Chapter Text
Maedhros was looking at Nargothrond as the last few corpses were removed from the city. The eldar were taken to be buried by his soldiers, while the orcs were unceremoniously dumped in wagons to be burned away from the city. Orodreth´s soldiers and Orodreth himself had been working with no rest to clear the place from orc presence so their citizens could return. It was not that they didn´t feel safe, but Orodreth couldn´t help but feel nervous with his people so close to such a controversial person like Avranc, who at that moment was in Brethil with the rest of the Haladin. He also wanted to see his daughter again. The Palantir connection had calmed him down and assured she was okay, but he needed to make sure she was really unharmed.
“I don´t know what you have against the lad” Maedhros said as he, Orodreth and Gwindor discussed the clearing of the city in the command tent. “I know he came to grow up to be my father come again, but right now he isn´t more dangerous than any other child.”
“You are underestimating him”
“No, I think you are overestimating him… at least for the moment” his son-in-law surprisingly said, serving the wine of all of them. “Avranc tends to underestimate himself, I learned that long ago. To his eyes, he could never be enough of a Feanorian. Don´t misunderstand me, he is crafty and brilliant in his own way, just not a genius.”
“It truly looked to me that he was when he massacred his way through Aman.”
“Oh, that was him reusing everything he had learned from previous geniuses. From Maedhros battle strategies, Caranthir´s assassin strategies, Fëanor´s incendiary rhetoric and genius smith work that he couldn´t compare, but with a new twist on Narétardur´s style” he smiled. “Lord Avranc wasn´t a genius, but he could join together the work of several to make everything in his own way.” The sound of horses distracted them. “What now?”
They exited the tent only to see a group of horses and wagons approaching the city, lead by no else than the Princess. Orodreth went to his daughter´s side, wondering what was she doing there. Gwindor was about to do the same when he saw between the multitude of refugees returning home his former leader. It was such a strange thing, to see him so young and unburdened by the loss and horrors of the world. The anger that normally burned in his eyes was gone, replaced by the amazement of a young child that saw a city like Nargothrond for the first time. He had to agree with his father-in-law in that moment, it was difficult to believe such a child had grown up to become the incendiary rebel leader that had destroyed Valimar and Alqualondë in his quest for revenge.
“Finduilas!! What are you doing here?!”
“I needed to see you safe… and guide our people back home” she looked around, seeing the wagons with the remains of orcs being carried away. “Tell me, is the damage so bad that the city is no longer usable?”
“No, it´s… some zones are safe. Some others need some reconstruction, but it´s nothing that we can´t achieve if we put some work” he looked at the refugees, most of them civilians but some soldiers with them. “But you shouldn´t have come back, you were perfectly safe in Brethil with the Haladin…”
“I couldn´t, you know why” Orodreth shivered when she said this in a low voice. “It´s safer for our citizens here.”
“If you think so” he refused to outright admit that she was alright. Gwindor smiled, his wife looked so sexy when she was subtly threatening her father… then Finduilas turned towards him and embraced him.
“If you ever hid something as big as this from me, I´m going to kill you and hang your entrails from the ceiling of our house for our son to play with” the knight shivered. Noted. “Anyway, we should let the masons assess the damage. There are several of them between the refugees. And the people need to see what was recovered and what was lost…”
As Finduilas took charge of the work to be done, Maedhros realized that his work there was over. And it was a relief, because, as much as Nargothrond has fallen and partially been destroyed, it was nothing that couldn´t be fixed like last time. History has been repeated, but at the same time it had not. Besides, with Glaurung dead, the Enemy has lost a strong underling forever. Túrin was alive, Nienor was alive, Morwen wasn´t lost to the mists and Húrin wasn´t chained to a chair, seeing the ill destinies of his children. Which meant that there was no reason for the Kin strife, which would weaken Moryo´s law-family. His brother would have to let go of his anger now and everything was going to remain peaceful…
“By the way, father, I had to give King Thingol the Nauglamír to prevent an attack on our people and the people of Brethil” and just like that, everything came crashing over them.
