"Again!"
The sounds of the training field filled his head. They had been his home for decades now, and ever more they called him.
Aeglirion took up the wooden practice arms, and prepared for another fight with his opponent, a copper-haired Elf same of age as he. They clashed, and not before long Aeglirion felt a precise blow striking his left ear. How could it have come from right behind the shield?
"Damn it, boy! Focus!" yelled Maidgon, the master of the grounds. "If Partheron were an orc, you'd be dead!"
Aeglirion knew this. He had many bruises in his body, and was exhausted from the long day. He just couldn't understand how it could've hit him.
"You are too impatient. Your blows have the strenght to go through an orc-skull, but if you let your guard open like that, that won't be much use. Come see me at the morning, and we'll see if I can find some doing for you. For now, you two can go."
The first stars were shining on the pale sky. As he arrived to the citadel, he asked his partner if he knew what the master had meant.
"I do not know" was the answer. "I believe he will introduce you to some work that requires precision, and you will have to leave the grounds for a while."
"Leave the training? But how then can I join the armies in Ard-galen?"
"For a while, I said. There is the kind of fire burning in you that does go unnoticed by him; he will not waste it." said Partheron.
"You most likely are right, my friend." said Aeglirion. "What say you for some wine for the to-be heroes of the Noldor?"
Partheron smiled.
Sun rose from behind the mountains. Aeglirion stretched, had a bite of bread, put on his mail and walked down the street towards the fields. Maidgon, however, was standing before the gates.
"There you are. Come with me, I'll see you to your new work. And you won't need your mail for a while..."
They went to the house of Mirthan, a jewel-smith of great skill. As Maidgon had spoken his mind, Mirthan eyed Aeglirion.
"Yes, I believe he will do just that. I will take him."
Mirthan taught Aeglirion how to shape gems, gold and silver; and indeed it was work of patience and precision, as Mirthan demanded much of his new apprentice. Aeglirion, at first, could not master the art of jewels. But as weeks, months and years went by, his hand became precise and skilled. Ever since then he enjoyed the shaping of things, and making them beautiful.
At the work of Mirthan Aeglirion started to love the earth and its treasures. Often he would climb to the walls and gaze east where the Blue Mountains rose and blocked the view to the East; and he thought of the unknown hills and forests, streams and fields. He desired to see a land unseen by Elven eyes, and walk paths only trod by beasts of the wild.
