Chapter Text
- Aredhel leaves Nan Elmoth without Maeglin. Leaves him a note similar to the one in the fanfic above (Basically saying that if he came Eöl would find them, and she is willing to sacrifice her son for freedom; Saying to forget/ forgive her, that if he truly is her son he’d understand one day; Until that day, He can’t claim the name Lomion)
- Eöl comes back, finds out Aredhel is gone and makes Maeglin come with (”After all,” he thinks, “He is his mothers’ son”)
- They follow her trail to Curufin, who is the same rude lump of laundry as he is in the narrative
- Curufin greets both Silvian elves. “Might I know your names?” Curufin clearly knows the elder Silvian elf, but he does not know the younger. Eöl knows this and gives his name, “I am Lord Eöl and my business is-” “And the other?” He looks with shrewd eyes at Maeglin. “Just an apprentice, Lord Curufin.” Curiosity satisfied he addresses Eöl, “Why are Dark Elves in my lands? Must be important to get sunburned.” Eöl bites back his first and second response and goes with his third response; “My wife has left to visit you and it would seem unseemly if I did not join her.” Curufin lets a small smirk grace his face. “If you came with my Cousin, She would not have had as warm a welcome as she did. Anyway, She lied to you and left to go west two days ago.” He continues without letting the information sink in, “If you truly are her husband, don’t follow her since,” at this his smirk turns into a kind smile. “She clearly doesn’t want to be with you.”
- and Eöl turns around because he does have his heir/student Maeglin
- Cue tension: Eöl misses his wife, feels guilty and angry that she left him.
- (“Was our evenings beneath the stars a lie?” He wonders to himself as he hammers out his grief. “To twine our spirits to create our son, requires love and willingness.” He pauses and questions that fact. Well. It’s not much of a fact anymore. Fury rises in him at the doubt inside his Fëa and he ruins the white gold armband that shine with stars. It joins the reject pile (just like him).)
- Maeglin is guilty because Aredhel implied that it was his fault he couldn’t come, angry with his dad for making his mom leave, and sad for obvious reasons. There is a huge rift between father and son
- It’s for multiple reasons that Eöl teaches his son the rest of his smithing secrets; Guilt, fear and loss. Since none of those emotions are something he’ll ever admit to, he doesn’t tell Maeglin why he’s doing this only the whys of his technique. It takes time, but his fear that his son will leave him too slowly abates; it never disappears. The lost familial relationship between them has become slag. Slag, however, can be reforged. It isn’t fantastic, this new formal mentor-student relationship, but Eöl will take what he can get at this point.
- Maeglin, for his part, just wants something to fill the despair and doubts that are slowly filling his spirit. His Mother left him, he has lost his fathers’ love and doesn’t really want to know if Eöls threat about chains still applies. He’s 90% sure something is wrong with him. He has nothing left to live for but forging and If forging with his sperm donor can help him ignore the eating sadness, then by the stars, he will do it.
- Eöl does make him a blacksmith hammer out of Glavorn when Maeglin is 90, but doesn’t give it to him. It is meant to be a surprise 1 yen (144 yr) gift, but the long peace is broken when Maeglin is 135 (FA 455). When it is broken, they were caught unawares outside of Nan Elmoth, (prospecting, coming back from the dwarves, just shitty luck…?)
- Anyway, they get caught by Orcs (FA 456). Their begining numbers are 12 Elves vs 15 Orcs; The end numbers are 6 elves and 7 Orcs. the orcs have a smith among them (prospecting party? The veins were drained up north?) and xe has enough wits that they realize that these guys are good smiths bc they wear Glavorn. And the only known elves who wear that is Eöl (and Maeglin, but he isn’t known by name, he is after all “just an apprentice”). So xe torture Eöl for his secrets, but Eöl is a spiteful bastard, doesn’t give it to them.
- Most of their escort is dead and are currently in the stomach of their killers. If those dead are not already they will be soon. The six survivors were cheerfully informed, We don’t get fresh meat aft’r all t’elves ran away!” They were further informed that unless they were wearing Glavorn, they were being kept alive to keep the meat fresh. Eöl and Maeglin are within eyesight of the other four, but that doesn’t really matter when one is being tortured. When they were first caught, The orc smith asked the survivors which was Eöl. Though Maeglin was apathetic towards Eöl he wasn’t about to sell out Eöl and Eöl was spiteful just in general, and was not about to sell himself out anytime soon. “Well,” the orc butchered Sindarin to speak, “it don’t really matt’r, because both of you wear Glavorn, so one of ya’ll squeal.”