Title: A SECOND CHOICE 12
Author: amber
Beta: Oli
Rating: G
Characters: Elrond, Glorfindel
Disclaimer: All main characters are Tolkien's except Elaff; I am only borrowing them.
Summary: Elrond arrives in Aman to find he has a second choice.
"It is past time we move away from the cities and as far west as possible. If nothing else, this tragedy has proved that we cannot live together at this time," Galadriel stated to the emergency counsel. The meeting of the returnees counsel had been called after the burial of the elflings burned by Elaff's troops. "We need to leave as soon as we can."
"I believe you are right but we can not just pick up and leave in the middle of the night," Cirdan admitted in shame as he finally acknowledged that they could not peacefully integrate with the elves of Aman; not after the deaths of the younglings.
"Why not?" Thranduil interjected. "How is it any different than what we have had to do before? We have all had to move on a moment's notice and find new homes for ourselves, most of us more than once. This is no different except in that it is our own brethren chasing us away instead of Melkor or Sauron. And you forget that some of our people have already done it recently."
"Thranduil is right," Celeborn said to stop the budding arguments from going any further. "We all have experience in moving and building new homes at need. We just never expected we would have to do it here. The Valar let us move to the main land after we learned how to live without the taint of Melkor in our lives. It has been quite clear for some time now that those of Aman still think us tainted regardless of what the Valar say. I for one am tired of living with their snide remarks and biased rules."
"None of us should have to live with what is going on. That the Valar intervened on our behalf, not Elaff's, says much," Galadriel agreed.
"Yet it also says not enough," Finrod said as he entered the room with several others. "You will not be alone in going west. Many of us who have been reborn are also still discriminated against and wish to go with you."
"We have talked amongst ourselves and have agreed to follow you," Elwë said as he came forward. "The Valar have given me a map which shows the lands to the west. We have drawn up boundaries for several kingdoms on it. You will find that most reborn are agreeable to living under the rule of one of the last four kingdoms of Middle-earth and their rulers."
"And those who are not?' Thranduil asked.
"There will be two other kingdoms for now," Elwë said. "I will rule one consisting mostly of those who died before Doriath fell."
"And I will rule the other," Finrod told them. "It will have mostly Noldor."
"Who will rule New Imladris?" Cirdan asked the counsel. "Glorfindel?"
"The kingdom was set up in Elrond's name and that is how it will stay," Celeborn injected.
"Elrond is a renegade," Cirdan snapped. "The Valar are hunting him."
"Not all is as it seems Cirdan," Melian explained as she came to stand beside her husband. "The Valar trust Elrond still and acknowledge his leadership of New Imladris."
"If this is to be done, we must agree between ourselves. Elrond's status is just one of the many items that we must be agreed on," Finrod said as he turned to Cirdan. "If you cannot agree to his leadership, then it would be better if you stayed behind in Alqualondë.
"The Valar know of the dissention between the sons's of Eärendil," Melian explained hoping to sooth some of the disquiet. "The fault does not lie with Elrond, but with Elwing. He should not be made to pay for her mistakes. Many were unknowingly tainted by her views including Elaff. He has his own mistakes to pay for but that is within the Valar's purview. Come now, let us make our plans to leave and build new homes. There is much healing that needs to be done and it cannot start until this move is complete."
They grudgingly agreed and turned to begin. They were all surprised at how smoothly everything fell into place once they started and soon it was done except for the finer details which could be worked out later.
He felt nothing as he floated in the darkness. He did not know where he was but he did not care as he felt nothing. The pain of Melkor raping his mind and pulling his fëa apart had been terrible but he felt nothing now as he floated in this place. He wished he could stay here but something inside told him it would not be allowed. So he waited as he enjoyed the numbness.
'It is time to complete your task, little one,' came the gentle voice to his fëa. 'You must return and save the others.'
'Can I not stay here longer?' Elrond asked the One. 'Just a little longer?'
'My innocents can not wait much longer for you to rescue them,' came the insistent voice. 'Only the younger ones were freed. The others still need your help.'
'I do not want to return,' Elrond told the One. 'It hurts too much.'
'Sometimes life hurts, but you can use the lessons to grow,' came the insistent voice again. 'I am well pleased with all you have done so far.'
'Where and how will I wake?' Elrond asked in resignation as he once again prepared to do as the One asked.
'I will return you to your hoar,' came the reply. 'Use the lessons you have been taught to heal it and regroup. Come, it is time.'
Elrond felt a wave of extreme love pass through him as he was hugged before everything went blank.
Eärendil confronted his wife that morning when he arrived back home.
"We have errored in our judgment," he started. "We have wrongly abandoned our firstborn to his detriment."
"He was tainted and strange from the start," Elwing said defensively. "It was better that our time was spent on first Elros, then Elaff. Elrond does not deserve our attention. Even the Valar are after him."
