Title: Paces
Characters: Turin, Hurin, Morwen, Nienor, Glaurung
Prompt: 009: you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run
Summary: Turin never learnt to walk away. These things run in the family.
Author's Notes: This was the product of my stream of conscious on a hot night. You can blame that for the modern vocab and style. The whole family are a rather stubborn bunch, aren't they?
Turin's a strange man, running helter-skelter around the place with nary a thought. He'll run, he'll hide, he'll hold the fort. That's what he learned: fight or flight. Run or hide. Pride and a good dose of stubbornness ensure that he'll mostly stay and fight, for better or worse. He's a hasty man, quick to anger and doesn't think of the consequences. Turin never walked away from a fight, but he's run from a fair few. Turin never learnt to walk away.
It's not his fault. These things run in the family.
II
Hurin, for example, the mighty runner in more ways than one. He sees a fight and runs towards it, doesn't matter whether it concerns him or not. He ran with the Elves off to war, ran far and fast. He ran so far that he didn't have a home when he returned. Then again, Hurin never learnt to get away from a fight in any shape or form. Manly bravado only goes so far – sooner or later the fight or flight instinct kicks in, and sooner or later it's flight that wins the day. Hurin learnt that later rather than sooner. Unfortunately for him, he learnt it after being captured.
Hurin's a good runner, always for stamina rather than speed. That means he'll come to or away from a fight slower than some. Doesn't mean he walks away from it, not by any chance. Like father, like son. Hurin never learnt to walk away either.
II
Morwen at least might have known. She'll never run or walk away herself, not of her own choice, and is rarely convinced by others. But she might at least have taught her son.
Morwen will hold and hold, and would die holding on rather than walk away. She'll hold on to anything – home, sorrow, grudges – excepting her own family, whom she has a tendency to lose. Sometimes nothing can be held forever. Sometimes something can be held so tight that it disappears inside you. Morwen learnt that, and paid bitterly. She never learnt to let things be.
II
Nienor's a strange case, a mixture of all. She's learnt to run and learnt to hold on, but prefers to hide. Granted, the idea of hiding wasn't hers in the first place, but Glaurung had the right idea, if in a warped, bizarre way. Nienor hid so well that she lost herself, and couldn't find herself again without his help.
Nienor hides in a new name and a new life, but doesn't remember what she's hiding from, doesn't even remember that she's hiding. The problem with hiding is that whatever you're hiding from will eventually find you. The truth finds Nienor, and she can't run, can't hold. All she can do is hide again in death. Walking's no good when you need to flee.
II
Turin never learnt to walk away, but he never had much of a chance. If he's not running away himself, he's chasing others. Turin's family can run, can hold, can hide, but only each alone. If all walked away together, they wouldn't need to run.