eyefire | but don't make me your enemy

He will be a commander, great and fearsome. A rival for Doriath.

[ His hand curls around the baby's head, gently brushing through his blonde tufts of hair. Etelo curls more into Adar and Sauron's hand falls away. ]

He will know himself, that is all that matters.

That I do not doubt. [If the child was anything less than great in potential he doubted he would have ever seen him draw breath. A dead child likely wouldn't mean much to Sauron, perhaps even if it was his own. Adar did wonder, though it was not something he dared ask and hope for an honest answer.

He cannot help but be pleased when Etelo curls away from Sauron and towards him, though with this he is very mindful to keep his expression neutral. He tuts softly.]

Etelo. [He coos softly to green eyes that blink open to look at him.] Look at your Papa. [He says, tilting the babe just so he can look at Sauron properly even as he sucks on the end of Adar's hair he has in a vice-like grip with his chubby little hand.]

[ Sauron eyes Adar until the baby glances his way, then he holds the green-eyed stare. They speak without words and Etelo's mouth falls open, closing with a mmph as he looks back to Adar: he is most certainly not a normal newborn. ]

He knows I am here, it is you he finds curious. He cannot sense your presence the way he feels mine.

[ Bitch. Just sayin'. ]

Edited 2022-12-16 20:49 (UTC)

[It is a little too tempting to blow a raspberry at Sauron like the babe had been entertained by several hours ago. He settles for tilting his head and giving him a Look.]

My apologies for being but a lowly Uruk, little one. [He says, returning Etelo to the comfortable spot where he had been drooling on Adar's tunic. So sorry your papa is a little bitch, he couldn't help it even if he tried.]

Nothing of uruk is in this one. You were all elf when you made him with me.

[ The look he gives him is smug and slowburning, tinged by a hint of a smirk. ]

I remember, quite well. [He would die unable to forget it even if his head kept getting smacked into and by things.]

That may well be why I am such a mystery to him, though, for I do not think you have yet absconded with my fëa entirely and made me seem like an absence even while I am still here.

[ The way he waves his hand is an afterthought, the way the illusion that is bone-deep is cast over Adar once more, making him beautiful and altering him to the way he once was, is not. All the aches and pains seep away; the hair in the little one's fist thickens. ]

As reward for your part played in giving me my heir, while inside the walls of this wing you will look the way you did when he was conceived.

[That he didn't expect. He had instead been waiting for some insult or implication about why he was lesser than the maia and the babe who was somehow chewing on both Adar's hair and now his finger as well. Which would not have been a lie, even if it would have been a needless reminder of reality on a day when he felt strangely real for once. Like an actual person.

He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he moves and nothing hurts.]

I– [what game is this now? He cannot keep up.] Thank you, my lord. You are very generous. [He really would have just taken being left alone to mind the child for however long he was allowed to.]

I am.

[ It is a wonder anyone is fighting Sauron and Morgoth, really! He stands, brushing through Adar's newly silky hair, and moves off to return to his bedroom. ]

I have business to attend. You will remain here, and instruct the entwives on how to best care for a half-elven child.

[It might be all the torture. Maybe.]

As you wish, my lord. [Which he would happily do in the absence of being able to do any better by their child. The least he could do is offer him company and plant seeds of who the elves really were in his little brain and hope that maybe it will promote a gentler hand when he is old enough to face any.]

[ Six months go by so fast that Sauron, not especially a fan of logging time anyway, doesn't realise how quickly his son is growing. From an infant in swaddling to a toddler screaming gleefully across the main chamber as he flees from being dressed, it's only when he pauses in dressing for the day (hearing the calls of the entwives) that he peers around his door and notices the difference. The child has been growing far faster than any mere elf, maian spirit burning him swiftly toward the adulthood to which he is destined. ]

Where is the boy's father?

[ Usually Adar is two steps behind the little (delight) nightmare and those bouncing golden curls. ]

Changing, he set my coat on fire again. [Candle, fireplace, maiar fuckery? Adar does not explain further as he comes out of the corner shirtless and singed. Etelo launches himself at Adar's legs, giggling as he grabs onto him to hold himself up and stops him in his tracks.]

