Ithildin; Amrod & Maglor who: maglor and amrod. where: sirion. what: they meet again and discuss.
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The stone, though broken and bloodstained in places, is cool and soothing to Maglor's scorching hands. He wanders freely, letting the waves sweep the memories through his mind in a gentle rhythm as thickly, a harmony courses inaudibly from his windburnt lips.
Distance crumbles as his feet lead him to the abundant waves. Curious and crazed, silenced yet stirred by the fleeting chords adrift on the wind, he stands at the mercy of memories - eyes narrowed to take in the shock of light around him.
Song now slips unbidden from his lips and he feigns control--as ever he did. It was something; it was a cadence that came and went of its own will and dropped off with the shrill cry of the wind.
"...where are you?" A whisper, a question and a demand all rolled together in breath to break through his chapped lips as he turns full circle, wild eyes searching for the source of the song. Isn't this the voice that had soothed his rage on countless occasion? Isn't this the song that had filled his soul to the brim so that no other sound mattered? Damn the valar if it is a mirage.
The remnant of his blood rings in his ears as he turns on his heels, yet sharp eyesight scanning the cruel shadows. "Here."
There, not that far away, within a few breaths' reach, he stands. Finally spotting his brother, he turns so swiftly upon his feet that he stumbles and almost falls over. Taste of dirt and ocean creeping up on his skin, hands battling to keep control clawing the air and meeting with jagged stone, he rises nonetheless and closes the distance between them. "I thought the sky had burst open, Kano, and that no time had passed." Hands on Maglor's face, he presses hid freezing fingertips into soft flesh. Life. A miracle like none other in this instant. "How much time has passed?"
"Minutes. Moments." Rough hands graze over his brother's pale features, wonderingly memorizing every fine line and glimmer. "Years."
"Then how am I here?" Perplexity. "And Maitimo...Ambarussa...all of them, where are they?"
"...gone." Echo, echo. He counts two beats in between his words. Breathe. "Gone. And I don't know."
"I will not move till they come back too," childlike, yes, but the emotions claim the better of him and without any further sign of a coherent thought, he sits down on the ragged ground, crossing his legs and staring blankly towards the horizon. Then a spark. He lifts his hand and traces a name on the wind, crafting an invisible pattern in the open space before him with his thumb. "I'm still waiting." Expecting them to show up instantly. Scared that Maglor will be gone too when he looks once more in his direction.
Curling his limbs, he crumbles next to his brother on the sandy earth and leans his cheek against Amrod's shoulder. "Pityo, wait with me?"
He turns his face slightly to look at his brother. Not a ghost, not a memory, just brash reality. He nods before taking Maglor's hands into his own, an invisible weight falling on him to make his shoulders sag suddenly as he frantically caresses the bruised skin. "..haven't you waited long enough? Don't lie to me, Kano. Don't you dare lie."
The flinch that comes is quiet. Understated. He smiles because his brother's harmony is now a grand crescendo that vibrates through his frame. "...what is long enough? I don't understand those words, Pityo. I live in wait of my brothers."
"You have the orchestrated patience of the stars." Lowering his head, he raises his brother's hands to his lips; kissing his knuckles before turning them over and ghosting his lips over the palms. "See, I didn't forget. I'm doing what Amil would've done."
Delicate bones flutter under his touch. "She would be proud."
A kiss upon a kiss, he stops only when reason tells him to. And now having found him to be as real as the blood pumping through his heart, he is hopeful. Impatient, restless because of the tenacity of life searing through his frame, he suddenly stands, still holding Maglor's hands. "And now I'm doing what Atar would've done. We cannot just sit here and wait, Kano, we should seek them out. The damned cannot be damned eternally if one of them has breached the limit and has returned. Be my breath now and come with me."
The words pummel Maglor's heart--he had said no to one. Would (could) he say no to his brother? His beloved Pityo. With his brother, yes. Yes. He opens his mouth to speak. Rasp. A wry smile; the twins are always so demanding. "Yes."
Instantly falling down to his knees before his infinitely benevolent brother, he wraps his arms around his shoulders in an overwhelmed embrace. "Thank you, Kano," a whisper weighed down by the harsh flicker of emotions inside him. "We will find them, they must be here. We won't be denied, not this time."
"...them? It is a call to blood, brother. A melody." He curls his fingers in around his brother's neck and gently shakes his head. "I am lost to all but my brothers."
