On the paths of life by Aprilertuile  

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Chapter 7: The awaited exams results

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The day they were to receive their high-school finals results, Celegorm was up at about 5am, picked up his phone, his hiking backpack and left the house quietly. 

If he remained there, he’d wake up everyone in short order and he knew it. Better to go for a walk or for a hike, get busy until a more reasonable hour, and considering it was already holidays for his little brothers, basically, he better be off until at least 10am.

Coincidentally, he needed to be at the high-school at about 10am to get the results of the finals so… 

He sent a message to Oromë: 

“Gone for a hike bright and early. Green path, 2h in, 2h back planned.” 

He was just arrived at the start of the path, when he received a message back from Oromë: 

“Up early. Anything wrong?” 

“Just nerves I guess,” he answered. “Plus I’m an early riser usually so… that doesn’t help.” 

The answer being “Ugh, morning people” made him laugh. 

According to Oromë’s delightful wife, the poor man needed two coffees in the morning to wake up properly. 

This conversation had been pretty funny because neither spouse was afraid of teasing each other, and so according to Oromë, apparently, Vána never could stay up past 9pm.

Celegorm found joy and comfort in walking in nature, he found himself feeling better as he started to walk the path. 

It was a path he knew well, that he found comfortable to navigate before going to school.

And if he was less than squeaky clean to get his diploma exam results… Well… Who cared? His teachers certainly saw him in a worse state than sweaty and dusty, his friends could be worse on average, and the rest of his classmates knew better than to ask by now. 

He was smiling as he left the park, fully relaxed and ready to take whatever would befall him. 

He took the bus toward the high-school… And grimaced as he was 5 minutes past the posting of everyone’s grades. 

There’d be an official diploma distribution later, right now was for knowing who passed and who didn’t.

It was public and messy but it was only the students here. 

And Caranthir was waiting for him by the entrance of the school, looking… Carefully blank. Celegorm stopped in front of him and raised an eyebrow: 

“Did I fail then?” 

Caranthir shook his head and pointed toward the entrance. 

Celegorm groaned but went in, elbowing people out of his way to get to where the results were noted. 

Grades were calculated on a base of 100 points. The overall grade was clearly printed and pinned to the walls for all to see, and teachers were there, distributing the document that detailed each class’ individual grade. 

Looking for his name in the middle of a crowd of a hundred of other students was pretty nerve-wracking but, pushing people and being pushed in turn, he found his name and gasped. 

To get his partial scholarship he needed an overall grade of 80. 

His overall grade was 97. 

He never had that good a grade. Well he never before saw the point in studying carefully even material he disliked, which usually pulled his overall grades around 79-85. 

He let Loscarmë pull him toward the teachers and he got his detailed report card. 

“Congratulations.” The teacher told him in a flat voice, looking bored out of his mind. 

Celegorm didn’t blame him: underpaid and understaffed, teachers had to face students and parents day in and day out, and no force on earth could pay Celegorm enough to deal with all that crap all day, every day, for all his career. 

Loscarmë got his own too: 85 out of 100. 

“I guess your study habits and note taking helped me too.” Loscarmë said, as shocked as Celegorm was as he usually kept an overall grade of 75. 

“I’ll get my scholarship.” Celegorm breathed, shocked, eyes on the report card. 

“Yup. And I’m getting into the police academy!” They laughed and hugged fiercely, and separated to get to their friends, and in Celegorm’s case, to his brother:

“Congratulations.” Caranthir said, sounding mildly shocked still. 

“Thanks.”

“I mean, I knew your study habits improved those last few months but I mean…” 

“That’s quite a leap between 80 ish and 97, yeah.” 

“So… You’ll… You’re going to insist on crossing dad, right?” 

“Yes, brother, I am.” 

Caranthir looked tense at that. 

Celegorm passed an arm around his shoulders as they started to walk to the school’s exit doors. 

“It’ll be fine, brother. Dad won’t throw me out, hm? I’m not dropping out of school, I’m getting a diploma. Just… not one he’d prefer.” 

Hopefully at least. Celegorm completed in the safety of his own mind. 

His brother nodded, the tension not disappearing from his frame as they walked home. 

