http://engarian.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] engarian.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] b2mem2017-03-22 07:44 pm

An Unexpected Visitor

B2MeM Prompt and Path:Remembering, Red
Format:Ficlet
Genre:Mystery
Rating:PG
Warnings:None
Characters:Maglor, Daeron
Pairings:None
Creator’s Notes:Tolkien provided the sandbox, I merely play with the bucket and shovel he left behind. No profit of any kind is made from my fanworks.
Summary:After seeing a strange sight at the far end of a stormy sea, Maglor admits his unease.




An Unexpected Visitor


It was on days like this that he was most restless. The storm was blowing in from the West, the waves crashing against the cliffs, wearing them away little by little. He would wander, sometimes for days, just following the shoreline from above, hoping to hear familiar voices in the winds or waters. It never happened, but he never stopped listening.

This night, as the sun moved behind the storm clouds, he thought he saw something in the far distance, but it was there and gone so quickly that he discounted his vision. He stood for a moment longer, then threw his catch basket over his shoulder and headed to the small hut he shared with his friend.

"Daeron, I found crabs for dinner," he said as he entered the one-room shack they called home.

"I thought you might. The water is almost at a boil. Pass them over, I'll get them cleaned." The other Master Musician of Middle Earth reached out for the basket. "It's sounding windy out there. Storm coming?"

"Yeah, it looks like a big one. I hope you got that one corner of the roof fixed or we're going to have a wet bed by morning." Maglor walked over to one of the two stools placed by the side of the hearth. As Daeron cleaned the crabs, layering them with fresh herbs and spices inside foil wrap, he reached over to his harp.

Daeron cast a sharp glance toward his friend, but kept silent as Maglor's long fingers began to explore the strings of the lap harp. The tune he was composing was melancholic, with an undertone of rebellion and a phrase here and there that he recognized from earlier works of the harpist. "Bad day for memories?" he asked.

"No worse than normal," Maglor replied, "which isn't really saying much. I saw the oddest thing, though, as I was turning to come home."

"Mmmmm?"

"It was just as the sun was sinking below the shelf cloud and I could have sworn I suddenly saw a spear of brilliant light where no light should have been. But it was so fast, and when I looked again, there was nothing."

"You're not given to flights of imagination. What do you think it might have been?"

"I'm almost afraid to say - but truthfully, it reminded me of the glint of a Silmaril as held in an uplifted hand. I remember my father holding them in that manner when I was young. The light was so intense; it bounced back from the sky as if the light itself was an arrow shot from the strongest crossbow."

"But they are destroyed, except for that carried by Eärendil. You must have imagined it after all."

"It's almost making me sick, that light far away in the ocean like that. My stomach won't stop rolling and my heart is … frightened. I'm frightened, Daeron."

Daeron placed the foil packets on a grate over the coals and walked over, sitting next to Maglor. "Do you think there's reason for fright? Are we in danger? For long years, we've walked these lands hiding in plain sight. It is time for us to move again?"

"I don't know. I don't think so, but I just don't know."

"Well, let's eat and we'll talk things over." A crash of thunder sounded almost over their heads, accompanied by a flash of lightning so close that the smell of ozone permeated the air. The knock on the door was almost anti-climactic.


[identity profile] silverstarspray.livejournal.com 2017-03-23 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
Ooh, what an ominous entrance this mystery-visitor makes--I like it a lot. You've built up Maglor's unease very well. I like the idea of he and Daeron just hanging out together by the beach, too.

[identity profile] silver-trails.livejournal.com 2017-03-23 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe he saw Earendil? I'm curious now! =)

*needs a Daeron icon*

[identity profile] lindahoyland.livejournal.com 2017-03-23 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
Love the air of mystery in this. I wonder whatever they saw?
ext_45018: (tolkien - defying gravity)

[identity profile] oloriel.livejournal.com 2017-03-23 11:44 am (UTC)(link)
Anti-climactic? Certainly not! Who is knocking on their door in the middle of that storm? Is it *dun dun dun* the same hand that earlier uplifted *dun dun dun* an actual Silmaril? Is it time for the end of the world? Is it Mrs. Whatsit? Enquiring minds want to know!

Also, I enjoyed the little domestic scene between the two of them. I know I've said before how much I love the idea of Maglor and Daeron going through the ages together, but it always bears repeating!
Edited 2017-03-23 11:48 (UTC)
ext_45018: (tolkien - iNulindale)

[identity profile] oloriel.livejournal.com 2017-03-23 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I was tempted to complain about the tinfoil but then figured that you had at no point stated that the story was set in the distant past. ^^ Next thought: END TIMES?

Oh, absolutely the same here. Like any good boyband, they're going to break up and make up frequently. For instance, I'm sure that Daeron was on his own during his stunt as the Pied Piper, and wasn't around (or not in the immediate vicinity, at any rate) when Maglor was bishop of Dol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magloire) (the beard is clearly fake ;)). I also think Maglor was aboard Titanic without Daeron, who then believed for decades that Maglor had drowned. DRAMA! Not that I've written about any of these instances yet (although I have occasionally alluded to them in my stories), but I might? At some point?

I certainly hope you'll be continuing this! I'm already hooked. :D
ext_45018: (tolkien - b2mem)

[identity profile] oloriel.livejournal.com 2017-03-24 11:43 am (UTC)(link)
You're very welcome - and thank you for the link!

[identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com 2017-03-23 03:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh - now that is a cliff-hanger indeed.

I do like the idea of the two of them seeing the years pass together.
independence1776: Drawing of Maglor with a harp on right, words "sing of honor lost" and "Noldolantë" on the left and bottom, respectively (Noldolantë)

[personal profile] independence1776 2017-03-28 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the atmosphere in the fic. Anti-climatic? Hardly!