"I won't stand to see that either. The world lives to hear your songs, Kano; it is nothing but your used breath. If you are lost then it is ruined."
"The world lives to hear your breath," he rasps, smiling softly as his fingers smooth the dark locks of hair from his brother's face. "And eternal darkness is damned. We will sing again." Hope. He will hope.
And for the love of this life that hushes his frenzy so deftly with quiet words and tender smiles, he knows he cannot do anything else but hope and carry the strength of it in his heart. He knows no other way to live.
Wry, he bumps a shoulder against his brother and gives a close smile. "Let's go, Pityo. Either we leave. Or swim."
At the mention of swimming, he picks at his tattered clothes, laced with mud and hints of blood here and there. A frown darkens his face as he looks up at Maglor. "...I am filthy. Whichever brother we find first will pass out because of the reek." A soft nod. "Either your sense of smell has failed to inform you of it or you're just being polite."
The harsh (comforting) smell of salt has invaded Maglor's nostrils and conceredly, as he examines his brother's clothing, he inches him toward the sea. Silent, he eases burning hands into the cool water that laps around their knees and lets it cascade down over his shoulders.
"Kano," he protests slightly and tries to catch his brother's hands as the cool liquid soothes his skin. A sudden thought and a smirk. "I think you can use a swim too. I'll race you to the second wave."
"...you'll have to swim fast!" And he is already beneath the waves, pressing his body into the water.
"Hey! That is something called unfair advantage, you...fish!" Calling out behind him, he swiftly rids himself of the misshapen tunic that hangs loose from his lanky frame and dives into the water, moving his arms swiftly to catch up with his brother.
Coming to the surface a few yards out, he pushes heavy strands from his eyes and glances about. "...Pityo? Hullo."
Instead of surfacing, he holds his breath and keeps under water, lurking somewhere near Maglor.
"Don't pull me under," he calls softly, turning a full circle in wary apprehension.
The words are hazy under the lapping waves, still they reach him true enough and he surfaces behind him, splashing some water in his direction as if to state his protest. "I didn't do only because you told me not to."
Turning to catch the splash full in the face, he sputters and laughs softly. "I'm suprised you didn't do it anyway."
"I'm trying to make a good first impression this time around, trust me," he smirks, swimming a circle around his brother. "I remember Amil frequently told me that I was none too gentle with you the first time. You know, pulling your hair, biting your knees, clinging to your legs, jumping down on you from tree branches etc."
"...Amil thought that I should save my hands." Grinning, he reaches out, snatching at his brother's arms. "She was a bit too protective. Your impression, brother, is flawless."
Quirking an eyebrow, he swims a bit closer still trying to avoid getting caught. "And did you save them?"
Silence draws in firmly about them and his fingers splay in the cool water, not leaving their hiding place at his sides.
"Kano," he pleads softly and starts to swim towards land. "What did you do?"
"I did--" What did I do? "--did. Am doing. I did what we swore to do." He remains rooted to his spot.
He stills as the wind ropes in these words and turns to look where he has left his brother. "Then you did more than what I could do." An outstretched hand, he silently beckons his brother to come with him.
"...it wasn't mine alone to do. Pityo." With words understated by the rising pitch of the sea, he walks back toward the shore.
He bends to scoop up flew flat pebbles when he is sure of Maglor's presence by his side. Eyes scanning the distant horizon, he nods and stretches back his arm before hurling one of the stones he has salvaged to skip along the water's surface. "Not alone anymore. What news of the lands we held?"
"...broken and razed by the anger of the Valar. Ash and death live in our lands, Pityo." Bare feet ride the water's edge, playing a precarious game of tag as he paces a line in front of his brother, swinging his arms gently at his sides.
He curses vehemently under his breath and slings out the last stone with all his strength before silently watching it travel in air and finally sinking under the pull of gravity. "May they choke on their own anger."
"...don't give it to them, Pityo--" hushed, he grips his brother's hands with steel fingers. Breathe. The dischordance hangs outside of them.
He bows his head and replies quietly, "I don't have anything left to give to them. We should go, Kano, these waves are too loud."
"They don't deserve the mere consideration." With both hands woven through his brothers, he steps out of the waves and leads him slowly to the sand. "You will have to breathe and speak for me, then, when the light is jarring--" he whispers as they walk, letting the weight drift from the words with a slow turn of his chapped lips.