The Silmaril sat on the desk. Everyone gathered around said desk was looking at it with varying degrees of wonder and discomfort.
"The Oath is truly fulfilled then," Maedhros said hoarsely. "When we first returned and did not feel it, I hoped … but even now I feel no desire to reach out and take it. It's done."
"Due largely to a hobbit, of all creatures," Maglor said wryly, shaking his head.
"A hobbit?" Feanor asked with interest.
"I shall be very happy to introduce you later," Elrond promised. "In the meantime, we have the question of what to do with it on our hands."
"Anywhere it goes, it shall be a target, even across the sea," Earendil said.
"As we have learned all too well," Feanor agreed. "Which is why I do not propose we hide it. I made plans while we journeyed. I believe it should be possible to focus and magnify the light, as sunlight is through a lens, in order to make it even stronger. With that accomplished, we might more easily use it as a weapon against her."
"How long do you think it would take to construct it?" Curufin asked with interest.
"A few days if you and Tyelpe will grant me your help, and Lord Elrond will allow us into his forges."
"I would be happy to." It would mean asking one of the smiths to temporarily vacate theirs, but under the circumstances, he thought they were unlikely to take offense. The long years had preserved Feanor's legend but blunted much of the bitterness, particularly for those elves who were too young to remember that first Great War.
"And for other weapons?" Earendil asked. "My sword failed quickly against her."
Curufin snorted. "That's because it was made by an inferior smith."
Maedhros looked pained. Elrond stepped in to smooth over the awkward moment. "If you also have to forge swords, preparation will take far longer."
Maglor looked thoughtful. "Maybe not too long. Did you keep the sword we gave you?"
"I did. We have a few blades of Gondolin left as well. They might at least be worth inspecting to see if they meet your standards."
"Gondolin?" Feanor asked curiously.
Everyone blinked at him.
"If it didn't involve my children, my grandson, or my Silmarils, I don't know about it," Feanor reminded them impatiently.
"And Gondolin managed to fall without influence from any of them," Earendil said. "It was the city I grew up in. My grandfather Turgon founded it."
"Aredhel's son produced some remarkable smithwork there," Curufin offered. "His skills, at least, were never in question."
"You must feel a great kinship with him," Elwing said sweetly.
Elrond had kept the peace between visiting dwarves and survivors of Doriath, former kinslayers and the survivors of kinslayings, and factions of men engaged in a century long vicious blood feud. He could keep the peace between his own family.
Surely.
There was a particular kind of awkwardness in interacting with the Ambarussa since, like Maglor and Maedhros, they had been involved in the sack of his first home, and, unlike the eldest two of Feanor's sons, he had never gotten the chance to grow to know them beyond that. The memory had been too recent and painful for either of the two brothers to speak of them overmuch.
Still, when the two of them lingered after another meeting to discuss their plans, he was willing enough to wait and hear what they might have to say.
Their eyes were watching the vanishing backs of Elladan and Elrohir.
"There's a fire in their eyes," Amrod observed. As similar as he and Amras were, Elrond had long mastered the trick of quickly telling twins apart.
"It must make them dangerous foes to the enemy." Amras sounded approving.
"They wish to avenge their mother," Elrond said quietly. Not for the first time, he wondered where, exactly, that put him, a question all the more underlined by his current guest list. He had loved his mother, he remembered - Still loved, present tense, even if he was only now getting to know her - but he had never felt the fire to avenge her that had sprung up so naturally in his own sons.
Of course, Maglor and Maedhros were rather different matters from a pack of orcs, and the circumstances were entirely different, but -
He wished, briefly, that he could talk to Elros about it. Elros was the only one who could completely understand.
No matter how long that had been an impossilbility, he had never quite banished the habit of thinking first of Elros when he needed help with - Well. Many things.
"A commendable urge," Amrod agreed, and Elrond was reminded that they had waged their war in part to avenge both their father and their grandfather.
Was he the only one that did not immediately think of vengeance as the appropriate response after a tragedy?
That was a ridiculous thought, of course. Celebrian herself had thought little of vengeance, and the hobbits would probably avoid it nearly unanimously.
"Yet that urge can sometimes lead people to be a touch rash," Amras said. "As we can attest."
"Against orcs we would not doubt them, but perhaps in this instance … " Amrod said leadingly.
"They are very young," Amras said slightly apologetically.
They were not, actually, all that young anymore, but unlike everyone else being considered for the expedition, they had not seen the First Age. And regardless, "I have no intention of letting them join us," Elrond assured them. "I intend to leave them in charge here."
"Ah," Amras said.
"You are quite set on being part of the party then?" Amrod said.
"I am," Elrond said firmly. He had been arguing this point against four parental figures for the past few days, which was four more than he was used to having to deal with for some millennia now. He narrowed his eyes. "May I ask why it is a matter of such great importance to you?"
"Maedhros worries," Amras said without a hint of apology. "You're the only twin that hasn't died on him, you realize, and you're the only younger relative that hasn't been horribly doomed yet."
"Artanis," Amrod pointed out fairly. "And Tyelpe outlasted him. And Maglor, sort of."
Amras waved this off. "Yes, but then we all watched Tyelpe die in varying levels of horrifying detail, and Maglor being nearly entirely miserable for two Ages doesn't actually count as 'not doomed' just because he was technically alive, and we both know Artanis doesn't count. Maedhros wasn't responsible for her."
"Fair," Amrod conceded. "Anyway, the point is, Maedhros worries and despite what he wants everyone to think, he's still a little … " He seemed to be searching for the right word.
"I've noticed," Elrond said. Maedhros was not the only one who had been worried. Unfortunately, Maedhros was no more eager to accept help for it than he had been throughout Elrond's childhood.
"Exactly," Amras said. "And we all feel guilty for not somehow stopping him from getting to the point where he … did what he did."
"Yes," Elrond agreed heavily. "And I will be more than happy to offer him whatever aid I may, but I will not be remaining behind this time."
"Ah," Amras said again.
"Maglor thought you might say that," Amrod admitted.
Elrond raised an eyebrow. "You discussed this with him?"
"Oh, yes," Amras said cheerily. "Talking about you always cheers him up, and we're all worried about him too."
"At least we can tell them the youngest ones will be safe," Amrod said.
"And we'll keep an eye on you in the fight," Amras said, apparently trying to be reassuring. "So will Maglor and Maedhros, of course, and I suspect Father will try."
"He'll have a lot to focus on," Amrod admitted, "but you're practically an honorary grandson, so he'll try."
"And Earendil and Elwing, assuming he can't talk her into staying behind, I suppose," Amras added as an afterthought.
Elrond decided to ignore the potentially offensive dismissiveness in the last statement and instead said with exasperation reigned in only by years of experience, "Despite what Maglor may have told you, I am no longer six. I am perfectly capable of looking after myself."
"You haven't gotten close to her," Amrod said, abruptly serious. "Even the Valar weren't able to go against her unprepared."
"And we like you," Amros said, lightening the mood. "You kept playing peacemaker, which meant Maedhros didn't have to. It was good for him."
"So try not to die horribly," Amrod concluded. "He and Maglor will probably do something stupid if you do, and there are only so many continents left for our family squabbles to help sink."
