"Inventing Gondolin", by Himring - Challenge: In Time
Title : Inventing Gondolin
Author : Himring
Fandom/Source : The Silmarillion, History of Middle-earth
Rating : PG13
Characters : Salgant, Maeglin
Disclaimer : Tolkien's characters (no offence intended, no monetary recompense received).
Spoilers/Warnings : For the chapter ‘Of Maeglin’.
Summary : Maeglin begins to talk. Sequel to Lemon Tarts of Gondolin, but can probably be understood on its own. (2 x 100)
‘You’ve stopped talking to me, Salgant.’
‘You didn’t seem all that entertained...’
‘True, I wasn’t entertained, but I was trying to follow, trying to work out why things were meant to be funny.
I thought I knew Gondolin, Salgant. I’d imagined it all, from my mother’s stories. Uncle Turgon was just like my father, only without the not-so-good bits, and I’d convinced myself there was a place waiting for me here. Here, I’d fit right in! Then we arrived and I realized right away, even before…
I’d invented Gondolin, Salgant, out of whole cloth. The city was nothing like that.’
‘Your mother had left things out?’
It was still strange-wrenching-to think of their lady Ar-Feiniel in Nan Elmoth and worse, knowing the end of it.
‘My mother left things out in her stories, yes-fewer major things than you might think, but so many small ones that it did not even occur to her to mention. And I asked no questions, or the wrong ones, content to believe Gondolin would be Nan Elmoth, only with more room to breathe… ’
‘You’ll get used to us in time.’
‘Maybe. Keep talking, Salgant, as I try to work things out.’