Orodreth´s eyes sharpened, the same as Gwindor´s. The both of them looked at Maedhros with the same comprehension. He already knew from his chat with Fingon before, but he hadn´t informed them yet. Reborn in the Fourth Age as they were, they surely already knew the history. Thingol getting the Nauglamír was a bad idea, because the idiot will try to add the Silmaril to the damn necklace with the help of some dwarves that were so enchanted with the jewel that they won´t want to let go of it. It ended up in the first destruction of Doriath… something that will weaken the free people no matter what. It was something that they should avoid under any circumstances.
“Artaresto” a person they never thought they would see again appeared then. Galadriel. “Nelyo”
“Artanis” he saluted his cousin with a bow of the head. She answered with a smile, something he hadn´t gotten from her in thousands of years. And not only because she hadn´t been there. “What brings you back to these lands?”
“Queen Melian asked me and my husband to come back” Galadriel walked up towards him, her expression morphing into something serious. “I think we should talk about it in private” he nodded and took her back to his tent, leaving Orodreth and Gwindor to take care of their own people along with Finduilas. “I heard that you and Findékanno married” he nodded. “and had a child?”
“Yes, fifteen years ago”
“Then what are you doing here?” she asked, surprised. “He is still a baby, he needs his birth father close to him.”
“I´m needed here” he answered, very clearly stared that even if he had become a father, he would still fight for his people. “Is there something you want, Artanis? Because if you want small chat, my time is better spent some other place.”
“Queen Melian asked me to organize a way to return the Silmaril to you”
“What?”
“You heard me” Galadriel sighed. “I don´t know why she would plan such a thing, as you certainly don´t deserve it. Perhaps she is just preventing a bloodbath in Doriath” as if Thingol needed his help to achieve that. “But I know Melian and she always has a reason behind everything she does, a reason that escapes us… so I´m willing to arrange something like this, even on Thingol´s back.”
“And are you going to achieve that”
“I´m not sure… and it´s not going to be immediate or fast”
“The Oath has been dormant for long since we recovered the other two Silmarils”
“But there is no guarantee that it´s going to remain dormant for long” she talked back. “I´m not going to say that what you achieved here isn´t marvelous, cousin, or that you haven´t done anything good, because I would be lying, but you have also committed a great crime. And I´m not sure you are not about to commit it again.”
“Give us the Silmaril and we are never going to be able to do it again”
“Like I said, it´s not going to be fast”
“I understood that” he sighed. “The thing, Artanis, is that we are running out of time. I can´t tell you exactly what was going to happen, but the shadow of death approaches Doriath. And it´s not going to be me or my brothers the ones that brought it. It´s going to be Thingol´s own stupidity and a group of dwarves from Nogrod” she seemed astonished. “The Nauglamír falling on Thingol´s hands is the first step.”
“So that´s why you, Gwindor and Orodreth reacted in such a way when Finduilas said that the Nauglamír had fallen into Thingol´s hands” she said, suddenly very serious. “If what you are saying is true, Nelyo, then I need to immediately depart for Menegroth immediately to warn Queen Melian.”
“And I wish you luck convincing Thingol not to do something stupid, even with the warnings from his wife” he shook his head. “I have lost my faith in that elf´s wits.”
“Because of the bigotry?” the redhead suddenly got very still. “I´m sorry, but I needed to ask. Now that I know, I have… gotten my eyes open to some things… and reevaluated my opinions about certain members of the family.”
“My father?”
“I have to say, I have come to pity him now that I know what he surely went through as a child. Had I known that before or had my father know, we would have done something to help him overcome his… difficult childhood.”
“There is nothing to pity about him. My father was an activist, someone that used his genius and past to do something for the community…”
“And you are proud of him for that” Galadriel smiled. “I would be too… but that doesn´t mean that there couldn´t be some pretty painful things in his past, painful things that we can´t really imagine now” Maedhros stared at her. “Anyway, I will leave for Menegroth as soon as I see Artaresto and his family are settled down. Wait for news from me before you plan any attacks on Doriath.”
“Like I said, Thingol´s idiocy is going to beat me to that” he crossed his arms. “Besides, I have a fifteen namedays old toddler. I´m going to be confined in Barad Eithiel for a long time, perhaps until he is an adult.”
