"Amad, must you go?"
"Love, I'm not going yet." Idùzhib gently reminded her son.
"But it's so dangerous.."
"I know." Idùzhib interrupted, laying a placating hand on her son's shoulder. "Sweetling, I realise that, but-"
"Let me come with you."
"No."
Dori looked at his mother's serious face and tried to think of a way to persuade her. "If someone attacks you, you'd be hurt terribly at least. You need somebody with you, Amad. Maybe, if you asked..."
Idùzhib snorted. "I asked for help with finding Nori the hour I discovered he was gone. What help came for me?"
That was hideously unfair. Dori found it hard to look into the molten silver of his mother's eyes and cleared his throat. "Amad, they tried their best, you know they did. Please, just ask for help. You cannot do this on your own!"
"I can if I try." Idùzhib muttered, though she now looked thoughtful. Finally, she slumped her shoulders. "Perhaps I might ask. They likely won't approve, mind."
"You never know." Dori said.
"I know everything." Idùzhib retorted, smiling fondly at him. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "My precious son. You'll love Nori."
"I can't remember him." Dori confessed.
She released him and gave him a sad smile. "You were ten years of age, love. I don't doubt you remember nothing. But soon we'll have him back home and safe."
Idùzhib and Olùmil had been gone a terribly long time. Idùzhib had grabbed her fiancé and left immediately after supper, and time was getting on. He rather wanted to see what the verdict was and stayed up, watching the sky go from a bright blue to a dark black dotted with bright white stars from his bedroom window.
It was around ten o'clock when the door opened and the clump of Olùmil's boots and the tap of Idùzhib's boots destroyed any silence. There was a quiet argument going on too.
"I don't care." Idùzhib whispered. "Those bastards can-"
"You mustn't call them that! Ghivashel, they know, as do you, the dangers of the forest."
"There is a child out there!" Idùzhib practically shrieked, shattering the silence. "A child! Do you know how many hours of labour I went through bringing him into this world?! Twelve! Why won't they help?!"
Another pause. Olùmil began speaking again, what little Dori could hear revealed a pleading tone, but Idùzhib was talking too, and it was clear she would not be backing down.
"No, stop. I'm going to find my son," Idùzhib spoke breathlessly.
"Don't you see?" Olùmil said desperately. "In your desire to find your youngest, you're pushing aside your eldest as though he-"
SLAP!
"Don't you dare! I love both my children. I would kill for either. If it was your son, you would do the same!"
"It's been nearly sixty years..."
"Don't. Shut up!"
"Iddy, he won't remember-"
The sound of Olùmil trying his best to gently inform Idùzhib of the short-term memories of babes swirled through Dori's mind and he closed his eyes, turning away from his bedroom door and shutting it with a soft click.
Olùmil wasn't trying to be cruel. Cruelty was not in his nature. But he knew what Dori and Idùzhib refused to think about - that Nori undoubtedly didn't know he had them.
