Title: Tale and Memory
Fandom: A Necklace of Raindrops - Joan Aiken, The Silmarillion
Challenge: Deal
Bingo prompt: House
Rating: G
Length: 400 words, 34 inches
Content notes: Glass, quartz, onyx, howlite, silver, silk cord, findings.
Author notes: Thanks go to Morgynleri & Runa for encouragement & sanity-checking.
A Necklace of Raindrops is the title story from this anthology.
Summary: Maglor tells a story and remembers.



“The story goes that the North Wind had a deal with the family: the child would wear the necklace of raindrops, keeping it always safe, and, in return, “

“Is the North Wind a maia? What’s their name?”

“Are the other winds maiar? I thought Manwë was the Lord of Air? Was it Manwë the mother untangled from the hawthorn tree? How would that even work?”

“The story doesn't say if the North Wind is a maia, though it seems likely, doesn't it? There probably are maiar of the winds, separate from the Eagles, but I never heard any of their names. Yes, Manwë is Lord of the Air, and definitely no, he was not the person the mother rescued from the tree. Shall I continue?

“Yes, please!”

“So, in return, the North Wind would bring a new raindrop every year on the child’s begetting day, because that was what day it was, and each drop would have a virtue or capability the child could use, if they studied their lessons and understood how it was supposed to work. And for many years, that was just how it went.”

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It had been his third begetting day, (just about ten in Anorian years, hardly older than Elrond and Elros were now,) and they had been in Formenos for it, just the four of them. A day of rain and clouds and wind, not unlike today. The distant Treelight had hazed everything silvery-gold, dim and mysterious compared to brilliant Tirion. One could see the stars at the Mingling, and he had been astonished by them, netted in the bare branches of the hawthorns.

Something had certainly gotten itself caught in the thorn twigs amidst the stars: wind and raindrops and and mist-cloak and Presence, he could just see it. Nerdanel, laughing, had patiently untangled it — he being too small to reach, Maitimo and Fëanor having gone back inside the house to light the lamps.

He’d made a song about it, and his father had made the necklace, letting him sing the song and hold the tools and hand him things while he worked. Water-glass, silver, and starlight, it had kept him cool on hot days, he remembered. Still in the house at Formenos, probably, amidst the many things left behind.

Perhaps he would teach Elrond (and Elros, but he was less likely to be interested) how to make raindrops of water-glass and light.

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