Chapter Text
The beach was peaceful that morning. One could hardly tell in the predawn light that a squall had slammed into the coast between sundown and midnight the night before. A gentle breeze blew off of a calm sea. Only hours before wind and wave had decimated the beach, nearly drowned its one inhabitant and destroyed the shelter he called home.
Galadriel had ridden out from Lindon with a well armed escort and journeyed with Elrond to view the shore. It had been many years since the War of Wraith and Elrond's twin brother Elros was ruling Numenor. Elrond missed his brother and wrote to him often. Two months ago he had taken an elven ship to Numenor to visit his twin. Now as a favor to King Gil-Galad and Lord Celeborn he was a part of Lady Galadriel's escort.
"My lady, if you do not mind my asking. Why do you wish to visit this part of the coast? Aside from the birds and wild animals it is completely uninhabited," inquired Elrond.
"Not, completely uninhabited," said Galadriel. "In my dreams I saw that this beach had one inhabitant and I heard a voice tell me that if I did not come and get him, he would soon depart this lonely shore for Mandos."
"My lady, I know you have the gift of foresight, but still I sense there is something you are not telling me," said Elrond.
Despite having been with out food or fresh water since the storm, Maglor Feanorion felt neither hungry nor thirsty. His body had ceased to recognize hunger, thirst, or cold. His clothes were faded, torn and even shredded in some places. They had once been the clothes of a mighty elven lord, but even the durable cloth of the elves eventually gives to the wear and tear of time. They hung limply around his thin frame as he sank to his knees on the beach in despair.
"So Doomsman," he thought bitterly. "I have survived sword and grief, so do you know perhaps conspire with Ulmo to send the torments of starvation and thirst to drive me to your halls?"
Maglor had desperately clung to life, not because he wanted to live or even thought he deserved to live, but because he was afraid to die. He was afraid of what awaited him in the Halls of Mandos. He feared he might be cast into eternal darkness because of his oath, but there were worse things than that. He was afraid of facing his father and brothers having failed their oath. Even more so he was afraid of having to face the innocents he had slain in his quest to regain the silamril and those who had died trying protected them. Most of all he feared facing Lord Namo, himself.
It was low tide when Maglor collapsed at the water's edge. He was tired. The last of his strength had been drained. He knew the place where he lay would be underwater at high tide, but he no longer cared. Let the sea take him the way it had taken the Silmaril. As lay on the beach he drifted into unconsciousness. The sun's rays gently warmed his pale skin and the gentle breeze played with his tangled and matted hair. Despite days of exposure to the sun, Maglor's skin was still fair. The resilience of the Eldar kept him from sun burning, tanning or freckling, but it had also kept him alive until
now.
As the group traveled along the beach, Galadriel saw what she had seen in her dreams, an ellon lying in the sand only a few feet away from the surf. Elrond also saw the ellon. Without a word to each other, they approached the figure close enough to determine the ellon's identification. It was Maglor Feanorion. Elrond let out a small gasp of surprised to see in how ill heath the Elda was, however Maglor did not stir. He quickly assessed if Maglor was still alive and stable enough to be moved. The answer to both was yes.
"Oh cousin what have you done to yourself?" asked Galadriel.
Elrond remembered what he noticed when he had surveyed the land, he could tell there had been a very severe storm lately and there was had been no sign of fresh water for the last day or so in their travel. He then noticed that water was coming up around them.
"The tide is coming in, if we don't move we will soon be underwater," said Elrond.
As he said this they noticed that the water had just begun to reach where they were and the spot where Maglor was lying would be underwater in a mater of minutes. Galadriel nodded. They quickly picked him up and moved him onto one of the horses they had with them.
"I think we should return to Lindon at once," said Galadriel. "This one has been without proper food, clothing and shelter for too long."
"I agree," said Elrond.
With that decision they cut their trip short and headed back to Lindon. Neither of them spoke of the worry that the elves there some were Noldor, and some were Sindar. Many of the survivors of Doroaith and Sirion lived in Lindon. They worried if they would allow Maglor to enter unmolested or would they petition the High King to have him officially exiled.
For the rest of the day the party rode toward Lindon. Elrond placed Maglor on his horse and rode behind him so he could hold on to him with his arms and guide the horse with his knees. This was a trick used for mounted combat as both hands would be occupied one with a weapon and the other a shield. The looks the soldiers sent to guard Galadriel gave Maglor ranged from hatred to pity and it was not uncommon for Elrond to see both aimed at Maglor from the same soldier at different times. By the time Maglor came to, they were well away from the beach. They and made camp and Galadriel was in the process of ladling some weak broth down his throat, as he had been unable to get Maglor awake enough to eat and did not know how long he had been with out food.
Maglor looked into the faces of Elrond and Galadriel and his first thought was that he was hallucinating. Soon he realized that he was not. Maglor realized that Elrond had him propped up into a semi-upright position and Galadriel had been trying to spoon feed him broth while he was unconscious.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," said Elrond.
Maglor responded by trying to push the broth away and then wrestle out of Elrond's arms. Elrond however held fast to him and would not let go.
"Peace, cousin, be still and eat," said Galadriel. "You look like death warmed over. We're taking you back to Lindon to stay with us."
"No, I cannot go back," said Maglor. "I'm a kinslayer and an exile, I do not deserve to by among my kin anymore."