Second Chance

Tristan awoke on the hard ground, with a strong sense of déjà vu. He lifted up his head and tried to look around. He seemed to be in a hut of some sort, there was an old man bending over a fire. "Where am I?" Tristan asked, falling back down onto his make shift bed. The old man turned and walked over to him, "well, you're not dead as everyone else seems to think. I saved your life, I did." he said.

Tristan gazed at the man, "I'm Tristan, son of Aragon." Tristan said. The old man chuckled, "I know that. I'm Aodh, I was sent here to catch the dead and ship them to either heaven or where they need to go. But you, you seem to be always avoiding death. First when Princess Isolde saved you and now when you weren't quite dead." Aodh said. Tristan stared at him.

"If I didn't die and I'm not dead. Then where am I? What's going to happen to me?" Tristan asked. "Well, when I let you go, after you've been fully healed. I suspect that you'll go searching for Isolde and your child." Aodh said. Tristan looked up in shock, "my…my child and Isolde? I have a child? Is it a boy or a girl?" Tristan asked. Aodh's eyes lit up, "it's a wee, little boy." he said.

"A boy, I have a son. what's his name?" Tristan inquired. "Well, she's yet to name him. Seeing as she's not sure whether he's your son, or Lord Markes." Aodh answered. "I have to find them." Tristan said, pushing himself up onto his elbows and struggling to pull himself up. Aodh pushed him back down, "just wait Tristan, son of Aragon. Let yourself heal first, then you can go looking for them."

Tristan closed his eyes and remembered a previous conversation with Isolde. A time when she was speaking about the future.

Flashback...

Isolde was laying beside him on the ground, a blanket covering them both. "… a child." Isolde said. "Will it be mine or his?" Tristan whispered, Isolde sat up behind him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'd have no way of knowing, would I?" Isolde asked. In response, Tristan turned to face her and kissed her, pulling her back down to the blanket with him.

End of flashback...

Tristans dream:

"She's gone, Lord Marke." a small man exclaimed, running into the meeting place. "what do you mean Phelps, who's gone?" Mark asked. "Isolde, she's left with Bragnae her maiden, to find a place to raise it." Phelps said. Marke looked at the man sharply, "Raise what?" he asked, "why the baby of course." Phelps answered. "Isolde was going to have a baby?" Lord Marke asked, turning back to the chart, in thought. "Yes sir, I thought you knew, most everyone else did." Mina said. "Why did no one think to tell me this? I let her go and she could be carrying the heir to my throne!" Marke shouted. "We must find her. Send everyone out to look for her. Two women can't run very fast, especially not when one of them is pregnant." Marke said. Immediately, several of the men stood up and began talking as they walked out.

"Mina," Marke called. "yes?" she asked, turning and coming back to him. "You knew about this didn't you?" he asked her. "Yes Milord," she said bowing her head. "Why did you let me let her go?" he asked. "She needed it Marke. You could not have missed the tortured look in her eyes ever since Tristan died. She loved him and he gave his life for you. Every time anyone mentioned his name in her presence, she would gaze off in the distance, not hearing, not caring. I couldn't bear to see the beautiful, young girl that way. I was afraid you'd never let her go until the babe was born and keep it if it was a boy. Which would've killed her inside even more, especially if it was Tristans child. Give her some time and wait, she'll come back to you. But push her and she'll never return." Mina said and left.

Tristan awoke in a cold sweat and got up, he looked around him and saw a small lake. He picked up his clothes off of the ground, where they were folded nicely and placed in a pile. Then he moved over to the lake to bathe himself. The dream had unnerved him, so Marke thought the babe was an heir to his throne. Which means Tristan wouldn't be the only one out there looking for her. A part of Tristan knew that it wasn't a dream, that had actually happened. But who was Mina? How did she know about Isolde being pregnant or about him?

After Tristan bathed, he quickly got dressed. Aodh was nowhere in sight, but there was a not saying he was free to go and do as he pleased. Tristan grabbed things that he thought he would need. His sword was wrapped in a cloth and laying by where he had been sleeping these past couple of days. Or was it months, Aodh said time here passed differently than it did in the world.