"You know not of what you speak," he replied venomously. "Elros was a selfish boy who did not change as he grew to manhood. He used Elrond as a target until Maedhros interfered, and then chose any who did not agree with him as targets. His arrogance was handed down thru his children, and their children, ultimately destroying them all."
"That is not true," she said in Elros's defense. "Eonwe proclaimed him a king by divine right while ignoring Elrond completely. If the Valar refused to acknowledge Elrond's worth, why should we?"
"Because we are his parents," he shouted back. "It was our job to see to our children."
"That was rather hard when they were taken away from us," she shouted back.
"But they weren't taken, were they?" he pressed on. "We both abandoned them to whatever would happen."
"We did not plan on what happened," she tried to argue. "I did not know the Fëanorians would attack."
"Did we not?" he asked as the fire went out of him. "We knew keeping the Silmaril was trouble. We made no plans for our children's safely. What happened to the twins was as much our fault as any ones. Besides, the riff between the twins occurred long before we left them."
"I know not of what you speak," she said in denial of his last statement.
"Do you not?" he asked as his anger burned again. "Was it not your decision that you could only feed one of them? Did you not choose to feed Elros, leaving Elrond to various wet nurses rather than alternating them? How many times did you choose to take Elros with you while Elrond was left behind?"
"No…" she started to deny.
"Yes," he interrupted. "And I am as much to blame as you because I saw it and did not stop it."
"He was strange, tainted from birth," she repeated in her own defense.
"No, you were jealous," her husband said as a flash of insight came. "His Maian blood burned bright from the moment of his birth and you were jealous."
"I was not," she denied.
"I remember you saying you wished you had inherited some of your grandmother's power so that you could change things," Eärendil reminded her. "You were jealous because Elrond was born with these powers while you were not. You punished him from birth because of this. But what is worse is that not only did I not stop you, I ignore it. Others also picked up on your attitude and treated him accordingly. We made his life a living nightmare when it did not have to be."
"That still has nothing to do with Elaff," she said as she tried to change the subject rather than admit the truth.
"It has everything to do with Elaff," her husband corrected. "Elros dismissed him as unimportant instead of being the brother he could have been. He told lies and poisoned Elaff's mind about Elrond. We both refused to acknowledge Elrond leaving Elaff to believe Elros's lies. When word began to circulate here in Aman about what a great healer and leader Elrond was, you refused to believe it claiming he was taking the credit for others work or saying he was hurting others for the acclaim. Elaff believed you and grew jealous when he was not talked about in the same glowing terms as his older brothers."
"That is not true," Elwing tried to counter.
"Yes it is, and you know it," he forcefully told her. "We have both spoiled Elaff and set no limits on his behavior. We barely taught him right from wrong. When Elrond returned he was given the option to embrace his Maian blood, Elaff became jealous seeing it as a status symbol. You know he has always been status conscious and unsure of his place despite the way he is treated. Elrond being elevated to Maia was like a slap in the face for him. Why do you think he started this war?"
"Elrond started the war, not Elaff," she said in correction.
"Elrond has not even been around to be part of this war let alone start it," he said in surprise. "Do you hate your own child so much as to blame something of this magnitude on him when he is innocent?"
"You would blame Elaff," she shouted back.
"He is at fault," he returned in anger. "He is the one trying to take over the government and make those from Middle-earth slaves. These are our own people he is trampling on and you care not."
"I refuse to listen to this. You are wrong, it is Elrond's fault," Elwing said as she left the tower to run away from him.
"Leave her," Eonwe said as Eärendil tried to follow. "My masters know who is truly at fault. She is not ready to admit the truth to herself let alone others. Until that time there is nothing you can do."
"I can not let this go on," Eärendil tried to explain. "I have been blind to the truth and my inaction has hurt many who were innocent. How can I make amends?"
"You have already started," a voice said from behind him as Namo came forth and revealed himself. "Elwing needs to spend time by herself to contemplate what she has done. My servant Maranwë will take her to Lórien where she can live and contemplate what she has done."
"And what of my son?" he asked. "What will become of Elaff?"
"He will be dealt with when the time comes," Namo answered. "You ask not of Elrond that is telling."
"I saw Melkor tear his fëa apart," Eärendil said. "There is no hope there."
"Maybe you should spend more of your time aloft sailing amongst Eru's wonders," Namo said with a frown. "You obviously need some time in contemplation yourself if your firstborn's fate meant so little to you. Eru protects his own, I will have you know, which is good for Elrond's sake. It seems only those of his Maian family are the ones that truly care for him still."
Eärendil grimaced as he realized the truth of the Doomsman's statement. He argued not as Eonwe escorted him back to his ship and left directions that he was not to return until bid to.
"We must stop them," Elaff shouted at his staff as he paced around the council chambers. "Why did the warriors panic and give in? Why did they not wait for reinforcements?"
