morning. Everything was just… annoying. He wished he’d also thought to rifle through Beren’s things for some more of that weed that made the world so much brighter and tastier and funnier.

Ah well, he’d have to live vicariously through his relentlessly happy dog. He tossed the stick into the waves, smiling as Huan bounded into the ocean and paddled out, only his head and pointed ears bobbing above the surface. But midway to the stick, something caught his eye and he made a left towards the spit.

“Where are you going?” Celegorm called.

Huan ignored him and started paddling faster to the shore of the spit. Celegorm sighed and followed his trajectory with his gaze. He was headed towards two people clambering along the rocks. Squinting into the afternoon sun, Celegorm recognised those exaggerated, well-nigh hazardous gesticulations and too-tight dark jeans. He also recognised the slightly shorter figure who abruptly stopped, narrowly avoiding being struck by Maglor’s hand as it swept through the air, to crouch down over a tidepool and point.

Celegorm unconsciously clenched his fists and felt a tingle of warmth climbing up the sides of his neck. He swallowed the little flicker of emotion down before giving a second thought to what it was.

“Huan!” he called, speaking softly in case his voice carried too far. “Leave them alone!”

With a last look towards Daeron and Maglor, both bent over the tidepool now, Huan paddled back to him. Part of him thought it would be funny to break up their little romantic walk, but he’d let them have their moment. Contrary to what Maglor no doubt thought, Celegorm did want his brother to be happy. So what if that was in large part because he was sick of enduring his theatrics of loneliness?

Celegorm slumped down onto a log and pulled out his phone. It was the first time he’d had reception in over 12 hours. He stared at it, waiting for a notification, any notification. Nothing. He woke it up to be sure, opened his email. Still the same 1094 unread messages. Still the same text he’d last received, from Curufin: ‘hey can you loan me $500? I’ll pay you back next month.’ ‘fuck you, ask Moryo,’ Celegorm had replied. He knew Caranthir would decline, too. Their hardest working brother was determined to retire on his trucker salary by 45.

A spray of water reached Celegorm as Huan violently shook off his wet coat. “Hey!” he said, stuffing the phone back in his pocket. Huan barked and Celegorm threw the stick down the beach, away from the spit. He glanced back.

Maglor and Daeron had resumed walking. Maglor stumbled and Daeron grabbed his hand – unnecessarily, he’d clearly already regained his balance. They were laughing hard enough that the sound carried over the water. Celegorm looked away and scoffed. Good to see they’d moved past bickering but did they have to be so damn cute about it? He instinctively pulled his phone out again, meaning to check the time. But he just started scrolling.

Huan barked. “Okay, okay,” Celegorm said. “I’m sorry. How could I forget this is about you?” He managed a smile for the dog and, once again, tossed the stick.

He couldn’t help but steal a glance over his shoulder. His stomach lurched at what he saw. “Good lord,” he said aloud. In the few seconds he’d been looking the other way, his brother had somehow managed to get himself tangled in Daeron's arms and they were vigorously kissing. “Get a room,” he mumbled under his breath.

Well, that was it then. Good for them. Celegorm decided it was time to withdraw to the other end of the beach.

*

January 1, 11:03am
Please don’t message me again.

Apr 4, 9:21am
hey Curvo told me you and Eöl ended things, sorry to hear. hope you’re okay.

May 10, 12:14pm
saw your brother and Idril at the university today. she’s gotten so big, hey?
how’s Lómion?

May 11, 1:34am
Aredhel, I know you don’t want to talk. I get it. Can you just tell me you’re okay? Then I’ll stop.

May 31, 3:30pm
happy birthday

Jun 6, 9:17pm
Ris, I haven’t stopped thinking about you for 5 years. I don’t know how else to say I’m sorry. Cheating on you was the worst mistake of my life. Worse than that time I let Pityo and Telvo borrow my bike. I’m not going to pretend anymore. I just want you to be in my life again. Tell me what I have to do, I’ll do it.

Celegorm chucked the phone unceremoniously onto the sand and rubbed his hands down his face. Huan, who had been curled up at his feet, raised his head and made a little squeak when he yawned. It almost sounded sympathetic. Without looking, Celegorm reached over and ruffled his still-damp fur.

“I should just delete those, shouldn’t I?” he said to the dog.

Huan sighed and set his chin back down on the ground.

“No,” Celegorm said. “You know what, I’m going to call her.” He looked to Huan for confirmation but the dog was dozing off again.

After a long and noisy exhale, Celegorm bent to pick up the phone and brushed it off on his thigh. He hovered over the number a moment before forcing his finger to tap down. It rang once. He exhaled again. It rang again and he thought about hanging up. No, too late for that, she’d see he called. It rang a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth.

“Hello?”

Celegorm’s tongue froze in his throat. It wasn’t too late to pretend it had been a butt dial.

“Hey,” he said to the soft but rich voice at the other end.

There was a long silence. Aredhel sighed impatiently. “Well, are you going to tell me why you called?”

“You never replied to my texts.” It came out more accusatory than Celegorm meant it to.

“You really expected me to hash everything out over text?” Aredhel snapped.

“Uh…” Off to a great start, Celegorm thought, and blinked hard to try and make words form in his brain.

“No, nevermind.” Aredhel huffed. “You’re right, I wouldn’t have answered if you’d called earlier. Fuck,” she spat into the phone. She used expletives the way most people used ‘um’.

Celegorm felt a smile reach his lips. He was warm with a surge of nervous affection.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“Eglarest.”

“What? Really? Why are you… ? Nevermind. When are you back?”

“Tomorrow night.”

“Okay, well, I don’t want to talk on the phone. Let’s meet up on Tuesday.”

Celegorm had classes all day on Tuesdays. He’d skip them, he quickly resolved. “Yeah, okay.”

“Is 1pm good? I’m living with Fingon now. He kept showing up at Turgon’s… anyway, nevermind. Fuck him. There’s this park, uh… fuck, what’s it called? – Finno!” She’d pulled the phone away from her face. “What’s that park with the pond and all the ducks called?” A voice in the background shouted something unintelligble. “Are you sure?” Aredhel shouted back. This time Celegorm could hear a distinct and slightly impatient ‘yes’. “Okay, he says it’s called Irvine Park.”

“Yeah. I know it.” Celegorm did not know it. Probably not great to start this off on a lie. “Actually, I don’t, but I’ll look it up. 1pm.”

“Yeah.” She paused. “Will you bring Huan?”

Celegorm’s nerves finally broke, manifesting as a full laugh. “Yeah, of course. He’ll be happy to see you."

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Chapter End Notes

I know this isn't the tidiest place to end the story, but I ran out of ideas. The plot is rather incidental and we did get Daeron and Maglor to kiss, right?