( open ) I can hear the sound of a heartbeat before it goes out

[politicians]

WHO: Elrond + Anyone, open and closed starters
WHAT: Elrond doing his best to cope + Activities around Thorne and the Horizon
WHERE: Thorne + The Horizon
WHEN: April.
WARNINGS: N/A for now

( prompts will be listed in the comments! )

Comments

( OPEN ) Thorne -- The Healing Rooms

[politicians]

[ in a kingdom like thorne, there is always call for healers and helpers. and it's a call elrond all too gladly answered. when he is not tending to the hurts and ills of others, he holds quiet seminars for other potential mages and healers who are curious about the healing hands of this pointed-eared man who carries himself like a king, but speaks like a friend.

when they have cleared, his shoulders slump and his eyes seem clouded. he seems to mutter under his breath. ]

I hope this suffices.

[northerndragon]

[Elrond had been taken, yet, of the former captives, he seems to be trying to put it behind him more than most. At least that's how it seems to Jon, when he compares Elrond to Alicent and Mat. But he is not sure that, even for a very long-lived man, such things are so easy to walk away from.

He looks back as he leaves the others, and sees Elrond's shoulders fall, hears the soft words.]

Suffice for what?

[it is gently said, and gently meant.]

[politicians]

[ ah. elrond turns to greet jon with a smile. it seems his smile has yet to falter, yet it seems a bit more strained of late. ]

As a beginning. We could all use one.

[northerndragon]

Aye.

[But he seems a bit skeptical. Skeptical is a strange place to find himself in a conversation with Elrond, who has seemed, to this point, to be sure and wise.]

Better a beginning than an end, I suppose. This is new enough to me -- no one ever thought I would make a maester.

[Conscientious when he sets himself to learning something, but more a soldier than a man of letters nonetheless.]

[politicians]

[ even the wisest cannot predict it all. elrond's foresight has taken him far, but he is still young in the reckoning of the elves. he got a brief glimpse of what it was like for galadriel, beyond the curtain. ]

Why ever not? You seem keen enough.

[northerndragon]

[That makes him chuckle, but it is small and sober.]

I was more for the training yard. I did as well as I could at lessons, but I have never been a man for a library. I don't know when they start with your people, but if you are the son of a lord anywhere in Westeros, they put a wooden sword in your hand when you make your first steps.

Yet a maester may be of more value than a soldier, in some battles. I only know a little, but whatever I know may help in the end. Here, or there.

[politicians]

[ ah. perspective. he wonders if it is the same for men. their world is not an easy one, but elrond never pictured it to be so hard. the war was over, after all.

. . . no. the war was merely . . . postponed. evil does not sleep. ]

Among my people, all skills have value. Be it the tending of gardens or the deftness of the quill. We are allowed to choose our own calling.

Save, of course, during times of war.

[northerndragon]

[Jon gives a helpless little shrug. He had been born in a war -- born of the war, even. He had been a child when his father had gone away to fight Balon Greyjoy, and barely a man when the War of the Five Kings had broken out. Eddard Stark had kept the peace in the North, to be sure, but he had never assumed his sons would not need to know how to fight.

Yet if Jon had shown inclination to be a maester, he might have been allowed to study to become one. That set Ned Stark apart from men like Randyll Tarly, who would not suffer their sons to be anything other than warriors.]

How long have you been at peace?

[politicians]

Not as long as we were at war.

[ the first age had been mired in it. a golden halcyon peace so quickly blotted out, quite literally, by the powers of darkness. it was only hard won of late . . . and even then, elrond knows, trouble looms close. the new found destruction of the southlands along with . . . their new leader will change the nature of that peace quite quickly. ]

But if we let our wars take away what we are fighting for . . . then we are already lost.

