Hi people!

I want to thank Celridel for her immense help as beta, also I want to thank Ducking Cute and d'elfe for their interesting reviews which encourage me to keep writing.

In the last chapter Lord Glorfindel literally begged Laura not to call herself an 'experiment' and he realized that she loved him too. What will be Laura's reaction? And what will be Lord Glorfindel's reaction? And what about the other couple: Alassë and Maeglin?

Waiting for your reviews, guys!


Chapter 59: Tu Me Manques

Laura sat on the roof, the three-quarter moon outlining her face in profile. Her handheld telescope sat unused by her side, and she thought about Glorfindel.

Most nights, she would study the stars, making notes of the constellations and comparing them to the ones on Earth. Now, the wind riffled through her untouched notes.

She had not seen Glorfindel for three days. He had taken over Duilin's charges while the Swallow raised his twins and had been too busy to visit her.

'Experiment? Experiment? Don't you see, Maistalda? How much

damage you do me every time you call yourself with that cruel word?!' Those had been his words, words filled with a feeling that went beyond anything Laura had ever seen. And he had cried. Gondolin's Darling had cried...for her.

She could not overlook such desolation. Seeing him like that had broken down all her barriers until she was naked to him. She had felt so vulnerable, so scared. And what had he seen? Her love? God forbid. And if he had, was that why he was avoiding her?

Laura breathed in slowly, trying to crystallize her thoughts into a logical order. But that was nearly impossible when she thought of Glorfindel. Glorfindel drove her forward. He helped her grow, be a better person, dreamed dreams she had never dared to dream. Even though he would never understand what it was to be an experiment, programmed to kill from birth, a puppet designed around the Facility's iron fist. Even though he could not understand, he still pushed her to the best version of herself. Faces strobed through her mind like a stop-motion video, the people who had believed in her before she had ever met Glorfindel. Her mother, bloodied, dying, christening her. Logan, who had bonded with her over their shared mutation. Professor Xavier who had given her a new home and beginning. Remmy, the French mutant who had called her his 'Petite', and had taught her friendship, trust, and the brighter things of life. Remmy would always have a special place in her heart. But it was Glorfindel that ruled supreme, Glorfindel, the Elf with a heart as bright and golden as his hair. He had never given up, not even when she mocked him and deceived him. That Elf's perseverance had achieved things that not even Remmy could have, and she had changed many things so she could be close to him.

Laura stood up, stretching like a huge cat. Dawn was in the air, and she hurried to put her things away and get prepared for the new day.

Mist was ankle-deep in the streets, and she waded through it, heading towards the Training Square.

A flash of gold appeared through the grey and her heart leaped, but she kept her face impassive. Glorfindel, flanked by two of his House, passed her by on the street, giving her a nod and smile.

She returned it, feeling relief flood her like an elixir. 'He's not mad at me,' she thought. 'So, it's worth changing...or at least trying too.'

Laura smiled with new spirit, ready to make her recruits suffer. Assassin or no, what she did was make soldiers.


Glorfindel bid his soldiers farewell, and changed his trajectory entirely, heading towards Maeglin's smithy.

He was just outside of the pine grove that hid the forge from sight when a glint of pale gold caught his eye. He held out his hands just in time to catch an elleth, who had dashed out of the fir grove and into him.

"A thousand pardons," he said, and as he steadied her, he saw her face. It was pale as bone, her eyes were huge and glassy with tears. "Pardon me, but are you all right?" he asked, concerned.

The elleth stepped away from him, making a weak curtsey. Her voice was choked and barely audible. "Forgive me, my Lord. I should have been paying attention. Have a blessed day."

And without waiting for his response, she fled, her face covered with her hands, crying heartbreakingly.

Glorfindel looked after her, his eyebrows knit together with compassion and concern. Then he pushed past the branches and onto the narrow path.


After a few minutes' walk, he arrived to find the smithy door wide open. He stepped inside, wincing at the sudden heat, the dim light, and the dusty smell. He had a thousand places he would rather be, but this was a small thing to do for the woman he loved.

"Lord Maeglin?" he called.

After a long minute, a soft voice answered from the shadows. "Lord Glorfindel. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

The half-Vanya turned and saw the Lord of the Mole emerge from the darkness, a thin, unwelcoming smile on his face.

"I come to ask you a favor," Glorfindel continued. "I ask that you teach me metallurgy, specifically jewelry."

Maeglin arched an eyebrow. "I am not a teacher, Glorfindel. If you want me to make you something, give me the specifics. After all, I made Duilin his engagement rings."

"They were works of art," Glorfindel agreed. "But I want to make my own."

A flash of unveiled annoyance crossed Maeglin's thin face. "I have neither the time nor desire to teach a beginner. I teach the best, Glorfindel. And let us be honest: you could not tell a chisel from a file."

"I must do it on my own. Please, Maeglin," Glorfindel said.

Maeglin's dour expression changed to one of sardonic amusement and he smiled a half-smile, sharing a private joke with himself. Glorfindel inwardly cursed the Prince's insightfulness. If Maeglin wanted it, his love would be on the lips of half the city in an hour, and on the whole in two.