Reminds me of his Papa sometimes. [Often. Alarmingly often and not just because he was growing with an unnatural speed compared to anything but orcs that Adar has seen as a child.]

[ Sauron pretends not to hear that, thank you. ]

Morgil! Come.

[ He kneels down, barking the child's largely unused name. His force of will prompts the boy to pay attention and when he holds out his hands the child unsteadily totters over, climbing onto Sauron's lap. ]

You must dress, today is very important. Listen to your father. [ A scant look is flicked Adar's way. ] You can set him on fire as much as you like this afternoon.

[ Snerk. ]

[He can pretend all he wants, they both know he did hear it. Heard most things, probably, especially in this room.

Before little Etelo is willed over to Sauron, Adar feels a brief flex of his tiny hand clinging to him. It is not fear, it is just he is more accustomed to Adar and the name he calls him. Toddlers like routine even if they are little monsters in the making.]

Is something happening? [Adar asks, moving to grab the child's clothes instead of finishing dressing himself first.] I do not think he understands I am not fireproof unlike some. [The Entwives were lucky he mostly took care of him himself, honestly. They might not survive his fascination.]

He is old enough now to be presented to Angband.

[ Sauron stares at the boy who stares back, a silent conversation going on between green and gold eyes as a chubby hand stuffs in the toddler's mouth to be drooled on. He takes him to the couch, waving to Adar to put him in those clothes, yes. Would rather not fuss with that himself.

Our of the shadows seeps one of his servants, always ready to take instruction, and he commands, ]

Have the uruks, balrogs, and as many of the rest as can be assembled in the largest hall of Thangorodrim. They will show obeisance to their newest prince or they will be slain.

Oh. [In a more even relationship he might protest, but he has no say here. He has no say anywhere so he slips over to the couch and sits, turned towards the two of them as he signals for Etelo to come to him and the baby does without any real fuss. Admittedly, he jumps right on Adar and nearly breaks his nose with his tiny head.

It's fine.

Dressing him is easy enough once he has him caught in his arms, and when it is over he is sitting on Adar's lap where he gets a kiss to the top of his golden curls, Adar brushing them away from his face and behind his pointed ears.] He is still so little. [Maybe he might protest a little, if only to know he has tried.]

His scent is stronger, it will do. He cannot be allowed to escape these chambers alone, unknown to the main armies.

[ This is Angband, not an elven city, and the first monster who did not know the boy might very well try and eat him. The ósanwe he shares with the baby promises fun and excitement, and an adventure, so when Etelo kicks his little feet in glee and wriggles he does so a lot. Seeing outside has not happened often.

Sauron looks at Adar, pretty and flawless like he never suffered so much as a hangnail. ]

You will be there, as usual.

I would never allow him to escape. [He would go without sleep, had gone without sleep sooner than he would risk that... but he sighs.] Yet we should still be cautious. [Maia were not immune to being disembodied and he was only half of one.

At least Etelo seems excited, though he is not sure if that will hold once he sees just what the hordes of Angband look like. In this room, most things were fair and fine including Adar himself. Out of that door little was, save his master.]

Of course. I am but a soldier in your army, there is nowhere else I would be when you summon it. [He does wrap his arms a little tighter around his son, though, and takes a moment to breathe in the scent of his hair. To listen to him breathe. Good boy. he whispers in Quenya, kissing his hair again. He had hoped against all odds that it would take longer for him to begin to grow up. Elvish children grew slowly in body even though their minds were sharp from a young age. He grew quickly in all ways and would soon be entirely out of Adar's hands.]

[ Okay, Adar, sure, whatever you say. Sauron narrows his eyes at the sight of him attached to the boy to the point of being more devoted to him than Sauron himself and wonders if it isn't time to start putting some space between them. ]

Tonight you will attend me. Alone.

[ He doesn't wait for an answer, sweeping out to get down to business while the majority of Angband answers the muster-call. ]

[It wasn't as if he could go around kissing the top of Sauron's head even if he wanted too. That's somewhere on the list of dumb ways to die, surely.]

