Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The girl was stubborn, she refused to yield, no matter how much they tried. Even if she were small, her mind had been made up, and unfortunately for them, it was not in their favour. Refusal to give a name was not an issue Caranthir or any of his brothers had to deal with before. Let alone the fact that they could not quite intimidate her into revealing information, such as with traitorous men or hideous orcs. No, even they would not stoop that low, no matter what others thought of them.

"We cannot just keep calling her the girl," Celegorm stated. It seemed the girl had started to make her way into his mind as well, unlike with Curvo.

"And why should we do that? She does not wish for us to address her, so we won't," his little brother hissed. He did not seem to like the girl, yet Caranthir still questioned why that was.

"I doubt she wishes for us to refer to her as 'the girl' or 'the human' as well."

"It is not like she will ever figure it out."

"Moryo agrees with me, don't you?" Tyelko asked, for once, taking his attention away from Curvo, where he was busy cutting vegetables with great precision.

"I do, but Curufin does make a point. She did not give us her name because she does not trust us. Is forcing a name on her truly a good solution?"

"Of course," his voice carried no trace of doubt, "we will give her a name just as sweet as she is, and when she finally trusts us, she will appreciate it."

Curufin only scoffed at that statement, he was certainly not impressed with Tyelko, or him for that matter. Still, Caranthir did not find himself caring too much. The attitude his little brother had been having towards the child was slightly concerning, but he also knew he was wary. Never was his brother quick to let someone close to him, certainly not someone such as the girl who was bound to hurt them one way or the other.

"What kind of name would that be?" Caranthir asked, scared to even know the answer. Tyelkormo was never great at naming things, Huan being a prime example of that.

"Hmm, how about Lissenettë?"

"Sweet girl? Absolutely not, she is not a hound you can praise and trick into submission with treats," Curufin defended, just in time to cut off Caranthir's own less than kind remark.

"Hey! She is no pet."

"You don't need to tell us, it seems more like you need to be convinced of that."

"That is unfair Curufinwë, Moryo has been much worse than I."

"I know, and it is making me sick every time I see him fuss over her. But, at least he realises she isn't a hound but a child, albeit not his."

"Say that again Curufin, I dare you!" in an instant all of Caranthir's earlier calm was replaced with rages as he felt his face flush hot. He shouted and shot up from the wall he had been leaning against making his way over to his brother at the kitchen island. His hand caught the fabric of his brother's tunic and yanked him towards himself until the prick was finally forced to look him in the eyes.

"You are coddling the girl, but you need to realise she is not yours to claim. The moment she is healed, she will leave you the second she can, and your ego will be bruised once more. Taking care of one little human will not change the fact that you have taken more lives with the same hands than nurtured," his little brother hissed out.

"And who else is here to claim her? I see no family, no friends, absolutely nobody to care for her. All I see is a small girl, all alone in a building that is falling apart at the seams. Regardless of the fact that she is injured or not, she needs help," maybe Caranthir was getting too caught up in this, he had only gone downstairs to fetch the child some dinner, "as for bruised egos, I am not the one with a failing marriage who compensates for it by lashing out at anybody but his wife because she refuses to see him."

"Take that back Caranthir, I swear to father, take that back," now that seemed to have finally pissed his brother off for good. The grip on the knife Curvo had been using to cut vegetables tightened to the point that Caranthir could see his knuckles go white.

"Both of you stop this!" Celegorm barked out, physically dragging Caranthir back. "Morifinwë, you should not have brought up Curvo's wife, that was low. And Curufin, for the love of father, please have some empathy, it is not the girl's fault we are here. Do you think atya would blame a child for the situation we are currently in?"

Just like his father, Caranthir would never admit he was in the wrong, and it seemed Curufin shared the exact same trait. Just like he shared all the same traits as their father, down to the point of having a ruined marriage as well.

"Fine, both of you just keep acting the same way as when you were children. I will be going upstairs to give Nícalótë her meal."

"Nícalótë," both Caranthis and his little brother asked, their former argument all but forgotten.

"Yes," Tyelko nodded, "since Lissenettë sounds too doglike apparently, I think this suited her better. She smells sweet just like a flower, but she is tiny as well."

"So you're best solution was calling her a little flower?" Caranthir questioned.

"Indeed, and until both of you come up with a better one, that will be her name."

With that, he took the plate meant for the girl, Nícalótë, grabbed some of the vegetables Curufin had been cutting, and made his way out of the room. Both brothers were stunned, not often did Celegorm leave their brothers in favour of someone else, but now he had.

The two of them stared at the door for a good minute before Curufin huffed and opened his mouth to say something. But he never did, instead, Celegorm's voice ran through the house loud and clear: "Nícalótë is gone!"

Chapter Text

"Brother, I am concerned, and I am not the only one who shares that sentiment."

"Really? Tell me, Telvo, what has been bothering you and your brothers?" Nelyo replied calmly. It wasn't the tone he used while holding court or the one he would muster up on the battlefield. No, this was the voice only his brothers got to hear, the one that had started to disappear more and more ever since arriving in Endorë, but slowly began to return in this strange place.

