Chapter Text
The whole business of trying to locate Maglor using a road map turned out to be rather tedious. The three elves sat down side by side, and Erestor smiled at me.
“Would you mind keeping an eye on us too, my lady? We’re not going to need an anchor, and Elladan will be watching, but just in case we need him to help out with the search itself, it’s good to have someone checking to see that we’re breathing, things like that.”
“Uh, that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, you know.” It really didn’t, and I wasn’t sure what I’d do if something happened like last time.
“Don’t worry, this isn’t dangerous. It’s more like… we’re going to home in on certain locations on the map, for instance, me to the west, Erestor to the east and Elladan sort of hovering above somewhere, think of it as an Elven version of Google Streetview? Then we’ll try and pinpoint Maglor’s location, see if we’re close or if we need to move our search and in what direction.” Glorfindel patted my hand that was clenched hard around my water bottle.
I swallowed hard and nodded. They just said it wouldn’t be dangerous, and Elladan would be watching too. I was up to this. Ok, maybe not, but how hard could it be?
As it turned out, it wasn’t hard at all. They just sat there, eyes closed and all three kept one hand hovering above my map (AA Road Map, 2012 edition) and just did nothing. Nothing visible, at least. I was getting a bit bored when all three of them opened their eyes, Erestor groaning and reaching for his mug of tea, grimacing when he realised the tea had gone cold.
“How long were we out?”
“Oh, maybe half an hour or so? I didn’t check the time, but it feels like you’ve been – out – for a while. I’ll make you some more tea.” I got up and went to put the kettle on. When I came back, they were discussing their lack of success with growing frustration.
“Is the problem the fact that he’s hiding well or why can’t you pinpoint him?” I looked at the three of them, feeling that I ought to be able to help in some way, but not knowing how.
“Actually, I don’t think it’s so much that he’s hiding well… it’s just… it gets blurry at times and then he's just gone again.” Glorfindel sounded almost petulant.
“He’s slippery, I’ll give him that. Damn you Makalaurë, we’re not the bad guys here!” Erestor was clearly frustrated.
I fetched their tea, then sat down again.
“Ok, so he doesn’t know you’re not the bad guys, am I right?” They all nodded. “So, why don’t you let him know that? I’m guessing he can’t make out who you are when you do this hovering over the map thing. Why not give him a shout somehow? Introduce yourselves? He knows who you all are, so that ought to help.”
“He doesn’t know me.”, Elladan pointed out. “He knows Fin and ‘Res, but not me. I wasn’t born until much later, after he’d disappeared into thin air more or less.”
“I disagree. I think he does know you. Why else would he help get you out of police custody? I doubt he was just walking past and thought, hey, there’s a peredhel in there behind bars, why don’t I make them let him go and wipe everyone’s memory?”
“You’re absolutely right.” Erestor looked at me like he’d had a revelation. “He must know Elladan. I suspected during the Ages that Maglor wasn’t as absent as we thought. There were times… do you remember Fin? When the boys were born?”
The look in Glorfindel’s eyes grew distant. “That was the time the waters of the Brúinen sang in joy, was it not? We thought it was Elrond, but he seemed not to know anything about it. It happened again when Arwen was born.”
“And the river sang a dirge when Celebrían left for the Havens…” Erestor’s eyes were suspiciously damp.
“Umm, ok you guys…” I decided to do something about the atmosphere, seeing as Elladan was beginning to look subdued. “What can you do to let Maglor know who you are? Knock on the door, introduce yourselves? Bring a jar of cookies, a flower pot?”
“A flower pot is out of the question”, Erestor replied primly. “He might be a Noldo, but all elves revere living things and avoid capturing animals, cutting down trees or… potting plants.” The last statement was delivered with a curled upper lip.
There was a brief silence, then Elladan started giggling, and that set me and Glorfindel off as well. Erestor tried for the longest time to look disapproving, but his lips twitched, betraying him, and he finally broke and started laughing.
We discussed strategies for a time after that and came up with a rather simple one. Since it was clear Maglor knew Erestor better than the other two (and I was determined I would get the story on that some time), he would reach out with a call on Maglor’s private frequency, or whatever one should call it. This, of course, provided we managed to get a more exact location than “somewhere to the west of where we are”.
Somewhere to the west… now why was there a nagging feeling that I had the answer right there? Then it hit me:
“Maglor was wandering the seashore for millennia, wasn’t he? It said in the Silmarillion he wandered along the shores of the world, singing his laments. So if he’s west of here, I’d wager he’s somewhere on the west coast. Would he be drawn to places with people, or would he prefer to be alone?”
