driftfleet | Yet even as hope failed Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver

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Yet even as hope failed Telperion bore at last upon a leafless bough one great flower of silver

Who: Maglor and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Iskaulit - Garden
When: NOW/anytime this month tbh

Video

[ Maglor is sitting in one of the rooms just off the garden in Iskaulit - a dark room, where a small little sapling is glowing. Yes. It's not your imagination. The little tree is glowing. (So is Maglor, but the fleet should be used to their glowy elves by now). ]

Milady Makie is asleep, so I thought I should make this announcement on her behalf - as per the wishes of Doctor Beverly Crusher, we thought it would be good to have a memorial in the gardens for those who leave us. The tree is still very young, but you are welcome to come and leave candles or simply to sit and remember. The gardens remain open to all, as well, despite the good Doctor leaving.

Please feel free to come and if you wish to help, anything would be welcome.

[ He reaches to turn off the feed and then pauses ]

Ah, and if anyone wishes any forgework done, the forge should be finished, soon. Please contact me, Sokka, or my brother Maedhros or cousin Fingon, if you wish anything.

Action

[ Maglor can be found anywhere in the garden, tending to basic chores, or in the room with the little sapling, singing softly to it of growing strong and bright. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(Maedhros tilts his head, almost following...almost... He uses the hand gripping his own to pull Maglor into his arms.)

You almost stayed with her, didn't you.

[ Maglor's breath catches at the tug but he does not fight it, comes easily to rest against the song he has known since his earliest days ]

Yes.

Will you not leave me even one

[ He quotes their mother's last fight with their father ]

I almost... But I could not abandon you and the others. So...

[ I'm sorry he'd told her. And Nerdanel and cupped his cheek with tears in her eyes and told him I know. Look after them.

I promise. He'd told her, and broken that promise too ]

(There is a swell in his song, ringing with comfort and love when Maglor is near. It is all Maedhros can give and he hopes - he prays - one day it will be enough to undo all that had been done and lost.)

Poor Ammë. It was unfair that we should leave, but I knew, she, at least, despite her loneliness, would be safe. We could not say as much for Atar.

(And they moved as one. Seven sons.)

I am sorry for not taking a stand. You could have stayed with her.

I could not have stayed. [ He leans against his brother ]

You know that - none of us could have. How could we abandon each other, or father?

You might have stayed if I refused to go. (He cradles the side of Maglor's head, holding him like he would a child.)

You could no more refused than I. [ Maglor hums happily ]

We were the eldest, the responsible ones, after all. And you were the only person Father might have listened to.

...no, but...

I could have tried. I could have sought sense instead of loyalty and madness.

(He nuzzles his cheek against the dark hair.)

Sometimes love is...painful. Harsh. I should have shown Father that sort of love.

[ Maglor presses back, giving Maedhros as much comfort as he will take ]

It can be. But Father would not have listened, Nelyo. You know that. He was already so broken. He needed Grandfather, and Grandfather was beyond all our reach.

(He settles enough to close his eyes, focusing on each breath.)

Then I should have wrestled him into submission. I was taller than him by then.

[ Maglor chuckles softly, a strained sound ]

That would have been a sight to see! But we were all as mad as he, that day.

Is that a proper excuse? (He will never forgive himself for all the times he should have spoken and didn't.) I felt like a father the night the ships burned. I wanted my brothers - the children I had watched over - to stand outside of the madness.

No. But it was too late for all of us. [ He presses close again, raises song as a defense against the memories of fire ]

Don't blame yourself, Nelyo. We all chose, we all bound ourselves. And you were the only one brave enough to stand aside.

Not anymore. (He smiles faintly at the song, embracing Maglor tighter.) We know our mistakes and we have learned from them.

(A scoff.) Bravery had naught to do with it. Bravery would have had me restraining Atar and ordering you to my side.

We have.

[ Maglor hums softly, curling close ]

Who knows if we would have listened? [ He says sadly ]

(He rubs his back in soothing circles.)

Then I should have chased you down on foot. I could have found enough rope to restrain the lot of you!

[ Maglor laughs weakly ]

You would have had to leave us to do so, and that time would have been enough. Thank you for not hating us for that.

Why would I hate you? (He looks genuinely puzzled.) It was agony for me to stand aside. Every inch of me wanted to give in and join, but, for that night, I let myself consider the morality of it. I understood Atar had gone mad.

But you and our brothers were just following his lead.

Because we... killed him. That night... because we weren't as brave as you.

Not on purpose. (He brushes back his hair.) You did as you were ordered. The ill that came from it was...

A fitting beginning to what followed. We fell apart.

No. But still... [ Maglor lifts haunted eyes to him ]

I wondered... if Father was... if the reason he was so reckless, was that he blamed himself.

Likely. (He smiles gently into those eyes.) Wouldn't you?

I did. [ Maglor says sadly ]

I blamed myself for him, for you. But I had to... keep them safe. I had to try.

Elrond and Elros? (He grows solemn.) What you did was selfless and brave, Kano.

Elrond and Elros. And all our brothers. I tried, Nelyo. I promised Amil, but I could not save them, in the end. I will not be able to bring any of them home to her.

That is out of your hands...and out of mine. (He places his hand over Maglor's chest.) Your heart has always been in the right place. Amil knows that.

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