"Singer of Praises", by Himring

[hhimring]

B2MeM Challenge: Maglor has stopped playing music, and Fingon, here for a trip, is worried and tries to reach out to him. I'd love anything hopeful and optimistic, but dramatic and angsty goes, too. :D I love to see these two interacting in meaningful ways. (maglor_20)

Format: ficlet (c. 280 words)

Genre: hurt/comfort, friendship; dialogue only

Rating: General (with hints of PG)

Warnings: reference to canonical battle

Characters: Fingon (Q. Findekano), Maglor (Q. Makalaure); reference to Maedhros (Q. Maitimo)

Pairings: n/a

Creators' Notes (optional): small tweaks to the prompt--excusable ones, I hope

Summary: First Age: The Noldor, not so very long after their arrival in Beleriand, have won a major battle against Morgoth: the "Glorious Battle" (Daglor Aglareb). At the victory celebrations, Fingon misses his cousin Maglor and seeks him out.


‘Makalaure! Tonight all the voices of the Eldar are lifted up in song, celebrating our victory. But I have missed your voice among them. Mightiest singer of the Noldor, do you not think this glorious battle of ours is worth a song?’
‘Have you forgotten how this battle began, Findekano?’
‘With the Dark Foe attacking us?’
‘With my failure to hold the Gap! I let the enemy through and they wrought havoc in eastern Beleriand.’
‘Maitimo has spoken to me of this. He says it was his mistake.’
‘He would.’
‘He would—but is he wrong to say the reinforcements he sent arrived too late?’
‘That is but to say I should have held until they arrived.’
‘It is but to say that maybe it was both of you who erred—or neither. Do you truly think we made no mistakes on our side or that they had no consequences? We are all of us learning still, Makalaure. None of us knew how to conduct a war when we set out—on this scale or on any scale at all! But still we won. We won! Come now, let us praise the praiseworthy tonight that their deeds be not forgotten! It will be soon enough to consider our errors by the cold light of dawn.’
‘Very well—I will come and praise the deeds of Findekano the Valiant, hero of the Noldor…’
‘That was not what I meant!’
‘I know that was not what you meant, cousin! But I will! Do not fear—I will not forget to praise anyone else deserving of praise in our ranks either, I have more skill than that—for this task at least I was trained in Valinor…’

Comments

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

I really like this take on the prompt. I chose the same one but wrote something quite different. It's interesting to read everyone's different ideas and I really like yours, that the cousins should both be celebrating their glorious battle won.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much!
I read your story and liked it, although I haven't managed to catch up with commenting, as I intended to do this weekend. Yours is much closer to the prompt, really!

[the-wavesinger.livejournal.com]

This is amazing! There's so much subtext and beautiful turns of phrasing (and also a laugh or too at their expense?). The last line especially says so much, and I was mindblown--still am.

[hhimring]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

My Finweans tend to be rather self-conscious and aware of at least some of the ironies of their situation, so I think some of the subtext you're catching relates to that.
Also, the mutual goodwill is genuine, but it's not an entirely uncomplicated friendship...

[starbrow.livejournal.com]

Love this! Poor Maglor, he never seems to be able to hold the Gap. And Maedhros, making a bad habit of being late to battle....*shakes head*

[hhimring]

Ah, right! Although I've used Maedhros's general tendency to lateness as a trope elsewhere, actually canon seems to stress that he acted rather promptly in this case.
But I think the Gap simply was the weakest point in the Feanorians' defences and their resources were too stretched to build something like the Great Wall of China across it and keep it manned---which made defending it really tricky for Maglor.
Also, thank you so much for reading and commenting!

[maglor-20.livejournal.com]

I really like this, Himring! :) Poor Maglor, the Gap was a very difficult position to hold. That he held it for so long is a remarkable feat in itself. And Fingon is wise indeed.

[hhimring]

I'm so glad you like it, in spite of the liberties I took with your prompt!
I agree that the Gap was a very difficult position to hold. Maglor is being very hard on himself here, but of course he is also aware of the consequences of his failure.
Maedhros clearly has already told him not to blame himself, but Fingon is more effective as he was not directly involved in the situation.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

All dialog. I love to write dialog so much, that I think I really try to write a play someday!

I love Fingon so much here!!

And poor Tortured Maglor!

‘Have you forgotten how this battle began, Findekano?’
‘With the Dark Foe attacking us?’
‘With my failure to hold the Gap! I let the enemy through and they wrought havoc in eastern Beleriand.’

