Chapter 22 : The Gondolin Puss in Boots
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Since Belin had returned home, he could not stop talking about his adventures abroad, the customs and habits of the Noldor, and his former employer, the Knight of the Fountain.
"My lord Ecthelion is so beautiful that when you look at him, it's like looking at heaven," Belin continued to explain to his brothers, while eating his bowl of lentils.
Eudes and Robert had stopped eating and were looking at him sullenly, with their mouth open.
"And his voice is like music. Sometimes I just close my eyes and listen to him talk."
The two brothers looked at each other.
"Robert, I think our brother has advanced elfophilia, so to speak. "
"That's not true," said Belin.
"And the High Kin' of the Noldor, what does he looks like ?"
"He looks a bit like our King Turgon, but younger and less tall," replied Belin.
Both brothers nodded.
"The immortalitee of the elves, that has funny results", said Robert. "Once Olwen from the Oatmeal Farm introduced me to her great-gran'mother... I was so surprised that she was so fresh and good to see !"
"But your lor' Ecthelion," continued Eudes. "Does he shine like Kin' Turgon and Lor' Glorfindel ?"
"No, for he did not live on the Isle of the Gods. He was born in the land of the High King."
"And do you know how they reproduce, because Robert and I have always wondered about that. We never see 'em act or talk about it, so we don't understan'."
"I think they do as we do," replied Belin. "But less often. For example, Milord Ecthelion never thinks about it, and he has taken a vow of charity."
"Of what?"
"Of charity. That means that you do not touch the women."
"Ah..."
These revelations left the two brothers wondering, so they finished their lentils in silence.
Ecthelion received Belin's letter of resignation late in the afternoon, while he was busy at the barracks.
The elf had thought at first that his squire's return had been delayed for some reason... His resignation was the last thing he could have expected. So he replayed the last few days in his mind. But everything seemed normal. His squire was no longer being hazed, at least as far as he knew... He seemed to enjoy his work.
Was the affront from him ? Had he offended him without realising it, because of their cultural differences ? If so, he would apologise. Or maybe it was his brothers who had influenced him...
With his mind buzzing and confused, the knight returned home. To his great disappointment, he found no one in the living room or the bedrooms. "He will at least come back for his things anyway," he thought. And he dropped into the armchair in Belin's room, his hands resting on his forehead.
Half an hour passed. The elf looked at the wall opposite him, where a tapestry of Yavanna was hanging. He heard the half-open door slide open slightly, and then the sound of soft paws on the floor.
It was Belin's cat rubbing against his legs.
"You see, your master has abandoned you," said Ecthelion.
He looked down. The cat was looking at him with its golden irises and the lace ruff around its neck.
"He did not abandon me," said a voice.
The cat's mouth had moved. Ecthelion gasped.
"This time I'm really mad," said the elf, "I feel like I can hear Belin's fat cat talking to me."
"Please, you taciturn creature, a little politeness ! I am not so fat... and you are not mad !"
Ecthelion leapt out of the chair.
"Varda ! ...Eru !"
"Meow ! There's no need to swear by all the gods ! What are you doing sitting here waiting, slumped in my chair ? You must go and get Belin to come back here in Gondolin !"
"Cats don't talk !" Ecthelion replied. "And they are not a race created by the Valar !"
"It doesn't matter who created me," replied the cat. "Belin must return to Gondolin. The future of Middle-earth depends on it."
"And how would a simple miller's son be important to Middle-earth ?"
"Because I know things you don't."
"What things ?"
"I can't tell you."
A ray of light flashed across the elf's eyes ; the cat had no time to react. In a blink of an eye Ecthelion had seized it. The animal struggled, crying and meowing, its fangs protruding, its eyes rolling upwards and its hair stooding on end. Finally, the elf held it by its two hind legs, keeping its head upside down.
"Speak, creature of Morgoth !"
"Miaaaaaaouh !" the cat yelped, squirming. "I've been with him since he was a child because he has a great destiny to fulfill ! I saw it ! In my visions !"
