Condemned!

"Calinalcar."

"Yes?"

"It's co-cold." He rubbed his hands together.

"I noticed, Polcahuorë." He too held his cloak snugger to keep the heat in.

"Calinalcar."

"Yes?"

"Are-aren't you...?"

"I am, Polcahuorë." He held his hand out to his brother. "Come, we would freeze if we do not share each other's warmth." They sat huddled together on the cold hard Helcaraxe, the blistering storm blowing around them. His long hair was whipped into his face as if expressing the Valar's anger.

"We-were we wr-ong, Am-ras, to de-de-fy the Vah-lar? Sho-ould we ha-ave tu-turned be-back?" His lips were cracked and blue, his finger stiff and trembling. His whole body was shaking from the cold.

"It is too late to have such regrets, Calinalcar. We have already made our choice." He rubbed his brother's fingers to keep them warm, but he too was losing body heat.

"We-we should've tu-turned ba-back," he sighed, his eyes glistening into what elves called rest or sleep.

"No, Polcahuorë, stay away from the darkness!" Talk to me, brother, not now!" Calinalcar shook and rubbed his brother's fingers while holding on to him in a tight embrace against the cruel wind.

"I-I'm sorry, Calinalcar. I-It's too co-cold," Calinalcar desperately clung to his brother's body as he ceased to breathe, tears which trickled down froze quickly into droplets of salty pearls.

"We are co-condemned, Polcahuorë! Condemned!"

----

The elves found the brothers clinging to each other in the cold. A hasty funeral was made, without ceremony as the travellers needed to depart quickly. As they buried the bodies which were stiff and could not be unraveled, in their hearts they heard the words unuttered.

"We are condemned!"