“We will see”
Artanis left the tent to go tend to her family. Almost immediately, Túrin Turambar entered. He was still pale and sickly looking from his recent encounter with the dragon, but was already on his feet, which was a good thing. Maedhros almost asked what was he doing there, when the youngster bowed deeply to him and apologized for having spied him in the bathroom, promising to never do it ever again. Maitimo listened to him and while he wanted to hit him when he mentioned the incident, he let him continue. When he finished, the redhead thought that there was at least one small chance that the idiot didn´t end up killing himself with all his stupid decisions. Or at least last enough to continue his father´s bloodline.
By the end of the day, Artanis and some of the Men of Brethil left for Obel Halad, from where the Finarfiniel would depart with her husband to Doriath. The King desired her luck in her quest to help Melian about Thingol´s death by stupidity, they were going to need it. He was worried about that. For his own part, Nelyo prepared to receive Caranthir and his men when they arrived. He was surprised when they arrived, even if he knew that they were transporting Glaurung´s carcass. He actually had to pinch himself to make sure that he was not fantasying. Then he realized that it working out for them. Yes, Túrin still killed Glaurung, but he had not ended up destroying Nargothrond. It was good.
“Orodreth says that Nargothrond is going to recover and flourish again” the redhead informed his brother in his tent that night. “It´s going to need a little bit of work and perhaps… a little bit of help on your part?”
“I´m not leaving Amon Ereb to help Artaresto until this place recovers”
“Moryo…”
“I´m serious, Nelyo, I already have too much work there and now that Thingol has the Nauglamír…” his face contorted into one of deep worry. “I can´t take it out of my mind, Nelyo. The bodies in the trees, my little boys or little girls, dead and with… with… insults carved on their bodies…”
“I know” he said as he grabbed his hands. “It´s not going to happen again, Moryo, I promise you it is not going to happen again” he told his brother very seriously. “And you know why? Because it´s not going to be just you. It´s going to be me, our brothers, Finno… even Gwindor is willing to go to war with the sindar if they dare to do something to your children. Moryo, what happened then is not going to happen again.”
“And the Kin Strife?”
“Have you seen Morwen living among the Haladin? Because I have kept notes on that and she hasn´t left Dor-Lomin in nearly three years. For Nienor´s wedding, I believe?”
“Stop, I get it, it´s not happening again”
“Sure thing. Besides, even if something is going to happen with Thingol, we have time. The idiot hasn´t killed himself with his own stupidity.”
“Yet”
“Sad but true” he shrugged. “Come on, help Artaresto to put everything to work again in this damn city, show those bigots that they can´t do anything without a descendant of former thralls and put them to shame and then go back to keeping an eye on the sindar. Thingol is probably going to hold on until then. And if not… well, we have Mablung and Beleg on our side now, surely they can send us a warning.”
“Nelyo, thank you”
“Love you too, little brother” he patted his head. “You can pay me back by giving me some advice on how to avoid the temper tantrum that is waiting for me and Finno back home, not that the one Ereinion had before we left was anything but father-worthy… sometimes I can´t believe no one found out that boy was my son.”
“Uff, brother, you should know as well as I do that those things are inevitable. From father to father, simply let him scream his lungs out and hate you for a few days. He will stop hating you around a week or so… depending on how his personality is… after that, he will clung to you just like before. With my children, baring Elenammë, it always worked like that.”
“And Elanmmë?”
“Brother, you never understand girls. Not even your own daughters”
“You understood the taxing system before you were fifty.”
“It was easier to understand than daughters”
They both stared at each other for a single second before bursting into laughter. Yes, Caranthir had a rough time with Elenammë and not only because she was the only girl. And no one would understand more than his older brother, who had supported him through the process… and who had fled alongside him in certain occasions when someone had to explain female things to her. Oh, it was so good that Ereinion and the twins were males, he would have definitely had troubles if he had been raising girls…
“Tomorrow I´m going to go back to Barad Eithiel, counting on you to keep this place from falling apart around us enough to return control to Artaresto.”
“Yeah, yeah” Moryo answered. “Never understood how this place didn´t fall apart after Tyelko and Curvo tried to take over.”
“Bigotry?” Maedhros asked. “If they had heard them, then they would have took over the place or caused a revolt?”
“Would that have been so bad?”
“Yes” they both said at the same time. Then laughed again. It was small moments like this that made them feel everything was worth it. Even repeating one of the worst periods of their lives… the small moments and changes, big and small, made it all worth it.
