Elros

The stone tiles of the hallway were hard under Elros' bare feet as he ran. The front of his shirt was still damp, increasingly cold, and, as Maglor had pointed out, unignorably smelly, but Elros had other things to think about.

A suit of armor stood on a pedestal in the corner. Elros' house in Sirion had been cozy with poky stairs and little spaces to huddle in, but Maglor's home was all cold, hard rock and great rooms that echoed a little when anyone closed a door too hard. Right now, Elros needed a little nook of his own.

He ducked down against the wall behind the statue and pulled in his knees. Maglor would surely be along soon to shout at him and finally throw him out for being too much of a nuisance. Elros shivered.

Well done, you. Messed it up, like I knew you would. He pressed his pounding forehead against his knees.

Where will we go now?

The end might be simple. Maglor might, without ceremony, simply push Elros and his brother out of the iron gates of Maglor's estate and shut the door. Then it would be him and Elrond, alone in the dark woods like the uncles Mother had warned him about. He had a vision of Elured and Elurin, who in Elros' imagination looked rather like him and Elrond in long old-fashioned velvet gowns, standing amid a circle of trees watching the snow drift down.

No, Maglor would not be so cruel. Perhaps in his kindness he would indeed take Elros back to Sirion, or where Sirion used to be. What was left now? Elros had asked, that day in the kitchens, and Ontamion who got to listen to the soldiers looked at Elros with that awful pitying look and refused to answer.

It was the same look Maglor just had when Elros said Father would come and get him. Elros squeezed his eyes shut and gripped his legs tighter.

Maybe it's just ashes and empty walls. Maglor will drop us off, and we'll thank him politely for taking the trouble, and he'll ride off over the plain and we'll never see him again. It'll be me and Elrond then, wandering alone on the seashore. Forever.

The damp on his shirt was now accompanied by a different dampness pooling on his lashes.

"There you are. I had wondered where you got to."

Elros opened his eyes to see Maglor's crisp black boots on the floor next to him, and cringed. Somewhere up above was Maglor's face, but Elros found he couldn't look. He buried his face in his arms deeper so that only his eyes poked out.

Maglor knelt. "I would always go off and hide when I was young, when the world weighed too heavily on my small shoulders. A little corner somewhere, or sometimes behind the big clay jars in the pantry. It's comforting, isn't it?"

Elros hesitated and then swallowed. "Your home is so big, all of it," he whispered.

The bit of Maglor's chin that was visible to Elros staring at the floor bobbed up and down as Maglor nodded. "It was built in haste, to hold a large family."

Elros' jaw trembled. Slowly, he looked up at Maglor's face. "Please let Elrond stay."

Maglor frowned.

Elros' heart plummeted. "Just him, at least. I'm sorry I yelled. I can go now if you want. But Elrond knows how to be good. And I'll make him promise not to get in the way."

"Is your heart so set on Sirion?"

The question hit Elros like a blow to the chest. Elros buried his whole face in his folded arms.

Maglor's large hand felt warm and heavy as it landed on Elros' shoulder. "This corner is nice," he heard Maglor's voice say, "But the stone is rough and the caulk between the tiles will scratch at your feet. Let's sit together instead, at the bench by the window."

Maglor's arms coaxed Elros to his feet, gently but firmly. There was no sign of the anger that Elros had thought would be coloring Maglor's features around this time. Instead Maglor's hand rested on Elros' back as they made their way over to sit.

In the soft light of late afternoon, the lead lining around each pane seemed to be bordered in gold. On that small nook carved into the stone of the wall, Maglor pulled up one knee and leaned back against the glass.

Elros surreptitiously wiped at his eyes. "I'm not crying," he argued, against all evidence. He waited for Maglor to point out the obvious.

Maglor kindly didn't say anything, which was possibly even worse. Instead Maglor sighed.

Elros fidgeted with his shirt.

"Marta had some fresh clothes for you. I meant to bring them out into this hallway. It slipped my mind." Maglor stared at the ceiling. "Do you think I plan to send you away?"

Elros wasn't sure he trusted himself to answer the question. "I – " And Elrond too, but there was no need to remind Maglor of this fact. " – Didn't tell you about my father. And I was ungrateful. You never wanted to be saddled with us, and now you have to take care of us, all the time. Until you can find … what he said. Your brother with the red hair. Maedhros." Elros frowned as he tried to recall. "'Later we'll come up with something better.' You didn't even want us, remember?"