This story answers the following questions: What was Edwen Nana's name before she became Legolas' foster-mother? What happened to her husband? What happened to her own infant? Did she volunteer to foster Legolas or was she asked? Toward the end of the story it incorporates a section from the first chapter of "The Clearing." I guess it can basically be considered to be a prequel to "The Clearing."
Vocabulary
Bereniell—'Bold Maiden'
Born—'Red' or 'Hot'
Edwen Naneth, Edwen Nana—'Second Mother', 'Second Mama'
Erynmaethor—'Wood Warrior', i.e., 'Carpenter'
laes—baby
Sador—'Faithful'
Tathar—'Willow'
Bereniell lay on her back in the warm sun, her eyes closed, listening intently to the mingled sounds of her heartbeat and that of the child who lay within her. Her hands gently caressed her growing belly and she smiled each time she felt the child kick.
"Bereniell," a voice said softly, and she opened her eyes to gaze up at her husband Sador, who had quietly entered the glade. Her eyes flickered from his face to his hands, which clutched a bow. He bore a quiver on his back, and a sword was girt by his side.
"You are departing?"
"Aye."
"You have been back not even a fortnight."
"A band of Orcs has crossed the southern border, no doubt on orders from the evil power that dwells within Dol Guldur."
"You may not be here for the birth of our laes, then."
"True, but my company has been recalled. I cannot ignore the summons. The safety of someone else's laes may depend upon it."
"That is so," murmured Bereniell. "I should not be so selfish."
"Selfish? You have never been selfish! Indeed, you are famed for being far otherwise."
Sador crossed over to her, laying aside his bow and sitting by her side.
"I remember the day we met," he mused, taking her hand and caressing it thoughtfully. "The Orcs were marching on your village, and my troop was the first to hear word of it. You had gotten away safely to the stronghold with your younger sisters, but once there you saw that your neighbors' children were not among the other villagers."
"Aye, and then I remembered that their parents had gone to gather mushrooms, leaving the oldest child in care of the younger ones."
"But the oldest child was none too old!"
"Old enough to be left in charge in peacetime, but perhaps not old enough for such a charge during wartime. In any event, she and her siblings had hidden under the bedstead instead of fleeing."
"You ran back to your home," Sador continued the tale, "and when you arrived, the Orcs were sacking the village and firing the cottages. You scrambled into the children's cottage and called for them."
"Out they crawled, but before we could get to the door, a great Orc stood blocking it. How savagely he grinned!"
"But he wasn't savage enough!" chuckled Sador. "Nor were any of the others. Let me see if I remember the tale. The first Orc you took out by seizing a pot of boiling water and dashing it into his face. Now, the second, was that the one you jabbed in the belly with the hard end of a broom?"
"No, that was the third. The second I merely hit over the head with the largest cast-iron pan I could lay my hands on."
"Ah, of course. And the third was the broom. The fourth?"
"Threw salt in his eyes."
"The fifth?"
"Hit him with one of the bricks we keep in our cottages to warm and slip between the sheets on cold nights."
"The sixth intruder?"
"Pepper. Red pepper. Unfortunately, as it turned out, that wasn't an Orc but you come to rescue us!"
Both laughed heartily at the memory of this first meeting.
"I sneezed all the way back to my camp," gasped Sador, tears rolling down his cheeks as they had on that day so long ago. "Ever after my comrades have called me 'Born', saying that as it means both 'red' and 'hot', it is name well-suited to a warrior felled by red pepper at the hands of a peppery elleth!"
"But since that day you have developed quite a taste for red pepper," teased Bereniell.
"Aye," agree Sador, "and for the peppery elleth, too! In fact, I want a taste now! Mmmm, as spicy as ever—although you are very hard to kiss when you giggle so! Ow! What was that!?"
"The child kicked."
"As peppery as his Nana," joked Sador. "His red hot Nana!"
He sat up reluctantly.
"That wasn't much of a taste. In fact, it has only whetted my appetite! But I am already late for the rendezvous with the others, so I must linger no longer."
The two arose and walked together to Sador's horse. After Sador had mounted his steed, he leaned down and kissed Bereniell once more.
"I will be back," he promised before cantering away.
A week later Bereniell awoke to mild pains in her belly. She called for her mother, who sent for the midwife.
"I do believe, Bereniell, that your labor has begun," the midwife told her after examining her. "But you are a long way from delivering. These light contractions may continue through the day and into the night. You need not take to your bed just yet. Indeed, it would be better if you did not do so. Stay active, completing such chores as are not too heavy."