His counsel did not answer him as they watched him pace. It had been a shock to them when the reborn had suddenly left their state of neutrality and joined forces with those from Middle-earth. They had not made plans for if that happened. The deaths of their warriors and the elflings did not bother them as much as they saw both of those groups as disposable. They were unsure of where all of this would lead them though.
"So what do we do now?" ventured one of the junior generals when no one else showed signs of stopping Elaffs rant.
"We change our tactics," Elaff answered as he was brought up short. "While all of the attention is on the Moriquendi and what happened to their children, we take out Arafinwë. Once we have replaced him and settled everything there, we can go after Olwë. It is time to replace those who will be sympathetic to the reborn and those from Middle-earth."
"What about Ingwe?" one of the senior counselors asked.
"He will not intervene any time soon, and by the time he decides to become involved it will be too late," Elaff answered. "The Vanya have always lived in a world of their own, only caring for what the Valar think and little else. It is time we took control of Aman since it is our home. Why should we let a small group who are disinterested in the rest of us control us. I think that once they see we have control of everything and can run it properly, they will cede control of the high kingship also."
"Our people in Tirion are ready and await your signal," the general in charge of this group told them.
"Good, I want to go at dawn in two days time," Elaff ordered as he looked at the others in the room. Most were young Amanian born men. They had been born into privileged houses only to discover that there was little advantage to be had in a world that was stagnate. When the reborn had begun to appear, they had slowly taken over the few openings still in existence because of their experience leaving no future for the younger Amanian generations. Trouble had been brewing then, and Elaff had decided to make the most of it. The elders needed to retire and make way for them. The reborn needed to learn their place of sufferance below everyone else. Then the Moriquendi had begun to arrive making everything worse. If they had stayed on Tol Eressëa it would not have been so bad but the Valar had declared that they were ready to integrate into Aman. No thought was given to the fact that they were not wanted. No thought was given to the fact that there was no place for them or jobs. Their arrival had only made everything worse.
Elaff also took it as a personal affront when his no good older brother had arrived. You would have thought he had learned he was unwanted by now. From what he had heard, even many of those from Middle-earth did not accept him. He should have just died instead of having them proclaim him a hero of Middle-earth. Was Elrond so dumb that he could not recognize the truth or was it as his mother said and he was tainted from birth by Morgoth? Why could the Valar not see this taint? Why did they choose to make Elrond a Maia instead of him? He had the same blood despite being born here. If anything, he was the untainted one who should have been rewarded and elevated.
But the wrongs could be corrected. He had been happy when the group of Maiar had approached him with the idea of change. They could see that the Valar only cared for a select few and left the others to flounder. They had known and admitted that Elrond was tainted and should have been destroyed instead of being made one of them. Unknown to others they had trained him and offered ideas to help him. If he could pull off taking over the kingships of Arafinwë and Olwë, they would openly join him and told him the other Maiar would follow. After he had succeeded, even the Valar would admit that he had done what was needed. And then he would have them destroy his brother so that his mother did not suffer his existence anymore.
"I will return to my mother's tower until you secured everything," he told his troops. "Our friends think that having you approach me there, and asking me publicly to take over the government you have just toppled, will make the transition seem more acceptable to the people. We will take their advice since we want this to go smoothly. Do not worry, we are not becoming their pets like the Vanyar are the Valar's pets. We can bring the Maiar to heel after we have secured the first two thrones. Remember, they are just servants who need direction.
The meeting broke up after a few questions on inconsequential things and Elaff returned to his mother's tower. He was surprised to find it empty as his mother made a point of being home for him. It was even more surprising to see that his father was not home resting. He wondered where everybody was but finally settled down to take a nap while he waited for them to come home. As he dosed off he did not see Eonwe and several of his warriors ring the tower.
Glorfindel laid his head against the back of the chair he had fallen into and was almost asleep when Erestor shook him awake.
"You must eat something first," his friend said as Lindir set a plate of vegetables and meat before him. "Even now you must refuel your body."
"I am just so tired," he remarked as he reached for a small loaf of bread from the basket on the table. "You would think after helping raise Elrond's elflings and many fosterlings that I would have the knack of this now but I do not see how he did it."
"It is never as easy as it looks," Melian said as she joined them at the table.
"My lady," they said with small bows even though they were too tired to rise.
"What news?" Erestor asked as he passed the bread basket along with a jar of preserves.
"They are coming," she said between bites. "Elwë and Finrod finally convinced the reborn to join the others. They will pull out in three separate groups within days of each other. I have brought some more Maiar to help you as you will be loosing some of your people. They will be sent ahead to start what is needed."
"And?" Glorfindel prompted.
"They agreed to the idea of five separate kingdoms not counting New Imladris. You will remain an independent kingdom of your own, just farther north and west then the others" she told them. "They have acknowledged Elrond's leadership here."
