The Small and Secret Things by Dawn Felagund

Personal Failings

Maglor gives his brothers the news of Maedhros's capture, in 100 words.

We used to laugh at him, our nebbish brother apt to trip on his feet or wear a gob of sauce unheeded on his face. Poor Macalaurë, cloddish Macalaurë, whose stage mishaps were dismissed as eccentricities when we knew them to be lack of grace--or maybe intelligence. Personal failings.

But the brother that stands before us now doesn't look the sort to fall prone to wily treeroots and cracks in the street. His eyes are red-rimmed but his shoulders are squared, his face graven.

Hands holding the message don't tremble as he says, "I have news … about Nelyo."

Chapter End Notes

Today's Word:

nebbish NEB-ish, noun:

A weak-willed, timid, or ineffectual person.

Nebbish is from Yiddish nebekh, "poor, unfortunate," of Slavic origin.