Day 2. Something about a character you are hopelessly in love with

Elrond meets Eärendil and Elwing shortly after arriving in Valinor. Celebrían has known them for a while now since they, along with Finarfin, Eärwen, and Finrod, (and Melian,) helped Celebrían when she first arrived.

I'm mad at Eärendil and Elwing for not being better parents, I feel like Elrond's got some pent up anger.

(Though I did kind of forgive them recently because I realized that to Elwing it probably looked just like what happened to her own twin brothers, and she was thinking that Elrond and Elros were missing and that they could search ages and not find them, and all that would be accomplished would be that the Sons of Fëanor would find Eärendil and Elwing and try to take the Silmaril again and again. She'd spent so long wondering for news of her brothers, she probably had just lost hope that she would even be able to find a dead Elrond and Elros and get closure. They probably regretted it forever, but I imagine that in her grief, it made sense to Elwing at the time not to go back.)

Okay so a lot of people write that Eärendil can't come down from Vingilot and sails all the time, but I don't know where it specifically says that in canon? Maybe it does and I missed it or haven't read it in HoME yet. My logic is that Eärendil's star in our sky is supposed to be Venus, and there are a few months a year and possibly days in between, depending on things, where Venus isn't visible from anywhere on earth, so I think that means Eärendil can have a bit of time off to met his son.

The air on the terrace where Elrond and Celebrían sat in elegantly made chairs and waited for Eärendil and Elwing was perfectly climate, as everywhere in Valinor tended to be, yet Elrond was still sweating slightly and shivering nervously. Celebrían took his hand and squeezed it, but she knew it would be worthless to tell her husband not to worry; all she could do was remind him that he was not alone, not any longer.

It was strange and nice for him for their roles to be reversed now from the last time they were together, when she had been broken and he had been holding her together. Now Elrond was the one who years laid heavily on, and Celebrían was his strength.

When the two elves did appear, Elrond stood up quickly and would have sent the chair he had been sitting in over backwards, had Celebrían not caught it.

"Elrond." Eärendil said, his voice full of emotion.

That's it, "Elrond?" Fleetingly ran through Elrond's mind, despite his father's tone. All these years and the best that can be said from that greeting is that at least you know I am not Elros?

Hesitantly Elwing moved forward to embrace him, and Elrond put his arms around her awkwardly. He had expected that he might feel a natural connection to his parents when he met them, like he had with his own children, but there was nothing. They could have been two strangers to him for all he felt; and by most definitions, they were.

"You look just as I remember you." He said to them as he moved to hug his father, mostly just in an attempt to be polite and say something, and they both beamed.
It was true, he did vaguely remember them from his childhood and obviously they had not changed.

No one seemed to know what to say next, so Celebrían suggested that they sit, and a servant came to bring them bread and fruit.

They kept up chatter for an hour or so; most of it falling to Celebrían, about how Elrond was settling in and how the twins and Arwen were.

"I can not wait to meet them." Elwing said earnestly, of the twins. "I hear they are so like you and Elros."

So like us? How would you know, you were never around for what we were like! Elrond thought, and he felt Celebrían take his hand under the table.

"They are." He said, flatly.

"We do regret missing to know Elros…" Elwing faltered when she saw Elrond tense at her words.

"So did he." Elrond said angrily and stood, pulling his hand from Celebrían's and facing away from the table, ignoring when they all rose behind him. He rarely got angry or showed his anger and he certainly had not planned to burst out now, but he couldn't help it.

"Elrond…" Eärendil took a step towards him, but was afraid to go any closer.

"We know we made mistakes." Elwing said softly. "We regret them every moment, and I do not expect you to forgive us. It wasn't-"

"It doesn't matter what it was or was not! I would not ever have left my sons, not if there was a sliver of hope, and you knew there was more than that! Even if we were dead, how could you do nothing?" Elrond felt all the emotions of the past centuries, and the ones on Elros' behalf, choking him now.

"It is not excusable, but if we had known, we would never have left you with those sons of Fëanor-"

"At least Maglor and Maedhros were there the whole time we were with them!" Elrond shot back angrily at his father, ignoring the hurt on his face. "They were the ones who were there for everything! They taught us to write and read, they taught us to ride and to fight, and they were the ones who were there when we had nightmares! They taught us of history, of culture. Was the Silmaril more important than that, than us? Maglor and Maedhros taught us a lot more about family than we ever learned from either of you!"

A thin silence fell abruptly at his words, like the air itself would explode and shatter if anyone broke it. Even Celebrían couldn't think of anything to say now.

"Elrond, if you were to walk out of here now and never speak to us, we would not wonder, nor would we blame you." Eärendil spoke softly, at length. "But I am, truly, sorry. If you can perhaps one day forgive us, we will always still be here."

Elrond turned to him and nodded, once, not trusting his voice. After a few moments' silence Celebrían led him back to the table and they sat, and Eärendil and Elwing followed their example, slightly relieved.

No one spoke for a good while. Elrond could tell his parents both felt guilty, but he did not know what to say, or if he wished to say anything. Perhaps one day he would apologize for his outburst, but it would not be today.

"Sometime will you tell us of Elros? Of, " Elwing paused there and glanced at her husband. "Maglor and Maedhros?"

"I would like that." Elrond smiled truly, and felt Celebrían next to him breathe a small sigh of relief.

"Good." Eärendil smiled, too. "We have plenty of time, here."