Elrond was no stranger to lying to yourself or to others. Though, he was bad at it. But over the growing years the list of the lies he told himself grew ever plentiful. Sometimes he knew when he was lying, other times he had no idea but found out later that he had. There are so many things I tell myself. Many true, but many more false.

        Glorfindel had learned how tell a lie from a true like a lie detector. There was nothing Elrond could hide from him anymore. Not like Glorfindel lied. He was the picture of perfection, or so it seemed to the people who did not know him very well. Two Ages... If I didn't know him I would say there was something very wrong.

        Elrond remembered many of the things he had told. Yet, Ereinion, Glorfindel, and Erestor no longer had trouble telling fact from fiction. Ereinion never had trouble, neither did Glorfindel. There were a wide array of excuses Elrond had made, and having a twin brother helped make many of them.

        Of many of the lies he had told himself one stood out to him. He had said it for Three Ages and it had never come true. Earendil is still alive. Every night he heard himself say it. When he looked up to sky it was always in the back of his mind, yet , it made him sick that he even still held onto that. Though, they were nothing but empty words now. Hallow. Yet he clung to them like they were last family he had.

        Like those words are him. Those few words kept him from losing his mind with grief in the First Age. They kept the floating pieces of his being from becoming lost. And what are they truly? Four words that a child said a long time ago. He looked down at his hand where Vilya pulsed lightly. Now they are all I have. Now, that is the last of my family. Four words... He had told his brother those same words, his brother, Ereinion, Glorfindel, Erestor. Myself. I told myself most of all. 

        He was a Lord. Why did he hold on to it anymore? Because it is all I know to do. Four small words. I build my empire on four small words. I built my life on those words. The foundation of crumbling tower I still call my life. He looked up to sky that was a deep blue color like only the starry sky could be. With diamonds sparkling in the mixture. And one of those it said to be him. Though, there is no doubt that it is a lie as well. 

        Elrond looked away from the stars in the sky. Yet what is one more lie now?

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This story made me feel sad the entire time I had been writing it :(

~Megan