-Far away, months later-
Ambarussa were both really nervous, hearing their brother scream as their nephew and the healers tend to him. It was too early, they both know, Tyelko barely graced the tenth month and it was no time yet, but somehow it was happening. Luhte said that, despite it being a risk to the infant, was for the best. The sickness had somehow been worse than when he was carrying his first two children, a little bit more and he would have surely died… with that early birth, there was a chance of both parent and infant surviving. But the screams were truly terrifying, so much that they were both glad they were youngest children and still babies when their only little cousin was born… also not there when Tyelpe was.
“Stop looking like that, it´s normal” Gaedes said, crossing her arms. “In fact, the only thing abnormal about this pregnancy is that sickness your family seems to develop every time one of you is with child. Even normal elven births hurt a bit!”
“I´m never having a child myself” both twins said at the same time, very serious.
“Cowards” she laughed. “Big bad scary kinslayers you turned out of be, recoiling in front of something as natural as childbirth.” There was wailing from the inside now. “And now it´s over.”
“Is Tyelko alright?!” Amras asked, worried.
“Why don´t you go inside and ask?”
The redheaded twins ran inside the chamber, seeing their nephew and healer Gaeruilion cleaning an infant with hot water and wrapping him in fresh blankets before handing it over to their exhausted brother. Tyelko looked worst than ever in his life, but he was alive, and so very happy when he received his newborn that they couldn´t believe he was still in danger… but he was. After all, their grandmother Míriel had died several days after their father´s birth from the same sickness.
“I´m not going to drop dead now, you idiots” Celegorm interrupted their fatalist train of thought. “Come here and say hello to your new nephew.”
“It´s a boy?”
“As far as I can tell” he answered, offering a finger to the infant, who had stopped crying and was looking at everything with a strange, too aware gaze for a recently born elfling. Ambarussa approached, looking at him. “Isn´t he cute?”
“Is he supposed to look at us in that way?”
“Probably, Luhte and Nella were the same”
“Perhaps because we were aware of our surroundings since the womb. An Ainur thing, because most Ainur turn adult immediately after they exit the womb” all the eyes were on him immediately. “Neither of us ever told you?”
“No” Celegorm answered. “then why did you latched on to me so hard?”
“Because I was still a child?” he frowned. “It´s a little bit confusing, but you will eventually understand” he looked down at his little brother with a strange expression. “Exactly how aware do you think he is?”
“I have no idea” his father answered. “I´m only glad that he was born healthy… and that plants aren´t turning crazy around him, as it happened immediately after you were born. I also remember that your crib grew roots the first time I placed you there… you don´t think that´s going to happen, no?”
“From what I can gather, he is completely different from me. Perhaps more like Nella… I can feel the cold coming from him.”
“Then he is an ice Ainur like her?”
“Yes…” Luhte´s frown deepened. “Are you sure Nella is an ice Ainur?”
“Is that truly strange?”
“A bit, considering that ice Ainur are supposed to be extinct” he then stretched his arms to take the child. “It´s getting late and you must be tired, atya. Let me take the baby so you can rest.” Before he could say something else, the newborn grabbed the tressed of his father with his other hand and squeezed the finger. “Don´t be difficult, atya needs to rest too.”
“Yes, Hyar, I need to rest too” Tyelkormo yawned. “Go with your brother, he is taking care of you until it´s time to eat.” The baby didn´t seem pleased, but he did as he was told. He actually pouted too, clearly a behavior that a child on toddler age would have. Or older. But his parent didn´t show much concern. “You get used to strange after two.”
“Wait a second, Hyar?” Amras asked. Not only a quenya name for an elfling that was born after they had practically left their mother language behind except when they were talking to each other, but the word was only the infinitive form of a verb. “Cleave?”
“For some reason, I think it´s the adequate name for him. Just like the ones I choose for his siblings” he yawned. “Now get out of here and let me sleep. If you are still worried, be assured that Luhte is not going to let me die and saddle him with a newborn baby.”
“Of course not, I´m never going to let you die again”
“Thank you, sweetie, but I doubt you are going to be able to stop me every time I got myself in danger” he yawned again. “Let me rest, I need to recover my strength soon. The faster we leave this place, the better.”
“Tyelko…”
“This place is doomed and you know it. We should leave before their doom drags us down like our own did the Noldor during the true First Age.”
