4It's just a tiny little something that came to me after our Polish Tolkien convention.
Small steps
Maglor knocked and came in quietly as the mumble of a response sounded unusual if not disturbing. He found his brother sitting barefoot on the floor, with one leg crouched and the other resting on it. He was leaning forwards, his face suspiciously close to his toes. Overall, he looked rather... tangled.
"Maitimo... what are you doing?"
"M'm'nt," muttered Maedhros, his long, thin fingers twisting a strand of hair. With growing amazement Maglor realised there was another strand of hair, already twisted, which his brother was holding in place with his teeth. When he finished twisting, he put the strand between his toes and grasped the one he had in his mouth. He let out a puff and rubbed his stump against his face to get rid of a few loose hair that tickled his nose.
"Watch." Maedhros kept his head bowed, but Maglor could see a ghost of smile on his lips. He came closer and crouched by his brother to see what he was doing.
Maedhros kept one twisted strand between his toes and wrapped the other one around it, creating a loose rope braid on his right side. As he finished, he grasped both ends and pinned them with his stump. "Pass me the clasp, would you?"
Maglor noticed the clip on the floor, a bit beyond Maedhros's reach; one of those Curufin had been making for their brother to see which would be easiest for him to use. He picked it and handed it over to Maedhros, who clipped it around the end of the rope braid. Only then did he look up, his eyes shining with satisfaction.
"You could have said something."
"No, I could not." Smile disappeared from Maedhros's lips and Maglor cursed himself for yet again attempting to help when no help was needed.
The eldest son of Feanor stood up swiftly and walked to the mirror on the wall. He looked for a moment, then smoothened his hair with a few moves. Pin after pin he secured the loose strands. The hairdo was simple, or would have been so, if not for the dark green ribbon Maedhros was plaiting between parts of the rope braid, and the tiny emeralds shining on the clasp and pins.
"Understand this, Makalaure. I cannot require help with every daily task," he said after a moment. "Alcarino suggested that it would be a good practice and as my hair is now long enough, I could try to braid it myself."
Maglor rose as well and joined his brother. He loved seeing him like that; these moments of pure joy seem to be too rare now.
"You look splendid," he smiled and for the first time he didn't feel like lying. Maedhros did look glorious in the dark red robe he was wearing. The only detail ruining the whole appearance were his bare feet, but that could be easily fixed. He seemed ready for the evening feast. "Could you try to do my hair too?"
The smile Maedhros gave him was the best reward.
In case you're wondering - yes, I did check that and did everything Maedhros is doing. It's possible, and if I could do that on my first try, so can Maedhros.
