[It's said as a question as much as a statement, and he does not elaborate further on who it was that told him, or what his thoughts on the matter might be, not on what little he knows of it. Maglor has done little to diminish the questions that he has regarding it.]
Yes. [ a small nod ] When King Thingol of Doriath - he who was once Elwë, King Olwë's brother, - when he learnt of... the our Doom and our... manner of arrival, he banned all Quenya from being spoken or used in his kingdom. [ He refused to countenance any dealings with us also Maglor doesn't say ] And since he was lord of the largest and greatest of the moriquendi kingdoms... it became widely accepted so, even by those who were technically not under his lordship.
It was easier for all of us to... follow suit. [ He does not speak of the arguments, the tears, and secret ways many of the Exiles kept their language alive in their families. He does not speak of the way his brothers refused all dealings with their old names ]
[But he hears that which his son does not speak of in his words, faintly only and without the picture being clear yet enough to let him know that the following of the developments was not done in happiness.]
Yet there is no force here which calls for either of you to continue such practice, nor does the language spoken call for your names to be Sindarin. What is it that makes you use them still?
[He will have to remind Maglor of Makalaurë, then, for his son cannot have lost himself too thoroughly to be refound; yet this, he cannot do from a distance, and so it is not the time for that, now.
For a short while, only the wind can be heard, rustling in low trees. Then, Fëanáro picks up another part of his son's words, the third which needs to be taken up.]
You spoke of a young woodland prince's injuries at your brother's hands; for what reason did this come to pass, and are those woodlands those of Mirkwood?
[It would indeed be a cruel twist of fate, to have one in his company sworn to a lord whose son his own sun hurt in such a manner. Dangerous as well, and certainly necessary to know.]
Mirkwood... aye, that was the name Gala... Artanis used. Yes, I think so. I do not know the specifics, atarinya. When I said the prince was wounded sore, he was very close to death, and in no fit state to be answering questions.
But... I recognise Celegorm's hand. [ I recognise my brother's madness ] Artanis told me... that he had beaten and tormented him for being caught trespassing.
Without knowing the details I cannot give you specifics but this is what I guess - not long before your arrival, both castles staged incursions on each other - the Queens taking from those in their service, and placing them on the field of battle. Likely, the prince was one of them. Celegorm was one from our side. He... he took one of our kin from the castle. When I spoke to him, he was wroth with rage at their refusal to leave. And when he returned... the Queen heaped him with praise and reward, and he found the castle also invaded. It.... I think it made him angry, that a place where he was honoured be touched so. [ And there is a world of bitterness in the way he speaks of it ] The prince was unlucky enough to cross his path, and... he used him as an example.
There is one with me who is sworn to him; Tauriel is her name.
What others to you know of who hail from the same realm, or otherwise would owe allegiance to him past the bonds of the courts? [It's not a judgement of what happened, not approval nor disapproval; it's a simple assessment that brings forth this more tactical question. If the prince's state is as bad as Makalaurë tells him, it is likely that there will be demands. And no matter what his opinion might be in the end, if war should come between Tyelkormo and the prince's side, he will stand with his son and unspoken the expectation stands that Maglor will do likewise.]
I have not been keeping abreast of the affairs of the court [ because I do not want to ], but so far as I know, Mirkwood has only its king and his son. There may be others in his service, but I know them not. Further, based on how Artanis speaks of him, I suspect that she is friendly, if not allied to him.
[ The response is dutifully precise, pulling on centuries worth of politicking to tease out nuances of what little he knows ]
There is at least one other who is closely allied to him - I believe I heard tell that a mortal soldier rides with Thranduil. There may be more, I do not know.
[He nods, and briefly raises his head to see if Tauriel is still standing where he last saw her.]
Artanis is from a time far into my future. What can you tell me about the person that she is now? [He has seen her on the network, but hell will freeze over before he contacts her first.]
She is from mine as well, atarinya. But... When I knew her she lived in Doriath and was courted by, and eventually married a Sindarin Prince - Celeborn by name. She is Galadriel, now, and she tells me she has a daughter already full grown and married, in her time. She did not, when I knew her, but... we had fallen out of contact. [ Through our own deeds ]
So far as I know after Doriath she and Celeborn relocated down towards the shore, and settled for a while in Sirion by the harbors, before heading East towards the mountains. I heard some tell they were living near the foothills of the Misty Mountains among the Sindar, but I can tell you little more than that.