Promising to return when the time came, the midwife departed. Bereniell felt mild labor pains throughout the day and into the night.
The next morning, Bereniell awoke to a hard contraction. She tried to arise from her bed, but suddenly her water broke.
"Nana!" she called.
"Ah, it will not be long now," exclaimed Nana, and she sent Bereniell's father to fetch the midwife back.
He had not been gone long when Bereniell and Nana heard the sound of a galloping horse.
"That is no midwife's steed," said Nana, her face puzzled. She went out to greet the rider. It was a warrior, one from Sador's company.
"Madam, is Bereniell within? I must speak with her."
"She is within, but in labor. May I convey a message to her?"
The warrior hesitated but shook his head.
"I should speak with her. She may have questions whose answers only I would know."
"I will prepare her," said Nana reluctantly. She knew what the visit must portend.
"Bereniell," she called softly as she reentered the cottage. "Bereniell, there is someone without who wishes to see you."
"Who is it?"
"A warrior from Sador's company."
Bereniell was already pale, but now she turned paler. She, too, understood instantly why the warrior was there.
"Do you want me to send him away, daughter? Perhaps he could return later."
Bereniell did not hesitate.
"No, let him come in. I would know the worst at once rather than spend hours or even days imagining it."
Nana called the warrior into the cottage. Before he could utter a word, Bereniell spoke.
"Sador is dead," she said flatly.
The warrior gave her the courtesy of speaking to her as forthrightly as she had spoken to him.
"Aye, Bereniell. He is dead."
"When?"
"Yesterday morning."
"Yesterday morning," Bereniell repeated thoughtfully, gazing down at her belly. Then she looked up again.
"How?"
"An ambush by a band of Orcs. A few of their archers succeeded in circling around to the rear of our lines. Sador was struck from behind. The arrow entered at the base of his skull. He died instantly and felt neither fear nor pain."
Bereniell nodded slowly. That at least was something to be grateful for. She would not have wanted Sador's last minutes in Arda to have been filled with sorrow or grief.
"Bereniell?"
She had forgotten that the warrior still stood there.
"Is there anything else you would wish to know?"
"His body?"
"He lies in great honor in company with others who have fallen. Bereniell, the pyre can not be delayed; as you cannot be there, would you prefer that he be buried so that you may later visit his grave?"
Bereniell shook her head vigorously.
"No, unlock his spirit from the earth of Arda so that he may return to the Valar."
"I shall hasten at once to his company and so instruct his comrades."
"Thank you."
"I take my leave of you, Bereniell. Truly you have been well named."
"As was Sador," murmured Bereniell.
With a deep bow, the warrior departed, leaving Bereniell to her thoughts and her labor.
Perhaps it was the shock of the news, but Bereniell's contractions slowed. The midwife arrived and stayed with her throughout the day and into the night. It was nigh noon the next day when the head finally breached.
"No doubt," Bereniell murmured distractedly as the infant slipped forth soon after, "by now Sador's spirit wafts above a funeral pyre."
"A boy," called the midwife. "But rather quiet," she muttered anxiously. Still, the laes breathed and looked alert, and his color was good. After cleaning and wrapping him, the midwife handed him to Bereniell. His grandparents crowded near.
"Red hair," exclaimed Bereniell's Ada. "How unusual for an Elf!"
"And a red birthmark upon his shoulder," added her Nana.
"Yes," said Bereniell softly, "red hair. I shall name him 'Born'."
Born stared at her intently. He waved his little fists about. Suddenly, he sneezed. Bereniell's parents laughed, but Bereniell did not. As she gazed upon the laes, he waved one of his little fists again, as if in farewell. Then he quietly closed his eyes. He never opened them again.
It was several minutes before Bereniell's parents realized that the child was gone, for Bereniell continued to hold him as calmly as if nothing was amiss. When they understood what had happened, they began to wail. The midwife tried to pull the child from her arms to see if he could be revived, but Bereniell would not relinquish him.
"Do not struggle against the will of the Valar," she said serenely. Then she arose and went outside so that she could say goodbye to her son in peace. Cradling him gently, she wandered into a nearby stand of trees. She looked up into their branches.
"I did not question the taking of my husband. Nor do I question the taking of my son, to whom my husband returned in spirit. But I beg of you: treat him well; treat them both well."
Out of the corner of an eye she saw a glint of red. Turning, she watched as a male redpoll, a flame-colored patch upon its crown, flitted into a willow tree.
