hadriel | Video 3 - Margaery's Apartment

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Video 3 - Margaery's Apartment

[The video opens not in the Sewing Shop but in Margaery's apartment where she's sitting in the middle of her bed, a pillow clasped in her arms. she's looking down from the camera and she's in a bathrobe and nightgown, both wrinkled. her hair is disheveled and her eyes are heavily rimmed with red, as though she's spent a long time crying. which she has been. a whole day and night and a new day of crying.

she tries to look up at the camera, clear her throat and speak, but the words don't come. fresh tears well in her eyes and she looks down again, biting her lower lip.

a long moment passes with nothing but Margaery fighting back tears and silent. finally, she looks back up at the camera and speaks]

I--I thought people may want to know that Matt Murdock is no longer among us. His. His help was invaluable in the time before the Null invasion and [her voice breaks] he will be missed greatly.

[she brushes a tear off of her cheek, looking down again. she forces herself to look back up and continues]

I need to apologize to those I promised garments to. I. It will be at least another month before they're finished. I'm--I'm sorry.

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[ Quietly then, he sings for her, and the story unfolds around them, the song sweeping her up into his hold, and this is the tale he tells:

There are two trees, living light, and a woeld that can only be described as paradise. There are three jewels, created by the crown prince of that land, that capture that light living within them. Evil covets the jewel, and the king is slain, the jewels taken, and the distrought prince swears a terrible oath,and all seven of his sons swear it too as their mother turns away and weeps. Evil has fled across the sea, so the prince goes to the swan havens, to ask for their ships...and they turn him away, for they fled the shadows of Middle-earth and do not wish to return. The prince kills them, and steals the ships.

(Maglor's wife comes from the Havens. In the chaos of battle, she dies on his sword, and his brothers have to drag him onto the ships)

There are more of them than ships, but rather than send the ships back, the prince burns them, and accidentally kills his youngest son. His half brother curses his name, but decides to take the rest of their people the long way round over the Grinding Ice - he will lose almost a quarter of them on the ice, and the survivors will never truly forgive the others.

The prince leads his sons against Evil but is slain. His eldest is taken captive but his dearest friend, who braved the ice, saves him. For a while...things look good. And then Evil breaks them. Time and again, they are thrown back, and every death is someone they cannot replace. Heroes and legends are written across centuries in blood and tears....and the jewels remain out of reach, and Evil unassailable.

A maiden dares the impossible for love and wins. A jewel lives in elven hands. The Oath wakes.

Twice more, the sons assail their own people for a jewel they do not want but are sworn to retrieve. In the end, it takes the Gods returning to overthrow Evil, and once again, the last two brothers kill their own, and steal the jewels.

But the jewels are holy, and they have stained their hands unjustly with kinsblood. They burn.

The eldest brother kills himself - unable to face their utter ruin. And Maglor...throws his into the sea ]

[she regards the flame in her hands with awe, enchanted by the little flickering light in her palm]

It's so beautiful. And your jewelsmiths use it? They must do beautiful work.

[she blanches slightly at his telling her that she's asked for the same painful tale twice, but. she's trusted him with the politics of Westeros and her own heartbreak, he can trust her with his pain. she'll never tell a soul]

[she starts crying when king dies because she knows all too well the kind of chaos that can erupt when a king dies unexpectedly and the son and his sons swear their oath.

she weeps harder at the death of Maglor's wife.

and even harder at the deaths of all the brothers but two and the theft of the jewels and the way they burn the hands.

when Maglor throws his jewel into the sea, she lifts her head to face him. tears still stream down her cheeks, but her expression is compassionate and non-judgemental.

she reaches hesitantly to touch his scarred hand]

I'm. I'm so sorry. For what you've been through.

[ His eyes are dry, by contrast, but the scars on his hands are angry and red, and his smile so very sad ]

Thank you. But I think it is fair to say that I brought it all upon myself. We cannot say that we were not warned!

[she brushes at her tears with her other hand and continues to lightly touch his hand]

Perhaps not, but. After all you've been through? It hurts to think that you'll have to endure more.

I deserve it.

