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Celebrian and Earendil were a force to be reckoned with, it turned out, and soon the mariner was ready to enact their plan of finding out if Vingoliant was sea worthy or not. They even managed to convince Maglor to go along, although, as he sat on a bench in Elwing’s garden, he found himself questioning his own sanity.
It had been Celebrian’s idea to bring him along. Elrond had argued against it, in fact, citing Maglor’s millennia of wandering. It seemed he was worried the Feanorian might take off again. Nerdanel had just shrugged and said he had enough cousins they could send after him if he tried it.
But Elrond’s words had put a nervous pit in his stomach, so he had stopped in Elwing’s garden, rather than continuing down to the dock or the sand. It seemed safest to keep his distance, at least for a time. The garden walls almost made him feel isolated from the shore, even if he could still hear the crash of waves and smell the salt.
For a moment, he wasn’t in Valinor at all, but back on Arda, wandering again…. alone….
“Brother!”
The shout pulled him from his thoughts and Maglor sat up quickly.
When he saw Earendil approaching, he couldn’t help the wave of panic that gripped him. At least the Silmaril was somewhere out of sight, safely stowed where Maglor would never have to look at it.
“There you are, brother!” Earendil said happily, throwing his arm over Maglor’s shoulder.
The minstrel choked, at first, unable to manage to ask what the hell the other man was thinking. “Brother?” he managed finally, coughing.
“Well, I just thought-”
“You thought I was your brother?!” Maglor sat upright, staring into Earendil’s wide, innocent blue eyes. Too innocent for everything the man had been through. “Did Idril drop you on your head as a child?”
The mariner blinked. “Elrond calls us both father, doesn’t he?”
Maglor winced at the reminder. “That doesn’t make us-”
“Why not?”
Maglor opened his mouth, then slowly closed it. Then he swallowed. “Did my mother hit you on the head?” It seemed likely. He still wasn’t certain how Nerdanel had so easily gotten them both under control.
“No one hit me on the head, Kanafinwe,” he said kindly.
Maglor still had doubts, resisting the urge to pull away from the mariner’s embrace. “I shall take you at your word, then.”
In the distance he could see Celebrian, dressed in loose-fitting trousers, laughing as she climbed Vingoliant’s masts as easily as though it were a tree back in her native forests. Below her, Elrond wrung his hands and told her to be careful.
Earendil followed his gaze. “Does he always fret so much?”
“Yes,” Maglor paused, then snorted and added, “But never for himself.”
“I could see that,” mused Earendil.
Celebrian had reached the top of the mast, sitting down and swinging her legs, shouting at Elrond to come up and join her.
The Peredhel shouted back that he was happiest with both feet on the ground.
Celebrian laughed and shouted that he was a coward.
“My mother is a terrible influence,” moaned Maglor, putting his head in his hands.
Earendil howled with laughter.
A swan flew from the eaves of the house, landing next to Celebrian and honking at Elrond, almost taunting him.
He still refused to climb, pointing to his feet empathetically.
Maglor still didn’t know what to make of Elwing’s transformations, studying the bird as Celebrian rubbed her feathered head.
“That has me thinking!” Earendil was suddenly on his feet in front of Maglor, his eyes gleaming. Maglor raised a worried eyebrow. “You must have all sorts of stories about Elrond.”
Oh. Oh. Maglor almost allowed himself to smile, biting his lip instead and squinting up into the sun at Earendil. “I do,” he said elusively.
Earendil’s grin widened.
But it seemed it wasn’t the time to be sharing such stories, as Celebrian shouted, “Are you coming?”
Elwing honked loudly.
“We shouldn’t keep them waiting.” Earendil grabbed him, pulling him toward the shore. Maglor suppressed a wince as his burned hand was crushed in the mariner’s tight grip. He doubted Elrond’s father would have intentionally harmed him, but that didn’t remove the discomfort it left, even after Earendil released him.
He tucked his burned hand into his robes, curling his fingers protectively, continuing to follow even after he was no longer being led.
But he stopped at the end of the dock. “You promise it won’t fly?” That felt like too much like tempting fate.
“I promise,” said Earendil cheerfully, waving at the swan and practically skipping to the wheel.
“Are you coming down now?” Elrond asked Celebrian.
“Oh she’s perfectly safe up there, if she wishes,” said Earendil happily.
“What if we hit a wave and-“
“I can swim!” Celebrian shouted. “Kanafinwe, tell him to stop worrying.”
He looked up at her, shielding his eyes against the glare of the sun. “My lady, what makes you think he will listen to me?”
Celebrian did eventually come down, once their journey was underway. She jumped the twenty some feet to the ground, and although her landing was perfectly smooth, Elrond’s face drained of all color.
Maglor, who had opted to sit on the deck rather than fall due to the ship’s rocking (Earendil had teased that he didn’t seem to have sea legs), shook his head and laughed.
Elrond took to the boat easily enough - “it’s in his blood” Earendil had boasted - and Celebrian had apparently gone sailing with cousins during her time in Valinor.
They both moved freely about the boat, leaving Maglor to sit and wish he had stayed with his mother. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d been on a boat, and one of those times had ended in complete disaster.
Instead of thinking about the possibility that their ship would sink beneath the waves, he watched the swan as she swooped around their ship, occasionally diving down to play in the water that sprayed from the bow.
When she finally landed, perching on a rail, Maglor still couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Father, please stop watching my mother as though she’s going to do something terrible to you.”
He hadn’t noticed that he had been so obvious, and quickly blinked himself back to reality. “Nothing personal, my lady,” said Maglor, “but I have never liked swans. My aunt kept them, and they always chased me and tried to bite me.”
“What did you do to them?” Celebrian asked.
Maglor’s cheeks grew warm. “Absolutely nothing of course.”
“Oh really?” Celebrian leaned against the ship’s railing, her eyes glowing. “You know, I think I might ask your mother about that.”
“He wanted a feather, and tried to pluck one. They never forgave him,” said Elrond quietly.
Maglor spun to face him, demanding, “How did you know that?”
Elrond’s eyes danced with amusement. “Timo told me.”
Maglor folded his arms over his chest and grumbled about Maedhros betraying his trust.