What I have seen of her here - she is grown wise and great, with compassion in her heart to balance the fire of her youth. She has suffered, but it has not broken her, but instead forged her anew, bright and brilliant. [ It hurts to look at her, but I am happy that she has found her happiness ]
It is... complicated, atarinya, and bound, as so many things are, with your silmarils. [ Maglor sighs and fiddles with the harp, looking for a way to explain ]
We learnt, eventually, that one of them was in the keeping of the peredhel princess of Sirion. When she did not yield it, we... stormed their camp. [ the words are like ashes in his mouth - Sirion was little more than a glorified refugee camp, far too few guards, and mostly frightened survivors of too many wars and kinslayings - things might have been different if Earendil was home, but he was not, and so... ]
We did not retrieve it, and ... Elwing jumped - to her death, we all thought, leaving behind her two children. Twin boys - Elrond and Elros. Maedhros, sorry, Nyelafinwe and I... we took them with us. [ and perhaps it is notable that Maedhros is the only one he mentions, of all his brothers ] We... I could not tell you with any clarity what we were thinking, that day. I suppose we wanted hostages, if their father came back? I do not know. But... over time... things changed.
[ a long pause, then he admits ] Elrond is as a son to me.
[And here he thought he could steer the conversation to more shores more joyful for his son by way of this question.
But it still tells him much, and more by way of what is not said or mentioned.] How many years have passed for you since then? [How many years has it only been the two of you? (It does not even occur to him to wonder if one of their brothers might have left them instead of passed on, they would not leave their brothers, none of them, not if a choice was possible.]
[Fifty years, at most, and then Maitimo was gone as well... For he knows that he isn't with Makalaurë anymore in the time that he came from.
He's really trying to end the conversation on a positive note, though, mostly because he hopes for that to aid his son's help, if only in the slightest.]
[ Sorry dad, but all Maglor's tales end in tears these days ]
25 years. Not long, as we count it. When ... when they were old enough, Maedhros and I, we decided to let them go - better that they went free of us. [ For we loved them, and would not drag them with us, and even then, we began to see how it must end ]
Not really - but like their parents, the boys were peredhil - half-elven. They grew more swiftly than those of full blood, but slower than Men. By the time they left us, they were mature in body, if not perhaps entirely in mind, eager and ready to see the wide world. [ If, perhaps, supremely irritated and more than a little hurt that their parental figures had suggested that they not come back. Ever. ]
[He still knows little enough of the secondborn that such an union as must have happened between their grandparents does not seem terribly unexpected to him.]
You raised them well. [At least if Elrond as he met him in the Unseelie halls is anything to go by.]
[ that gets a very real smile - whatever his guilt for tangling the twins' fate with his, to heart that Feanor approves is something he never thought to hear ]
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zvi
no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 12:27 pm (UTC)[It's said as a question as much as a statement, and he does not elaborate further on who it was that told him, or what his thoughts on the matter might be, not on what little he knows of it. Maglor has done little to diminish the questions that he has regarding it.]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 12:43 pm (UTC)It was easier for all of us to... follow suit. [ He does not speak of the arguments, the tears, and secret ways many of the Exiles kept their language alive in their families. He does not speak of the way his brothers refused all dealings with their old names ]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 01:13 pm (UTC)Yet there is no force here which calls for either of you to continue such practice, nor does the language spoken call for your names to be Sindarin. What is it that makes you use them still?
no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 01:17 pm (UTC)I have not been Makalaure for a long time, atarinya. I do not know who he is, any longer. And... my brothers dislike such reminders.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 01:34 pm (UTC)For a short while, only the wind can be heard, rustling in low trees. Then, Fëanáro picks up another part of his son's words, the third which needs to be taken up.]
You spoke of a young woodland prince's injuries at your brother's hands; for what reason did this come to pass, and are those woodlands those of Mirkwood?
[It would indeed be a cruel twist of fate, to have one in his company sworn to a lord whose son his own sun hurt in such a manner. Dangerous as well, and certainly necessary to know.]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-11 01:48 pm (UTC)But... I recognise Celegorm's hand. [ I recognise my brother's madness ] Artanis told me... that he had beaten and tormented him for being caught trespassing.