Amrod and Amras knew, but they didn´t want to abandon these people to their deaths after they had been so good to them. Or at least Gwayne and Rowena, because the rest seemed to be completely scared of them. But the Feanorions also pitted them and felt some amount of responsibility for their situation. If they hadn´t banished Morgoth, then they would have continued with their peaceful lives there. Not that banishing Morgoth wasn’t a good thing, Beleriand was a better place now that the damn Dark Creature was gone, but considering the consequences…
“If you think that hard, you are going to end up as mad as father”
“Don´t even joke about that!!!” both twins said at the same time, offended. Celegorm smiled, approaching his brothers despite being clearly still in pain.
“Shouldn´t you be on bed?”
“Couldn´t sleep” he sighed. “With the Water of Estë and Luhte´s healing, I have healed enough to make a few short walks, and I´m confident that soon I´m going to be able to reassume our trip home. My abdomen still hurts, but it should disappear on it´s own soon, with all the attention my son is putting into it” he shrugged. “You should prepare, soon we are going to leave this place”
“But…”
“We didn´t come here to solve this people´s problems, you two, keep that in mind. Besides, I´m not sure we can do much for them. Not with the size of the army that is surely going to attack next time.”
“And Luhte?”
“Luhte can stop them for some time, yes, but do you think that someone else is not going to attack them when they are this weak? My son would be here forever if he were to fix every little problem they had, including keeping their little city.”
“Then what? Do we simply abandon them? After how they took us in when we needed a place to stay so you could be taken care of well?”
“What I´m saying is that we need a better plan than helping them keep this place, because that´s a lost battle” Tyelkormo looked at them straight in the eye.
“You already know what to do, no?”
Yes, Ambarussa knew exactly what to do. And they also knew that the people in that small city would not agree to it easily, even if it was the only way they could survive. Their fear of the supernatural was stronger than their common sense, at least on some. Even so, they didn´t see any other option. Which was why the next time they saw Gwayne, a few days after that, they proposed that he and his people escaped. They told him about the vast extensions of land the Noldor had on the West and that his people could become refugees on those lands. The young King seemed unsure, but the news about an army nearly triple the amount of soldiers he had on himself at the moment convinced him that their only chance to survive was to run. He went to address his people, as he told his sister to begin packing everything. Whatever that happened, whoever that accepted to go or not, she needed to survive.
“You have to take care of our people if I were to fall, sister” he said. “The army is barely a day away, we can´t possible evacuate the city in such an amount of time. Me and the soldiers will have to fight and buy you time to save the civilians. Go, find news lands to settle down and one day, if you find yourself strong enough, recover our home.”
“Please, brother, if someone were to survive, it has to be…”
“I´m noy discussing this with you, Rowena, I´m ordering you. You will leave with the people that agree to leave and take our people to those new lands we were told about.”
“And if they are deceiving you?!”
“It´s the same, escaping is the only way” he bit his lip. “We can´t fight back any longer, we will die from hunger in a long siege or by the sword when we are weak enough and easy prey for the invaders to kill us one by one without risk” the princess looked defiantly at him for a moment, before she realized that he was right. She didn´t like it either, but she needed to do. “Take Aelle with you.”
“What?! Are you really asking me to save that…”
“You can buy your way out of troubles with him in case Ecburt´s soldiers catch up with you. They would not dare to hurt their Lord´s brother, I can assure you he is going to be an amazing bargain chip if something like that happen.” He made a gesture with his hand. “Now go and pack something easy to carry, but that could be used if it´s needed. Don’t lose time or space in frivolities.”
“Brother… come back alive”
“I will try”
Rowena left her room with her heart in her throat. Ordering her ladies in waiting to do their own packages, she emptied her wardrobe completely. So many dressed and so few space. She chose three that didn´t only seem durable, but warn in case the weather demanded it, and another one for warm climate. She then emptied her and her mother´s jewelry boxes on them and made a package. Her eyes then stopped in something white, the wedding dress her mother had prepared for her for when she married her betrothed. Could she… she surely was going to need it in the future, no? She doubted that she was going to be allowed to remain unmarried, even if she went to that new fairy country she heard about. She quickly added it to her package. Content with that, she went to the kitchens to pack whatever meagre food she had. She wondered for a second if this was going to be her life from then on. Fleeing for her life, after having home and country ripped from her.