Glorfindel and Erestor exchanged looks.
“If I were to guess, I’d say he’d go for populated places”, Fin mused. “It’s not so much the people perhaps, as it is the music. He thrives on it, and I think the folk music on this island would delight him.”
“Then again, with technology these days, he wouldn’t need to be among people in order to have music 24/7”, I pointed out. “He’d need a smart phone and a decent internet connection, that’s all.”
“True, but I think Fin is right. He’d prefer the music being played live. That way he could join in if he felt like it.” Erestor’s smile was wistful.
“All right then, the west coast it is. Concentrate on the Galway area, maybe Sligo, Limerick… but Galway would be my best bet, as it’s a fairly large town and known for its music scene.”
They nodded in unison and homed in on the map again. Before they had settled down for the next session, Elladan leapt to his feet, eyes shining.
“I’m going to leave you to it for a while, I need to make a phone call. Can I borrow your phone Fin?”
The blonde nodded and threw him the phone, which he caught deftly. He ran outside, and the rest of us stared after him. Fin shrugged minutely, then focused on the map again and closed his eyes. Erestor sat frowning a while, looking towards the empty doorway, then followed Glorfindel’s lead.
I sat there looking at the two of them a minute or two, then carefully edged towards the window. I knew snooping wasn’t really nice, but I was really curious about what Elladan was up to. I saw him just outside the house, speaking animatedly on the phone. His face was lit up with happiness, and he was gesturing wildly with his free hand. Who was he talking to that made him look like that? I felt a quick stab of something that resembled jealousy, but quickly quashed it. I had no claim to Elladan, and it wasn’t my business if he had a special someone.
I went back to the sofa and realised to my mortification that the two older elves had come out of their trancelike state and were staring at me. I blushed deeply and sat down, avoiding their eyes.
“It would have been easier to just ask us.” I’d never heard Fin sound so severe.
“I know… I’m sorry. I was just…” I broke off, realising I really had no good excuse.
Just then Elladan entered the room again. He stopped just inside the door, looking at us quizzically.
“So… what’s up?” None of us answered and he shrugged and went on: “I called Elrohir. He gave me a shout, but he was far enough away that it was easier to talk on the phone. He’s coming to Dublin tomorrow, can we pick him up? Did you find Maglor?”
He got no reply this time either. My mind was reeling, and I couldn’t really have managed any intelligible words at that moment. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought about Elladan’s twin earlier, as in Tolkien’s writings they were virtually inseparable. It had just slipped my mind somehow, and I could only blame the fact that we were looking for a son of Fëanor, not to mention we had discovered Sauron was still around. One would have been enough for my mind to go into overdrive. But Elrohir was on his way? He was coming here?
Erestor was the first to recover.
“Of course we can pick him up. Did you get his flight details?” At Elladan’s nod, Erestor went on: “We have some news too, and then I think it’s about time we got some sleep. At least our mortal lady is going to need more than a couple of hours.”
“Ah, yes… I forgot to ask about that. How much sleep do you guys need?”
“Not a whole lot. We can get by without sleeping at all for weeks, maybe more, no problem. The older we get, the less sleep we need. You need to sleep though, and now would be a good idea. It’s been a long, long day.”
“It has indeed, but I would like to know what you found out about…”
“No. Go get some sleep, we’ll talk in the morning”, Erestor said firmly.
I sighed but had to admit sleep sounded like a great idea, as I’d been up for nearly twenty hours at this. I nearly fell into bed and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
*******
We were served a fantastic Irish breakfast at the main house the next morning. After packing our things, we checked out and headed back towards Dublin and the airport to fetch Elrohir. During the drive, Glorfindel and Erestor gave a short report on their search for Maglor. Very short. It turned out they located him in Galway, but he wouldn’t answer Erestor’s hail, and when Fin tried, he ignored him too. Of course, this meant as soon as Elrohir was on board, we would be heading to Galway.
There was another little problem we had to solve first, and that was the fact that the Golf was nice enough but put four freakishly tall Elves and one human in it, and it would get rather crowded. We stopped by the car rental to exchange it for a really anonymous black SUV. When we got to the airport Elrohir’s flight had just landed, and we only had to wait a few minutes near the arrivals gate before a tall, dark-haired figure came striding towards us.
