Category: Tolkien-Universe

Rating: M

Couples: Egalmoth/Rog, Maeglin/Salgant

Warnings: AU, canon-levels of Everything

Chapter: 56

Copyright: Characters & places © By Tolkien Estate and/or mynameisjessejk, Plot & OC´s © by me

Authors note: Set in the Otter(less) Mayhem Universe of abovementioned mynameisjessejk on AO3. Unofficial sequel to 'The House of the Mole'

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The attendant, secretary, whatever they had decided to call the elf guarding the frontdoor of the guesthouse, easily pointed him in the right direction for the two visitors from Valimar.

Marching up the stairs, he wondered if the twins were present as well. He knew they wouldn't leave the two they had brought here, but would they also stay with them all the time? Knocking on the indicated door, he slipped inside before even hearing an answer. Ah... "Do you two mind leaving?" He addressed the two otters. "I'd like to keep this in the family."

Both furry noodles chattered briefly, but after exchanging a look with the two elves that had been obligingly ruffling their fur, they slid down to solid ground and over to the sideroom. Moments later they re-appeared again as dressed elves and left the suite entirely.

"Son..." His father addressed him, looking him over.

"Father, mother." He inclined his head lightly, looking for a seat. "My apologies for making you wait, but I was out of the city, as my son might have told you."

"He did." His mother, from whom he had inherited his black hair, demurely informed him. All three kept their speech deeply formal, the kind you'd see in treatises, not in a conversation between family-members. "He does you credit."

"That's a sharp reversal regarding your letter." He leaned back in his seat, meeting her grey eyes evenly.

"You did read it, I hope?" Clearly they had not changed the fact that they'd take turns when talking. Egalmoth noted in trepidation the twitch in his father's jawmuscles, a clear sign of the older male's agitation.

"Of course." It had not sat well with him, lying to his family, but if they had known he'd read the entire thing - several times in fact - they would have wanted to know what it said. It had been easier to pretend he hadn't, and proverbially throw his parents under a different waggon. "But I assumed the result would be eternal silence, which arriving in the city you refused to even hear about is not."

"You are marrying." The female pointed out softly. "The least we can do is congratulate in person."

"The only we can do is that." Her husband corrected her. "We were hoping for a short visit, but your absence made us linger. It would not surprise us if half the city knows by now that we are here. I have not left these rooms, but plenty will have seen me arrive and we still look too alike."

"It has been a while since something rumourworthy happened." The Lord of the Heavenly Arch softly conceded the point. "So your stance has not changed...?" He tore his eyes away from them. "When Tinnu told me you were here, I hoped..."

"It has not changed." And she sounded truthfully apologetic about that. "It is for the best, Aikal."

"Is it!?" He turned to them so sharply a brief lance of pain shot down his neck. "Truly, I will know how Elerondo felt all those Ages ago! Abandoned by my family... and for what!?"

"You have a family here. We were greeted by a member, if you recall." The commoner's back was ramrod straight, of a flawless degree Generals would proudly drill into their troops. "We will take our leave tomorrow. I fear it is too late by now to do so today."

"Just like that... you leave just like that." The Lord's back bent, face becoming downcast. "This... this might have been crueller than ought else you have ever done. I came back from meeting my fiancé's family, and here I am being abandoned by mine... Again." He sat up straight again with a sigh, face becoming a cold mask of Lordly indifference. "As thou wishest. Far be it from me to force my will upon thee. I accept thy well-wishes and wish thee a safe journey home." He rose so abruptly the chair overturned behind him, clattering to the ground as he swept from the room he had arrived in only a few minutes ago.