Chapter 82: Flight
Year 1437 of the Third Age, Lindórinand
"Men of the West," Tugu spat when she returned to Cerin Aran and entered Galadriel's house. "They never change, or never for the better."
"You shouldn't say that, Mother," her son corrected her softly, following in after her. "It makes you as bad as them."
„Sometimes I wonder whether you aren't, somehow, my sister's child," she muttered in response, but then said: „You are right, of course. Forgive me. But at times, I'm so tired by all of this."
He only nodded.
"Not that I want to interrupt," Galadriel said, her tone mildly amused, "but since you came into my house and all, I assume you have news."
"We do indeed," Tugu said, clearly disgusted. "Our little trip of support to King Eldacar ended up being more needed than we could have expected, though also in vain."
"The rebel won," Spenna clarified for Galadriel, who was slowly losing her patience. "The king is fleeing his realm."
That was some cause for alarm indeed. "Where are Elladan and Elrohir?" She asked immediately.
"They stayed behind to provide him with protection, while we went ahead to let you know. He left with a handful of faithful ones, and they would like to recuperate here in safety for a time before they move on."
Galadriel sighed. "If it was only up to me, then with all my heart. But you know how it is. Most of the council is disinclined to let Men in at all at this time, and a Man who has the whole nation of Gondor after him...I'll try, but there is almost no hope of success."
"Couldn't Amroth overrule the vote?" Tugu asked. "Isn't that how the Sindatin authority is supposed to work?"
"Not anymore, not since the Silvan made it clear they want to have their voice heard. Besides, I doubt he would want to."
"Should I go back and tell them to give the refuge of Lindórinand up, then?" Spenna asked.
Galadriel shook her head. "At the very least," she said, "I can provide protection at he borders. My spells will not turn them away, and our guard won't shoot them, as they would do to any who tried to pursue. We can bring them food and healing, too. We can grant them a few days, easily."
"Then I will tell them that. I will head back after I rest a little."
"Just a moment more," Galadriel stopped him. "You said they intend to go on after a period of rest. To go on – where?"
"Can't you guess?" Tugu answered instead of her son. "Rhovanion, of course."
"That means passing directly under the Necromancer's land."
"Yes," Spenna confirmed. "They might need our help and protection just a little while longer."
When he left, Galadriel gave his mother a searching glance. "He was very eager to return," she said. "Was it just for Elladan and Elrohir?"
Tugu shook her head. "I fear not," she said. "There is a young lady who is fleeing with her father, her brother having been slain in defending the king. She is, truly, very young. But my son...I worry he might be feeling the first stirrings of the Flame."
Galadriel immediately understood the gravity of that pronouncement. "It might still come to nothing," she said. "How young is very young?"
"I don't know exactly. Fifteen, perhaps?"
That was not so extremely young, not for the Second-born. There were even cases where girls married that young, she knew, though never in the circles she knew in Númenórë. But it was an age when it was possible, just possible, that Spenna would recognize the Flame already. "I'm sorry," she said simply.
"Yes," Tugu agreed with a sigh. "So am I. Our parents were always so worried, I know, that we would find someone among Men – especially when we went to look for a place to settle there." She scoffed. "They needn't have worried on that account. I'd rather have stayed alone till the end of the world than have married any of the Men of the West I met."
Galadriel gave a small, sad smile. "I understand, now, why your son was so upset with you expressing that sentiment."
"His chosen one, if she is that, is exceptional in this, I'll grant her that much. Her whole family is. They stuck by the king through everything, never once wavering. The father, apparently, had been close to the old king already, and his wife." Tugu scowled. "He told us something of what she had to face in court on the way."
"It's a pity Elrond can't afford to come here now. He could tell the king something about what he faced in Lindon for his Second-born ancestors."
Tugu sighed. "I wish I could believe it was only Men who did this," she agreed, "but I've seen enough myself. Even here, in this realm, there is sometimes a look, a whisper...it happened less often in Greenwood, but it happened, and in Magrandoro...the less said about that, the better."
"I'm sorry," Galadriel repeated, powerless to do more and hating it.
"At least you actually are," Tugu replied, "which is more than most can say."
Galadriel was not comfortable accepting thanks, implicit as it may be, for such a basic thing. "I'll go speak with Amroth, and the council."
The result was much as she had expected, and so a day later, when King Eldacar arrived with his small entourage, she welcomed him at the borders with food and healing supplies, and Asseannettë's sisters by her side.
As she helped the refugees, she observed, and she was forced to admit that Tugu was likely right. Spenna never left the refugees' side, and while he did not spend his time exclusively with the only young girl present, he spent enough of it that his inclination was clear to Galadriel.
