Book 1: The Kinslaying at Sirion
"But now the rumour ran among the scattered Elves of Beleriand that Dior Thingol's heir wore the Nauglamir, and they said: 'A Silmaril of Feanor burns again in the woods of Doriath'; and the oath of the sons of Feanor was waked again from sleep.
They came at unawares in the middle of winter, and fought with Dior in the Thousand Caves; and so befell the second slaying of Elf by Elf. There fell Celegorm by Dior's hand, and there fell Curufin, and dark Caranthir; but Dior was slain also, and Nimloth his wife, and the cruel servants of Celegorm seized his young sons and left them to starve in the forest. Of this Maedhros indeed repented, and sought for them long in the woods of Doriath; but his search was unavailing, and of the fate of Elured and Elurin no tale tells.
But the sons of Feanor gained not what they sought; for a remnant of the people fled before them, and with them was Elwing Dior's daughter, and they escaped, and bearing with them the Silmaril they came in time to the mouths of the River Sirion by the sea."
Maedhros
On the eve of battle, the soldiers in the camp of the House of Feanor slumbered in their tents. Maedhros stood outside and looked at the stars.
His grandfather had petitioned the Valar once, to bring the Teleri who had tarried in Middle Earth west to the undying lands. Maedhros wondered how Finwe had done it. It wasn't as if anyone taught classes.
In the absence of anything else, Maedhros stared up at Varda's cloak of stars and ticked off the names with his fingers.
"Me, of course. Maglor." Maedhros swallowed. "Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin." He had run out of fingers on his real hand and now switched to the bronze one on his right wrist. "Amrod and Amras."
Maedhros' heart thrummed with pathetic pleading, like a child trying to negotiate with their omnipotent parent. I know that feeling, he thought.
"Guide our paths tomorrow. Help us do more good than evil. And for those of my brothers that are dead … " Maedhros felt the weight in his chest even as he continued to stare entreatingly up at Varda's stars, " … Please send them peace."
Maedhros wondered if Varda with all her powers could hear him, or if the collective weight of too many ill deeds by his family had sundered them from the Valar's mercy forever.
The stars silently twinkled back at him. Maedhros let his arms fall and made his way back down to his tent.