A/N: I'm a horrible person, leaving you with cliffhangers like that haha

"I am your niece, several generations removed." Miril muttered, stepping back slightly from Maglor's intense gaze.

He looked at her in wonder and skepticism. "You? A Fëanorian?"

"Yeah," she shrugged, avoiding his eyes.

Elrohir leapt to her defense. "She speaks truly. She is known by the epessë Fëanoriel now. Her house, our house, is a house of Gondor now as well."

"'Our' house? You two are married then?" Maglor looked at them in surprise once more. "A son of Elrond is married to one of the House of Fëanor?"

"You believe us then?" Miril all but shouted in surprise. "You trust us?"

"I trust that what you have said about your lineage is true, for there is no other way you could've gotten this stone from Elrond save by killing him, nor could you have wrested this sword from the hands of Galadriel. Therefore I must conclude that you speak truly." He grimaced and turned away, beginning to walk from their presence. "However that does not mean that you are welcome here."

"Please," Miril pleaded. "Please listen to what we have to say!"

Maglor stopped his walking away and sighed, his head dipping low as he still faced away. "What could you possibly want or have that would make me listen to you?"

"You know that Galadriel is wise and powerful," Miril continued, sheathing Galmegil and walking forward.

The elf was nearly a foot taller than her and he nodded. Still he would not look at her. "Indeed she was- is."

"She had a mirror, a pool of water," Miril explained. "One could look in it and see things!"

"What did you see?" Maglor looked at her curiously, turning back to look at her at last.

Miril grimaced. "I saw many things. I saw two men in blue, bearded, cloaked, with large birchwood staves. I saw a ship shaped like a swan and a harbor with sand that sparkled and was warm to the touch. But most of all..."

She paused as she noticed the sadness in Maglor's eyes at the mention of the swan ships. He closed them and when they opened, a tear was in one. But it was never shed.

"Most of all there was a jewel. Large, the size of a palm of a hand. Bright, shining white with a light like I've never seen before except perhaps from Earendil's star."

Elladan and Elrohir very much hoped Miril knew what she was doing.

"Maglor," Miril began. "A silmaril is coming back."

Maglor's eyes grew harsh. The sadness she had seen in them was still there, filled with regret. But an anger was hot inside them now. A flame was kindled deep in the depths of his eyes.

He gripped his sword. "I will not touch one of those abominations again, ever!"

"But-"

Maglor held up his right hand. "You see what it did to me! I am unworthy of it. I will not touch it again, I swear it!"

"Maglor," Elladan stressed. "We are not asking you to touch it. We wish only for your help in making sure no one else does! There is more going on than a silmaril returning."

Miril looked at him forlornly. "Please, Maglor. As kin to kin. Let us speak to you about what is going on in the world. Let us stay here at least the night."

The fire in his eyes died down as he looked at her. He had many questions for them, this was true. And evidently they had much to tell. He looked at her. This was his blood. But that meant two things, especially if she was descended from his brother Caranthir. That meant she had passion, fire, and drive. But it also meant she was dangerous. Deadly, quick to anger, hot headed. Maglor knew this first-hand from his father and brothers. He knew he had it too, though to a lesser extent, perhaps, than his brothers Celegorm, Caranthir, and Curufin. And look where it had led them all.

"Very well," he relented wearily. "You will have to sleep outside, however. I lack room for you three in this place. We will speak once you set up your arrangements."

The three half elves nodded and began setting out their dinner and building a fire. Maglor, meanwhile, tied their horses to a tree and went to get his own dinner. He brought out a deer haunch and told them to go ahead and cook it over the fire as well.

"Just caught it a day ago," he informed them. "It's good meat."

"You hunt in these woods then?" Miril asked him.

"On occasion. Mostly I grow my own food." Maglor sat beside Miril on a log they had pulled over to use as seating across from the twins. He posed a question to them. "Tell me, how is your father?"

"Well," Elladan nodded. "He speaks of you fondly, you know. You alone."

"He and his brother never did quite like Nelyo," Maglor smiled, his humor tickled. "Elros moreso even than Elrond."

"So you did raise them, then?" Miril asked in awe. "You raised Lord Elrond!"

Maglor nodded. "Indeed. After the horrors we committed... I did not want to leave them to die alongside the others. It was a good decision, in the end."

The group sat in silence as the fire crackled and the meat cooked. Elrohir passed out the rolls they had brought to one another. They took bites and ate in silence until finally Maglor broke the deep peace with a question.

"How did you know where to find me?" Maglor asked. "How did you know I was even still alive?"

Miril nodded with a sigh. "The only way to answer your question is to explain the whole story."

And so she dove into an account of how she came to learn of her ancestry. She recalled her early life and how she was raised by Halbarad and Aragorn, how Sauron had hunted her down and killed her brother. She went in depth about her relationship to Galadriel and how the elven lady had trusted her to look in the mirror.

"I saw the Silmarils and their history," she recalled. "But the biggest revelation for me was a prophecy that I heard. 'When at once the servant of the Black Foe is gone, three must set forth. Find the Oathbreaker and retrieve the jewel at last. Face the darkness that will rise in the South and East with the light of Valinor'. And then I saw a cabin like this, and you. After much research and several moments of clarity, we decided to search here."

Maglor looked at the fire. Oathbreaker. That's what he was now to the Valar. He had little doubt that it was one of the great Powers who allowed Miril to hear the prophecy. Mandos or Ulmo, perhaps. They were not wrong. He had broken an oath. An oath sworn to Eru, the One. A terrible oath he should never have sworn.