( OPEN ) The Horizon -- The Memorial Grounds

[politicians]

[ after emerging from the pit and the fires of delirium had burned away, along with the changes he had endured. and yet, the memory plays out in his mind, like an open wound and elrond can't help but feel he is still bleeding out. that he is still trapped in that pit, awaiting a purgatorial ending.

would a true elf had succumbed? he knew that answer. they all did, in the face of the unrelenting dark. it is not a fault of the spirit or the heart. but the fault has lanced his heart so keenly that he cannot help but stumble.

so tonight, he avoids looking at the stars and instead, finds himself sitting in front of lúthien's statue. lúthien and beren, who had faced the darkest of journeys. he hoped that her gaze looking down at the last remainder of her line would bring some comfort. ]

[seaandsun]

[ There may not be much that can be said or offered to provide comfort in the aftermath of what she has come to understand was its own waking nightmare — but Galadriel is not so removed from the memories of the young boy who was once simply in need of a kind, open hand and a friendly face. It has been many years since then, but she does not think so much has changed that she cannot offer the same now.

Had she been the one in his position, she cannot say what she would have done, and that proves more unsettling than having a definitive answer for her actions — but she had tried, with what little power she holds here, to mount a rescue, to save him and all of the others who had been taken.

There is no space in the Horizon that is yet her own, so she must rely on others' — and he had extended the invitation to her, once, to join him in his no matter the hour. Her steps lead her to him almost before she can fully perceive the motion, and soon enough she is joining him in his seat before the statue, quietly lowering herself to the ground without immediately breaking the silence.

Instead, her hand wordlessly reaches to clasp onto his, as strong a sign of affection as the most tender embrace between those of their kind. ]

[politicians]

[ for a moment, he looks down at his hand, expecting to see cruel claws and burned skin. there is a word whispered in the pit that he remembers. inhuman, they said. elrond doesn't remember or know what it would mean to be human nor would he feel demeaned being called such.

but he was cleaved in twain in the pit. molded into something unfamiliar and . . . unnatural. the fear of all elves when they are dragged into the dark. to lose all starlight in their hearts and replace it with nothing but the unending dark.

his fingers press against hers, a tremor in his heart. he does not turn his gaze away from lúthien. ]

I feel as though my forebears would be less than pleased with me.

[seaandsun]

They would be no such thing.

[ There is only so much Galadriel can discern from what he is still withholding — but she has not pressed, not tried to force an answer from him. There is nothing between them that has ever been made to happen against their will; it has only ever been careful, and understanding, and kind. Even when she has lost her temper in the past, given voice to her truest feelings of frustration and despair, he has simply listened and provided her with room to express those things, without judgment.

It is only right and fair that she would offer the same to him when the time came — and now, it may very well be here.

His gaze is on Lúthien, but hers falls along his profile, no doubt wrestling with a myriad of emotions, before finally dropping to their clasp of hands. ]

You survived. You endured, where many who might find themselves faced with the same cruelties could not.

[politicians]

[ once he had faced her in this glade. claimed proudly that he had seen his share of evil, only for galadriel's rebuttal to stop him short. you have not seen what I have seen. now, through the crucible he has passed, he wonders if he'll ever have the words for what he has seen or will he remain, a shadow of himself, of the person he wanted to be?

instead, he sighs softly, like the rustle of leaves. ]

I have endured, but I feel wholly changed. Wholly unlike myself.

[seaandsun]

[ It would be impossible for her not to think on that conversation now, the moment when she had made an attempt to leverage her own knowledge of war, and strife, and evil, over his, but now she can see her hasty response for what it truly is — something borne of weariness, and distress at the knowledge that she would be leaving Middle-earth while the threat of Sauron still remained and there was no one left willing to fight against it. ]

Such trials do not leave us unscathed. [ Every battle she has been through has left its scars, even if they are not visible to the eye. ]

I would have sooner given up myself to bear that burden, if it meant shielding you from it. But you are still my dearest friend. There is none but Elrond that I can see now.

[politicians]

[ he lifts his gaze to her, vulnerable. ]

And nothing else? I feel . . . tainted.