As you wish. [The rote response rolls off his tongue without him even thinking about it, though he does watch Sauron as he leaves before going back to getting dressed and playing with their son in the interim. They would be dressed and ready to go when the time came.]

[ The largest hall in Angband is usually full of creatures at work on armour or weaponry, adjacent to the forges, but today the detritus has been cleared out and work has briefly paused for the orcs to swarm in like a tide of filth and take up the floor-space. Werewolves stand guard around the base of the plateau at the front, vampires hang from the ceiling in the darkness where their leathery wings beat and blood drips down, while the fallen ainur line the back of the black stage with Gothmog at the centre. The dragons, of course, are not in attendance because they would crush everyone, but Sauron plans to take Etelo on a little trip down there later to meet them.

The announcement comes from a captain of the uruk whose snarling Black Speech echoes out over the triple-stadium sized space with a little sorcerous help: the child is of the Lieutenant of Angband, the son of Sauron, and all will bow before him. There is no choice, no quarter, if they do not know his scent and swear to protect him with their lives they will be fed to the fire-drakes. The Darkest Star is Morgil of Angband, Prince of Deldúwath where he will take his first station when he comes of age.

Sauron turns to look at where Adar should be with their son, holding out his arms for the child as thousands of eyes glitter up at them in the dark. ]

[Adar is there, waiting in the wings where he bounces Etelo on his hip, whispering silly things into his ear while no one can see or hear them. Only when he is somewhere he will be spied does he put on his serious face and gently encourage the boy to do the same.

Be brave, little love.

He considers letting him walk to his other father, but then, with a glance at the room he decides against it and swiftly crosses the stage himself, instead, holding him out to be taken once he gets there with his head bowed respectfully. Adar's presence around a child was never shocking, everyone in this room knew well what his purpose primarily was. He could be trusted with babies because he was the father of legions, after all.]

My Lord. [Be kind to our boy, please.] Your son. [OursoursoursOURS.]

[ The look he gives Adar is cool, a contrast to the way he smiles at Etelo when the baby wraps his arms around him. He moves to the front of the plateau where the legions can see them and fire erupts around the two of them to the giggles of the child, flames forcing away anyone else as they prove Etelo's heritage to howling, baying approval.

Gothmog stomps forward and drops to a knee, his huge head bowing. Sauron speaks to Morgil, encouraging him to say hello as the flames disappear from their bodies.

The baby reaches forward, allowed closer by Sauron who steps in to close the distance and let that soft little hand touch right above the valarauko's glowing nostrils. Gothmog grunts, griting his teeth, and Morgil laughs as his touch leaves a white-hot print that even the fiery old spirit suffers pain from. The balrog takes it like a favour bestowed from on high and the rest of his kin roar allegiance. So, on and on it goes, with the leaders of each major faction burdened by a burning touch from the baby who flaps his arms delightedly at the vampiric general, awoos at the salivating muzzle of the werewolf lord, and waves back at Gothmog more than anyone in thier right mind should (the balrog, at least, takes this as a sign of high favour from Sauron and isn't offended).

It all takes less than an hour, then Angband knows Morgil of the Black Star and is sworn to him under Morgoth's name. It is all very tiring for the baby, who clings to Sauron as he walks off the onyx plateau in casual dismissal of the hoard only to reach for Adar when they near him in the wings. ]

[It feels like an entire age as he watches, curious, upset, terrified back in the wings and out of the way waiting like a nursemaid instead of a father. That would be how it always was, he supposed. In public at least.

He is so relieved when Sauron turns back to him to come away from the crowd that is milling about comparing their tiny little brands that he has to step on the back of his own shoe to stop himself from lunging forward for one or maybe even both of them.

Adar only allows himself to move when they are in the wing with him, going over to Etelo to tell him what a good boy he is and let him climb back to his favourite spot where he likes to nuzzle into (and inevitably drool on) Adar's neck.]

That went well.

He will begin his studies on the morrow. Not only with you, but with tutors of my own choosing.

[ Adar will be involved (otherwise he will riot) but Sauron is escalating his plans for the boy, walking away from them both with a bark of a command for his werewolf general to follow. ]

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timeskip!!

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