"It is about Eöl," Amrod answered honestly. It was partly true, that Sinda did bother him and his brothers.

"What about him? Is this another attempt to gain my approval to hunt him down?"

"Not quite, I just wished to express my concern regarding the matter, and of course, the girl."

"So that is what this is about," Maedhros sighed, "I know you wish to see the girl and will not do her any harm, but right now she is already wary of Maglor."

"I know," Amrod interjected, not caring that it was rude to do so as a younger brother, "but she might be in danger. All it would take is to grant Tyelko and Curvo their wish to look for him, you can even send Maglor to make sure it doesn't come to another kinslaying."

"And Káno would stop them how? The moment he lays eyes on Eöl and fully realises that he is the reason that Lelien got hurt, I think it will be the other two dragging Maglor off from Eöl."

"Well, who is stopping who from murder is a minor detail. The point is that murder is being avoided by sending those three. Most likely."

Nelyo sighed once again, a tired sigh laced with barely constrained patience.

"Do not think I am happy with the current situation as well. I would like nothing more than to let that Sinda feel what happens when he hurts the innocent. But, if we do something out here with no witnesses but ourselves and one scared Atan girl, Thingol will get all the leverage he needs to continue being uncooperative."

"And what if I could promise you that no grave harm will befall Eöl, we will only capture him so we can keep him under surveillance."

Nelyo seemed to consider his words. Even Amrod could admit it would not be a perfect solution, especially because it meant bringing Eöl close to Milyalótë again, but it was better than nothing. And, she would never have to know he was nearby, they would all keep her far away from the Sinda.

"Will it put the heart of you and our brothers at ease?"

"Yes!" Amrod answered without hesitation, "It would make us feel much better."

"Alright, tomorrow morning you will go together with Celegorm, Curufin and Maglor to find him."

Okay, that might not have been according to plan, but he could work with this.

"Me and Telvo?" he questioned.

"No, just you. Telvo will stay behind together with Caranthir and me. We can't leave the house unattended, and Lelien won't be separated from Caranthir for long."

"I understand," Amrod nodded, "I'll go and inform the others."

"Of course, and don't forget to help Curufin in the kitchen today with cooking. I am concerned with how he handles certain equipment."

"Don't worry, I will."

With that, Maedhros returned to his book while Amrod made his way out of the small study. This was definitely not going according to their plan.

— — — — — —

"What are we going to do now? Oh, Pityo you made a mess out of this," Amras exclaimed.

"Maybe next time you should ask," his brother huffed, clearly annoyed with how the event had played out.

"Maybe I will!"

"Or, maybe we can find a solution."

"Like what, Maedhros won't let you stay behind, he already made that clear."

"Indeed, he has, so what if I do leave, but return just a bit earlier than the others?"

"And how would you do that?"

"While they are hunting Eöl, I might just hear a deer in the distance and decide to focus on that instead. Maybe the deer flees all the way back to the house, and from there I can climb through her window. I don't want to risk running into Nelyo."

"Sounds good, but what if one of them joins you on the hunt?"

"They are too fixated on revenge, they might not even notice what I say!"

"Alright, if you could do that, it would be perfect! I'll stay back here to make the cake."

"Then it's a deal!" Amrod happily agreed, "We only have one other issue… what are we going to do about Moryo?"

"That will be simple," Amras cheered.

"Oh, and what will you do?"

"I might accidentally throw over a pile of laundry."

"And what will that do?"

"Well, brother dearest, Moryo will hear this and come to investigate. Then, as I am refolding the laundry, he will take over. You know how he gets, if he sees anyone messing up a task, especially regarding cloth and thread, he will take over and usher the other away. He is rather perfectionistic"

"That makes sense, but how will you keep him away?"

"By washing Celegorm's clothes! His room is on the other side of the house remember, that will keep him away for a few minutes. And, as a cherry on top, we know exactly what doors he will be using to get there, so we can always plant a small surprise along the way for him. Moryo can't live with dirty clothes, so he will make a stop at his room first to change into something clean"

"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"

"Indeed we are brother, and before we know it, Milyalótë will realise that as well."

— — — — — — —

They were in trouble, and not just a little bit. Not only would they have to deal with a livid Caranthir, but also an angry Celegorm and a disappointed Maedhros.

Yet, the Ambarussa could not find themselves minding it too much, their time with Milyalótë was well spent. She had smiled while playing the game and eaten the entire piece of cake. If anything, Moryo should be happy that they listened to him and got her some food, if she ate more cake, she would gain weight much sooner.

Caranthir's anger had been expected, and the two of them had even counted on it, but they had hoped that if he had seen how they had won her trust, he would stand on their side. That, of course, hadn't happened, he had shouted so loud that Maedhros had come up from the library to check on what was going on, and he was not happy.

The only saving grace they had concerning Moryo was the fact that he refused to leave her side and stayed with her for the remainder of the day. Maybe by the time they saw each other next, his anger would have subsided. That was how he usually was, a series of small events annoying him and bottling it up until one small thing triggered it all. When others called their brother the harshest, the others already knew they had never actually properly met Moryo. He might be gruff and hard around the edges, but he was never harsh unless it was deserved.

