#halethir

The Men talk about the Elves as time goes on, keeping history records from fading into obscurity and keeping personal gifts from an elf to their long-departed ancestor in good condition. Men remember the Elves.

And one day, it’s after The End, after Morgoth has broken through the gate of night and gotten shoved back in still bleeding ooze from Turambar’s sword, and the second singing starts.

The Men are returned to Middle-Earth, the Elves reawaken in Valinor.

Only, this time, there is no ban from the Valor against going across the sea.

The elves return to middle-earth, expecting to need an entire argument about why they should be allowed to settle into a few random forests, but instead the Kingdoms of Men are like “welcome back, friends.”

The scenes that can come from this range from funny to angsty like-

Elrond, about to ask for an inn to stay in while meeting all his daughter’s (and adoptive son’s) descendants: I can stay anywhere really

The Kings and Queens of Men, who grew up with stories about Elrond Peredhel: Don’t worry about that we kept your Valley clean while you were away.

Elrond: o.O

Also

Finrod, tearfully: i’m sorry I couldn’t keep your people safe.

The Beorians, who know Exactly how Nóm died: shut up and get hugged.

And

Caranthir: i don’t expect you to love me anymore-

Haleth: [immediately slaps him] dumbass [kisses him]

And of course-

Elrond, just talking to someone: oh yeah the trees do feel kinda different-

Neither of the twins were allowed to join in what would become the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, despite Halion's insistence they were old enough for it (they were not). Not long after, when the Feanorions set their sights on Doriath in a desperate attempt for the Silmaril they claimed was theirs, Halion once more begged their father to allow him to join so that he might earn his glory on the battlefield, and Caranthir once more forbade him, and insisted that the twins remain in Amon Ereb. Despite that command, Halion managed to evade both his father and his sister and steal a set of armor and a horse, and join the nameless soldiers of the Feanorian host. Haliel didn't realize her brother was gone until the host had disappeared from sight, and by then it was too late.

Caranthir promised to return. He did not. It was Haliel alone who welcomed her uncles when they returned from the massacre at Menegroth, her hopes quickly crushed when she found neither her father nor brother among them. They had all seen Halion in the heat of the battle, and they all knew what that meant. He did not return.

Haliel took her father's place in the running of Amon Ereb, assisting her uncles despite the crumbling morale. Though she favored the bow, she convinced Maglor to teach her his swift way of killing as well as some of his music, in which she was most adequate at. Once more she was left behind when the Feanorions marched to Sirion and though she was once more spared the bloodshed, she would soon become bitter to the fact she was always left behind, unable to save the people she cared for from death. When Maedhros and Maglor returned, without their youngest brothers but with a pair of young boys they had taken from the carnage, she cursed at them both through tears.

Maglor cared for Elros and Elrond on his own, rarely requesting assistance, though still Haliel was able to grow close to them both. Years later, when the Feanorions realized it was too dangerous to keep the young twins with them and made the decision to send them to High King Gil-Galad, Haliel refused to be left behind, demanded that she be allowed to join their honor guard. With as many soldiers as Maedhros could spare, Haliel took Elros and Elrond to the isle of Balar and pledged her sword to the High King. It was then that she first met her long-lost cousin, Celebrimbor, who would become her closest and most steadfast friend for many years to come.

It was in the War of Wrath that Haliel fought for the first time, where she took a position in the High King's honor guard (though the High King was much upset about it, unwilling to lose more kin so soon). And it was in the War of Wrath that Haliel discovered for the first time that there was a skill she was exceptionally good at: killing. She earned the moniker Daelin, the Shadow-Song, from her comrades, which she carried proudly, and many knew so little of who she was that this moniker remained the only name they knew her by. She fought by her king's side without reprieve, trading blow for blow with everyone who tried to as much as touch him, but she never claimed any glory, more than willing to remain in the shadows that were always in her nature.

After the drowning of Beleriand, Haliel remained for a time in Lindon, comforting Elrond from the loss of his twin that was so familiar to her and assisting Gil-Galad in his kingship, before leaving with Celebrimbor to move eastward and found Eregion, where her lordly cousin ruled along with Galadriel for many years. Haliel remained in the shadows and traveled as a messenger to the king often, carrying news back and forth between the two realms and collecting every rumor she could on the way there. Though determined to never let another person she loved die, she could not protect her beloved cousin from his own hunger for knowledge, nor save him when the consequences came for him. In the end, it was on her that Celebrimbor laid the heavy duty of taking the rings he'd made in secrecy to those they were meant for, along with a message to the king to beg forgiveness and warn him.

