Elanor stared at Kerra through the flickering light of the fireplace.
The fey woman's glittering eyes were focused deep within the flames, and
for the first time Elanor saw deep scars marring the perfect skin on Kerra's
cheek. With a shiver, Elanor realized that those were the scars that Kerra
had received defending Anemosi from the Nazgul all those years ago. More
than anything else, those scars were what brought home her father's story.
"So it's all true," she said, half to herself.
Kerra jumped slightly, her eyes shifting to focus on Elanor. "Of course it is. Do you doubt your father's word?"
"How could I? He's never lied to anyone before...why should he start now?" Elanor said and rose from her chair. She crossed to the window and slammed it open, anger bubbling up within her. "It just doesn't seem fair! He's spent all these years pining after this Anemosi while my mother pined after him! She waited so long for him realize that those days of adventure were good and gone, but he never did! Never!"
A warning look from Kerra reminded her to lower her voice, but she felt the tears coming and she could not hold them back. "Poor Mama..." Elanor whispered. "She only wanted to be a good wife and mother."
"And wasn't she?" Kerra asked calmly, her face betraying no emotion. "Mistress Rose raised thirteen wonderful children, andI cannot think of any other person who could have filled Anemosi's place so well."
"So that's what my mother was? A replacement for some faery-tale princess? At least she was here! At least she stayed with him! Who do you think took care of him when he woke up crying, thinking the orcs were attacking him again?" Elanor was quivering with anger, glad that her father's room was far down the hall, and that he was a sound sleeper. "Not your Lady Radika! No, your high and mighty princess stayed in her palace while my father dreamed of her and my mother suffered!"
Kerra's eyes flashed and she was on her feet in an instant. Elanor felt a visceral wave of fear cutting through her insides and shrank back against the window as Kerra growled low under her breath.
"Never disregard Anemosi's suffering. Please remember, Mistress Elanor, that when that door shut, Anemosi's heart was broken too. You cannot know how many nights I held her as she wept; you will never know how she screamed as that door closed her off from Master Samwise forever. And then, to turn from that door and face the Nazgul, alone and weak, to keep them from discovering that the Fellowship had escaped? Could you have done that, Mistress Elanor? Would you have had the strength to carry on?"
Her eyes met Elanor's, silent and inscrutable. Elanor found she did not have the strength to meet Kerra's gaze for long, and she turned away, tears coursing down her cheeks.
"She did all that?" Elanor whispered.
Kerra sank back into her chair, and for the first time, Kerra looked old. Elanor wondered just how old she was, and just how many scars lay beneath the skin that no one could see.
"All of it. And too much more to tell."
"Tell me." whispered Elanor. Kerra glanced up at her, eyes wide and wondering.
"Tell me," repeated Elanor, "about the woman my father loved."
Kerra sighed deeply. "You ask a hard question, Mistress Elanor. She must be experienced to be fully appreciated."
"You speak of her as if she is a treasure."
"She is." Kerra tossed back her head and swallowed hard. "Anemosi was the last of the Lady Radikas. The line is broken after her. She had no children, no progeny to carry on the Power of the Lady--"
"She never married?" Elanor asked.
"She could not." answered Kerra. "She knew that no one could replace Sam for her, and in the face of that cold fact she devoted herself to rebuilding the fey. We lost greatly in the War of the Ring, and she had much work ahead of her. She took great joy in seeing others around her fall in love, however..." Kerra's voice trailed away, and she smiled sweetly.
"You are one of these?" Elanor said, and Kerra nodded.
"Why, Lady Kerra, who did you marry? I thought--"
Kerra waved the question away with a dismissive hand. "Yes, I know. Some things never change, but a person may love two people on two different levels. That, Mistress Elanor, explains your father and mother. He loved both Anemosi and Rose, but he could not love them in the same fashion simply because they were not the same person." Her eyes grew dreamy once more. "And to answer your first question, I married Healer Drake five years after the War of the Ring ended. We have been very happy together."
Elanor could not supress a small smile. "Have you had children?"
Kerra's smile grew blinding. "Four, in fact. All brave, strong fighters. They have brought their father and me much joy."
Elanor, feeling a gentle maternal instinct stirring within her, came to sit once more in her father's chair. "What were their names?" she asked, interest sparkling in her eyes and lighting her face.
Kerra laughed quietly. "I think you would like them, Mistress Elanor. We named our children Gimli, Legolas, Merrie, and Pippin."
"Four sons?" asked Elanor in delight.
"Three sons and a daughter. Merrie is her name, and it fits her
well. She is always singing and laughing." Kerra's face softened in a wave
of love as she spoke of
her children. "They are waiting for me down in Hobbiton. I am afraid
our presence has disturbed many of the fine folk in these parts. It has
been many years since we moved openly in Middle-Earth."
Elanor smiled. Yes, the exotic, wild fey would be quite a shock to the good hobbits of the Shire. "Speaking of moving, there is one part of the story Papa did not explain," she said. "What was Anemosi doing when my father found her in the woods, and what happened to the man that was with her?"
"Ah," Kerra said as her face darkened. "You see, she met your father during a time when the orcs were beginning to multiply throughout Middle-Earth. Anemosi and her brother, Caslan, were visiting the city of Bandabît when the warning came that the orcs were on the move, and that they should return home as quickly as possible. On the way home, as they cut across the Shire, they were waylaid by orcs. They forced Anemosi and Caslan to draw straws as to who would die...and Caslan lost." A tear unexpectedly dropped from Kerra's eye.
"Caslan a brave man," she whispered, her voice rough with pain. "They made Anemosi watch as they killed him. She told me that he only cried out once, at the very end. The orcs obviously did not know who she was, or she would have been killed as well. It was at the end of her flight from the orcs that her pony slipped its shoe and your father happened upon her." Kerra sighed harshly and rubbed her eyes. "Anemosi has never stopped blaming herself for Caslan's death."
Elanor was stunned. This Anemosi was made of stronger stuff than she realized, to have survived both the death of her brother and the loss of her love.
"Kerra," she whispered. "I have one more question for you."
The warrior looked up at her. "Yes, Mistress Elanor?"
"Would she have married my father? Would she really have been the wife of a gardener?" Elanor's voice quivered slightly.
Kerra smiled sadly. "Of course she would have. Doubt anything else about her, deny her any other virtue but that of her devotion to your father. She wanted nothing more than to live forever among the roses with him." Elanor bowed her head, suddenly regretting her earlier outburst as Kerra continued.
"Love is the most powerful force any of us may encounter in our lives, whether we be elves, dwarves, or hobbits. Anemosi loved your father with all her being. Until the end of love itself, she will love your father." A soft silence fell as the depth of the fey's words sunk in.
Kerra stood up slowly. "We have talked long, Mistress Elanor, and we have a long day before us. I will leave you now to your rest."
"But where will you sleep?" asked Elanor.
Kerra was already at the door. "I will sleep under the stars tonight...it has been a long time since I have done so, and I will be content in your father's garden." She inclined her head graciously towards Elanor, and pulled the door open. "I bid you good night, Mistress Elanor."
She stepped out into the night silently, and disappeared into
the night, leaving Elanor alone and wondering.