They all gave a sigh of relief when they heard that for they knew it must not have been easy to secure that concession. Now if they could just get everything under control with the fëa.
"Namo is sending along a group of my brothers and sisters to learn how you raise these children," Melian said cautiously to keep them from exploding. "Eru has let it be known that the fëa of those left behind will not be coming here for your people to deal with. They will be tainted so much that they will have to go to the halls."
"But they do not know how to help them," Glorfindel shouted as he rose to pace. "That is what led to this whole mess to begin with. These elflings need help not imprisonment."
"That is why Namo is sending some of his people here, to learn," she said as she tried to sooth him. "We will not make the same mistake twice."
"What about Elrond, where is he?" Glorfindel asked as he sat back down. "He has blocked me out where I cannot feel him."
"I know not what has happened to my great-grandson," she began as the others watched her. "He was taken to the doors of night after you escaped with the younger fëa. Our source says that Morgoth can reach through the doors with his spirit to a certain point. He said that Elrond was immobilized and tied to a post within Morgoth's reach. He was tortured as a way to get him to cross to their side. We have had no word since then."
"He will let himself be destroyed before he turns his back on Eru," Glorfindel said quietly. "I do not want to loose my brother."
"There are many who wish to not loose him despite what you think," she said quietly while trying to sooth him. "Come, you all must sleep tonight for tomorrow you will loose some of your help. My friends and I will watch over the elflings tonight."
"What of Elaff?" Erestor asked as they rose to retire. "We heard there was some trouble but were not able to gather more information."
"He has made his move and it has cost both sides some lives," she answered as all those around listened. "We suspect he will go after the kingships next."
"And this will be allowed?" Erestor asked.
"I will not allow it," Glorfindel cut in. "No self important orc spawn like him is going to rule in Aman. I will not allow it. I will see him in the Halls first."
"That is not your decision to make Glorfindel of Gondolin and Imladris," came the cold voice of the Doomsman behind him.
"No, you only let the worthy and innocent suffer," he shot back taking no heed of who he was talking to. "Elrond is worth hundreds of that spoiled troll but he is only persecuted and abandoned. Where is the justice in that?"
"You are loosing your trust in Eru child," Namo said carefully to keep the warrior from snapping. He did not know if Glorfindel realized exactly how powerful he was now that he was Maia and did not want to take a chance of anyone getting hurt if he snapped.
"No Namo, you are wrong," he answered. "I have only lost my trust in the Valar to oversee things. I was told after being reborn that the Valar did not interfere unless it broke the peace, but I see different. I see that you only interfere when it suits something you want."
Namo started to speak again but was cut off.
"That is enough," Manwë ordered as he stepped into the light. "We have been remiss in our duties but it was not done callously. We wanted you elves to be able to solve your own problems amongst yourselves without being involved. We are not supposed to rule here, only guide you."
"You have done a real good job," Glorfindel said as he was pulled into Manwë's arms.
"You must learn to not expect everyone to live by your high standards," the Vala laughed as he tried to sooth his Maia. "You must also learn to forgive. Yes we let everything get out of control but it was in the hope that the elves could resolve it themselves. I think we also expected too much too soon from you and Elrond."
"You also did not consider Elrond's family in this did you?" Glorfindel asked.
"We considered his relationship with Celebrían but not his relationship with his parents or brothers," Manwë acknowledged. "We have come to understand that that was a grave error and has led to many of the problems occurring now although it is not totally to blame. We will have to address the issue of his relationship with his parents and brothers after all has been fixed and settled."
"So he lives?" Glorfindel asked. "Why can I not feel him?"
"He has been returned to my halls," Namo explained as he came up beside them. "He will need time to work through what has happened but he will be alright."
Manwë hugged Glorfindel close when he almost collapsed in relief. Taking advantage of the situation, he gently pushed him into sleep and turned him over to one of the Maia to put to bed.
"We were wrong about so many things," Namo began pensively.
"Yes we were and in our arrogance we hurt many," Manwë replied. "It is a hard lesson but one that hindsight tells me was past due. We have much work to do to fix the problems we have created and regain the peoples trust."
"A counsel them?" Namo asked as they slowly walked through the hallways and checked on the elflings.
"Yes, we must work to correct the wrongs done and ensure they do not happen again," Manwë answered.
"But how do we solve the problem of Elrond?" the Doomsman asked. "We thought making him a Maia would prevent this and all it did was make it worse."
"I think it is more of a case of we took what Eru wanted and stove to make it for our purposes," he said as he thought. "As for the problems of Elrond's family, I know not what to do or who to blame at this point. Some is our fault but not all for his parents also are at fault as well as others."
"Can the problems be solved or will he be hurt more?" Namo finally asked as he dreaded the answer.
"You can answer that question better than I," came the answer as the two faded away.