"Do not fret, Lord Glorfindel," Maeglin said as if reading the other's thoughts. "I understand your predicament, and I will teach you enough so you can gift your beloved with an acceptable jewel. I will see you here tomorrow morning. Until then, I believe you can find your way to the door." Without pausing, he turned and continued his work as if there was no one there.


Lord Maeglin's POV

'They come to me like flies to honey when they want something, the scrounging parasites they are. Duilin with his doe-eyed doxy, Glorfindel the Coxcomb. And yet their stories will end neatly, marked down by a 'happily ever after.' And what have they done to deserve that? They sit and complain like the cumberworlds they are, yet they are showered with gifts and love. Tell me, when did Glorfindel spend aching months crafting perfection for Laura? When did Duilin work until his back felt broken?

Never. And yet they have it all. The only reason I chose to help Glorfindel was for Laura, who has shown some loyalty to me.

All the rest have left me in the shadows: even the Celebrindal's light has forsaken me. Now she dances for Tuor on the wall tops and pretends not to see me.

Once I thought I could live with another, but now I realize how blind I was, and I hate myself for it! If I had not fallen for Alassë I would have reached my cousin. I would have reached the Sun instead of trying to be content with a little flower!

Fortunately, she will never come back, but the damage is done.

How I hate everyone, but most of all… how I hate myself! '


Alassë lay at the base of a giant birch tree, the first sunrays filtering through its leaves. Flocks of birds sang to greet the coming morn and a babbling stream ran nearby, adding joy to this place, but there was no joy left in Alassë's heart. All the colors and melodies had disappeared from her life forever. She was pale, her dry eyes like blue marbles in her skull. She looked lifeless, thanotropic, cored out.

She had always believed that people who had a difficult life had difficult tempers, and a clear example of this was Laura. It was impossible to be sweet and tender when life had always been pitted against them. Laura had said that that's why the story of Cinderalla could not be true because Cinderella would have changed sooner or later.

However, Alassë had thought Lord Maeglin to be the exception. He certainly had a difficult temper, a difficult past, and no friends save for Laura, but Alassë had decided she could be his friend too. That, like the flowers that surrounded her now, she could bring color to the Prince's life, she could bring the song of friendship, and what is more, the song of love to his troubled heart...but how wrong she had been!

Because not only had her love never been requited but the poison that Maeglin had told her had been so cruel and merciless that for the first time, Alassë began to consider giving up, to leave everything behind and fade.


Flashback

Alassë had been seriously considering whether she should ever return to the smithy. His cruel, arrogant words had made her weep for hours, and yet she understood. She knew of the arrival of Tuor and she knew how Maeglin hated him, hated him for a reason that broke Alassë's heart in half.

But she still remembered when Maeglin had asked her to teach him, guide him through the universe of emotion, and she, with nothing but joy in her heart, had done it. To the extent he learned to speak what was on his mind, to hug, to kiss, to even say that he 'believed he loved her', and Alassë had innocently believed the day would come when the Prince understood love, and they would be happy together. But now those dreams seemed like what they were: the desperate, threadbare dreams of an ignorant girl. The poison that Maeglin had spit at her was an acid, corroding her fëa.

On the pretext of seeing how the young Elf-lord was faring, Alassë came to visit him in the early morning. As always, he was in his smithy. A canvas sack was laid on the table, and he was sorting through the gemstones it contained.

"Maeglin? How are you?" she greeted brightly.

She saw the Prince visibly flinch. Was his heart to blame for that? The elleth yearned for it to be so.

"Alassë," he replied coldly, without turning around. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," she said shyly, stepping inside. "We haven't seen each other for a long time, and I thought-"

"Should you not be setting up your stall?"

Alassë felt her heart drop. It was clear that he did not want to see her, and it was clear he did not feel any remorse for his actions.

"I have time," she responded, trying to blink away tears. "I wanted to see you."

"For what? What do you want now?"

"Maeglin, I don't know what's wrong with you. There's no reason for you to treat me this way."

The Elf-Lord turned slowly from his table, crossing his arms. She was startled at his appearance. He was wearing a leather jerkin, crusted with grime, and he had evidently been mining. His hands were black and rough, his face and neck caked with mud. His eyes were disconcertingly red-rimmed. "Let me play the royal nursemaid one more time. I will put things simply for your sake, Wood-Elf. Everyone has taken advantage of me, but you… went above and beyond. You saw my need and under a false pretext, you tried to take me away from the Princess. You trapped me in your lies and homilies and left me there. Now even Laura has found love, but I am utterly alone because of you."

Tears escaped Alassë's eyes, running away down her cheeks, leaving her heart body as if they could not bear to witness anything else. "Maeglin, you are never alone nor will you be. I will always be by your side," she sobbed. "I never took advantage of you. You asked for help and I gave it without expecting anything in return."

"You expected my love in return," he said coldly.

"No.," she said weakly. "I gave you my love freely, but I never asked you to love me. But if I remember rightly, you said you loved me."

