Sins of the Father

Chapter 8

Aislins trembling fingers ghosted across her lips as another wave of
nausea roiled through her belly.This was not happening. It could not
possibly be true, but in her hand the lay the evidence, An emerald
green token left behind as a troth to love that took a deadly turn.

Aislin rubbed the raised veins of the ornate leaf with her thumb as
her mother paced before her, tears of grief and rage flowing down her
cheeks.

" Mama.. it cannot be the same Elf.....", she whispered, her throat
raw from sobbing. " He is far too young to have done what you
say....it cannot be Orophin...."

The woman rubbed her palms against her face, leaving a smear of dirt
to mingle with the tear trails that lined her face.

" Aislin... they do not age as we do...., time to them is but a mere
flicker of a candleflame. This medal was found with the bodies of
your grandparents, and it also graces the cloak of your brothers
murderer. That alone should prove his guilt. "

" It proves only that he is is Elven..mamma.......nothing more....."
Aislin took a shakey breath, her mind unwilling to comprehend what
her mother was trying to tell her.

" Aislin...you do not know what danger you put yourself......NAY, all
of us ,in with your foolish actions." The woman wrapped her arms
around her waist,knowing full well that she had already lost one
child and both parents to those wicked creatures. She could not bear
to lose another.

" But mamma....Orophin loves me. I am to have his
child.....He ....." Aislin could not even think straight anymore.

" You really think that he cares for you? " The girls mother
practically spat at her. " Why should he.......he will live far
beyond your years ,and fair as he is he will remain ,while you dry up
and wither away like an overipe plum."

Aislin tried not to listen, in her heart she knew that the Galadhrim
cared for her, but she had not given much concern to the future. The
woman noted Aislins faulter and continued along this path of
discussion, hoping that it would be her salvation.

"I will tell you something now that I have told no one.....not even
your father......for if I had he would have dismembered that Elf
before I even arrived."

Aislin began to rock in her seat. She did not want to hear anymore.

" You are not so far removed from your Grandmother my dear," the
woman continued, walking behind the shaking girl and fingering her
hair. " My mother was as foolish as you, finding a lover within the
wood one day, and succumbing to his devious charm."

The woman bent down and slid her arms to encompass her daughters
trembling limbs. " My father knew of this union, and though he was
not pleased, he allowed to your grandmother to see her lover. I
remember whe i first saw him, his long silvered hair almost to his
waist. He was beautiful beyond words. His voice was deep and silken
like the purring of a cat and his eyes were as cytal blue as the sky
upon a summers day. He proffessed love and gentleness and all the
qualities that he said the Elves revered ,even thrilling when my
mother announced that she would bear him a child."

Aislin shifted against her mother, trying not to allow her words to
upset her to no avail.

The woman crossed in front and took up the brooch from her daughters
limp fingers bringing it to her eyes as if it could transport her
back to that moment in time. Back to the moment when she realized all
too clearly that all that glittered and cooed was neither gold nor
tame.

~***~


I will nor give her to you..no matter how much you think she deserves
to go" Gareth slammed his fist upon the table, upending the drink
that he and Warden had been sharing.
" I think I have given more of my wife to you than I should already"
The Man was into his cups but not so much that he didnt realise when
he was being taken for the fool.

' I can offer the child so much more than you Gareth. " offered the
Elf peering over his cup, a lofty sneer curling his lips.

" Can ya now?" The Man had risen from the table, his fists clenched
upon the edge.

" Come now....my friend," drawled the Elf, trying to keep the manner
of discussion to some level of civility. " You have more children
here than you can care for yourself. I am simply suggesting that
Maura leave the care of this one to me."
" And you think that she will be willing to just hand the wee babe
over to you so you can dissappear back ino the woods as sneakily as
you arrived?"

The Elf set the cup down on the table and eyed the Edan warily.
This one would simply not listen to reason. In the few years he had
been with Maura he had kept her pregnant and passionless. It was no
wonder when the Elf had come upon the lovely woman with in the wood
that she had taken to him immeaditaly. The Man had stifled her and
kept her hidden away, and now that she had the taste of passion it
was leaving HIM with a bitter taste.

