Familial Bonds
Tell Me About MamaA very young Soren asks about her mother.
Prompt provided by BlueSky, so thank you very much.
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In the deep throes of the night Thorin became aware of a presence in his room. He woke, though just barely, and his eyes crept open to try and adjust to the absolute darkness that consumed the room. The figure was standing in the door, clad all in white. Her pale skin made her look like a ghost from one of those mannish tales.
Realising there to be no threat, Thorin closed his eyes and allowed his breath to exhale in an enormous sigh. He pulled the rugs up tighter beneath his chin.
"Da…" the feminine voice called to him with all the eeriness of a spectre. Noiselessly the figure passed over the floor boards until it reached and touched his cheek softly.
The icy fingertips caused a jolt to go through him and Thorin's eyes flicked open once again to stare the figure full in the face before allowing them to slide closed again.
Keeping his sighs and grumbles to himself he lifted his arm, and the rugs with it, grimacing as the cold night air whistled in and stabbed at his exposed skin and he shivered. The small figure clambered into the space and huddled close to his chest, the icy touch of fingers and feet making him wince internally.
Thorin drew the covers back down and ensconced them both back under the warm weights. Unruly black curls tickled him. Keeping his eyes closed he pressed a kiss into the hair at the same time breathing in the earthen scents.
"Nightmare?" he surmised quietly. Soren shivered in response and that was all the answer he needed.
"Tell me about it," he said after a few moments. The dwarfling didn't answer for a long while; perhaps she hadn't understood him as his voice was still heavy and hoarse from sleep. Soren shivered under the rugs again and curled herself up into a tighter ball against Thorin's chest.
"Tell me about Mama," she said abruptly.
"What?" Thorin was shaken awake by the words. A tingle ran down his spine. In his mind he was wondering why now?
"I miss my Mama," Soren sniffed and tucked her chin against her chest. "Alfi says all dwarfs have a Mama. But I don't."
"Soren…"
"Where's my Mama, Da?" Soren's voice trembled on the very edge of tears and she rubbed her face with a balled fist. Thorin too very suddenly felt like setting free a few troublesome tears of his own, but resisted against the fire that burned in his eyes. What Soren said next though nearly him had crying in frustration. "Did Mama not love me?"
Soren sounded so afraid… so uncertain. He wondered how long these thoughts had been eating away at the raven-haired child.
"No, no Soren! You're mother loved you so very much! More than anything in the world!" and that was true, Thorin thought, trying to force down the swell of bitterness in his throat. Saram had loved her child more than life itself.
"Then why'd she go?" The child wailed softly, her hands balling into the blankets.
"Your mother loved you so much that she gave her life to protect you, Little Fox. If she hadn't I wouldn't have ever met you, dear one. I would have been here all alone,"
"But because Mama left, you weren't alone?" Soren sniffed out a reply.
"Yes, dear one. Now I have you," he gently ran his fingers through the knots and snarls that seemed to permanently occupy the girl's hair. "Your mother was very brave and selfless."
Soren mouthed the word 'selfless' to herself for a moment before recognition dawned. "Like a warrior?"
Thorin chuckled in spite of himself, though the sound was strained. "Aye, lass, like a great warrior from the old stories."
"Tell me about her?" the dwarfling asked desperately.
"What do you wish to know, Little Fox?"
"Was she purdy, Da?" the innocent question brought a smile to his lips.
"Aye, she was. Your mother was the most beautiful dwarrowdam… though one day, you'll be all the more radiant…"
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Author's Note: Truly, I am growing to love this little dwarfling! I hope you will leave a review and tell me what you think!
I actually did some research on what people tell their children about a parent who died pre-birth. Unfortunately I found nothing on mother's who passed, but the general gist of it was that you should tell them the truth and let them ask all the questions they need to, so I went with that since I can't imagine Thorin telling a half truth about something like that anyway.
If you haven't read my independent one-shot EVERYTHING ISN'T EVERYTHING then you should probably check it out for a little more background info. However the vague idea is that Soren's birth was horrible and neither she nor her mother (Saram) would have survived if Saram didn't let them cut the babe from her.
Please review! I don't care if you're reading this ages after I've posted it, I still want to know what you think!
Loving you always,
EquusGold