Elladan and Elrohir mostly stayed there, too, to keep their new friends company, and one night when the Second-born slept, Galadriel asked them about their observation.
"We would not betray a friend," Elrohir replied.
"What betrayal?" Elladan asked. "He betrays himself by every look."
"Has he actually said something to you?" Galadriel asked.
"Not in so many words," Elladan admitted, "but he made hints which..."
"Elladan!" Elrohir said sharply.
"You are right, brother, best not repeat that. In any case, it seems clear enough to us."
Galadriel sighed. It was as she had feared.
That evening, as she spoke to Elrond, she mentioned it to him and felt his own, answering pain. This is the pain that every friend of a half-elf must suffer, he said. I'm sorry for my sons, that they'll have to face it in him. But more than that, I admit, I fear one of them following his example.
Or both, Galadriel said, melancholy in her own voice.
Or both, he agreed, but what I fear more is it only being one of them.
Galadriel felt his spike of pain at this, and she felt her own, answering one. Beloved...
You know it will never heal.
I do. I am sorry.
I worry about them constantly, he admitted. They spend so much time among the Second-born, seem so much at home there...I truly fear that they are like Elros. That if they fall in love with a woman, it will only be a confirmation of what they already knew. He sighed. At least with Arwen, he said. I feel secure enough. There is nothing of Men in her, it seems to me, neither in her face nor in her nature, and I trust that if no one else will, she will stay by me.
Galadriel would have liked to promise him she would, too, but she could not follow him West, and besides, a sense of a premonition distracted her in that moment. It was sharp and biting, and would not leave her alone, so she ended the talk and headed to the Mirror.
The only thing she saw there, however, was that coronation in Gondor once again, and she puzzled over it for a time.
It was then that she remembered which child this vision was connected to, and coupled with the premonition reappearing when it did...fear settled in her stomach, deep, all-encompassing fear.
Elrond, she decided, must not know. It might not be true after all, and I must not worry him in vain. I must not hurt him in vain. He has suffered enough.
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Olórin judged the situation serious enough that he decided to head to Gondor, and stopped in Linorinand on his way south.
"It is good to see you in person again, my friend," Galadriel said with a smile as she greeted him.
"And you," he returned. "I have finally found the little folk you have told me about, and had to abandon them for this foolishness of Men, but at least it gives me an excuse to see you."
"The little folk? Ah, you mean the strange ones who live up the river?" Galadriel had a vague feeling that Feliel had gone to see them a few more times. She herself could not afford the absence from her realm for such a frivolous reason.
"Yes, only they no longer live up the river. They are in Eriador now."
At that, Galadriel blinked. "In Eriador? Where?"
"Hiding their small settlements in that lands that used to be part of Rhudaur, west of Rivendell. They are very hard to find."
"That is good for them – Angmar is under control now, relatively speaking, but still, they would no doubt be in danger had they lived in the open."
Olórin agreed. "In fact," he said, "I may have to try and gain their trust to warn them to move away before Angmar gains strength again. It could end badly for them. It almost inevitably would."
"It should be done, certainly," Galadriel agreed. "But...are you certain it is you who should do it? Surely Elrond could send someone? I do not mean to scold, my friend, but you do have more crucial tasks."
"Which is why I left them to to go Gondor just now," he returned, "but...I have a premonition, of sorts, that they will be important in some way."
Galadriel considered this. "Do you wish to look into the Mirror?"
He hesitated. "I am not certain...the Mirror works with your visions, my friend, amplifies them. I am not sure it could make use of my own premonitions, and in fact, I fear a little that its strength could push them away."
Galadriel had never considered the possibility, but it made sense. "Do you wish me to look, then?" She asked.
"I would be most glad," he replied.
They walked there together, Galadriel greeting the Noldorin families settled around the hill as she climbed it, introducing Olórin to those who did not know him. There were few such left. She often preferred the hill as a place to speak to him, rather than the capital, where someone was always making demands on her time.
The Mirror, though was rather unhelpful. It gave her images of one of the little people, dressed rather absurdly in a vaguely Arnorin fashion, as he sat and chatted to Olórin. Nothing more.
Galadriel showed the image to Olórin, hoping he could make some sense of it. He, however, only shrugged. "This is far in the future now, I believe," he said. "When I meet him, I will know."
Yes, Galadriel wondered, but know what?
