"Truly mother, how have you been?" Arya wanted to know how the queen really felt about her before committing to any long-term reconciliation.
"As I said earlier, I have barely eaten and rarely slept since news of your capture reached my ears." She looked down towards the floor, but when she looked back up at her daughter, Arya could see the pain in her eyes and the single tear that was making its way down her slender face.
"But I've been dead to you for seventy years!" It pained her to say this to her mother, but she felt a need to do it. They would never fully forgive each other until they confronted their past. Together.
"No." Islanzadí continued to shake her head slightly, "No. That is not true. I thought of you quite often Arya. For I was afraid. I feared I'd never see you again, I feared you didn't want to see me." There was a sadness in her voice, but it was different from that which was set into her eyes. It was a sadness full of remorse.
"Then tell me why," Arya could feel some of the anger rising within her. "Why then did you wait all these years to speak to me? For the past 15 years I have returned to Ellesméra only to have you refuse to acknowledge my very existence!"
"I was foolish, daughter. I never agreed with your decision to accept the yawë, to open yourself to the dangers of the world. You were my only daughter, all that I had left in this world." She paused, trying to read the emotionless face that sat across from her. "I feared I would lose you, as I lost your father. And I was a fool because I let that fear turn into anger. I let that anger convince me that it would be easier to lose you if were dead to me already." The tears now freely flowed from the queens emerald eyes.
Arya waited in silence, watching this woman across from her as the emotion freed itself from within her. She felt the memories of her exile surface, felt the familiar anger they always brought. But then, she felt something she had rarely felt in all her years. There was a warmth that came to her eyes and as she drew her hand from her face, she could see the tears on her fingertips.
In a single fluid motion she was embracing her mother. The two sat interlocked, letting their tears fall freely. "Oh mother, I am sorry," one could tell simply from her voice that Arya had stumbled upon these words naturally. "I thought you selfish and cruel, I thought you wanted to prevent me from serving our people, and I didn't understand."
Islanzadí looked up into her daughters eyes. She gently reached up and brushed the tears from her face. "I was selfish. And foolish to think I could stop you from pursuing your convictions. I should have been proud of you, but I couldn't find a way to escape the grief." She waited but no response came from Arya. "I am sorry for all these years. I am sorry it took me so long to see my errors. I should have known. Arya," she held her hands to her daughter's cheeks, "you have suffered so much, but look what you have done! You've overcome the perils you've faced and brought a Rider and dragon back to Du Weldenvarden no less!"
The tears still welled in the corner of Arya's eyes, sporadically leaping out onto the surface of her sleek face. "I had to do all that just to please you mother?"
A look of sadness and guilt flashed across Islanzadí's eyes as she tilted her head. "O no Arya. Simply having you returned to me…I knew my wrongs the moment they told me you were captured. It was not easier for me to accept, as I had thought it would be. It was harder, because I realized that all those years I could have shared your love instead of refusing to see you. No, exiling you made it so much harder to accept such news. Will you ever forgive me daughter?"
Arya did not need to think on this. She had longed to hear those words for at least 60 years. "Only," she rose and turned her back to Islanzadí, "if you will forgive me in turn." She turned back in time to see the confusion on her mother's face. "I have wronged you too, mother. I have…" she was cut-off when Islanzadí stood and held out her hand.
"Let us not dwell on our mistakes, we both deserve forgiveness."
Arya nearly leapt at her mother, burying her face in her shoulder. "O mother! How I have missed you."
"And I you, my daughter." She embraced the younger elf with all her love, "And I you."
A/N Please review! And let me know if you think I should continue…I have some ideas for more scenes.