The Lord of the Mole laughed mockingly, a laugh so scornful and terrible that Alassë felt a chill run down her spine. This was not the Elf-lord she had fallen in love with.

"And what did you want me to say, Wood-Elf? Did you want the truth?"

"Yes. It would have been better for you to give me the truth instead of wasting my time," she said, taking strength for the first time, which enraged Maeglin further.

"You would only have continued trying and you would have wasted my time as well. My gaze has always been and always will be fixed far above you, on the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars."

"Your time is already wasted, Maeglin!" exclaimed Alassë. "She is married and has a child. She will never love you-"

"What do you know about that, Wood-elf!" he shouted at her, his inky eyes alight. "Do you think that because you love me you already know what Love is? Love is something sublime, it gives you wings, it fills you with light, light like that of the Celebrindal, but what would you know? I am speaking to a simple Wood-Elf, a wild one who sits in the long shadows cast by the Calaquendi." He paused and his next words were cold and sharp and broke Alassë's heart into a thousand pieces that lay on the floor of her ribcage. "Understand this very well, Alassë, and let it be very clear to you: I did not love you; I never did, and I never will. My heart belongs to the Silverfoot. I never want to see your face again in my whole life. Get out."

Alassë clearly felt something, something deep within her being split in two. She looked directly into Maeglin's black eyes and saw that they were filled with so much hatred it choked everything else. With a shattered soul, she ran out of the smithy.

In her mad rush, she did not see the Elf coming her way, dressed in gold armor and a green cloak, and it was not until she collided with him that she even noticed his presence.

"Parden me, are you alright?" he had asked her

But Alassë did not want to give details, and she barely got by him without breaking down. She ran out to a lonely copse, where she had collapsed physically and spiritually exhausted.


"The King was once more pleased with the recruits," said Glorfindel said, pouring wine from a small brass jug and passing the chalice to Laura.

They were sitting on the west wall, and Glorfindel had brought wine to celebrate, as Laura's recruits had finished their training, and each been assigned to different Houses. He would rather have been down in Tumladen, sitting among the grass, but he did know if Laura would be willing.

"Fortunately," replied Laura, taking the cup. "I would not like to lose my job."

Glorfindel laughed. "Trustme, that will never happen, Maistalda. I know you don't care for compliments, but I have never met a trainer as skilled you."

Laura arched an eyebrow. "I'm only accepting it because it's a special day."

The half-Vanya smiled. "How kind of you, Maistalda. When will you start your next group?"

"Maybe next week," she said indifferently. "I need to start rounding up the next batch of masochists."

"Not masochists," Glorfindel answered patiently. "Remember-"

"That this isn't the Facility?" the young woman interrupted him, annoyed. "Believe it or not, I know. You've told me several times, Blondie."

Glorfindel took a deep breath. He still loathed the nickname, although he knew that Laura only used it when something he had said deeply bothered her.

"Look," Laura continued in a gentler tone. "You don't have to remind me. I am here to train soldiers, not assassins."

The Elf-lord raised an eyebrow in surprise and smiled. "Cheers to the soldier trainer," he said, raising his glass.

"Cheers," Laura answered, clinking her cup with his. "That's the first time someone gave me a toast."

"Perhaps because nobody had realized all the potential you, Maistalda."

Laura looked at him for a moment. The word 'experiment' crossed her mind, but a louder voice shouting Wilwarinda completely silenced that previous voice, causing her to say, "Probably." She took a sip then put her cup down so he would not see her hand was shaking. That moment had been so difficult...but it had felt so good! Glorfindel, who had learned to know her throughout all these years, smiled and placed his glass next to her. She looked at them curiously. "There's a very interesting game in America involving cups," she said. "You put a coin inside two identical cups, then shuffle them around. Then you guess which cup the coin is in. It was something they used to do-" She broke off suddenly, her sentence splintering under the weight of the word 'Facility'. "I think it would be a good idea to add it to training. It would help the recruits learn to pay attention," she ended suddenly.

There was a wind-whispered silence, and then Laura murmured. "It's not easy."

"I know, Maistalda," Glorfindel said, looking at her with adoring eyes.

"All my life I've always considered myself as an 'experiment'," she said with a burst of feeling. "I know if you think about logically, I'm a completely different person, but it's still so hard. I'm trying my best...I just don't want to hurt you again."

Glorfindel was deeply moved. The woman was opening little by little, like prying an oyster open, but inside there was a pearl of great price. He took one of her hands and began to caress her knuckles, just where the claws were. Laura shivered and closed her eyes.

"Do not call yourself an 'experiment' again and we can both be very happy, Maistalda," he said softly.

Laura opened her eyes. "Happy?" she asked, her face asking for an explanation.

"Yes, happy," he replied. "Just keep trying, Maistalda."

Laura looked down, at his hand where it covered hers. "I guess so," she murmured. "I guess I'm Wilwarinda after all "

Hearing this, Glorfindel nearly kissed Laura. Yes, some day soon they would be very happy.


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