17

Not Over Yet

Casanovia was two months old when we attended—well, I say 'attended' in the loosest sense of the word—Legolas and Everlas' coronation.

"Lady Gladysis!"

I spun around.

The crowd parted ways for the Lady in gold.

Gladysis went right past me and up to the twins.

"I come," she said, "On behalf of my Mother and Father, the Lady Galadriel, and the Lord Celeborn, as well as my late sisters and late brothers, the Ladies Celebrian, Annaleise, Katella, Everlas, and the Lords Celedrian, Faolin, and Breoglad. I come to see the crowning of my sister's youngest children."

"And you are most welcome, Lady Gladysis," Everlas, who had been named for her mother, offered a hand to the older girl, "I do hope you are staying. I can tell you are dying to get your hands on Myraneth."

Gladysis lowered her voice to a whisper, so much so that I barely caught it, "After the shock of showing up to her wedding only to find out that she was pregnant? And that little stunt she pulled in the Shire? She will be getting an earful."

I promptly turned back.

"Lady Myraneth."

There was no way she would not recognize me.

I turned back to her, balancing Casanovia on my hip. Even by Elfish standards she was quite advanced—her neck already supported her head, and she was very close to talking.

"Lady Gladysis. I was told that you came bearing a gift for the Queen."

Though she was younger than me, she was a few inches taller than me, "This is Casanovia, then?"

"Would you care to hold her?"

"I would, if you would permit it."

"I am offering, Lady Gladysis."

"Then I shall, Lady Myraneth," She reached out and took my daughter from me, and we both burst out laughing.

"Oh, Valor, I don't think we've had an exchange that formal since we first met!" I cried, tears of laughter streaming down my flushed cheeks.

"Myraneth, you are too much. Now, where is Eryn? I didn't get a chance to properly introduce myself at the wedding. I was too busy ogling at you."

As if on command, Eryn appeared almost out of thin air.

"Speak of the devil, and here he shall appear!" I laughed, "Eryn, this is my aunt, the Lady Gladysis, daughter of the Lady Galadriel. Gladysis, this is Lord Eryn Lasgalen."

Both my aunt and my husband turned to me in unison and said, "Really, Myraneth, titles?"

"I have a very love-hate relationship with titles. You both should know that," I turned to my aunt, "May I see it, then?"

"See what?"

"The sceptre Grandmother had made for the now Queen Everlas, to match the one for King Legolas."

"Should I even ask how you know about that? It was supposed to be a secret."

"I have an entire family group of wolves living in your forest, and they were at the wedding."

"Should have known. Nothing ever stays a secret from you, does it?"

"Of course not," Cassy stuck out her little fist and gargled about a bit in her cute little baby-talk, straining her body until I took her back. In doing so, I got bopped straight on the nose.

Gladysis and Eryn laughed until they cried.

"Truly, Myraneth, has a baby ever hit you before?" Gladysis grinned.

I readjusted Casanovia in my arms, "I've been hit by lots of babies, Gladysis. Anastasia once knocked me out for a week with a flailing fist."

"ELEVRA!" Someone shouted. I heard the shatter of breaking crystal from the other side of the room.

"Quick, someone find Myraneth!" Everlas cried.

I tightened my hold on Cassy and sprinted across the room.

Tiny little Elevra in her beautiful lavender evening gown was seizing on the floor, shattered crystal all around her. I passed Cassy to Eryn and ripped off my overdress, dropping to my knees beside her.

"Elevra, listen to me. Come back into the light. Follow my voice."

Elevra stopped shaking, "It's time. Thank you for helping me, Myraneth. Let me see Matilda."

Matilda dropped down beside her sister, "I thought we had more time."

"We knew time was short. Open the Link, please, one last time."

I felt the music of the Link in the air as I stepped back. As quickly as it had come, the music died.

Elevra breathed her last.

#####

Estel found me later on that evening, balancing Casanovia on my lap.

"How is Matilda?" He asked.