"Thank you," she whispered.
That night she lay calmly, gazing up at the stars through a window. Her breasts ached from the milk that swelled them as her belly had once swelled with her child.
"It is a pity," she whispered, "that my milk will go for naught. My breasts will dry and wither as if there had never been a child."
Her breasts continued full for several days. They were still full when one morning she awoke early and lay quietly for awhile listening to the dawn-singers.
"Odd," she mused. "The birds sing as beautifully today as they did a week ago. I did not think it would be so."
Gradually she became aware of the sound of hoofbeats.
"Early for a rider to be abroad," she murmured. "Traveling swiftly, too."
The horse approached the cottage and was reined in. Bereniell heard the door to the cottage open and close.
"No doubt Ada or Nana has gone to speak with the rider. Perhaps he wants directions."
The door opened and closed again, and Bereniell heard someone approach her bedstead.
"Bereniell," said her mother, "are you awake?"
"Yes, Nana."
"Bereniell, a messenger has come for you. You are wanted. No, you are needed."
"Needed?"
"Aye. The Queen is dying, but her child is like to live. He must be suckled, else he will join his mother all too soon." She hesitated. "I know that your grief is still fresh. Can you nonetheless find it within yourself to be an Edwen Naneth—to nurture a child when your own has but lately died?"
Bereniell looked at her calmly.
"No elleth can be an Edwen Naneth unless her own child has died first. It is the way of Arda."
"You will do this then?"
"It is a gift to a bereaved mother to know that her milk will not be spilled fruitless upon the earth. Now I will grieve the less. Perhaps this is why the Valar first gave and then took away my own child. The Valar will look after Born, and I will preserve the life of this laes whose Naneth has died."
Bereniell arose and with her mother's aid quickly packed a few necessities. Then she solemnly kissed both her mother and father farewell and departed the cottage. Outside awaited an Elf holding the reins of a spare horse. He assisted her to mount, and then, as quickly as her condition permitted, they rode for the Great Hall. Once there, the Elf did not hesitate, but took Bereniell straight to the lying-in chamber. As they approached, Thranduil's angry shouts could be heard as he raged over the death of his Queen. Bereniell's escort quailed, but she only walked all the straighter.
"I am indeed truly needed here," she thought as she calmly entered the chamber of birth and death.
Several days later, a tiny Laiqua held firmly in her arms, Bereniell, now Edwen Nana, was again mounted upon a horse. Led by Gilglîr the Seneschal, she rode to a clearing in which sat a small cottage.
"'Tis a humble dwelling," said Gilglîr apologetically, "but you will be safe here."
He dismounted from his horse and helped the elleth down from hers. She looked about appraisingly.
"A little elfling has no need of grandeur. This will do until such time as the King recalls his son to the Great Hall."
"It may be long before he does so, Edwen Nana," said Gilglîr sadly.
"But until he does, be sure I will see that Laiqua is happy here."
"Thank you, Edwen Nana. For my part, I will see to it that you and the infant lack for nothing needful. You must understand, however, that Laiqua is to be dressed and brought up plainly. It would not do for his princely status to be apparent to all and sundry. Although guards will be posted in the forest, if news of Laiqua's presence here spreads widely, evil folk might try to creep near—aye, and might succeed, too. As long as he is to dwell outside the Great Hall, he must be passed off as a commoner."
Edwen Nana nodded.
"I understand, and so he shall be raised—as least in so far as will be noticeable to others. He shall dress and dine plainly and his pursuits shall be simple ones. In private, however, I shall strive to equip him with the manners and the skills that he will someday need as Prince of Greenwood."
"Good," said Gilglîr, satisfied that he was leaving Laiqua in good hands. He mounted his horse, but he hesitated a moment before riding off.
"I understand that you have but lately lost a child."
"Yes," said Edwen Nana, "a little over a fortnight ago. Else I should not be equipped to succor this infant," she added wryly.
Gilglîr winced.
"I am sorry for your loss," he said humbly. "It must be hard for you to take upon yourself the care of a laes when you have so recently lost one of your own."
"No," replied Edwen Nana calmly. "It is not hard. For I console myself in thinking that the Valar took my child because they knew that this one would have need of a Naneth. And I believe that one day the Valar will again send my child unto Middle Earth."
"True," said Gilglîr, "but you may never meet him."
"There are many elflings I will never encounter," replied Edwen Nana serenely, "but I shall embrace the ones I do meet."
