tehhumi

He had inherited his father’s piercing stare. He had not inherited a name from his father, not yet. Maeglin said that names were earned, and that his son’s work in the forge was barely adequate. When the boy demonstrated a great talent or grand destiny, then he would be named. Much of Gondolin thought this tradition backwards, bordering on barbaric, but the boy did not complain of it and King Turgon allowed it. (Maeglin’s wife had died in an accident in the mines, while their child was barely more than an infant, before naming him.) So Maeglin’s son was unnamed. People took to calling him ‘royal child,’ which made who was being referred to clear enough.

The youth called Aranyon was worried. He knew that his father sometimes went beyond the boundaries of the city to mine, disobeying the King’s law. During these trips he was to keep the house neat, try to mprove his smithing, and deflect anyone who wondered where his father was. When Maeglin returned, he would drop his pack at the door and sleep for nearly a day straight. Then the two of them would sort through the ores and gems, and Maeglin would tell his son about the new caverns he had found, or ask him where he thought Maeglin had gone based on his knowledge of geology. This was the happiest he ever saw his father.

But this time had been different. Maeglin’s pack had been nearly empty, and he had been up so early the next morning that his son wondered if he had slept at all. What’s more he’d been frightened, turning to look every time a shadow moved as if it might conceal a lurking enemy. Nothing in Gondolin could cause such fear. But fear was not a crime, and even if it was he would have been reluctant to report his father.

~~

When Gil-Galad was twelve he decided it was time to find out about the facts of life.

“Who's really my father?”

Maedhros looked up from the map he was studying. “Why do you ask?”

“I know Fingon’s not my father, and you know it too. So who is?”

“Unimportant.”

“My father is some random nobody?”

“Most likely, but that’s not what I meant. Who really fathered you is far less important than who people believe did so.”