"Your visions ?"
"Yes ! I saw Belin in Gondolin, with you, the Lord of the Fountain... And I saw him marry the princess too !"
"Idril ?"
"Yes !"
Ecthelion's mouth was hanging open. Then he frowned and began to shake the cat.
"Are you sure it was him ?!"
"Yes, yes !"
But the Cat wasn't so sure... The man with the long blond hair and blue eyes he had seen in his visions was taller than Princess Idril, who was already almost two metres tall. Belin, however, was currently shorter than Idril. Moreover, it seemed to him that the man seen in his visions was much more handsome, with finer facial features and a better built body. That said, these visions were still a bit blurry, and Belin had not completely finished growing.
"And when you first had these visions, you were living here ?"
"Yes," lied the Cat.
This was probably not the time to tell him that he was one of Tevildo's wizard-cats, Mairon Tevildo the Shape Shifter and Prince of Cats. He could have tried to explain to him that he had run away from the cruelty of his former master and decided to serve the cause of Good and the Valar, but how could he have believed him ? It was risking ending up executed and nailed to a door.
"I find it hard to see Belin married to the king's daughter," said Ecthelion. "But you are right in that I must go and talk to him and clear up the matter."
"You learned what you wanted ? So now let go of me !" the Cat intimated.
Ecthelion dropped him and headed for the door. Before leaving the room, he turned and said :
"You're pretty fancy for a cat. That lace ruff... You should be called the Puss in Suits."
This strange discussion closed, the elf went down to the barracks, had his horse saddled by one of the squires on duty, put on his armour, and soon went through the city gate.
The afternoon was half over, and the light was already beginning to fade. Ecthelion passed the first farm, then the second. An hour after his departure, he reached the mill. There was a path perpendicular to the road. He took it to reach the farm that was a little further on.
Eudes and Robert were sitting on the large rectangular stone to the left of their door, sharing a loaf of bread soaked in wine, when a knight mounted on a white steed came to the edge of their farmyard.
This was not the type of elf they were used to seeing here in the valley. This elf, who was definitely one of the Noldor, was clad from head to toe in silver armour with an elaborately decorated breastplate. Long black hair, contrasting with the silver, fell in long smooth bands from the bottom of his helmet, which was topped with a diamond-tipped spike. His cloak, beautiful, was a dark blue-grey, shimmering like water.
The visitor dismounted his horse, to which he spoke a few words in Sindarin, and then took off his helmet.
He had a long face, with high, pronounced cheekbones stretching diagonally to his temples, a straight forehead and nose, and a wide mouth. If he did not glow like some of the other elves, his skin had a sheen to it that human skins did not have, and a fierce grey fire was in each of his eyes.
"It must be that Ecthelion that Belin told us so much about," said Robert to his brother.
"I don't know," whispered the other, "but he's quite handsome."
The elf approached them. They saw, not without apprehension, that a large sword was hanging from his belt.
"Good evening, good people," he said.
His voice was as pure as the torrents flowing down the mountains, and unfolded his words in noble inflections.
"I am looking for Belin le Blond, my former squire, to talk to him. I was told that he lives here."
"That's right," said Eudes. "I am his elder brother, Eudes son of Erik, and this is my other brother, Robert the Red."
"Good evening, my lord," said Robert in turn, with a touch of hostility in his voice.
"Is he here ?" asked Ecthelion. "May I see him ?"
"We can go and get him, sir, but I wonder why 'you want to see him in the first place."
"To talk to him. To find out why he sent me a letter of resignation."
"He can do what he likes, and he has not to justify himself to you."
"Perhaps, but I would like to speak to him, and if he has no objection, I don't think you will either. "
The two brothers seemed not to understand what he was saying.
"Ask him if he wants to speak to me," Ecthelion translated.
"I'll gets him," said Robert.
He headed for the hay barn.
Eudes kept his eyes down.