Elladan threw himself at his twin, hugging him hard and mumbling something in his ear before turning around, grinning happily. Glorfindel was next up, embracing the younger elf fondly and patting his back. Erestor’s sharp eyes scanned every detail of the peredhel, then he smiled and gave him a quick hug as well. And then it was my turn.
Elrohir stepped in front of me, studying me silently for a few seconds. I refused to be intimidated by his cool appraisal, so I repaid him in the same currency. Elrohir had the same delicate facial structure as Elladan did, but then so did the other two elves. His eyes were a light grey, just like Elladan’s, his eyebrows were dark, his hair was just as dark, although longer, and his mouth was just as sensuous. The twins were the same height and build, and it was clear they were siblings. This, however, was where the similarities ended.
One of the things that had endeared Elladan to me from the first time I met him, was his easygoing personality combined with a wicked sense of humour and a certain flirtatiousness. His brother seemed to possess none of those traits. His mouth formed a thin line and his eyes were icy as they trailed over me, noting my short dark hair, the streaks of vivid blue and green in it, my clothes (seriously, what’s wrong with ripped jeans and Doc Martens?) and my general appearance. His eyes stopped at chest level, widening a little as he slowly read the text on my t-shirt.
“Morgoth than you? Really?”
“It’s very nice to meet you too. You guys all make such great first impressions.” Yes, I do sarcasm from time to time and Elrohir was really beginning to piss me off. He opened his mouth as if to reply, but no sound came out.
I heard a strange, spluttering noise from Erestor and Glorfindel sounded like a strangling chicken. To my astonishment I realised they were both laughing. Next thing I knew, Elladan grabbed me and kissed me soundly on both cheeks, then took my right hand and twirled me around in a little improvised dance. He finished with a flourish and bowed deeply, looking up at me with a huge grin.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you so much from the very beginning! You can dumbfound Elrohir! I thought the only ones who could shame him to silence were ‘Res and Grandmother!”
Recalling who their grandmother was, I couldn’t help feeling somewhat flattered. I also felt way too many eyes on us, maybe because we were in the middle of Dublin airport and were behaving rather oddly. The fact that I was one lonely goth girl surrounded by four tall, stunningly beautiful males with their attention trained on me probably made this look like a photo or movie shoot.
“Um, guys… I think we should leave before we draw more attention”, I muttered. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but we were supposed to keep a low profile, yes?”
We quickly made our way outside the airport terminal and to the car. Elrohir had only a fairly small carry-on that hardly took up any space at all, and once we were all settled in the car, Glorfindel riding in the back with the twins, we were off towards Galway. I was thankful I got to ride shotgun this time, as I wasn’t sure I could be civil towards Elrohir quite yet. I’d wait for his apology before deciding if he was worth my time or not.
For most part of the drive, I ignored the chatter in the backseat. It seemed to be mostly Fin and Elladan talking, but Elrohir made a comment every now and then. I gathered the twins hadn’t seen each other in quite a while, although exactly how long they’d been apart was never mentioned. I concentrated on the scenery instead, all the different shades of green of the landscape, the rivers, the small towns and villages. We stopped in Athlone to have a quick lunch and I got to admire the river Shannon before we drove on. It was late afternoon when we rolled into Galway and found ourselves a boarding house to stay in.
Once we’d gotten settled, we gathered in the room Erestor shared with Fin. I dug out my road map again and folded it to show the city maps that were printed on the back of it. Glorfindel and Erestor did a quick search using the map of Galway city, and determined Maglor was indeed within the city limits, and what was more, he seemed to be staying in the same place rather than moving about.
“So, who’s for going out for a taste of Galway night life?” I was definitely going out, but I’d rather not go alone, in case I ran into Maglor. Or someone else… I shuddered at that thought. No matter that Sauron had lost most of his powers, I really didn’t want to meet him face to face.
“We’ll all go. We’re not letting you out on your own in case Maglor is out and not in an understanding mood. And there are others.” I was grateful for Erestor’s firm reply.
We tried a couple of pubs not far from our boarding house first, but there was no live music in either until later in the evening. Then we got lucky, because the next bar had a live band playing when we walked in. It was a large place, with several floors and a big stage. It was still fairly early, so we found a table not far from the stage and made ourselves comfortable.
We were into our third round of pints when he appeared. Erestor saw him first and hissed out a warning to the rest of us. Elrohir got quietly to his feet and disappeared into the crowd, while I scanned the people closest to us, trying to spot the son of Fëanor. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was bouncing off my ribs, rather painful if you asked me.
