Iron price
Fingon was furious where he wandered in circles inside his tent, even though he should sleep to gather energy and strength for the following day. The reason for his anger? Not because of a mistake a servant or soldier had done, not because of his Fëanorian cousins.
No, the reason for his conflicted feelings was his only sibling that remained alive, his brother Turgon, who had showed up only hours earlier with a army of no less than ten thousand Elves from Gondolin, that hidden city where he had vanished from the lives of his father and eldest brother, taking his daughter Idril and sister Aredhel with him. After being out of contact for 356 years, did Turgon honestly think that Fingon would welcome him with open arms, as if they had seen each other just yesterday?
"Does he think that it is alright to keep the existence of a family member hidden from the rest of his own family?!"
His unknown sister-son, Maeglin, who showed all signs of great discomfort around his uncle and almost seemed to plead for a way to escape? Yes, the youth admitted to coming here by his own will, but for what reason? Glory in battle, or escaping from Gondolin?
"From the way he acts around Turgon, I doubt that your brother really is a good guardian? Did you all see how the boy tensed up at the question of what had happened to Aredhel? And his sire?" Maglor asked since he, Maedhros and Celegorm was in the tent too.
"Aredhel said that she and the boy only planned for a short trip outside Nan Elmoth to let him see a little of the wider world, before her husband returned from a visit at the Dwarves, but that seemed to have been a cover story, for her actual plans…" Celegorm added, thinking back to the last time he had seen his cousin alive. Now, tension in a marriage could sometime request one partner in the marriage to need some time alone so things could cool down between a wife and husband, that was how Fëanor and Nerdanel had done before things really turned south.
"Her reason for returning to Gondolin does not matter. But I will not just shut my eyes and ignore the worrying possibility that my brother seems to have a part in the deaths of my sister and her husband somehow, from the way Maeglin act. My sister-son shall not need to stay in the city where his parents died, against his will! So, I need your help to get him away from Turgon, preferably as discreet as possible that cannot be traced back to you."
"Well, there is that little thing called Missing in Action, you know, dear cousin, that can happen in battles…" Maedhros smiled mysteriously, in a manner that would worry anyone who feared him.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Maeglin slowly woke up, first confused by the sight of an unfamiliar tent above him before a memory of the battle returned, and the long row of other injured people at both sides around his bed roll. Of course the healers would try and save anyone with not too great injuries or already dead. Trust his luck to be knocked out by a hit to his head, despite the good helmet. From the way the bandage was around both face and head, it could have been a deadly hit if he had been having more misfortune in the fight.
"What do you mean, Maeglin can not be found!?"
Uncle Turgon's voice from outside the tent, followed by another voice that sounded almost as upset:
"And what made you think that Aredhel would have wanted her son to go out in battle?! Yes, we was lucky in that two of your Lords of Gondolin managed to shield me and help me escape death from the Balrogs, but to what price?! Our little sister's only child, lost in the chaos as we was forced to escape! We do not even know if he is dead, or still alive with facing the ill fate of becoming a slave in Angband as a prisoner!"
Uncle Fingon? Now Maeglin started to worry, how long had he been unconscious? Did they even know that he was right at their side, or had they been unable to identify him in the middle of all the soldiers that needed to be saved from death by their injuries?
A shadow fell over him, a silver-blond long braid that his strained eyes could focus on against the wish of falling back into sleep.
"It was Fingon's request that you are here right now, kid. We have made it seem like you are Missing in Action, or MIA as it is called among battle terms, for those with whom contact is lost and whose whereabouts are not known, but whose death is not confirmed. He is not pleased with Turgon keeping you a secret from him and your grandfather Fingolfin, for he believes that the former High King may have acted differently against the Dark Lord, if he knew that his daughter had a child he had never met. Fingon wants Turgon to be given the Iron price for not allowing you to leave Gondolin and meet Fingolfin before his death," Celegorm whispered in a quiet voice, holding a gloved hand over Maeglin's mouth to keep him silent.
Iron price, the Dwarven term for a rarely well-used way of getting something. Paying the iron price meant seizing something from those one had defeated rather than paying or trading for it. A term for those viewed as thieves and outlaws. Did that mean that Fingon saw Turgon as having stealing him from the rest of the family?
Maeglin felt exhausted and lost, just thinking of all that this change in his life would mean. But the thought of never having to return to Gondolin, where he was received pity and distrust simply for that Eöl was viewed as a fey being and the marriage between his parents questioned as if it even had been legal, overtook him. He had felt at ease at once around Fingon despite all the kingly aura around his oldest uncle, while he had never thought Turgon to feel like a relative no matter what, a feeling only deepened after Eöl's execution. No, Maeglin would gladly follow Fingon wherever he went, even into death if he so asked his sister-son to do so.