[seaandsun]

You have been through a great trial. Even the most skilled of warriors would need time to heal and rest.

[ She has also borne witness to several who consider themselves the strongest of their comportment losing face when confronted with the first real danger beyond the training field. It is why she feels ever-confident in her assessment of him now, as she reaches out to gently cradle his face in her palm. ]

And what are we in possession of, save time?

( CLOSED ) Teatimes @ The Horizon

[politicians]

[ honestly, the best way to deal with everything that happened is to just not talk about it. why bother? in a few years, it'll be naught but a memory and in a few more, it'll be all but forgotten. at least, in the minds of men but that's good enough for elrond.

his time here, at least, has acclimatised him a bit more to the societal niceties and mannerisms. he is a quick learner. and that's thanks to hilda, whom he has come to see as a bosom friend. their little get-togethers in the horizon have been most welcome. ]

So. Tell me all that I have missed.

[theidlemaiden]

[ Elrond making light of the last several weeks is more worrying than she anticipates it to be. But then again, worry seems to have been the theme of the last several weeks so it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that she feels this way. Her messages to him had gone worryingly unanswered and after the first week, the conclusion she had come to changed from fretful to fearful.

To say that she's relieved to see him, even if it's in the Horizon, is an understatement. The minute he crosses the threshold of Garreg Mach, she all but rushes to him to pull him into a firece hug. She recognizes the slight sidestep of the topic, a furrow appearing between her brows when she pulls back from the hug. Eventually she lets out a dramatic sigh, deciding that she'll let him sidestep it for now as she gently loops her arm through his to lead him towards the courtyard. ]

What didn't happen? I lost so much sleep, my fingernails were absolutely tragic by the end of it all, and I had to trek into the snow to find people! [ There's a brief pause before she adds an afterthought - ] Oh, and I fought a bear.

[ If he wanted light and breezy for a little while, she could do that. ]

[politicians]

[ the hug had surprised him. he was not used to such gestures among the elves, who were more restrained by nature. it reminds him, with a pang to his heart, of the dwarves. he missed durin and disa very much in this moment. but elrond put it aside with a smile. ]

You fought a bear? By yourself?

[theidlemaiden]

Do I look like someone who could take on a bear by myself?

[ The expression on her face would suggest that she's appalled at the very idea, but there's a hint of something akin to amusement in her voice. ]

Of course not by myself, silly! Actually you might know them since they're both in Thorne — Kyle and Reno? You can't miss Reno he got red hair and is loud and annoying.

[politicians]

Ah, but you're full of surprises, Hilda.

[ at the mention of the names, elrond nods briefly. ]

I have met the man known as Kyle. I have yet to acquaint myself with Reno. I'm afraid I haven't socialized all that much.

[theidlemaiden]

Well, that's not entirely untrue. [ There's a hint of a pleased spark in her voice. ] But fighting a bear single handedly isn't one of them. That sounds more like something my brother could do.

[ She huffs. ]

Well you don't need to acquaint yourself with him, he's so rude! [ There's a moment of contemplation before she quickly adds — ] Although I guess he's good to have in a fight. I think you're doing a disservice to everyone by not socializing though, Elrond.

[politicians]

I was not my best self of late.

[ which is putting it mildly. it took a terrible long time for elrond to stop seeing claws at the ends of his fingers, to push away the rising gorge of shame and pain that seems to have an inexorable grip on his heart.

he feels changed. he is changed. constantly a stranger in a strange land. even peredhel feels foreign to him now. ]

But I'll be sure to rectify that.

[theidlemaiden]

[ Hilda can sense the allusion to his mental and physical state. Immediately she feels a tug at her heart and she gives his arm a squeeze. Her eyes slide sideways to look at him, a furrow forming faintly between her brow. ]

Don't push yourself, okay? I think everybody should know you but it shouldn't come at cost to you feeling uncomfortable.

[ They round the corner towards the gardens, a familiar set up in front of them to the times they've had tea before. ]

You've been through so much.