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Arwen visited Lindórinand not long after. She had last been there a few decades ago when Elrond, together with the kingdom of Arthedain, organized an offensive to push back against Angmar as a response to the two other kingdoms of Men being destroyed. Angmar had been pushed back successfully then, and had been kept in check by Rivendell and Arthedain ever since, and so Celebrían stayed in Rivendell, and Arwen stayed with her. They both sensed that ere long, they would be forced to find refuge in Lindórinand again, and who knew for how long, and so they wished to stay with Elrond as much as they could while they could.
However, the time had finally come when Arwen missed her grandparents too much, and so she headed south without her mother, with her brothers as her escort. Galadriel was sitting with her now, telling her stories of the First Age as the half-elven lady jotted down notes for the book she was working on.
That was when she felt Tugu very insistently trying to reach her mind.
"Forgive me, beloved," she said, pausing in the middle of her narration. "Tugu needs something, and rather urgently I fear."
"Of course. What is it?"
"I do not know," Galadriel replied, rushing out, Arwen following more sedately after her.
Tugu was hurrying towards them, and so they met her not far from the house. "Lady Galadriel," she said, breathless. "There are news."
"What news?"
"King Eldacar is returning to Gondor."
"What?" Galadriel exclaimed. "Does he wish to be killed?"
Tugu shook her head vehemently. "He has an army at his back."
"An army?" The Nolde frowned. "Did some of the rioting Gondorians go to join him?"
"Perhaps that as well," Tugu conceded. "But the grunt of it is the Nothmen of Rhovanion."
That was astonishing indeed. "How did he convince them to join him?"
Tugu shook her head again. "I don't know that, my lady."
"Any other details?"
Another shake.
"Can you tell me how you learned about it, at least?"
Tugu hesitated for a moment. "Spenna saw the image in her mind," she admitted then.
Galadriel stared. "He can see her mind well enough for this? Over this distance?"
"Yes," Tugu admitted.
"I'm sorry," Arwen interceded, "but whose mind?"
Galadriel gave Tugu a questioning look, and Tugu shrugged. "It's not like it matters now," she said. "It's beyond a shade of doubt." She turned to Arwen, then, and said: "My son is in love with one of King Eldacar's noble ladies."
Arwen's eyes widened as she realized the implications. "Oh," she only said, clearly at a loss.
There was a short silence, and before Galadriel could gather her thoughts and decide what to do next, Birik and Hana found them there.
"Spenna told us what happened," Birik explained.
"He's packing his things to go join them at this very moment," Hana added.
Tugu only nodded. "He told me he'd go," she said.
"Do you wish to accompany him?" Galadriel asked.
"Do you wish me to?" Tugu asked shrewdly.
"Yes," Galadriel admitted. "I need someone to go there and bring us back some news. But if you're unwilling, I'll ask Amroth to send a scout."
Tugu shook her head. "No, I'll go," she said, and departed shortly after, in the company of her parents.
"What does this mean for her?" Arwen asked when they were alone again.
"You know what it means, beloved."
"I know he will die," Arwen said as they headed to Amroth's house to acquaint him with the news. "But I mean..." She shook her head. "I cannot imagine this. I do not know Spenna as well as my brothers do, of course, but it seems that he loves his parents, and his aunts and grandparents, too. I cannot imagine...if he loves them as much as I love my father, how could he..."
Galadriel thought of her Mirror again, and tried to mask the pain she felt at that premonition. "You have not felt the Flame," she said. "It is...very strong. The idea of living without the one to whom it binds you is difficult."
"Why did the One made it possible for us to feel it for the Second-born, then? Is it a curse?"
"Tindómiel believed so, for a time," Galadriel said with a sad smile.
"Tindómiel? The Númenorean princess, my cousin?"
"The very one." You will meet her across the sea one day, Galadriel wanted to say, but then she thought of the vision again and bit her tongue, struggling not to let her feelings show.
"But...she married an elf. She did not need to die, to abandon her loved ones..."
"No," Galadriel replied. "Hers was the harder fate. She had to watch all of her loved ones die."
"I never considered this," Arwen admitted. "Living among elves..."
"Yes," Galadriel agreed, "it is different for you. But truly, the one who dies the true death of the Second born always has it easier. It is those who continue living who suffer."
"Why did so many Men of Númenórë despise death, then?"
"Perhaps because of the pain it caused those who they left behind?" Galadriel suggested. "I do not know. I do not understand the gift, not truly, and I do not know how bound, or not bound, Men feel to the world. You should know that better, at least in theory."
Arwen shook her head. "Anyone desiring death," she said, "has ever been a mystery to me. I love the world, and I love many in it. I suppose that wishing to sail one day I can imagine, though not yet by far, but dying..."
Galadriel smiled at that. "You are perfectly happy, then?"
Arwen hesitated. "I would not put it that way exactly, perhaps..."