Without knowing the details I cannot give you specifics but this is what I guess - not long before your arrival, both castles staged incursions on each other - the Queens taking from those in their service, and placing them on the field of battle. Likely, the prince was one of them. Celegorm was one from our side. He... he took one of our kin from the castle. When I spoke to him, he was wroth with rage at their refusal to leave. And when he returned... the Queen heaped him with praise and reward, and he found the castle also invaded. It.... I think it made him angry, that a place where he was honoured be touched so. [ And there is a world of bitterness in the way he speaks of it ] The prince was unlucky enough to cross his path, and... he used him as an example.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-14 09:48 am (UTC)What others to you know of who hail from the same realm, or otherwise would owe allegiance to him past the bonds of the courts? [It's not a judgement of what happened, not approval nor disapproval; it's a simple assessment that brings forth this more tactical question. If the prince's state is as bad as Makalaurë tells him, it is likely that there will be demands. And no matter what his opinion might be in the end, if war should come between Tyelkormo and the prince's side, he will stand with his son and unspoken the expectation stands that Maglor will do likewise.]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-14 10:06 am (UTC)[ The response is dutifully precise, pulling on centuries worth of politicking to tease out nuances of what little he knows ]
There is at least one other who is closely allied to him - I believe I heard tell that a mortal soldier rides with Thranduil. There may be more, I do not know.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-14 10:41 am (UTC)Artanis is from a time far into my future. What can you tell me about the person that she is now? [He has seen her on the network, but hell will freeze over before he contacts her first.]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-14 10:58 am (UTC)So far as I know after Doriath she and Celeborn relocated down towards the shore, and settled for a while in Sirion by the harbors, before heading East towards the mountains. I heard some tell they were living near the foothills of the Misty Mountains among the Sindar, but I can tell you little more than that.
What I have seen of her here - she is grown wise and great, with compassion in her heart to balance the fire of her youth. She has suffered, but it has not broken her, but instead forged her anew, bright and brilliant. [ It hurts to look at her, but I am happy that she has found her happiness ]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-14 05:06 pm (UTC)Is her daughter present in this place?
no subject
Date: 2014-06-14 10:44 pm (UTC)Aye. Celebrian is her name - a fine young ellith with her mother's spirit. Her betrothed is
myElrond.no subject
Date: 2014-06-15 09:10 pm (UTC)That explains the feeling of familiarity that Celebrían gave him.]
We have spoken.
[He doesn't comment further, yet his surprise does not give way to the distance that it holds when he speaks of Artanis - at least not yet.]
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Date: 2014-06-16 01:57 am (UTC)[ wistful ] I suppose I should be grateful for a chance to know her here.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 07:48 am (UTC)[He has caught bits and pieces, but not as told by his son, and is curious to hear the whole picture.]
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Date: 2014-06-16 08:05 am (UTC)It is... complicated, atarinya, and bound, as so many things are, with your silmarils. [ Maglor sighs and fiddles with the harp, looking for a way to explain ]
We learnt, eventually, that one of them was in the keeping of the peredhel princess of Sirion. When she did not yield it, we... stormed their camp. [ the words are like ashes in his mouth - Sirion was little more than a glorified refugee camp, far too few guards, and mostly frightened survivors of too many wars and kinslayings - things might have been different if Earendil was home, but he was not, and so... ]
We did not retrieve it, and ... Elwing jumped - to her death, we all thought, leaving behind her two children. Twin boys - Elrond and Elros. Maedhros, sorry, Nyelafinwe and I... we took them with us. [ and perhaps it is notable that Maedhros is the only one he mentions, of all his brothers ] We... I could not tell you with any clarity what we were thinking, that day. I suppose we wanted hostages, if their father came back? I do not know. But... over time... things changed.
[ a long pause, then he admits ] Elrond is as a son to me.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 08:13 am (UTC)But it still tells him much, and more by way of what is not said or mentioned.] How many years have passed for you since then? [How many years has it only been the two of you? (It does not even occur to him to wonder if one of their brothers might have left them instead of passed on, they would not leave their brothers, none of them, not if a choice was possible.]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 08:40 am (UTC)Sirion was some 50 years ago now. [ 50 years. So long, and so short. 50 years and now I am alone ]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 08:58 am (UTC)He's really trying to end the conversation on a positive note, though, mostly because he hopes for that to aid his son's help, if only in the slightest.]
How long was it that Elrond stayed with you?
/arbritarily picks a date
Date: 2014-06-16 09:03 am (UTC)25 years. Not long, as we count it. When ... when they were old enough, Maedhros and I, we decided to let them go - better that they went free of us. [ For we loved them, and would not drag them with us, and even then, we began to see how it must end ]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 09:34 am (UTC)Children in Middle Earth grow more swiftly than those in Aman?
no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 09:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 10:55 am (UTC)You raised them well. [At least if Elrond as he met him in the Unseelie halls is anything to go by.]
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Date: 2014-06-16 11:45 am (UTC)Thank you atarinya. I am glad you thought so.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-16 12:01 pm (UTC)But we need to end here - I will message you again in a few days.
(no subject)
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