" Perhaps it is Her I should be addressing then....." replied the
Warden, taking another very uneccesary sip of his wine.

" I will not allow this......" argued the Man, slamming his empty cup
on the table so
loudly that it drew Maura infrom the other room,her belly distended
with pregnancy, a small wide -eyed child at her skirts.

" Allow what?" she replied throwing them both a warning glance , for
she had just finally got the youngest to sleep.

" Perhaps youwould just like to ease my entire burden and take all
of my children while your at it!" Gareth grabbed ahold of the small
girl and pulled her off her mother's skirts.

" What are you talking about?" questioned Maura, her eyes flicking
between the two posturing males.

" It seems your lover feels that the child you bear would best be
raised with the Elves, my dear" Gareths tone of voice was bordering
on murderous.

"Gareth, surely you have heard him wrong for there could be no
possible reason for him to want to separate the child from me,"
Maura set the overturned cup u[right on the table and absently
covered her belly with her hand.

" Tell him,.....tell him that he is mistaken and that he is merely a
jealous fool..." The woman looked to the Elf for a reply , stepping
back when he did not come to her defense.

" The child would fare far better with me Maura...of course you will
have contact .I am not so coldhearted as to assume you are not
needed."

The woman paled and clutched at her belly. Though it had never been
discussed, she had assumed that the child would stay with her.

" Maura....meleth-nin...., " the Elf's eyes softened. " Be
reasonable.....I am in service to the Lord and Lady of Lorien...it
would be an honour and priveledge to have OUR child accepted by the
Wood." Reaching out, he tried to touch her hand.

Maura recoiled from the Elf, suddenly not sure what to think.
Reaching for her throat she fondled the delicate leaf pin that the
Elf Lord had given her when he first learned of her pregnancy. She
had dreamed of visiting his great realm with thier child, but all of
her plans had centered around her and the baby...not the Elf.

" I do not think that i could bear that" whispered Maura backing away
from the table, suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to run.

" Did I not tell you so, you arrogant fool " spat Gareth clearing
the table with a sweep of his arm, sending the cups to smash against
the floor and his daughter to take cover behind a small chest.

The Elf was on his feet in an instant, his knife drawn and pointed
directly at Gareth, but the Man did not back down. He had given far
to easily to this interloper and he would give no more.

" Bide you tongue Gareth for if you had taken care of your wife
properly she would not have some looking to me for comfort in the
first place." The Elf's eyes narrowed as he taunted the Edan into
action.

The warden's remark used up all the pance nce that Gareth had, and
without a care he lunged at the smirking Warden, knoocking over
tables and chairs in his haste to run him out of his home.

" Leave here now!!!!" he shouted above the cries of wakened and
frightened children.

" I will leave with my child and not before.." countered the Elf
shoving Gareth hard against the wall.

In a blind rage Gareth lunged for the Elf, his weapon drawn and
ready. Maura forsaw the bloody out come of this altercation and took
that very moment to separate the two coming between Gareth and the
young Warden with deadly results.

Before he could stop her , Maura had perished upon Gareth's blade,
fallinfelefeless into his arms as the Edan gapes at the blood that
covered his weapon.

For what semed like an eternity time stood still for the Elf as he
watched the light fade from Mauras eyes, taking with her the life of
his child.

With a feral scream and the deadly speed that came from centuries of
skill, Vhaelvyrn, March Warden of Lorien sent Gareth to his death,
disspearing into the night as silently as he had arrived.
~**~

Aislin watched as the tears flowed unceasing down her mother's
cheeks, the emerald pin clutched in her fist.

" He will take your child Aislin....and he will kill you perhaps as
easily as he did your brother....He will take you away from
me ...just like my family..."

Letting the leaf fall to the ground, the woman finally let the grief
she had harbored for countless years wash over her. Rushing to her
mothers side Aislin held her, her own painful decison having been
made. She had been foolish and naive enough.

TBC