Prologue

Moans of pain and strained grunts of effort ringed through the halls of the healing house in the Greenwood. Outside, a Sindarin ellon paced with impatience as he waited for the healer to come and tell him that he now had a child. Just then the door opened and he muttered, " Speak of the devil."

"My lord, congratulations on a pair of twins. I know you will be a wonderful Ada," the healer announced to ellon.

"Twins? Aerlinniel never had a twin that I know of. Neither did I," he questioned himself. "Let me see her."

The healer nodded and led him into the healing house. When he saw his wife lying there with two bundles of pink in her arms, seeing her smiling at both of them, he knew he would love them no matter what.

"Hello, melethron. Come and see your newborn daughters," Aerlinniel said as she looked up her husband. Suddenly, a small white-blonde head poked through the space between the ellon's legs. Siladhiel looked curiously at her parents, then at the two bundles nestled snuggly in her mother's clutches. The ellon smiled at his eldest daughter and started to step around her when he was stopped short by her arms wrapping around his right leg. He reached down and detached her from his appendage, and carried her over to her mother. Faeron knelt down and gazed down at the faces of his brand new baby ellyths. He saw that they had the peaceful look of the Sindarian elves. But their hair, though red like the Sylvan elves, was curly like a human, or a hobbit, or a dwarf. He looked at Aerlinniel with a questioning look.

"Siladhiel, melethril nin, why do you not go and play with your toy horses in our room. You can come and see your new baby sisters later, after I have rested," Aerlinniel asked her daughter. The little elfling opened her mouth to object, but when she looked up her father and saw the look he was giving her, she complied with a "Yes, Nana." and reluctantly left the room. Faeron watched her as she left with her head hanging, before turning to his wife.

"Aerlinniel, meleth nin. Would you mind telling the heritage of our new daughters?" he questioned as he pulled a chair closer to his wife's bed, sat in it, leaned back, and crossed his arms expectantly.

"You are correct in your suspicions," Aerlinniel replied. "You are not their father; their father is a dwarf from Erebor that I met when King Thranduil chose me to accompany him to Erebor. When we went this last time, we just could not hold back anymore, and we made love the last two nights we were there. I am sorry, Faeron, I did not mean to betray your love." By this time she was weeping. She truly was sorry for what she did. But, fortunately for her, he had already forgiven her.

"Do you remember what his name was, mil nin?" he asked. She breathed a sigh of relief when he used her pet name.

"As long as you promise not go after him, I will comply."

"I promise, Aerlinniel. I have already forgiven you for what you did, for I am no angel" he promised with sincerity. She looked him up and down at this confession, but decided it was not the time to ask him about it.

"Balin was his name," she said before she fell into a deep sleep…