"Maglor Tunes a Guitar", by Himring

[hhimring]

Title: Maglor Tunes a Guitar
Author Name: Himring
Prompt: Durin's Day (Seasons of Middle-earth: Autumn)
Summary: In Umbar, Maglor tunes a guitar in the Feanorian manner. (No, not what you think: nobody dies!)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: moderate violence (very much non-graphic)
Author's Notes: With thanks for inspiration to tehta and anna_wing. (Apologies for the way I used the prompt; the Dwarves refused to talk.)



‘You have a bit of a problem, my friend.’
Palamid froze. He had known he was taking a risk, daring to play in this corner of the market square, but he had thought he knew all Snub Nose’s thugs and had been keeping his eyes peeled. The foreign vagabond had not seemed dangerous—but how could he have overlooked that those rags were suspiciously, almost unnaturally clean? He knew from experience how difficult it was to get access to a sufficient supply of water round here if you were poor.
The stranger stretched out his hand towards Palamid’s guitar.
‘Give it to me.’
Oh no. This was worse than he had feared. Palamid’s guts contracted as the stranger’s fingers closed around the guitar’s neck.
‘Please,’ he said, tears in his eyes. ‘Not the guitar. Please don’t break my guitar! I promise I will go away and never try to play here again! I really do.’
The stranger blinked.
‘I’m not planning to break it,’ he said, in a soothing tone of voice. ‘I’m going to make it sound better.’
He gave the guitar a little tug. Helplessly, Palamid let go and watched, in mingled hope and disbelief, as the stranger actually began to tune it! He took his time about it, too—twiddling a peg, plucking a string, giving the peg another little turn…
‘It’s old and has seen much use,’ the stranger said, without raising his eyes from his task. ‘But a decent instrument nonetheless. It deserves care.’
 As Palamid watched in fascination, he realized there was something not quite right about the movements of the stranger’s right hand, but he couldn’t get a clear view of his palm. Anyway, the stranger was done now. He swept his hand across the strings. It was a simple chord, but the notes rang astonishingly clear and true. The stranger was right; Palamid’s poor old guitar had never sounded so good.
‘Hey you! Whaddja think yer doing?!’
Palamid had been so preoccupied with the odd ways of this pale foreigner that he had completely forgotten to look out for Snub Nose’s thugs. This one, Cauliflower Ear, was way, way too close, practically breathing down the stranger’s neck. Palamid gave a strangled cry and flattened himself against the wall behind him.
It happened so fast that he couldn’t see what the stranger did. Suddenly, Cauliflower Ear was in the gutter, not dead, judging by the groans, but possibly wishing he were, right now. The stranger, it seemed, wasn’t even out of breath. The guitar, to Palamid’s great relief, was intact.
‘We seem to be attracting the wrong kind of attention,’ said the stranger to him. ‘Let’s go.’
He walked off, still carrying the guitar. Palamid hurried after him.
‘Where are we going?’ he dared to ask, when they were far enough away from Cauliflower Ear.
‘To a music shop, of course’, the stranger answered.
***
By that evening, Palamid was the proud possessor of a pitch pipe.
The words of the stranger still rang in his ears: ‘No use deluding yourself you’ve got perfect pitch if you don’t. Even some of the best musicians don’t. So use that pipe!’
It would take time to work it out, thought Palamid, gazing at the pipe again, then putting it away.
The stranger had just swept out of his life again as suddenly as he had appeared, striding away as the sun began to set, vanishing into the gathering dusk. Although he had bought a substantial supper for both of them before he left, there was an odd hollow feeling to Palamid’s stomach. He looked up. It was late autumn. A thin new moon was riding high in the sky.

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I can just see that - especially Maglor being frustrated by the not-quite-in-tune guitar!

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

A musician is a musician is a musician. Always. And I'm sure he's quite satisfyingly good at dealing with cheap thugs *g*.

If I beg, will you write more of these? Because I loved it so much!