Upon their arrival, Fëanor took the report card from Celegorm’s hands, not even reading it before he turned toward Caranthir: 

“Caranthir, take your siblings to Nelyo’s, please. Your brother is waiting for you, we’ll meet at a pizzeria later.” 

Caranthir hesitated, and looked at his brother, but really, what choice did he have? Celegorm pushed him softly and Caranthir moved, and took the car keys from the counter on which they rested. 

“Careful on the road.” Fëanor warned. 

The three of them, Nerdanel, Fëanor and Celegorm settled in the kitchen waiting for the 4 youngest of the family to depart. 

Once the car was gone, Celegorm leant against the counter, looking at his parents: 

“So, did you empty the house to be able to shout to your heart's content?” 

“No. I emptied the house in order to not give ideas to your siblings.” Fëanor corrected him. 

“Beg your pardon?” 

“Look, all I want is for my children to be happy. And the commitment you demonstrated these past months means that I’ll talk to you adult to adult.” 

‘Ominous,’ Celegorm thought briefly. 

“I’m not happy with the path you chose for yourself. It’s low pay, dangerous and undignified. You could do much better with your life.”

Celegorm opened his mouth to answer, eyes like storm clouds, but Fëanor raised his hand to stall him. 

“Let me finish.” 

Celegorm hesitated, but nodded at his father. If he had to scream his discontent, he wanted to know exactly why. 

“But the crux of the matter is that you’re an adult, and you’re your own being. I hate to admit that, but I have little to no control on how you want to lead your life. You showed your determination. You showed you could be serious about your future. You showed you researched your subject and weren’t afraid to work hard and make sacrifices for it.” 

Celegorm blinked. That wasn’t going quite the way he thought that this conversation would. 

“I’m not blind as to your and your brothers’ beliefs. But I never once abandoned one of my children. I however absolutely refuse to encourage you all to endanger your future. Maedhros’ choice to go into academia doesn’t fill me with joy, but he made his choice and I respect it. I helped him settle his house to his specifications since he was injured. Maglor’s… Decision to drop out of school made me scream in rage, as you well know…” 

“The neighbours called the cops on us with how much you were screaming, I think everyone in the street knows.” Celegorm snorted, unimpressed. 

“But alas, that son of mine is an artist. I married one, I’m not about to throw stones at my son for being an artist. I have never cut him off financially, he simply took his independence by earning his own money.” 

“I… I don’t understand.” 

“I made them promise not to tell you, and right now, I’ll also make you promise not to tell your brothers. If they want their freedom to choose their studies path, they need to show they can be mature and responsible about it. I know already that Caranthir is thinking of challenging me to go into business management. He is sensible enough to be able to do it. I’m just waiting for him to find his courage, because that sort of field will necessitate it.” 

“It’s a test…” 

Nerdanel nodded, not exactly happy but… 

“It is. I’m not the best father in the world, but you are my children, and I know all too well what it does to be left aside. I won’t do that to any of you. But you need to show you can live with your decisions.” 

“Oh. So… What now?” 

“Seeing that you were gone far too early in the morning already…” 

Celegorm smirked at that. He knew his habit of waking up at dawn or before dawn was giving kittens to the rest of his family but he couldn’t exactly help it and by now he found their reaction to it fun. 

“I called your school when it opened this morning. I already knew of your grades before you even took the path to school. So, first of all, congratulations. Second, I also already called your future university. Congratulations, you are in, this is confirmed. I paid your tuition in full, no need for that scholarship, it’ll go to a student who’ll need it. And there is no reason why you should leave home right now, since your university is still in the city.”

Celegorm couldn’t help himself and hugged his father who squeaked in surprise. 

“Right. Hm. So the money you earned these past few months, keep it and invest it or do whatever you want with it. I’ll keep funding you until the end of your studies. But as I said, don’t say anything to your siblings. They need to find their own path.” 

Celegorm bit his lips at that. 

“You know that Curufin will follow in your footsteps out of passion for your work and not out of… incertitude, right?” 

“I know. Out of 7, I have exactly ONE sensible child.” Fëanor muttered. 

Nerdanel snorted at that, disagreeing greatly on the matter. 

“That… Is debatable.” Celegorm coughed. 

“It’s very much not debatable. Now come, let’s go over the paperwork I filled to confirm your place at the university so you’re at least aware of it all before we meet your brothers for a celebratory lunch.”