Then I saw him. He was hiding his otherness, but I was used to that by now and recognised him easily. It helped that he was at least half a head taller than anybody else in the bar. His dark hair was caught up in a high ponytail, and his silvery eyes were sharp as they swept the room, watchful but in a strangely relaxed manner. It hit me then that there were probably not many who could take him in a fight, if he had the power in his voice that Glorfindel described. He could probably drop everyone in this place if he needed to.
And my god, was he beautiful! Glorfindel was my angel, Erestor, as I think I mentioned was sex on legs, and both Elladan and Elrohir were gorgeous, but Maglor was transcendent. I couldn’t understand why the people around him didn’t just fall to their knees and worship him straight away. Even if he masked some of his glow and muted his charisma, it was still enough to make anyone turn into a screaming fangirl.
I had to literally tear my eyes off him in order not to embarrass myself. I surreptitiously kept an eye on him still, and I could tell the others did too, but no open staring. Then suddenly there was a change in the music coming from the stage. Instead of the folk rock with lots of amplification that had been blasting our ears, there was the strum of a single acoustic guitar, and a voice began singing. And what a voice! It was a man’s voice, fairly deep and throbbing with emotion, and it might sound cliché, but the buzz of the bar died down and all you could hear was that lovely voice singing in a language I didn’t know.
The elves did though, and it appeared they knew who the singer was too. It wasn’t so hard to figure out, as Elrohir was missing and Elladan was looking pensive.
I must have been distracted by the singing, because out of the blue there was a son of Fëanor standing next to our table, and I suspected I wasn’t the only one taken by surprise.
“Elros?” Maglor’s eyes looked unfocused, the earlier sharpness all gone. He tilted his head slightly and looked down at Elladan. “Elrond?” His voice wavered, as if he knew there was something wrong with his memories and he was trying to reconcile what he was seeing and hearing with what he knew was reality. There was a strange buzzing in my ears, and I noted absently that a few people at the table next to ours rubbed their ears and grimaced as if something was bothering them.
“Makalaurë… please, sit down.” Erestor’s voice was softer than I’d ever heard before. He stretched out a hand and gestured slowly towards a free chair. To my surprise, he had tears in his eyes. Glorfindel looked rather moved as well.
He sank down onto the chair like his legs had just given out on him. His eyes were still trained on Elladan, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.
“Elrond? No… it can’t be. And who is that singing in Sindarin?”
“My name’s Elladan, Elrond is my father. And the singer is my twin brother Elrohir”, Elladan explained.
“Ah… I remember now, more twins in the family… and a lovely little girl. Where is she, your sister? Arwen?”
Elladan looked down at his hands that were clenched into fists and swallowed hard without answering. I moved closer to him and without even thinking about it put my arm around him, squeezing lightly. The buzzing noise swelled into a crescendo and my ears popped painfully as if I was on a plane having trouble with the air pressure. Glorfindel leaned forward and put a hand on Maglor’s shoulder.
“Kano… you have to restrain your song. You’re hurting people. Please. I understand this is hard for you, but for their sakes. Our mortal companion here is in pain and she’s not the only one.”
Maglor looked at me then, I mean really looked at me, and his eyes slowly returned to focus again. His chest heaved as if he had been running hard, and his cheeks had bright red spots. I could feel the pressure in my ears easing up and sighed in relief. Elrohir reappeared at our table and glared at me, then looked very pointedly at my arm that was still draped over Elladan’s shoulders. I blushed and made to pull away, but to my surprise Elladan snuggled closer and threw a defiant look at his twin. I felt rather uncomfortable meeting Elrohir’s death glare, as I really didn’t want to be the cause of bad blood between the brothers.
“Never mind Elrohir. His problem is with me, not you, but he took it out on you from the first moment, and now he’s too pigheaded to come clean and apologise.” Elladan’s voice was low, but I was sure the others at our table could hear every word.
“And you’re being so very mature and not rubbing my face in it aren’t you?” Elrohir’s reply was full of vitriol.
“Hey, you guys! One, I’m right here, so if you have a problem with me, say so, two, I don’t appreciate being used as an excuse for getting into some family fight and three, no fratricide please. You two love each other, now deal with it.” I was fed up with this childish behaviour from guys that were thousands of years old. They were scowling at each other, neither of them giving an inch.
“Boys.” That one word from Erestor had them both sitting bolt upright, eyes downcast, looking for all the world as if they’d had a real dressing-down, instead of just one quiet word from their former tutor.