[kittotter.livejournal.com]

hehe, I liked this -- Maglor, haunting the coasts for out-of-tune instruments! Palamid is a fortunate guitarist, and had a merry Durin's day indeed.
And nobody died!

[tanis2014.livejournal.com]

LOL - you make me want to say - who was that masked man - even if he was only cloaked! A little musical magic to celebrate Durin's Day and perhaps someday Palamid will mention this strange little adventure, find out who his mysterious benfactor really was, and dine out on his discovery for years to come!

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

This is a lovely story!

[binkaslibrary.livejournal.com]

I can so see Maglor in this little fic. A not-so-saint patron of street musicians and vagabonds :) What a lovely idea. Thank you for this.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

This was most enjoyable and different.

[tehta.livejournal.com]

I am so glad that our slander of Maglor's character inspired this! It is a lovely story, showcasing what a decent person he really is.

[zopyrus.livejournal.com]

Hah! This was, indeed, not what I expected--but I like your down-to-earth imagining of Maglor's post-silmaril life. I can totally see this happening.

[ilye-elf.livejournal.com]

This was great :) I can so see Maglor doing something like this - he's lost none of his charm, apparently!

Also had to laugh at the vagabonds' names.

[angelica-ramses.livejournal.com]

Very Maglor: musician, warrior, generous prince despite the rags, an almost mythical figure coming in and out of people's lives. Lovely story.

[elliska.livejournal.com]

Maglor is my absolute favorite son of Feanor, and I love stories of him, post Silmarils. This is great. You do a great job showing Palamid's fear and he has a great voice (Snub Nose and Cauliflower Ear are great!). And I can so see Maglor doing this. Loved it.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Maglor would do that, wouldn't he? I love the idea of him going through Umbar, occasionally touching lives (and instruments) to make them better, and Palamid is a wonderful character.

The ending - fittingly bittersweet.

[hhimring]

Thank you!
That was actually what spawned this fic: a discussion how differently Maglor would react to the frustration of a not-quite-in tune guitar, compared to Tehta's Ecthelion!

[astris-eldalie.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved this. Palamid has a wonderfully distinctive voice, and I love the idea of Maglor as a wandering savior (of a sort). And music still being the thing he cares about most, of course.

[hhimring]

Even in his diminished state, Maglor can still deal with a cheap thug without dropping a guitar!
He and Maedhros practised unarmed combat together for a couple of centuries.
And he is always a musician, to the end of Arda!

I'm so glad you liked this!

[hhimring]

Maybe you could actually summon Maglor by standing on the shore and playing out of tune? But I don't think it would be wise to try!
Glad you enjoyed my slightly unorthodox take on Durin's Day!

[hhimring]

Maybe! I'm all in favour of Palamid getting the chance to dine out on his discovery, but this is Umbar and Palamid is not a Numenorean himself. The encounter is set in Umbar, because the guitar happened to be a given and it seemed the most likely place for Maglor to encounter a guitarist. But it is also a country where probably fewer people would be able to figure out who that mysterious benefactor was than further up north!
Thank you very much for your review!

[hhimring]

Thank you! So glad you enjoyed this more light-hearted Maglor piece!

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Binka!
I'm glad the idea of Maglor as an unsaintly patron of musicians appealed and that the scenario was convincing!

[hhimring]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I was quite surprised to find myself writing a story set in Umbar!

[hhimring]

Slander? I thought I had actually proved your point. Maglor almost frightened the living daylights out of poor Palamid!
But he is very much a Feanorian perfectionist--not only does he tune the guitar, he tries to make sure it stays tuned and the guitarist stays intact as well!

[hhimring]

Thank you!
I see Feanorians as having a very practical side to them--as well as that flair for high drama--and that goes for Maglor as well. I think it would persist into his post-silmaril life, too--and this little episode is, of course, considerably later than the War of Wrath.

[hhimring]

Thank you!
Happy to hear that you think Maglor has charm, in this story!
Yes, I had fun with those names. I think Cauliflower Ear may be Colly to his friends--if he has any!