[ He says softly]

After all the pain I brought to others, how can I shirk from the pain that comes to me?

Perhaps you do. But perhaps I don't want a friend to suffer in such a manner?

[she clasps his scarred hand with hers]

You can't. Not and be able to look at yourself in the mirror. But how can those who care for you abandon you to such a fate?

[ Maglor blinks at her and manages a faint smile]

Thank you, Lady Margaery. You are very kind.

[she gives him a faint smile in response]

Thank you.

Do you know, for years I endeavored to appear kind, but wasn't truly kind in my heart? I think. . . this place is changing me.

[ He squeezes her hand ]

I think that those who wish to appear a certain way eventually do become so - the outer becoming the inner, if you like? A deliberate action becoming habit, becoming part of you.

[she squeezes back]

There are certainly worse things to become. I could have become cruel, callous, like so many in King's Landing.

A hard world can do that. [ He nods ]

It can take fear and distrust and warp it easily. I am glad you proved the stronger.

From what I've found here, there are few worlds harder than Westeros. There, death is cheap. Betrayal is easy. And people are only as good as what they can do for your next.

...I didn't trust my mother-in-law. With good reason as she's the one who killed me along with countless innocents. But I don't want to be like Cersei in any way.

It seems that way. [ He sighs ] My brother's fosterling also comes from that land - the Lady Sansa. The tales she tells of her home... [ He shakes his head ]

We are going to try and take her with us, if we ever get free of this place.

I am glad you are here, Lady Margaery - at the least, you are free of them!

You know Sansa? She's a dear friend of mine. If you know Sansa, then you've surely heard of the cruelties Westeros can inflict.

I would miss her greatly, but I can't go to Westeros and it sounds as though she does not wish to.

[she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly] Yes, free. Though locked in another sort of cage.

I do - she calls me uncle, and I am very fond of her, myself. But aye - the tales she tells of Westeros does not endear your world to me!

[ He grimaces ]

Aye - a gilded cage remains still a cage. But at the least, we have hopes to escape this one, one day.

If she calls you uncle, what shall I call you? Would by your name be out of line? And I'm not surprised. Much of what she suffered, she did before I arrived at King's Landing, but one of her tormentors--Cersei--was as cruel to me as she was to Sansa. Just. In a different way.

Yes. Hope to escape. And leave Westeros behind me for good.

Just Maglor is fine! [ He shakes his head with a small smile ]

Tis only because my brother has claimed her as his fosterling - I would not impose that on anyone else.

[ He squeezes her hand ]

To escape and to return to your beloved. [ He agrees ]

And you must call me simply Margaery. [she smiles back. a real smile]

I should like to meet this brother of yours. If he's taking care of one of my dearest friends, I owe him a debt.

[she squeezes back.

a single tear runs down her cheek] Yes. Yes, to both. There is no alternative.

Margaery then. [ He echoes, and his face falls a little ]

My brother... sleeps and will not wake. Elrond says he has seen this before, in another place like this Hadriel, and he will wake unharmed, but I confess that it worries me.

[ He offers her the handkerchief ]

There is not - I am sure you will succeed.

Thank you. [his face falls and she worries]

Of course it worries you. He's your brother. You can't help but worry about him. It's part of being family. I worry about my brother all the time and he died at the same time I did.

[she takes it gratefully and dabs at her tears]

So am I. I must be.

It's foolish, I suppose but... I cannot quite help it.

[ Maglor sighs a little and smiles at her gratefully ]

Thank you, Margaery. It is nice to be able to speak of these things with someone who understands.

I don't think it's foolish at all. I'd be beside myself were Loras--my brother--in a similar position.

You have no need to thank me. You've been unerringly kind and gracious and understanding towards me. I'd be a poor friend if I didn't reciprocate.

No need, but I thank you all the same. [ He smiles at her ]

For you have been kind to a stranger, although I am glad to call you friend, now.

[she smiles back, though hers has a tinge of melancholy]

And I am grateful to call you friend as well. In a place like this, you need friends like a garden needs water.

Video 3 - Margaery's Apartment

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