Chapter 30: Metals and Mortals

He was walking towards the palace, his thin, symmetrically handsome face set in inscrutable lines. In his hand he held a bracelet, wrapped in linen. It was for Idril, for his cousin, as all things, in the end, always were. His fingers were cold with fear, so it was almost with relief that he hailed the young human walking ahead of him. He needed time to calm down the panicked roar of his heart, and he found Hwa-Young amusing and at times, refreshing.

"Hwa-Young! Come!"

The black-haired woman whirled around towards him. "Lord Maeglin! I did not hear you."

Maeglin nodded. "Elves tread softly."

Laura's mouth twitched in a sour smile. "I'm sure."

"You seem preoccupied," Maeglin continued. "What worries you?"

The woman shrugged irritably. "I'm not worried, just a little…angry. I can't find a trade anywhere. Nothing works out."

Maeglin was mildly surprised. "Why not? I seem to me as an intelligent and capable person. After all, you learned Quenya and Sindarin, as I have heard, by yourself."

Laura smiled, honestly flattered. "Finally, an Elf who looks me in the eye instead down their nose! You're very wise, Lord Maeglin."

Maeglin laughed, and Laura continued, "It's true, I learned Quenya and Sindarin by myself, but….well, I tried apprenticing myself to the healers, and Nestaë and I did not get along well; I tried to be a clerk and Lord Nolandil laughed at my handwriting. They have taught me how to harvest and garden, which is the most boring thing I've done in my life. I've tried vending with my friend Alassë and it didn't work either."

"Why?" He asked curiously. "If a friend was teaching you, it would be much easier, would it not?"

"Let's say you guys don't really trust me," she replied. "They acted like I was going to poison them."

"Sometimes it seems like that's what you are planning," he agreed.

Laura crossed her arms, arching her brow sardonically. "Sure," she said. "Looks who's talking,"

Lord Maeglin only smiled laconically. He was about to wish her farewell, when the woman widened her eyes. "I have an idea! You and your house are the architects and blacksmiths, right? And I have a talent for metallurgy-you said so yourself!"

"That's true," Maeglin agreed. "But raw talent doesn't always suffice."

"Well, I'll have the best teacher: you." When Maeglin chuckled, she continued resentfully, "I'm not joking!"

"I know," Maeglin answered seriously. "But no one has ever wanted to be apprenticed to me."

Laura shrugged. "Maybe not. Maybe that's because no one pays attention," she said, a little surprised at herself

Maybe she and Lord Maeglin were closer than it seemed at first look.

"Thank you. Here, tell me. What do you think of this?" he asked, unwrapped the bracelet. It was made of silver filigree, twisted together so it seemed to flow and move. Jewels were inset in it: an emerald of rare dark hue, an amethyst violet as a silent dusk, a ruby the color of crystallized blood, a sapphire that was a bright bold blue, and in each stone was carefully carved a six-pointed star. Laura drew in her breath sharply. "It's beautiful."

"Not as lovely as the Celebrindal," Maeglin said in a low, wistful voice. "Do you think she will find it beautiful, Hwa-Young?"

"Um ... I guess so .I mean, it's very pretty and, well…I really do not know what the Princess likes," she said awkwardly, recalling the rumors that said Maeglin was madly in love with is cousin.

"She accepts them always, but she never wears them," he continued, his voice low and hot. "I try and I try…oh gods, how I try, to make my works as beautiful….as perfect as she is, but it is like comparing a lump of granite to a pearl!" He paused, breathing hard. "I'm sorry, Hwa-Young. You didn't need to hear that. I'll go now: may the Válar favor me. Have a blessed night."

"Likewise, Lord Maeglin,"

He had taken a few of steps when he turned and said,

"As for what you have told me, Hwa -Young….I will talk to my second in command." Then he left, and Laura, turning back to help Alassë pack up her fruit, and when she thought of the Princess, she found she felt compassion instead of a jealousy.

" Well, Hwa -Young, have you found a trade?" Alassë asked, as they put the little fruit that was left in baskets. The stars were coming out as they worked, and nightbirds were beginning to sing.

"Um…..no."
"Why not?" the elleth asked, sounding honestly surprised.

"I haven't found one that I like. Or that likes me," Laura answered, cynicism sharpening her voice.

"Hwa-Young" Alassë sighed, putting her hands on her waist like a mother scolding an errant child. "Hwa -Young, things are different now. From what you've told me, North Korea is a world I can't even imagine, but you don't live there any longer. You live here, in Gondolin, and you need to adapt as well as you can."

Laura scoffed. She made that sound easy. "Don't scold me, alright? Yesterday I talked with Lord Maeglin, and he said he would accept me as an apprentice to his house…or something like that."

"Lord Maeglin?" Alassë's voice was slightly higher-pitched than normal.

"Yes. It was kind of him to accept me, because….. I wasn't always the nicest towards him."
"I'm not surprised he did: Lord Maeglin is very kind and very noble," Alassë answered, reaching over the booth to pick up a basket of peaches, so her face was hidden by her hair.

Laura leaned against the opposite edge of the booth. "Oh? You know him?"

"Would that I did!" Alassë answered. "But no…..I am both Sindarin and a commoner. Oh, these peaches are all bruised. We should go-"

"Do you like Lord Maeglin?" Laura asked.