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Angelica!
Yes, those princely habits are ingrained. Glad you think the way he descended on poor Palamid is characteristic!

[hhimring]

Thank you, Elliska! I'm so glad Palamid's POV worked for you and that you liked Maglor coming to the rescue!

[hhimring]

Thank you, Elleth!
Glad you liked Palamid! I see him as quite young--I don't know whether you could tell. But not a child or Maglor might have taken him along for a while (like that Avarin girl in Magloriana).
I'd also toyed with the idea of a female guitarist, but that didn't seem to work--I think probably because Maglor would have taken greater care not to frighten her in the first place.

[hhimring]

Thank you! Really glad you liked Palamid and his voice. Music is a given for Maglor, of course. Not that he saves only musicians on principle, by any means, but if music is involved it helps him focus...

[petite-dilly.livejournal.com]

Cela donne envie de lire d'autres aventures de Maglor après le Premier Age !

[hhimring]

Thank you!
This is the most light-hearted one I have written yet.
But if you haven't read Magloriana yet, you might enjoy that:
http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/archive/home/viewstory.php?sid=1702

[petite-dilly.livejournal.com]

Merci pour le lien !

[ysilme]

This is great. You're creating a very real own character here in a few words, setting off another side to Maglor and another glimpse into his wandering life; a moment I can see very well. I like very much to see Maglor at this moment in this way.

[hhimring]

Thank you! I'm delighted Palamid came across as real to you and that you enjoyed this glimpse of Maglor's wandering life.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Good grief! I have this one on my list of stories I had already reviewed also. My memory of it was so vivid. Another very nice story, which is a convincing moment that extends the canon and imagines something that might have been. I love the pitch pipe! My ear is so bad, that even with a pitch pipe I had trouble tuning a guitar. (Of course, I gave it up. But I never had a serious relationship with a man who was not a decent musician and Laura's dad was a bit of prodigy. I can see Maglor wanting to put the whole world in tune. It's not just altruism, my ex- was visibly pained by an even slightly out-of-tune instrument.)

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Oshun! Glad you liked it!
I wasn't very good with the pitch pipe either, but my OC is a much better musician than I could ever dream of being!
Yes, Maglor just has to get that guitar in tune. I doubt he himself thinks of his actions as being altruistic at all. He's just being thorough.

[independence1776]

I really like this! It's definitely something Maglor would do given half a chance.

[hhimring]

Thank you!
I'm glad you agree that this is something Maglor would do!

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Quite the wondrous encounter! Palamid is quite a good deal enriched by this encounter with a legend he may have only heard echoes of up to now.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much!
I don't think Palamid really know Maglor's story--but rumours, echoes perhaps, as you say!

(I gather you had a birthday. I really appreciate your giving out reviews on such a day, in generous hobbit fashion! I hope you had a great day!)

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Yes, my birthday was on Sunday, the day before you answered me. I was working, but was able to take a few minutes on my break to do some reading and reviewing. I had a good day, actually, and look forward to this coming Sunday and Easter at this point! Hope to have more reviewed before then!

[pandemonium-213.livejournal.com]

This is a great little vignette, himring! You really do a nice job of setting up the scene and the way Palamid perceives this stranger, e.g. "those rags were suspiciously, almost unnaturally clean? He knew from experience how difficult it was to get access to a sufficient supply of water round here if you were poor." I love the idea that Maglor feels so compelled to "fix" Palamid's out-of-whack guitar. Speaks to a mix of perfectionism and kindness. A mysterious ending, too!

[hhimring]

Thank you very much!
You know what's sort of interesting about this piece and nobody has explicitly commented on, maybe because it's too obvious? This was always meant to be a story about Maglor tuning a guitar and of course the title says so. But by the time I had finished writing it, the body of the text no longer contained any definite clue that the action is even set in Middle-earth, let alone to Maglor's identity. (Even Palamid's name derives from a different source: it's a vaguely arabicized version of Sir Palomides, the Saracen knight in Malory). Nevertheless everyone who has commented seems to have found it convincing! I am pleased about that.