A New Family
Mar. 25th, 2017 11:21 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
engarian.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
b2memB2MeM Prompt and Path:They who dream by day, Red
Format:Ficlet
Genre:Gapfiller
Rating:PG
Warnings:None
Characters:Maedhros
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 Sirion, Maedhros and Maglor had two young peredhil to care for – Elwing’s children. It could have been very bad, with the children treated as high-born prisoners, but the ancient records seem to suggest a sense of family bonds instead of acrimony.
A New Family
After Sirion, things changed. The toll we had paid as we attempted to recapture Lúthien’s Silmaril was blood and death. Prior to this we had spread responsibility between several of us, but this time our casualties had been high. Now just the two of us along with several lesser guards and grooms remained, plus we had Elwing’s two boys – Elros and Elrond. I made the decision that we split watch between the day and night so that one of us would always be awake and available if needed.
Maglor and his music – no matter how muffled the harp strings were, the notes would still float far in the nighttime silence, and even though he offered to not play, I couldn’t torture him in that way. Taking away his music would diminish him at a time when I needed his calm intelligence to balance my temper and sometimes brash decisions. I scheduled him for the day while I took the night, which meant my sleep time was during the day.
Even though the boys were still shocked by the events leading to their capture, and by their mother’s rash act of flinging herself from the lighthouse walkway, they were still young children and they couldn’t stay silent for long. They fought and they wrestled. They acted out dramas. They played “warrior” and “scout”. Sometimes they even sang along with Maglor as he played well-known tunes for them. The word silence did not appear to be in their realm of experience.
By the time three weeks had passed I wondered how our mother had ever managed. Life with children was a series of never-ending mishaps and moods. The twins behaved the same way as my younger brothers had during the days of their extreme youth, but without my mother around the corner to administer discipline with a firm hand. Because they were awake during the day, my scheduled ‘sleep’ time, they had started to bond with Maglor, but they were still distant and a bit frightened of me. That fear, however, didn’t keep their high voices from waking me numerous times throughout every day. I started to think that two hours of uninterrupted sleep might be the best I could hope for.
A month after we had fled from Sirion, I awakened near dusk to see one of the boys sitting a short distance away from me, staring at me unflinchingly, a hot cup of tea cradled in his hands. “Atar Maedhros, here. This is for you,” he said quietly as he thrust the cup in my general direction. As I reached across my body to grab the tea, my stump collided with his wrist and the hot liquid suddenly splashed over both of us.
A surprised scream followed by tears resulted in my pulling the young elf into my lap, cradling him in my arms and whispering nothings to him. I assured him that I was fine and that everything was all right. It was a familiar memory of many times I had calmed my younger brothers as we had grown up.
Suddenly I realized that I was determined to protect these two precious lives. I wanted these two young elves to have a life with as much safety as possible as well as whatever love I could give them. Their dreams would become mine.
I looked across the fire to see my brother and the other peredhil looking at me. Maglor pulled the other young one to his side talking gently to him.
As the sun went down and we all ate together, I felt the bonds of a new family growing. My dreams of a family of my own may have broken upon my father’s Oath, but I had been given a second chance. I would not waste it.
Format:Ficlet
Genre:Gapfiller
Rating:PG
Warnings:None
Characters:Maedhros
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 Sirion, Maedhros and Maglor had two young peredhil to care for – Elwing’s children. It could have been very bad, with the children treated as high-born prisoners, but the ancient records seem to suggest a sense of family bonds instead of acrimony.
A New Family
After Sirion, things changed. The toll we had paid as we attempted to recapture Lúthien’s Silmaril was blood and death. Prior to this we had spread responsibility between several of us, but this time our casualties had been high. Now just the two of us along with several lesser guards and grooms remained, plus we had Elwing’s two boys – Elros and Elrond. I made the decision that we split watch between the day and night so that one of us would always be awake and available if needed.
Maglor and his music – no matter how muffled the harp strings were, the notes would still float far in the nighttime silence, and even though he offered to not play, I couldn’t torture him in that way. Taking away his music would diminish him at a time when I needed his calm intelligence to balance my temper and sometimes brash decisions. I scheduled him for the day while I took the night, which meant my sleep time was during the day.
Even though the boys were still shocked by the events leading to their capture, and by their mother’s rash act of flinging herself from the lighthouse walkway, they were still young children and they couldn’t stay silent for long. They fought and they wrestled. They acted out dramas. They played “warrior” and “scout”. Sometimes they even sang along with Maglor as he played well-known tunes for them. The word silence did not appear to be in their realm of experience.
By the time three weeks had passed I wondered how our mother had ever managed. Life with children was a series of never-ending mishaps and moods. The twins behaved the same way as my younger brothers had during the days of their extreme youth, but without my mother around the corner to administer discipline with a firm hand. Because they were awake during the day, my scheduled ‘sleep’ time, they had started to bond with Maglor, but they were still distant and a bit frightened of me. That fear, however, didn’t keep their high voices from waking me numerous times throughout every day. I started to think that two hours of uninterrupted sleep might be the best I could hope for.
A month after we had fled from Sirion, I awakened near dusk to see one of the boys sitting a short distance away from me, staring at me unflinchingly, a hot cup of tea cradled in his hands. “Atar Maedhros, here. This is for you,” he said quietly as he thrust the cup in my general direction. As I reached across my body to grab the tea, my stump collided with his wrist and the hot liquid suddenly splashed over both of us.
A surprised scream followed by tears resulted in my pulling the young elf into my lap, cradling him in my arms and whispering nothings to him. I assured him that I was fine and that everything was all right. It was a familiar memory of many times I had calmed my younger brothers as we had grown up.
Suddenly I realized that I was determined to protect these two precious lives. I wanted these two young elves to have a life with as much safety as possible as well as whatever love I could give them. Their dreams would become mine.
I looked across the fire to see my brother and the other peredhil looking at me. Maglor pulled the other young one to his side talking gently to him.
As the sun went down and we all ate together, I felt the bonds of a new family growing. My dreams of a family of my own may have broken upon my father’s Oath, but I had been given a second chance. I would not waste it.
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no subject
Date: 2017-03-25 05:25 pm (UTC)That's beautiful, and such a natural evolution of love.
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Date: 2017-03-25 07:51 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2017-03-25 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-25 07:52 pm (UTC)*hugs*
- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2017-03-26 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 04:16 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2017-03-26 06:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 04:17 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 01:03 pm (UTC)I don't have the knowledge or detail yet, to make any meaningful infill even just in my, 'mind canon'. So I absolutely loved reading this.
You brought them together with hope for them all. Even though driven to kill by the terrible oath, Maglor and Maedros still had goodness in their hearts.
Here Elrond and Elros were their chance to achieve something good with their lives. I can totally believe that.
Well written. XX
no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 04:19 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2017-03-26 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 05:22 pm (UTC)- Erulisse (one L)
no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 06:07 pm (UTC)I think that's why I'd like to explore them more. :D
PS. If you come across any of yours in passing, I'd love to read. Thanks.
no subject
Date: 2017-03-26 06:17 pm (UTC)