01-16-2002
Meet Jaell Brandybuck: Chapter Twelve
From that day, I felt as if I was in a daze. I don't know my true heritage… perhaps there was something more that my parents are not telling me they know… does Merry know? The day after, I let it sink in before consulting my Ma about it all.
"Ma, who am I really?"
"Why, you are Jaell Brandybuck, the one and only," she said with a chuckle.
"No, Ma. Really. Who am I? I was at the book center yesterday with Frodo…"
"Frodo! That boy is filling your head with nonsense of faraway lands and Elves that you should not be dabbling in."
"What?"
"Perhaps you should not be friends with that Baggins. He comes from a very odd family, you know. That Bilbo, a queer character, he was. And now he has disappeared. And Frodo won't be too long behind!" I was shocked these words were coming from my mother's mouth.
"Ma… you are taking your words too far. There are things of Frodo you know not and you may never know."
"Jaell, from your words, I take on the idea that you are in love with the strange Hobbit."
"Perhaps I am… and yet you managed to stray the conversation off the point, Ma."
"Oh, I did, did I? It never should have started like that in the first place." She calmed down a bit and talked softer at her next words. "You were left on our doorstep. Actually, you were more left near the Brandywine but closest to us so we took you in. You had no mother or father, only the clothes on yourself and a small bag of that contained a doll, a small book in another tongue, and a note that merely stated that you are half-Hobbit and half-Elvish. Rivendell Elvish, I presumed from the writing and your facial expressions. Do not go about asking me why I thought of those things, but it is true."
"Elénia," I said softly, referring to my small doll that I have owned and cared about for as long as I could go back into my life. "Why was I not told before? How can I have lived so long without knowing?"
"I do not know," she replied with a sigh. Not only did it leave feeling forlorn, but more puzzled than before. I went to hug my Ma. As temperamental she may get, she was still my only Ma and I loved her dearly and I knew she felt the same about me.
"You know, Jaell. There are things you can do to find out who your real parents are." I sat back down, interested all over again.
"I feel that I know one of those things. I must head to Rivendell… I must know." She nodded, and looked apologetic.
"Apologizing for my comments of Frodo, I must do. If you are in love with him, I bless you wholeheartedly." I smiled and held her hand and mouthed the words 'Thank you' and she understood my feelings.
More to come…