Haliel meant to return in time to free her cousin. She was too late, too injured. By the time Elrond's host made it to Ost-in-Edhil, Haliel among them, all they could see was the once great and proud lord of Eregion's mangled body held like a standard.

Haliel survived to see Sauron driven from the ruins of Eregion, but only barely. Those who saw her said she fought like a wraith, reckless and without a though for her own life, and it was only by the miraculous appearance of the once-hero Glorfindel that she yet lived.(Glorfindel, who'd recently arrived as a messenger from the west, had already sworn himself to Elrond, and that meant he couldn't let his lord's unruly cousin kill herself avenging a dead man.) She returned with Elrond to the newly built Rivendell, where she became a permanent fixture of his household and resumed her duties as messenger between him and the High King.

After the war of the Last Alliance and the death of High King Gil-Galad, Haliel removed whatever little social presence she had and remained fully in the shadows, acting as an intelligence collector for Elrond and assisting Glorfindel in securing Rivendell's defense. She traveled much in the early years of the Third Age, but as Arnor fell apart and then shattered, so did the roads she knew. By the time of the War of the Ring, there were scarce few places she could go to bring Elrond's word, and even less she was welcome at. And still she did go. Looking for something. Someone.

Halion did not die.

Halion had realized the foolishness of his act not long after the Feanorian host began marching towards Doriath, but it was late to go back. Though trained, he was barely fully grown, and had never stood against another Elf. He fought bravely and with courage, but it was not enough, and before long was heavily wounded. At death's door, he managed to crawl his way out of the bleeding city and into the woods that surrounded it, hoping to at least die amongst the greenery he loved so.

But fate had another thing in mind for him. For Halion did not die - he awoke before long, and beside him were two small children far too young to be alone in the woods. Elured and Elurin, the twin princes of the Sindar, abandoned in the forest by soldiers who had once been Halion's comrades. Disgusted by their act and overcome with pity for the lost boys, and grateful for the fact they had saved him for what would surely be his death, Halion forswore the actions of his kin and promised to care for the boys and bring them to safety. They followed him.

Though he tried to keep his distance from them, a strong and fierce love soon grew between Halion and the children, and soon he was a father to them. It did not help that the trauma of a near death affected the young Half-Elf strongly, stealing the dark color of his hair and turning it silver in a manner that nearly matched that of his young charges. (Most would say he looked Sindar. Those who had once known him would say he bore a greater resemblance to his uncle Celegorm now, gray-eyed and silver-haired. Halion accepted the first, but despised the second.) Together, the trio fled the fallen city - not southwards, where the boys' sister had been taken, but eastward instead, past the Ered Luin and far, far away from Beleriand.

Little is known of Halion's adventures. While his sister had to witness tragedy after tragedy, hidden in the shadows around so many great events, Halion lived in the margins of history. He gathered other survivors around him and led them through the forests of Middle-Earth, far from kings and elven lords, far from anyone who could've recognized him. He never asked who they were and what they did. Beneath his wing they could begin a new life. To many he was known as Faranor, the Flame-Hunter, though he still bore the name his mother gave him proudly.

But not even the margins of history could escape Sauron's dark hand. Often Halion's people were waylaid by enemies, and the evil that tore at the land made it difficult for them to remain unseen and unknown. More and more lost souls, Elf and Men alike, came to seek his protection, and before long those who had forsworn the world came to its aid. War had caught up to them.

It was by chance that Halion was not the only survivor from Doriath's massacre to yet walk the woods, for the twins had once disappeared and returned with an odd Elf between them, the one who had been called Daeron the Singer in the times of old. And it was by chance that in the midst of the war with the Enemy that Halion first saw a once known face, for in his people's darkest hour of need a cloaked figure came to the rescue, harp in one hand and a sword in the other. Maglor, it turns out, had been following them for some time, nearly since the day Daeron joined them. He'd watched and judged, a silent shadow.

The damage, however, was done. For the second time in his life, Halion was bleeding out. He'd lived a long life. He raised good sons. But Maglor, as always, was unrepentant - he would not lose the one nephew he had left the day they were reunited. He picked Halion in his own arms and sang the strength back into him, him and Daeron together, and those who still lived set a swift course for the valley of Rivendell, where the kind lord Elrond would surely be able to save him.