Galadriel immediately grew concerned. "What is wrong?"
"It is only that I am a little lonely, sometimes," Arwen replied.
And Galadriel thought of herself feeling that way when she was young, and of the Flame, and of the Mirror, and fought despair again.
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It has been some time since Galadriel visited Hadhodrond, and so she decided to go and bring them the news of the most recent development herself.
As King Fili welcomed her with a genuine smile, she could not help but marvel at the profound difference in character between him and the previous king of that name. Clearly, the dwarves did not give identical names for similarity in nature, as elves did.
"What news do you bring, my lady?" He asked her courteously. "It's usually bad when you come, but I can never stop hoping to be wrong."
"You might be this time," she replied. "At least it's more difficult to decide. King Eldacar is returning to Gondor – with an army of Northmen at his back."
King Fili stared at her for a moment. "So...he's going to invade his own kingdom?"
"It appears so, though I don' have much detailed information yet."
He shook his head. "I can never understand Men," he muttered.
"Have dwarves never rebelled against their king?"
"Not to my knowledge, though we know very little of what goes on in the Red Mountains, of course. But not in the west, no."
Galadriel felt a pang of jealousy at that. But then she remembered the obedience of the Sindar and what misfortunes it often led to, and what would have happened to the Noldor had they all blindly followed Feanáro. "That can be dangerous as well," she said.
"Yes," he agreed. "One look at Nogrod is enough to make me remember that. Still, the knowledge makes it no less strange to imagine invading my own kingdom with an army of outsiders."
"Hopefully the threat of it will be enough, and there won't have to be a slaughter of kin."
King Fili gave her an amused look. "You don't truly believe that, do you?"
"No," she admitted. "I don't."
She mused about the king's incomprehension on her way back to Lindórinand, and that evening, as she was preparing for bed with Celeborn by her side,s he asked him: "Is it a very astonishing idea to you, that Eldacar will be invading his own kingdom?"
"Not as much as it'd have been a few ages ago," he replied, "but yes, it's still somewhat shocking."
"Do you think less of him for it?"
He considered. "I do not believe I do," he said then. "The idea of a king fighting his own people is repulsive, perhaps, but they did turn away from him. They did betray him, and for nothing but their prejudice."
Galadriel hesitated for a moment. "But when you imagine leading an army against Hollin..." she said then, not even attempting to keep her voice free of pain.
He grimaced. "You're right," he admitted. "That is truly repulsive. But then...had Gorthaur gained them as allies somehow...we might have had no choice."
It was Galadriel's turn to grimace. "I won't even consider such a possibility," she said. "It didn't happen, and that's enough for me."
Still, she suddenly felt even more sympathy for Eldacar than she had before.
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Tugu returned from her journey some weeks later, bringing news. Eldacar and his army were truly on the move, and he had very many Northmen with him.
"I confess myself surprised," Hana remarked. "From what I know of them, the Northmen are rarely willing to leave their land weakened in any way to my people. I wonder what convinced them."
"Eldacar arranged a truce with your people," Tugu replied. "They solemnly swore not to attack while the army will be gone."
"Just like that?" Galadriel asked doubtfully.
"Not quite," Tugu replied with sarcasm. "He gave them a piece of Rhovanion land in exchange."
"And they just accepted that?"
"Your people or the Northmen?" Galadriel asked archly.
"Both. Either."
"The Northmen were not...thrilled, but the current rule in Gondor does not suit them," Tugu replied. "They want Eldacar to come back. And as for the so-called Easterlings...Well, Elldacar gave them an even larger piece of Gondorin land as well. Or rather, promised is a better word I believe, since he does not actually control the land now. But it's always easier giving from something that's not yours."
"In any case, coming with an army of strangers could have bad consequences for him in Gondor," Galadriel pointed out, thinking of Hollin again.
"Well, at least they're not my mother's people," Tugu replied, and Galadriel grimaced when she tried not to imagine what would have happened.
"Yes," Hana agreed. "It's perhaps better that they never find out he even treated with the Chief of Chiefs so successfully. If they're anything like the Northmen...the mutual hatred can be very strong."
"They're worse," Tugu muttered, and Galadriel sighed, thinking of the young Gondorin lady Spenna was in love with. The next few decades were going to be hard.
Tugu went to rest, but Galadriel stayed to speak to her parents. "I'm sorry for what awaits you," she said.
Hana stayed silent, but Birik inclined his head. "Thank you. We have been spared this grief with our daughters, only to face it in our grandson. I have not had to face this since my best friend died, and..." he trailed off, only shaking his head. Hana wordlessly took his hand, and Galadriel left the house, giving them some privacy.