SURPRISE!
I Can Hear the Drums
Chapter 49
Rinon was dressed simply. Gone were his flowing cloaks, and Elven gold. His crowns, twigs, and Alfheimr armor were put away. He seemed like any elf, despite his long white hair and sharp lavender stare. The Avengers hardly knew what to make of him. At first they were stunned. It was commonly believed that Rinon and his team had never made it off Nova Luna before the moon was shaken apart. Yet here he stood before them. He'd made no effort to contact them, didn't come to see them. He simply went on as if he hadn't existed. Elves were secretive that way, so while the Avengers might have held a momentary animosity over mourning his obvious non death, it quickly fell aside. Steve stood and greeted him first, followed by Bruce, Thor and the others. They'd had no visitors to the hospital since they first checked in, so it was highly irregular to see him there at all.
"We had no notion you had survived. I am delighted to see you have," Thor said.
Rinon inclined his head a little, accepting the complement.
"Has Alfheimr heard about the kids? Is that why you came? We were so careful with the news, but I don't want to seem like it was a big secret or anything," Steve asked.
Rinon shook his head a little from left to right. "No one knows save myself, Fehreh and Reylano."
This seemed odd to them, like everything else about this mysterious visit. If none but three on Alfheimr knew, then how did he? Why had he come, but to see them or bring news from the realms? He was no longer a general. The Alfheimr armada remained at his control, though retired for lack of better word, and far beyond reach with the destruction of the Mars portal. Fehreh had requested their dismantling after Loki's admission of guilt to Barton. Despite his proposed assistance in the end, they fell back into a position of distrust. After the Mars Portal was destroyed, the Alfheimr one soon followed.
"How did you get here?" Tony asked the obvious question.
Rinon's eyes fixed on the swaddled child in Natasha's arms. "It has taken two months, but I have flown. Reylano and Fehreh remain with the ship."
"My friend, you might have asked Asgard. We are on no harsh terms. The Bifrost is always open to you," Thor said, surprised.
Rinon continued to look at the baby. "I had my reasons."
"Do you want to see her?" Natasha asked gently. She aproached, holding little Alice against her chest. She watched the elf's expression, gauging what he might want. He didn't reach out at first. In fact he said and did very little. His hands were clasped behind his back and he seemed like at any moment he may decide to leave, never to be heard from again. However he did stay.
"It's alright," Natasha said quietly. "I know what you can do. If you came here to see . . . if you could even bring yourself to share it, then please." She went a little closer and angled Alice for him to take.
Tony watched as a few tense moments passed before Rinon did accept the little bundle and cradled it against him. Rinon's expression changed. He seemed to go someplace very far away, or deep within himself. For a while he didn't move or attempt to speak. He only looked down into the child's face and said nothing at all.
"Tasha?" Steve braved to ask.
"Rinon can see things. Like the Sarhorns, but not," she explained hurriedly.
"Things? What kind of things?" Bruce approached and considered Rinon's curious expression. He remembered seeing it before. Only a few times, but it was usually in Rinon's quieter moments. He'd simply stand with his hands clapped looking off into nothing as if he were sorting through his thoughts. Bruce never thought of it before. Was it possible all those times Rinon was really looking into something? Seeing something their eyes had been shielded from?
Rinon came back to himself. Without changing his stony faced expression, he handed Alice back. "Thank you."
"Tell me," she replied, holding her child close.
"First, tell us. What is happening?" Tony demanded.
"I . . . Forgive me this must all seem so very strange. I saw . . . That is to say . . ." Rinon started and stopped, trying desperately to formulate some sort of coherent speech in the jumble of his mind and failed. His body shook a little. Fearful he might drop right over, Thor leaned in and grasped him by the elbow. Rinon made no move to pull away. He fell heavily against Thor, and reached his arm around his own waist to hold something.
"My friend?" Thor asked, surprised at Rinon's reaction. Something felt strange between them. Thor looked down and noticed the blood.
"What has happened? Rinon, speak!" Thor exclaimed. He looked at Bruce who came closer at once. Greatly affected now, Rinon's hands quaked. He lost the marks of his cool exterior and soon found trouble in even supporting himself. Steve grabbed a chair and guided it over. He also crossed to the doorway as if to run for more help. Thor moved aside and Bruce kneeled in front of the elf. He pulled Rinon's coat opened and found the long strips of bandages seeped in blood.
Bruce leaned up and took Rinon's face in his hands. "Rinon? Can you hear me? What happened? Were you attacked?"