“Everything is going to get better” those words made her froze. She then found the one named Luhte, speaking in her own language, the newborn in his arms. This one was strange, too aware for a child barely out of the womb. “You are going to be happy in our lands.”
“I would prefer to keep my home and family, whatever little I have of it still, with me.”
“Then I will bring your family back to you” he turned around and left. Rowena breathed out in relief, his presence always put her nervous.
Once the sun was down, she and the other women and children, as most of the men had been drafted to give them enough time to escape, entered the catacombs. The secret passaged out that they were going use to escape from the invading army. The fairies were already there, the blond one being carried by the big dog that seemed to always be with him, his babe strapped to his chest. Ellys and Pellinore, along with a few of the soldiers, were also there, holding a captive Aelle between them. He should consider himself lucky, the scum, that they were going to save his life and not simply end it.
“Let´s go” Rowena said, grabbing a torch. She knew this place, so the role of guide fell onto her. She only hoped that she got to see her brother again…
-a few hours later-
Gwayne was tired. He and his soldiers had fought with bravery, but they had been corralled by the invading army inside the castle. There was no way out now… and with the few soldiers he had, there was nothing more to do than doing a last, desperate frontal attack. He prepared for that, but before the could do anything, the barred doors were reinforced with several vines. What the…
“It´s not time to die yet” Luhte appeared from the shadows, signaling another place. “Come”
The young King didn´t understand. This was supposed to be his last stance, but now… not doubting it anymore, he followed the strange being through the escape route he had for them. It was something out of a fairy tale, climbing down the window of the castle via a plant. Or crossing the sky in one of them. Before he knew, he and his last men were outside of the city, watching it burn in from the distance. His whole life was behind him now… but also in front of him. And Rowena… Gods, Rowena!! He needed to tell her that he was…
“Gwayne!!” his sister appeared from darkness and jumped into his arms. They embraced, just like the few family members that got their reunion. Including Pellinore, who embraced both his father and brother. A package was trusted into his hands. “I packed for you. I carry my own, so you do too.”
“Alright, alright” he saw his sister, drinking in her image. “Don´t you want me to carry your things for you?”
“No, I´m fine” the princess answered. “Let´s get going, we have a lot of way to cover before we are safe and much more before we reach the lands our dear guests talked about.”
“Yeah, we have” Gwayne looked back once more. He would come back, he promised. He would come back and recover his land, recover his country and crown. He would get the alliance of these being, even if they resulted being the deceivers the tales told everyone about, and come back to recover what was his. That he promised…
-Near-
This was bloody boring. He made such a rush to be born, but he hadn´t thought that his growing would have been affected so much that he would be unable to move on his own for such a long time!! Bloody boring… but at least he spared his father of the fate that awaited him if he continued inside of him. And Hyar could wait for a few days… who was he kidding, he didn´t want to wait!!! Unfortunately for him, it took months before he could gather enough strength to even shift into something that could move at his age. It happened during one of the nights, when Celegorm, already recovered, was away hunting and he left him alone with one of his uncles. He finally managed to shift into a fox. He could have screamed of joy, he was free!! And now… now he could do something more. Hyar ran through the woods, searching for something that would amuse him. Soon, he found a camp that didn´t seem to be from the humans that were travelling with them. Soldiers. Enemy soldiers. He already felt the trill in his veins. He stalked them from the bushes.
“What is that?” one of them said, pointing a spear towards him. He got out of the bushes. “False alarm, it´s just a fox.”
“Should we kill him anyway for it´s skin? I think it must be worth a few…” whatever he was going to say, was lost in the river of blood that sprang from his neck. Hyar smirked as he spit out the chunk of neck he had teared with his teeth, opening the carotid.
“You, little…”
His claws went for another neck, not covered by the heavy armor, as he jumped from side to side, evading or landing killing blows, enjoying the screams of pain and death, his copper red coat, so much like his hair, got stained with the life liquid. He licked the blood in his lips as he watched his finished work. Tasty… but he was eager for a true battle. Something where he could really prove himself. Well, he guessed he won´t have to wait so much. Peace never lasted long in a Land touched by Darkness after all. And war was coming.