Prologue: A Mother's Love

Mari stomped up to Elrond, disgruntled, with tears drying on her cheeks. He picked her up and placed her on his lap. "My dear Maerwen, what's wrong?" He asked, calling her by her full name.

She scrunched up her nose at the sound of her name and then looked up at her adoptive father's eyes. "The other children keep making fun of me because I'm so much smaller than them." She told him. "Why am I so small, father?"

Elrond's heart broke as he realized it was time to tell Mari what she really was. "Well, my dear, let me tell you the story of how your grandmother got a curse put onto her."

One sunny, summer day, in the Bazaar of Bree, a handsome elven couple walked hand in hand as they explored the shops around them. The young husband wanted to buy his new wife a gift and was trying to find the perfect thing to buy for her. He came upon a stand of beautifully handcrafted jewelry and his eyes found a diamond tiara. He picked it up and turned to his wife. "What about this, my dear?"

The beautiful woman took the tiara from her husband's hands and examined it. The owner of the stand, a brown haired dwarf, smiled up at the couple. "It's of finest quality, that it. The best diamonds from the best mines of dwarves."

The woman put the tiara back onto the table with a grimace. "It's dwarf made," she said. "Anything that touches my head has to be elf made, not made from filthy hands."

The husband frowned as he looked upon his wife, but being used to such behavior, he walked on in search for the perfect gift. The dwarf, however, sneered at the woman. "Ye will get what's coming to ye, lassie. Your pride shalt be the downfall of your line." He then spoke in an old dwarfish tongue and cast a curse on the young woman.

The woman shivered as if submerged in ice as she rushed to join her husband. Nine months later, she gave birth to a daughter, Seldirima. The babe was healthy as can be, if not a bit small for an elf newborn. The young couple didn't worry yet, though. She had time to grow.

As Seldirima grew, though, it became apparent that she would be different than the other elven children. She was just as beautiful as the others were. With long black hair, fair skin, almond-shaped hazel eyes, she was the spitting image of her mother. But, her height was a huge problem. At the age of 30, when elves finally stop growing, Seldirima measured a mere 5 feet even. She was constantly picked on because of her height, and no suitors ever went knocking at her door. Her parents feared that the curse would make it so that their precious daughter would never find love.

Months went by, years went by, even decades surpassed them, and yet there was no hope for poor Seldirima. That is, until a company of dwarves passed through Rivendell seeking refuge from an orc attack. The Ironfist clan of dwarves had been marching off to war when they were attacked, and had asked to recuperate. Elrond let them stay.

Seldirima had never been outside the walls of Rivendell, but had heard stories of the many creatures that inhabited Middle Earth. She was excited to finally meet people who were not going to judge her for how short she happened to be. On the contrary, these people would make her feel very tall indeed.

One dwarf in particular captivated Seldirima, Yiro Opalcarver. He was young for a dwarf, just 60 years old. He was tall too, measuring 5 foot even and could look Seldirima in the eyes. Rima, as Yiro called her, was always found walking through the hills of Rivendell with Yiro. They talked of all the adventures he had been on, of Rima's terrible childhood, of their hopes and dreams. And, as fate should have it, to her parents' dismay, Rima fell in love with the young dwarf warrior.

Enraged that their daughter could fall in love with a "dirty, filthy, lowly dwarf", in her mother's words, demanded that the two of them never meet again and petitioned for Elrond to send the dwarf company on their way. The dwarves heard of the petition and were outraged that Yiro had stooped so low as to love an elf. The dwarf company prepared to leave.

The day before the dwarves left, Yiro and Seldirima married under an apple tree in their favorite orchard. Elrond bonded them happily and the couple spent one final night together. Yiro promised he'd come back for her and left the next day.

Nine months later, Seldirima gave birth to her first child, Maerwen. She loved her daughter and told her baby stories of her great father that was coming home to them soon. But, when little Mari was three months old, exactly a year since the day Yiro had left, Seldirima got the worst news of her life. Yiro had been slain in battle and would never return for her and their child.

Grief filled Seldirima. She was all alone in the world, but for her precious babe. She took her daughter to Elrond and pleaded with him to take care of her. He accepted, knowing the desperation that was in Seldirima's eyes. Rima didn't last another week, when grief filled her heart completely and ended her life.

Mari looked up at Elrond with Seldirima's almond shaped, hazel eyes. "So, I'm short because I'm a dwarf?" she asked, tears leaking from her eyes.

"No, my dear," Elrond said soothingly, "you're only half dwarf."