And then Maglor laughed. It began as a low chuckle, and grew until he was gasping for air, tears running down his face. All around us people at the neighbouring tables began to laugh as well, some so hard they were doubled over, others wiping tears of mirth. Glorfindel grimaced and grabbed Maglor’s shoulder.
“You need to stop that Makalaurë. Stop it now, or we’ll all be in trouble. You know there are still enemies out there, we need to keep a low profile. Stop, for the love of Eru.”
And just like that, the laughter dissipated. People began looking around uneasily, as if wondering what the hell just happened, and I heard some asking just that. We needed to get out of the place and find somewhere more private. It dawned on me that Maglor might not be precisely mad, but he wasn’t quite stable either.
“What would you all say to a nightcap and a little talk in private?” I clambered to my feet and grabbed my denim coat and purse.
“Nightcap?” It was Maglor.
“I bought a bottle of Connemara single malt at an off license today. We have rooms at a boarding house in town. Questions?” Why was I being facetious talking to a prince of the Noldor? Too much beer and too many elves in one day perhaps? He didn’t seem to mind though, which was a relief.
“No questions. Are we leaving then?”
Back at the boarding house, I gave them instructions to bring glasses from their rooms since I only had two, plus two teacups in my room. I freshened up quickly, then unlocked the door to let them all in. And let me tell you, this was quite a sight. Five stupidly tall, gorgeous guys with pointed ears filing into my room, finding seats and leaving the luxurious armchair to me. I felt like a queen, if queens wear ripped jeans and t-shirts.
I’d placed the bottle on the tiny table next to the armchair, and now I made a gesture towards it.
“Be my guests. I bought it in case of an emergency, and this seems about right.”
It was Elrohir who leaned forward first, grabbed the bottle and cracked it open. Then to my immense surprise, he took a glass, filled it halfway up and looked at me questioningly.
“Do you need more my lady? Seeing as you’ve had to put up with a lot of foolishness today, I think you deserve this. I sincerely apologise for being an ass. I’ve been known for doing that from time to time.”
“Uh… apology accepted, although don’t get the idea I’m letting you off easily here. It’s a start though. The drink is fine like that – if I need more I’ll just fill the glass again.”
They all filled their glasses, and we gave a silent toast and took a swig of the whiskey. Then Maglor cleared his throat.
“I feel like I should begin by apologising as well. I lost control over there, briefly, but that was enough to be dangerous. I am usually better at controlling myself, but…” He chuckled uneasily and looked around the room. “It just brought back memories that have been, not forgotten, but buried under other memories. Erestor telling the twins off quietly like that… he sounded just like Nelyo with Elrond and Elros. It’s been a long time since I thought of that. And you boys, you’re so very similar in many ways to my boys, to our boys…” He broke off and turned away and I could see his shoulders shaking.
Erestor shifted closer to Maglor on the edge of the bed and put a hand affectionately on his shoulder. Then he simply turned him around and pulled him into his arms, cradling him gently and mumbling soothing words in yet another language I didn’t understand. They sat like that for some time, while the rest of us looked away to try to give them some privacy. Finally Maglor straightened up and wiped his wet face with the back of his hand, looking embarrassed but relieved at the same time.
“Are you all right Grandfather?”, came Elladan’s quiet voice from the other side of the bed. His eyes were huge and glistened suspiciously.
Maglor’s intake of breath was clearly audible in a room that had suddenly gone deathly quiet. He scrambled towards the door, but the twins were faster and positioned themselves between their adopted grandfather and the exit. And then they pounced.
Oh come on, you didn’t think they’d harm him, did you? They smothered him in a double embrace so tight, there was no chance he could get out of it before they decided to let him go. That didn’t look to be happening any time soon. It didn’t look like he was trying very hard to escape either.
The brothers led Maglor back to the bed and sat down, keeping him between them all the time. They weren’t talking, yet I got the impression there was a lot of communication going on. Erestor and Glorfindel moved closer to me, giving the three more space. Erestor’s eyes were wet, and Fin’s customary cheerfulness was subdued. I waved the whiskey bottle in a silent invitation, and they both nodded and held out their glasses for a refill.
We sat there in silence for maybe half an hour, nursing our drinks, until the family reunion seemed to come to and end. Elrohir got to his feet and cleared his throat several times, then said in a voice that only wavered a little:
“I guess you know him already… well, maybe not personally my lady… but I’d like to introduce our grandfather Makalaurë. Although he wants to be called Maglor now, and we’re not going to argue over trifles. He may not be our grandfather by blood, but we accept and love and claim him as such and Eru Allfather be our witness.”