"So you are his older brother ?" Ecthelion asked.
"Yes I am. And I've been lookin' after him since our mother Jehanne died when he was a little boy. So you understand, I don't want anything bad to happen to him. "
Ecthelion stared at him with eyes so piercing they were unbearable. Then he turned his brilliant gaze towards the farmers' cottage, a small house of wood and cob, next to a barn, from which cows could sometimes be heard mooing. Then he saw Robert passing in front of the house, and coming towards them, accompanied by a teenager taller than him, his head covered with a sort of peasant cap.
Long blond hair, blue eyes, a square chin spangled with gold under a turned-up nose... It was Belin.
The elf's face lit up and he smiled. Belin looked embarrassed and he looked at Ecthelion in fits and starts.
"Good evening milord."
"Good evening... Are you well ?"
"Yes messire, I'm well. "
"Leave us," said Ecthelion to the brothers. "I want to talk to him alone."
"No way," said Robert. "You're goin' to try to twist t'his 'ead."
"Twist his head about what ?" the elf suddenly became irritated. "Belin, why don't you want to come back ?"
Flanked by his two brothers, the young human did not answer.
"Is it something I did ? If so... If I have offended you... Explain. And believe me, I am sorry."
Belin shook his head negatively.
"Is it someone else ? Did an elf mistreat you ? Tell me his name and I'll go and make him pay."
Eudes and Robert exchanged a look that said : "So here he is at work, this crazy elf."
"No, that's not it, milord," said Belin at last. "Although it did play a role."
"A role ? Who insulted you again ?"
"No one in the last few days, my lord."
"And last week ?"
"Last week neither..."
"And the week before that ?"
"Well, I was walkin' down the street and someone threw peanuts at my head."
"I'll talk to the king," said Ecthelion. "But you must not give up, Belin. You must show them who you are, so that they will change their minds about the Humans. "
"Oh I know, messire, it's not just that. I'll never be like you anyway. They're not wrong."
"And they did tell us what happened to your former esquire !" Robert exclaimed. "I don't want Belin to en' up with his belly open and his guts spillin' out !"
Ecthelion paled, and for a few seconds his eyes looked frightening, as if they saw something that others did not. His iron-gloved right hand clenched on the hilt of his sword.
"But he won't end up like that," he says. "I will protect him."
"You protected the last one pretty well !"
"Anyway, statistically, he's more likely to die from a stray arrow."
"Is that supposed to be reassuring ?"
The elf closed his eyes for a few moments and managed to compose himself.
"It is true that it is a dangerous job, Belin. But didn't you tell me that you were bored with life on the farm ? That you wanted to discover the lands beyond the mountains of the valley ?"
"Yes, milord," replied the teenager. "But I've been thinkin' about it, and I don't think I'm meant for this life. I'm not the person you need."
"What are you saying ? You are exactly the right person for me. You are my only friend."
"He's not your frien', he's your servant first," said Robert.
"He is not my servant !" replied Ecthelion. "Belin, you are as brave, even more so, than many elves I know... You may come from a family of millers, but you are of the noble race of the Halain, bold horsemen beyond the Blue Mountains. So come back with me."
Belin shook his head, his eyes wet.
"No, sir, there is a mistake in the person. My cat said I were going to save the world, but I know well it's not my destiny."
"How do you know ?" Ecthelion said, paler.
"Leave it now," said Eudes. "He gave you his answer."
The elf looked at Belin again.
"Is your decision made ?"
"Yes, my lord."
The Noldo's eyebrows relaxed, his face turned cold. He put his helmet back on.
"Good luck, then," he said in a voice of icy clarity. "I'll have your things sent to you, so you won't have to come back."
Belin felt his stomach ache.
"Thank you, my lord."
Ecthelion turned back without greeting Eudes and Robert, walked to his horse and then disappeared in a silver flash.
Big tears began to roll down Belin's cheeks. He put his hand in front of his eyes.
Eudes patted him on the back and said : "It's better this way."