The Next Day
I knew the summons to the presence of the king could not be about anything good when it was delivered before sunrise. The king was well aware that I would still be asleep at that hour. I believed I could guess what the king wanted to discuss.
"Tour, son of Huor of the House of Hador." The Door warden announced me as I entered.
The King of Gondolin's throne room was at the top of his tower and boasted a magnificent view of Tumladen. No doubt the piercing eyesight of the Eldar could discern much of what passed in his realm from this vantage. But I could not truly have called it a room as mankind understands it. There was a roof – domed and carved – but no walls to speak of. Only ornate pillars carved with the likeness of birch trunks and no railings in between. I glanced through the openings uneasily. The stars still winked faintly as the sky lightened sending the first shafts of light into the King's Tower, while the rest of the valley remained in shadow. We seemed to be so high over the land. How easily one could fall – but great heights do not seem to trouble the Eldar.
The King's throne stood in the middle of the room on a raised platform. The room was empty except for the King himself and, of course, Maeglin. To my surprise and concern there was no sign of Idril.
"Tuor, son of Huor, you have been my guest and have had much learning of the Gondolindrim," the King's voice seemed strained and sad. "You have earned a high standing in my regard. Am I to understand that in return you offer insult to my house? Speak. Explain yourself."
I glanced quickly at Maeglin. His face was impassive, but I kept picturing a smirk hiding behind his features.
"My King, your kindness and hospitality has no equal. If you speak of the incident of yesterday, I must offer explanation by means of a misunderstanding. I heard a quarrel but did not know that it was your nephew and heir who spoke. If I had known it was he – and not some common churl – I would have acted differently."
The King raised his eyebrows and I noticed Maeglin stiffen at his side.
"You speak boldly, Son of Huor," the King answered, but I suspected that under his grave veneer there was a degree of admiration – and even amusement. "Few are brave enough to speak thus to the King. I suppose that you feel your anger towards Maeglin was justified."
Maeglin shifted at the King's side, barely able to contain his rage.
"My King," I knew that I would have to be very careful here. "I suspect that may have misunderstood your nephew's words and actions. The customs of the Edain and those of the Sindar are somewhat removed from those of the Noldor of Gondolin. I misunderstood the prince's intentions towards the Lady Idril."
"My intentions are well known to the King!" Maeglin could contain himself no longer.
The king placed a gentle hand on his nephew's forearm. I noticed Maeglin twitch slightly, as if even such a small contact stung him. For a moment the steely proud gaze faltered and I wondered what it was that truly drove the prince.
"My son," the King addressed Maeglin, withdrawing his hand. "I will enlighten the Adan to the subtleties of life in Gondolin. Go now and join Idril. She is usually taking a morning stroll along the Alley of Roses."
Maeglin looked as if he would protest, but the lure of Idril's company was stronger and he left, striding past me with a glare. I kept my face calm.
"Come," the King said to me after Maeglin's footsteps had retreated. "Walk with me in the Square."
.
The Kings Square was also empty but for the guards. I wondered vaguely why the King even needed guards here. But now was not the time to let my mind wander. I had no desire for a close examination of the Caragdur, so I needed to find a way to appease the King.
"Maeglin does not like you." The King surprised me with his directness.
After a moment I answered. "I have not given him any cause to be my enemy."
That was true. Maeglin had nurtured a strong hostility towards me from the moment he set eyes upon me that first day in this very same square.
Patches of sunlight were beginning to grow as the sun climbed higher in the sky. We stepped into one of them. The early morning light caught the King's robes, shrouding him in brilliant light. I blinked, mildly dazzled.
"Tuor, son of Huor, often I am tempted to forget that you are of the race of the Edain and not one of the Eldar kindred," he said watching me as I tried to adjust my eyes so that I could see him properly. "I loved your father well and hold your race in positive regard. I fear that Maeglin does not."
I thought carefully.
"Nothing I do will ever please him," I said, chancing that the King would appreciate directness.
He seemed to. "Indeed. Maeglin is a great comfort to me. The son I never had. Yet I am not blind to his deficiencies."
Something gave a little tug under my ribs. Too vague to be clear, but a definite warning of my heart.
"I have hope," the King continued. "That Maeglin will grow in wisdom and learn to value things other than power and the admiration of those around him. He is the only heir that I have. I will have no son of my own. The Eldar do not marry more than once in our lives."
Of course, I thought. The King has no wife, no son. I thought I detected a note of deep sadness in his voice.
No wife, no son. Nothing left but a longing.
We mortals have a tendency to think ourselves lacking compared to the Eldar, yet I have learned that there are some things in which we have the advantage. The men of the Eldar and the Edain have in common the desire for son and heir, be they a king or a woodman. But a mortal man who has lost his spouse may take another and still have a son, even in old age. The Eldar cannot.
I began to suspect that the King of Gondolin had a vulnerability in his character – this longing for issue, for a student of himself that is of himself. A son of his flesh and blood.
Maeglin was as close as he would ever get to a son of his body and this made him dear to the king's heart. Maeglin also had the advantage of very Noldorin appearance (an advantage he no doubt pressed) but I suspected that his character had less nobility.
"Maeglin intends to wed my daughter, Idril," the King continued. "And I have not opposed it."
"Forgive me, Lord King, but I am unfamiliar with the customs of the Eldar," I said, perplexed. "Among the Edain, the custom is that those so closely akin may not marry. Is it not so among the Eldar?"
"It is unusual, but not forbidden."
I felt something inside me twist all the same.
"What of the Lady Idril's wishes?" I asked. I had recalled to mind her words of the previous day.
"She is adamantly against his suit. She will not discuss why." The King suddenly smiled broadly. "Women folk are such mysterious creatures, are they not? I do not understand their whims or fancies."
Idril's rejection of Maeglin was hardly a 'fancy'. I had already gauged her as a woman not given to such infantile games. Great Valar, the poor woman! Pressured to marry her cousin whom she clearly despised. All alone among a court full of men.
"Perhaps she knows her mind," I ventured.
The King frowned at me and then shook his head. "She is a girl. Her heart alights hither and thither like a butterfly. She will change her mind."
I turned away quickly then. I did not want the King to see the denial that had unexpectedly surged through me.
Later, after I had taken my leave of the king, I retreated to my nook in the square to turn the morning's events over in my mind. I thought of the slave women I had seen in Lorgan's service; the women and young girls I had left behind to a most ignoble fate.
I decided that I would do all that I could to protect Idril.
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Please R&R!