"Not well. She is asleep now. This is a terrible blow to our family, Estel. We shall have to send Matilda across the sea with Elevra's body. Thranduil will leave with them. A mar to the coronation. Estel, I can't believe she's gone!" I turned into his shoulder. No tears fell from my eyes, but a lump rose in my throat that I couldn't get rid of, "She was such a fighter. Only now I realize she was fighting just for this very moment."

"What do you mean?"

"Just as I was, she was fighting to see the end of the war, to see the glory of her house restored. But Elevra new she could never beat her illness. She was fighting to stay alive so she could see the coronation, and accompany her Father across the sea. I did not expect her to die on this shore, nor, do I think, did she."

Estel pulled me towards him, and I let him hold me there for a time. Until Cassy decided that she was hungry, no matter what had just happened. Estel left me alone while I fed her, and then I ventured further out into the web of wood that was Eryn Lasgalen until I came across a patrol of my Valorada's guards.

"Myraneth," Manalca acknowledged me with a quick nod of his head, keeping his eyes trained on the trees. I had expected to see Manalca at the wedding, but had soon realized that he wouldn't leave his beloved forest.

"When was your last day off?" I asked.

He nodded again and responded, "When was yours?"

"Touché," I muttered, "It is not a job that affords vacation days, being Lady of the Wolves, is it?"

"Should the watching of a forest ever afford days off?"

"No, but there are many of you. Have you never heard of shifts, Manalca? How long has your unit been out here? Nigh on twenty years?"

"It has been long since you were here, hasn't it, Myraneth?" Manalca's spirited mate, Lithia, placed a hand on my shoulder. Lithia and Manalca were the parents of the fierce Genevera Stone. I was always closer to them than I was to Genevera, even though Genevera was almost the same age as me. Still, my relations with Genevera were improving, now that she was my sister-in-law (for she had married Eryn's brother, Kestrel).

"It was Elevra's time, Myraneth," another of the party, Arenial, hopped from the tree above me. Arenial was the youngest of the party, and had grown up with Elevra and Matilda. She had brilliant red hair (the only Elf in existence to have red hair) and shining blue eyes that almost clashed with her hair. She had hoped for years to catch the eye of Legolas, but she had known deep in her heart that their union was not to be. She ended up marrying a rather dignified Elven lord, Gorlois, son of Glorfindel.

It was a small ceremony that followed the progression of the body of Elevra, her sister Matilda, and their Father Thranduil.

When we had sent Queen Everlas the First over the sea, it had been the same.

I had known that I would see every one of her daughters back to the Grey Havens, but I had not anticipated it happening so soon.

I hugged Matilda and kissed Elevra's ice cold brow.

Thranduil took me aside, "I trust you will continue to watch our family over, Myraneth. I hope none will soon follow us over the sea. Take care of yourself, Valordaughter, and your Eryn and your Casanovia. She truly is a beautiful baby, Wolf Girl."

I hugged his thin frame, and Cassy even did the same. Thranduil mounted his horse and the last we saw of him on this shore as the back of his head.

!

"Momma, we go for pony ride now?"

I grinned at my daughter, "Full sentences, remember, Cassy? And yes, we're going to see Auntie Arwen and Uncle Estel. It's time for Uncle Estel to become King."

It had been months since the coronation of Everlas and Legolas. Cassy walked, talked, danced, and even sang, and she was still under a year old. Her progress surprised even me.

Cassy's copper hair was longer than mine was at her age. Her eyes were now exactly the same colour as mine.

Slinking around the edge of Cassy's leggings was the youngest puppy from Riku and Cassan's litter, a female named Copper. Copper had attached herself to Cassy as soon as they had met and had not left her side yet. Copper's only sister, Keiko, spent most of her time with me, and, in turn, with Copper and Cassy.

Behind us, Eryn snuck an arm around my waist.

"Daddy!" Cassy cried. She jumped towards him and grabbed his leg. He bent over and pulled her out of the long grass and into his arms.

"So how're my girls doing?" He laughed.

I turned back to the field I was facing. There, Majesty's March grazed with her two-week-old colt, Shadow of Rain. Shadow of Rain was much the same as his Father, with a pearly white iridescent coat. One of his back legs, though, was pure inky black. He had deep-set eyes, as Majesty did, on an intelligent face.