What the twins had not expected was Celegorm's anger, but in hindsight, it did make sense.

After Maedhros had emerged from Milyalótë's room, a small ten minutes later, they had the unfortunate timing of the others arriving back from the forest as well. Before they even had the chance to explain anything, they had been ushered out of the hall so that Maedhros could talk with Celegorm, the one who had declared himself the leader of this group.

Apparently, Nelyo was not very happy with the leader losing one of his brothers and not noticing until he got home. Their brother did have a point, but this was not the time to make it, adding an angry Celegorm into the mix wouldn't do anyone any good.

When he had confronted them, they had come clean. Out of all their brothers, it was smartest to be honest with Celegorm, it always had a chance of lessening his anger just a bit. He cared greatly about honour, and telling lies was an insult to him. It was one of the things he had been taught by Oromë back in Valinor.

His anger had lasted for a bit, with mostly him yelling at the two of them, even if one could argue that Amras was innocent in that part of the story. Just when they thought he was about to challenge them to a fight, he instead pulled them both into his arms and crushed them in a hug.

"I know you think yourselves strong, and you are, but Eöl is dangerous. What if you had come across him while you were all alone, Pityo? Do you think I, or any of us, could forgive ourselves for not keeping our little brothers safe?" he had spoken so softly.

The two of them had no rebuttal for that, they truly had not thought that far ahead.

Before their older brother could get too sentimental, however, he unclasped his hands from their shoulder and grabbed hold of their ears instead, pinching the tips with more force than needed, his mood swiftly changed once more.

"That is for scaring us," he growled, "and that is for scaring Nícalótë," he added when he tugged on them.

"Aye brother, we are not children, so don't punish us like Ammë used to do," Amras hissed.

"Yes brother, have mercy on us," Amrod added.

"You two will never stop causing trouble huh?" he sighed.

"Well, according to Maedhros and Maglor, it seems you're not far behind," Amrod shot out before even realising what he had said.

That insult added another flick to the ear while Celegorm tackled them to the ground. He spewed out some words about annoying little brothers with too big an attitude, yet there was no bite behind his words. They tumbled across the rugs and bumped into multiple pieces of furniture. Hopefully, Milyalótë would not notice the damage done to her home.

"There we go," Tyelko roared while pinning Amras down, "tell me where you two are keeping that board game of yours."

"Oh, if you wanted to spend some time with us playing games, you could have just asked," Amras snickered.

"It's not for you," his brother huffed back, "the two of you said she liked the game, so I'm going to play it with her tomorrow."

"Ah, stealing our game and our idea. Say Ambarussa, I think our plan wasn't as dumb as Moryo made it sound," Amrod laughed.

"Don't listen to Carnistir, the moment you dumped a bag of flour over him and 'threatened' Nícalótë, you were bound to get into some kind of trouble. Did you really think he was going to let the two of you off easily just because you're his favourites?"

"We kind of hoped he would," Amras muttered.

"Well then, let this be a valuable lesson for the two of you."

With that, Tyelko let the two of them get back up to their feet before he himself left the room. Maybe all of this hadn't been too bad.

— — — — —

They had lied, they had given themselves false hope. It definitely was bad, because they had forgotten one crucial detail: Maedhros.

To say he was pissed at them would be an understatement, but he handled the situation with the same kind of calm he always did. If Amrod had to choose, he would rather have Caranthir's anger directed at him or even Celegorm's fighting, not this.

"Do you realise what you have done?" Maedhros started off with a most disappointed sigh.

"Uh," Amras started, "we made sure she wasn't alone and brought her something to eat."

"Yes, indeed you did. Specifically, after I ordered you to go hunting and you to fold laundry, even worse, I forbade you from seeing her days ago."

"We don't regret what we did," Amras interjected, clearly, his dearest brother was only trying to make things worse.

"I am aware of that," Maedhros continued with only a faint twitch of annoyance in his eye, "and that is why I don't know whether to be livid or proud of you."

"Proud?" Amrod questioned.

"Yes indeed. The girl asked after you two, according to Maglor, not in fear, but in curiosity. It seemed your idea was what we needed, no matter how simplistic it was."

"It made sense," Amras muttered, "she is just a child, and children love games."

"And sweets," Amrod added.

"I should have listened to your suggestions earlier," Maedhros conceded, "still, you two have disobeyed me and put a lot on the line with this stunt."

Both of them couldn't help but look down at their hands in guilt, unable to look Nelyo in the eyes.

"You shall make it up to me and your brothers. Starting the day after tomorrow, you two will be responsible for cleaning the kitchen and whatever task your brothers see fit," Maedhros told them with a chilling smile. Most likely, the other tasks included reorganising the library or some other absurd assignment only their brothers would come up with to torture them.

"Yes Nelyo, we understand," the twins chorused.

"Good, now get going, it is best to enjoy your last bit of freedom, right?"

With that, the twins scrambled off their chairs and made a beeline for the door. Maybe, if they were lucky, they would wake up the next morning with a perfect way back home, and their punishment would be over before it even started.

Luck, however, would not be on their side.