Give it up, Maglor! He is never going to let you get away that.

Lovely little snippet. Very nice characterization.

[hhimring]

No, Fingon is not going to let Maglor get away with that!
I'm so glad you like it, Oshun, and that you approve of Fingon's tactics here!

[tehta.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this! I like Maglor's threatened "revenge" particularly.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Tehta!
Glad you liked that part!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I liked this. Very well written.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Linda!

[dreamflower]

I love dialogue only stories once in a while! This one is quite nicely done.

Poor Feanorians! Really, they didn't have a clue how to wage war to start with, did they?

[hhimring]

Thank you, Dreamflower!
I tend not to plan dialogue-only stories, particularly, but a lot of my fic is very dialogue-driven, so sometimes they just happen. I'm glad you like this one!
Yes, the Feanorians didn't have a clue how to wage a war to start with--and neither did any of the other Elves!

[silver-trails.livejournal.com]

I like their interaction. Lovely story!

[hhimring]

Thank you very much!

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

‘That was not what I meant!’

Oh those pesky elves, turning something into entirely different to evade the question. And they won, but the 4th battle would be even more disastrous with Dorthonion lost as well. One should think they'd learnt from the strategical (or were they? They did kind of lure the enemy into a trap South where the Southern Noldor elves & Cirdan took care of them, and with the forces marching upon them at Lothlan and Ard-Galen, those forces of evil had nowhere to go). :) Two strong voiced elves here Himring, one cannot convince the other of their point of view so easily.

[hhimring]

Yes, the description of the battle is very brief--but clearly it wasn't altogether to Morgoth's advantage that he managed to break through into southern Beleriand, because he actually lost those troops and they were not available to him in the main battle, in which he was defeated. But they did manage to do "much evil" before they were stopped, so obviously it cannot have been part of the plan!
I imagine the Noldor did try to learn from all this--but unfortunately Morgoth did as well...
I don't think Fingon has entirely convinced Maglor, no, and Maglor is being a bit evasive, yes! But that doesn't mean Maglor doesn't feel comforted at all.
Thank you very much for reading and commenting!

[huinare.livejournal.com]

I like how they each have very different ways of describing "how the battle began." Poor Maglor. Hopefully his mood will lift a bit after he starts doing what he loves.

[hhimring]

Thank you, Huin!
Maglor's mood will definitely lift, once he starts playing--and he's such a professional that he won't let anyone notice he was depressed at all.

[zdenka]

I liked this! Dialogue-only can be a tricky form to pull off, but you certainly do here, with both voices being very distinct. I like how Fingon is able to cheer Maglor up a bit (though I admit I enjoy Maglor's sense-of-responsibilty angst too).

[hhimring]

Thank you!
This came to me as a dialogue and, when I began to write it down, I found I didn't really want to add a narrative frame...
Good to hear that you're rooting for both sides, as it were!
This is sort of a companion piece to "The Glory in "'Glorious'", which was also a B2MeM piece about the Daglor Aglareb and is very much about praising the praiseworthy--here I let the sense-of-responsibility angst back in a bit.

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Oh, but I love this conversation as each ponders the meaning--and costs--of war and victory. No win goes without payment in blood and lives, unfortunately.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much, Larner!
Yes, no victory happens without losses and very few successes are entirely unqualified...

[zopyrus.livejournal.com]

I love your Fingon so much--he is irrepressible. And you evoke so much with so few words--it really does feel like a snatch of conversation between two quite different people.

[hhimring]

Thank you very much! I'm glad it feels like a real snatch of conversation!
And I'm happy you like Fingon here! My Fingon isn't always quite so irrepressible...

[ysilme]

(sorry for the deleted first comment, wrong browser tab... *sigh* )

I really like this. Of course Maglor would feel this way, and would not be able to leave the guilt and grief behind easily. You make his pain and regret very palpable, very real.

[hhimring]

Had you been reading my and Jenni's take on the prompt side by side, maybe?
Thank you for reading and commenting! I'm glad you found Maglor's point of view convincing!

[ysilme]

Not reading, I didn't want to read two answers to one prompt close to each other. But I had written my reviews offline and posted several simultaneously.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

Wonderful work. I love how this relies on dialogue so entirely and still brings their personalities and mindsets through beyond what's on the page.

[hhimring]

Thank you!
I'm glad the dialogue format worked so well for you here!