Erestor and Glorfindel gasped, and I swallowed hard. Invoking Eru as witness… somehow made Elrohir’s words ring in the air. The reason for the tears burning in my eyes, however, wasn’t that, but the look in Maglor’s eyes when Elrohir claimed him as kin. I wondered how long he had been without the companionship and love of a family.
Erestor got to his feet and threw his arms around both boys, and yes, I’ll call them boys if I want to, holding them close and whispering loving words. Fin stretched out his hands and gripped Maglor’s forearms in what I thought was described as a warrior’s greeting, and the two of them just nodded at each other, then let go.
Then it was my turn. The full power of those silver eyes was turned on me and my legs were jello in seconds. It was a real stroke of luck I was still sitting down, because if I hadn’t been, I might have swooned like some damsel in a romance novel.
“My grandsons tell me you’re the reason they found me so quickly. That if it hadn’t been for you, they’d still be searching blindly.” It wasn’t just his eyes, his voice was absolutely mesmerising too.
“They’re exaggerating. I helped some, but they would have found you without my help. And I definitely didn’t help with the jedi stuff!”
Elrohir groaned at that. “Can’t you just accept a thanks woman?”, he demanded irritably.
“Of course I can, if I get one and I feel it’s justifiable!”
Maglor chuckled and turned to his grandson. “You know, the lady has a point. None of us thanked her, although I was getting there… and I believe you owe her a real apology child.”
Elrohir blushed a deep, deep red at that. He gave his brother a helpless look, but Elladan just shrugged innocently as if to say “don’t ask me”.
“I… apologise for being rude and unfriendly. I got the wrong impression… I thought you were Elladan’s mortal lover and was afraid for my brother’s sake. For his heartbreak. I don’t want to lose him you see, and I think you know what heartbreak can do to an Elf.”
“You thought what? I met Elladan yesterday for fuck’s sake, how did you think we’d have had time to get up to something like that?”
Elrohir refused to answer that, he just shook his head miserably, and I melted at his woebegone expression.
“I think I can forgive you, but please, in the future, give a girl a chance before you bite her head off will you? I like Elladan, and I think I could grow to like you as well, but not if you treat me like a leper. And enough with the apologising already, let’s have another drink and maybe sort a few things out!”
The laughter that followed my last words was relieved. Elladan gave me a thankful look and a nod, and Glorfindel clapped me on the shoulder. We filled our glasses again and Erestor proposed a toast to finding what was lost, definitely something all of us could drink to. I couldn’t stop myself from launching into a quote from The Lord of the Rings, and we were all taken aback when it turned out Maglor had watched the movies several times. He had read the books too, which prompted me to ask if they represented the truth.
They all looked at each other. Maglor shrugged, and the other elves grinned.
“There are things that are correct, and things that are less so. Some of the details probably stem from the author’s own prejudices and opinions, while others might represent honest mistakes or faulty memories.” Glorfindel looked thoughtful.
“Are you saying you met the Professor Fin?” My eyes were probably the size of dinner plates.
“I did, but only once, during the Great War. I was working as a nurse, and as he’d fallen ill, he spent quite a bit of time in the hospital where I worked. He was already working on his stories at that time, and I must have let slip something or other… but he was feverish a lot of the time, and that may have affected his memory.”
Elladan and Elrohir confessed to having met Tolkien as well, but claimed they had told him very little, just a bit of the story of Beren and Lúthien. This made Maglor groan.
“So you were the ones who got him into that? I met the man a few times in Oxford, and he was obsessed with those two! I tried to tell him the truth, but he’d evidently made his mind up about who was the hero and who was the villain.”
“So are there any elves the Professor didn’t meet? I am beginning to lose faith here…” I was more than a bit grouchy to be honest, it’s not fun to have your illusions turned into smithereens.
“I never met him”, Erestor stated. “If I had, the stories would be correct.”
To jeers and cheers, we filled our glasses with Irish whiskey once again and this time the toast was to truths, lies and Erestor. We polished off the bottle in a very short time, and then decided it was time to get some rest. I suspected they were being polite, as I definitely needed more sleep than any of them. Maglor would spend the night in the twins’ room, and we would all meet for breakfast next morning.
Just when they were at the door, I thought of something.
“You don’t suppose Sauron met… nah, never mind, that was an insane idea. Good night everyone!”