Gilglîr looked at her respectfully.
"I believe you will. Aye, you would embrace even a dwarfling, I believe, for you are filled with affection and must have an object upon which to lavish it. Indeed, you would no doubt care for a man-child, should one come your way!"
Edwen Nana laughed.
"I hope you are right; certainly I have affection and to spare for this little one." She looked down at the infant that lay asleep in her arms.
"Laiqua," she said softly. "You shall not want for love."
Gilglîr gravely saluted her, reined his horse about, and rode from the clearing. After he was gone, Edwen Nana carried Laiqua into the cottage and surveyed her domain.
"It is light and airy enough," she mused aloud, "for the windows are large and well-situated. That will be a good place for Laiqua's cot, and my bed shall go there. We shall need a wardrobe, a table, and two chairs. A dry sink is needful, of course, and a bench along that wall would be nice, as would shelves on that side. That earthen oven shall do, once it has been repaired."
Her musings were interrupted by a knock upon the door. She went to it, and there stood a rustic Elf bearing the tools of a carpenter.
"I am Erynmaethor, Lady. The King's Seneschal has sent word that I must provide you with any furniture you find needful." He gazed about the empty cottage.
"It seems," he went on with a grin, "that quite a bit will be needful! What would you like first?"
"A cot for the infant," she replied. "And the oven must be repaired straightaway, for I shall have to heat water. Much hot water is necessary when one cares for a laes."
"Well I know it," Erynmaethor replied fervently, "for my wife and I have lately become the parents of a little one."
"Indeed? How old?"
"He is an Elf born but two weeks ago. We have named him Tathar. He has red hair, which has struck amazement into all who dwell hereabouts, for as you know, such a color is unusual in an Elf. He is much admired!"
Edwen Nana stared at him in wonder.
"Red hair! It cannot be!"
"Aye, Lady," Erynmaethor said proudly, "red hair."
"And with a strawberry birthmark on his shoulder?"
Erynmaethor was dumbfounded.
"However did you know that!?"
"Oh," Edwen Nana said airily, "it seemed to me that an elfling with red hair ought to have a strawberry birthmark."
Erynmaethor shook his head in bemusement.
"Still, 'tis extraordinary that you should guess its exact location."
Edwen Nana laughed.
"Yes, the matter is extraordinary indeed." To herself she said, "The Valar be praised!" Aloud she continued, "But tell me, Erynmaethor, how much will I owe for the furniture?
"Nothing, Lady. The Seneschal has arranged that I be recompensed."
"Still, I should like to show my appreciation. Perhaps I can mind your little elfling from time to time. Indeed, I should very much like to do so," she went on when Tathar's Adar began to protest, "for then my own little one, Laiqua, will have a playmate."
"True," said Erynmaethor thoughtfully. "I had not thought of that."
"So," Edwen Nana said eagerly, "you will bring him by from time to time?"
"Sometimes it is good to have my wife's company in the forest when I have much wood to fetch. On those occasions 'twould be best if she did not have to bring along the laes. But you are sure you would not mind?"
"Oh, no," Edwen Nana assured him. "I have love and to spare for all younglings."
"Then I shall bring him to you from time to time."
"Frequently, I hope."
"Ah, my wife will not want to spare him too often. She dotes on him."
"Does she!? Oh, I am glad," Edwen Nana declared feelingly. "The Valar be praised; with two such loving parents, he will surely be a very happy elfling!"
Erynmaethor was a little surprised at the fervor in her voice, but he marked it up to her role as a foster-mother. Such an elleth, he thought to himself, must be generous in her love, liable to freely offer her affection to any and all elflings.
Erynmaethor never knew the truth of the matter, of course; no, nor did anyone else, save Gandalf, who divined it when first he laid eyes upon Laiqua and Tathar together.
"It will complicate matters if ever I tell the tale," Edwen Nana said to herself on more than one occasion. But as the years passed she found that it no longer mattered to her that she could never publicly proclaim Tathar to be her lost Born. She was permitted to lavish love upon him, and he loved her in return, as did Laiqua.
"In the end," she mused, "I suppose I have gotten the better of the bargain: two sons in exchange for the one who was lost. Yes, I do not think I can complain about the way things have turned out. I have my greenleaf, and I have my little redpoll, too."
And so Bereniell became Edwen Nana and mothered both Tathar and Legolas, Prince of Greenwood. During a much later time, she would once again become known as Bereniell, but that, my Friend, is, as usual, another story.