Alassë blushed in the starlight. "Gods, no!"

"No, you do not like him. You're in love with him, right, Alassë?" Laura said with a smile.

"No!"

"Oh, give it up, Alassë! You're in love with him. You all but confessed it to me."

"You….you will not tell him?" Alassë asked finally, reaching over the wooden stand and taking Laura's hands.

"Why not? Don't you want him to know?" Laura asked.

Alassë looked terrified at the idea. "No! Laura, you can't! It will be a joke to him…"

"Maeglin is not like that," Laura said quickly.

"No, I know. I know. But don't you understand, Hwa-Young?" Alassë answered, with tears in her eyes. "I have no chance. I am a commoner, a Sindarin commoner. Do you know what the Noldor think of us? Woodland savages! How do you think he would see me?" She paused, gulping in air in ragged sobs. "Since he came, he has seemed so kind, so intelligent! And folks call him "the Bastard Prince" or "Dark Elf o-or "Son of Shadows"!" She paused again, wiping tears from her cheeks. "I don't know why he's mistreated, but if I could….I would show him that the twilight is twice as beautiful as the day!"

Laura leaned over and put a hand on Alassë's shoulder. "I've never really wanted to be a matchmaker. I won't say anything. It's not my business, it's yours."

She said this in a tone of finality that she hoped would comfort Alassë, but only hurt her. Secretly, the Elf-maid had hoped that maybe Hwa-Young would speak to Lord Maeglin. How else would he even know that she existed? If she ever wanted to speak to him, she would have to do it on her own, and she knew she did not have the courage for that.

Twilight was falling: blushing Vàsa smiling at the moon-rise, as she hides her face below the Echoriath, although her arms, gold and violet, yet lingering in the sky.

Glorfindel was walking through the Great Market, watching this sunrise. Above all else, he loved to wander through this white city. City, yes, but it was more than that. It was a song in his bones, a song of nurture and safety that was loud and sweet. Gondolin was built out of marble, but it was also built out of tears and blood and memory, and some of those were his.

So he walked often through the city, whenever his duties permitted him this, and greeted all the Gondolindrim he passed.

So it was with a jolt that he saw Hwa-Young in the market, working with a small, golden-haired elleth to pack away the booth for a night. He was surprised and also pleased to see how the woman wished the elleth a good night, and was about to go over and greet her, when Hwa-Young began to walk away.

He followed her at a safe distance, but a painful of jealously surprised him when he saw her round the corner of a street and greet Maeglin. Jealously grew into anger when he saw them talking together and when he saw her smile.

Whatever they were talking about, it was clear that Hwa-Young harmonized with Maeglin, and that did not please her. He had opened her shell, but Maeglin was reaping the fruit of his labors.

But even in the turmoil of his emotions, Glorfindel recognized that he was, in a way, the culprit. He had pushed her away without the justice of a reason, and he had done ill.

"I have done you a wrong," he told himself. "But I will compensate you, Hwa -Young . I will not do the same again."

He left the market.

"He's gone," Maeglin announced suddenly.

"What?"

"Lord Glorfindel is gone,"

"Lord Glorfindel? He was here? "Laura asked, feigning surprise.

Maeglin only smiled. "You knew he was here, Hwa-Young. Sometimes I think you are a very good performer, and sometimes I think you are a very bad one."

Laura ignored the last comment. "What makes you think I knew Lord Glorfindel was following me?"

"Why did you talk to me?" he retorted.

"Um, because I want to learn metallurgy," she replied, as if speaking to an idiot child.
"Or is it because you want to make Lord Glorfindel jealous?" Maeglin asked in the same tone. Laura's insolent façade slipped for a moment under her surprised, and Maeglin smiled languidly.

"How did you know that I knew Lord Glorfindel was watching us?" Laura rejoined after a minute.

"Why else would you talk to me right now?"

"Why else? Well , because I haven't seen you all day. It's not like you go into the city very often…"

Maeglin looked at her under raised eyebrows, inviting her to finish her sentence, but Laura changed the topic. "I felt someone following me. Even if I couldn't hear him," she finished curtly. "Mortals can do that, and a little more. But if you're asking why I didn't confront him, it's because I really don't care."

Maeglin's shrug was apathetic, but he was mildly curious. All the Lords knew she and Glorfindel had spent time together, and so all knew that they had suddenly stopped.

"I don't care because he doesn't care," Laura added after a few moments. "He pushed me away."

"So you'll do the same?"

Laura nodded.

"It's not always wise to do that. Friends aren't easy to find."

It was Laura's turn to shrug. "I have to go, Lord Maeglin. We mortals must sleep every day."

Maeglin did not rise to the bait. "Have a blessed night, then."

"Likewise, Lord Maeglin."

Lord Maeglin's POV

'This woman is strange. She is willing to lose a friendship as long as she does not lose the war she imagines to be. She is wrong: winning a war is nothing, because there is never a prize. Only loss.

Like I am losing Idril. Once she loved me, I think, once she tolerated me, now she hates me. I feel it. But then, who could blame her?

Válar, aid me.

Seems that someone doesn't think ill of Lord Maeglin. Let's not forget this Sinda Alassë. She will have a major role in the future.

Waiting for your reviews, guys!