"It is—old. Forgive me. I need a moment." Rinon just managed to find his voice. Bruce nearly ran for another surgeon himself, but sensing his plan, Rinon prevented him. He forced more strength into his voice and said, "Please, do not fear for me. I have chosen this risk. The door, please."
Unsure, Steve left it open until Rinon faced him. The elven leader nodded, as if to prove he had the strength to do it, and Steve relented. He pulled the door shut.
"Whatever you have to say can wait until you stop bleeding," Tony said. He handed his child to Pepper and kneeled by Bruce to look at the injury. What they could see was extensive. He had to have been attacked. Maybe on the flight to Midgard. Did this mean the Kree were not quite through with their rebellion? Was it Thanos? Dark Elves? He could only wonder.
"I am no more about to lose my life now than I was attempting to make this journey. Please do not concern yourself over this," Rinon said, preventing Bruce from examining him further. "You know the traits of my people. These are old wounds you see."
"How old?" Bruce asked, gently. Rinon was being unseasonably talkative.
"Many months." Rinon whispered. He returned his focus to Natasha's baby, cradled protectively in her arms. He hadn't given her an answer yet as to what exactly he'd seen in her future. Surely that must frighten her.
"Is anyone going to bother explaining what all this is about?" Steve asked again. He looked to Natasha for support, yet her patience wore thin.
"I said already. He sees things. You know how some Elves make the ground move, or they talk trees into forming chairs and things, well he isn't like those kinds of Elves. He sees the future. That's right, isn't it?"
"Yes that is right," Rinon told them.
Tony glanced at little Alice, then back at the Elf. "Her future? Was that what you just looked at? You came here to see that?"
Rinon nodded. He clasped his hands tightly to try and cease their quivering. "Forgive me, I must be frightening you. Do not fear. She will be strong. As beautiful as her mother and full of her father's heart. She will be an easy child. Loving, willing. She will grow to a very fine woman."
Natasha felt her chest tighten as every new fear she ever formed came crashing together like those stone slabs that sealed Clint in forever. Her hands tightened a little on the child in her arms. To hear such words from a man of Rinon's gifts lifted a horrible weight off of her shoulders that she hardly knew existed.
"She's going to grow up?" Natasha whispered. "Our girl."
Tony gazed down into the sleeping face of his son. He debated in himself. Did he want to know? Good news, of course, was always welcome, but what if something horrible happened to his child? Could he live in that same daily fear that Clint tried so hard to escape himself? If his son was diagnosed with cancer in four years, would he want to know and grieve over that now? He'd tried preventing fate once, he felt the result of that still like a dagger in his side every time he looked at Natasha and her fatherless child. Rinon took that option away from him before Tony could ever make the decision to not hear it.
"He will be a fine lad. Strong, brave, and very, very smart. He will rise to you accomplishments and surpass them in his own way. You and your wife will never see the death of your son."
Pepper sobbed into her hand. Thor moved to her and held her shoulders, but she shooed him away. They weren't sad tears she now choked on, they were happy, full of wonder and excitement for the future before them. What mother wanted to outlive her own child? What mother didn't want to hear that her new boy would grow up to be just like his amazing father? She counted her blessings one hundred fold.
Thor said, "You have helped our family in more ways than we can thank you for. How is it you have come to know of the Avengers heirs? Truth it is we had no notion you survived. We have seen nothing of you since that dark time and all of Alfheimr has retreated within its borders to recover, grieve, and celebrate all in one."
"I saw rather suddenly a future I could not explain." Rinon said. "I confess now it makes complete sense to me. At first I doubted it. I had to come here myself to prove its validity. Seeing this all of my doubts have been erased."
"What future?" Bruce asked.
Rinon's shaking return two fold. No amount of tension in his hands or arms proved enough to mask it from them. His eyes fell to his lap and he hunched into a submissive posture. The stately, silent king they knew so well retreated to something they had never seen. His small voice came. "How can you ever forgive me for the secret I have kept?"
OK, so i know this was a lot to process all in one night, but let us recap a little.
Clint had a daughter. What a shocker! so much for little Henry, look out world, here comes Alice!
Natasha being a mom. We all wanted it to happen, and there it was!
Bruce jumping in to save her. Tony's raw emotion. The horror of losing Clint a second time and then not. So many emotions!
Now this? Rinon not dead, the children born. a hidden secret, what could it all mean? What will happen for our team? STAY TUNED!
-Please remember to review:)