In sensing me looking, he picked up his head and trotted towards us with as much grace a gangly foal could muster.

Cassy slid down out of her Father's arms and latched her arms around his neck. She was just at his level.

Not even a year old, and she already had a wolf pup and a horse. Now all that was left was to get her a myraneth companion.

I spoiled her way too much…luckily it was mating season once again. Plenty of litters to choose from.

All around us, Cassy's first spring blossomed.

"Momma!" Majesty had followed her colt, and had taken to nuzzling Cassy's head, "Maj'sty, stop!" Cassy giggled.

I lifted Cassy onto the top panel of the fence so she could pet Majesty, keeping my arm secured around her waist as I did so.

"She can balance perfectly fine on that rail on her own, Myraneth."

Without turning, I responded, "I would rather she be safe, Legolas."

Cassy grinned, "Hi Leaf!" Cassy had called Legolas Leaf since she could talk. I had insisted that she not call him 'uncle,' because of the vision I had seen at her birth. Legolas would almost certainly become her mate, and I did not want her to have ever thought of him as her Mother's brother.

On a whim, I began to string a few words together in a song:

It was oh so long ago

When these halls were alight with laughter

And echoing in the trees

Came the sound of happy ever after

But back again did it come home

Back to our forests and songs

And the halls once again echoed

With the mirth of oh so long

Life crept back into our halls

And though so many have lost their lives

We shall never forget

Their enormous sacrifice

"You're changing the songs back, daughter," I turned to find my father standing on Eryn's other side.

"I certainly hope so. I want my daughter to grow up with happy songs, now that the war is over."

"Celebrian would be proud of her, Myraneth," He made to speak more, but Cassy cut him off.

"Grwampa, we are going for pony ride! Momma says Uncle Estel going to be King of Gon'or, and Gon'or really far away! Further than Leaf's palace, even!"

Father reached out and plucked her off the fence, "Knowing your Mother, she'll turn you into a forest child just a few hours into the trip."

I laughed, "Father, she's already a forest child. I turned my back for five seconds yesterday, and Legolas had her up a tree. I swear she's part Wood Elf."

"Well," Leaf commented, "The Wood Elves did come from the unique mix of High Elf, Quendi, Noldor Elf bloodlines, along with something we were never able to identify. Maybe that extra component was Fairy blood. What say you on the subject, Eryn?"

Eryn pushed his hair back. It was longer than it had been when I had first met him almost a year ago, "We have many a myth as to the origin of our species, and the Woods of Eryn Lasgalen have always been a popular place for us. I myself would not be one to speak to about this topic, for I am not a 'Seran Fairy.' I'm a 'Leyff Fairy,' because I do not have wings. Nevertheless, that extra component could have been Wolf blood. Cassy has both."

"True," I said. I grabbed my saddle blanket and special saddle from its place on the fence, and whistled for Black March.

"Blackie!" Casanovia giggled. Black stood perfectly still as Father placed my daughter on his pure white back.

Cassy stood gracefully and jumped into Leaf's arms when I went to saddle my horse. Black's new saddle was a work of art. It had places where the stokes of a wagon or carriage could be hooked up, and also a bowl-like part instead of a saddle horn at the front, where Cassy could sit or lay down comfortably when she was not riding her pony.

The girth clinched, I secured his headstall. Beside me, Eryn had saddled Andelage in her best tackle.

Ten minutes later, I fell into a progression to my Father's right hand. Leaf was on his left, and Eryn was on my right. Eowyn and Faramir rode behind us.

"Momma, race me!" Cassy cried. She nudged her pony into a ground-eating lope.

I nudged Black faster, into a swift trot. He easily caught up with Cassy, her pony Forest, and her wolf Copper. Keiko and Riku ran with me, and Keiko playfully nipped at her sister's flank.

Twisting in the saddle, I looked back at my family, and then forward at my daughter.

It wasn't over yet, but we only had the good parts left.