Chapter 2: Lady in the water

Old Eiran had been living by the river all of his life, and he was the most experienced fisher among his people. He had rowed his boat out onto the small lakes in the mountains more times than anyone could count and he was proud of his skills. Now his bones did ache every winter, and his hair had receded and turned white. His skin was wrinkly and his movements slow but he could still work rather well, not many could brag of that at the ripe age of almost seventy. He was trying to fish in one of the high lakes this time, it was in the mountain valleys and it was dangerous terrain in many ways but he knew the dangers and he knew how to avoid them. Orcs sometimes roamed the area but they did fear water and he would just row out onto the lake and hide there until they were gone. Now he was trying to find the one spot in the lake where the really large fish stood, he had a favorite location and he was eying the peaks around him to get in the right place.

Last time he was this high he had caught five huge trout, fat and beautiful fishes who had provided them with many meals. His wife had died almost fifteen years ago but she had been weak for years and she had given him five fine sons who now had wives of their own and even kids too. He was a lucky man for sure, his blood would live on, and so would his name. He hummed a jolly tune as he threw his line in and started moving the lure, this was a trick he knew everything about and he could let his mind wander while he worked. Last winter he had cut his hand on a piece of old metal and it had gotten infected, he could have lost his hand but his oldest son had taken him to the hidden vale and there the lord of the elves had healed it. Eiran had always been in awe of the fair folk, some didn't trust them and thought that they were dangerous but he knew better. They were creatures of light and should never be feared as long as you were a good person.

He remembered the beauty he had seen there, and the serenity of the place and he knew he had seen a piece of heaven, left on earth. He couldn't explain it otherwise. He kept fishing and every now and then he had to row a bit since the currents brought him out of position. He had been there for several hours and gotten some nice sized trout and a few perches too when he did notice something floating in the waters. It was a distance away and he frowned and cursed his now poor eyesight. Once he had been able to see things clearly from a great distance, almost like an elven warrior. He got up and squeezed his eyes almost shut, the sun did cause reflections and they made his eyes run. He tilted his head, was it a dead animal? It looked like fur! An unfortunate beast who had fallen into a river or something? That was not unheard off. Sometimes animals got lost during the winter and died and the carcasses would emerge with the spring thaw. It could be edible still?

Eiran knew that frozen meat often could be eaten still even if the animal had been dead for a long time, this could be his lucky day. He picked up the oars and paddled closer, slowing down. That didn't look like an animal? The fur had different colors and textures and he swallowed hard, it was a fur coat of some kind. And something was underneath it…

He took a deep breath and gathered all his courage, one of the men of his village had once come across a man who had drowned in the river, the body had been dragged by the current for quite a while and the description that was being made had made Eiran feel nauseous for days. He used the ore to flip the fur away, it was heavy but the adrenaline gave him strength. He got it out of the way and then he gasped and sat back, his hand covering his mouth. Oh no, oh gods no! This couldn't be, it simply couldn't be! Oh by the ancestors, he had to get help, right now!

Elrond of Imladris was busy teaching some young healers about the effects of certain herbs, his sons were out on patrol as usual and they always left an ache in his chest, one that didn't seize until they returned. He feared for them both, always. Arwen was with her grandmother in Lothlorien at the moment and he did miss her but at the same time he was a bit relieved that she was out of his hands for a while. She was spoiled and he couldn't blame anyone for that except himself, hopefully Galadriel did manage to tame her and teach her proper behavior. The students were paying keen attention to his every word and he felt impressed by their zeal, all were promising and he was glad that even a few young ones from Mirkwood had come to join them.

His counsellor Erestor was busy with some official paperwork and Elrond had to smirk thinking about the dark haired ellon and his great affection for order. With him at the helm there wasn't even a single sheet of paper out of place and if anyone made a mess in the library Erestor would truly transform back into the very intimidating first age warrior he had been. Some thought the elf was a mellow and soft type and they couldn't have been more wrong. Elrond was ready to pack up and tell the students they were dismissed when he heard the sound of horses, he frowned and felt a sting of worry right away. Was something off? Could it be his sons returning? They returned home wounded more often than not and he swallowed his fear and smiled at the younger elves. "You may go now, next lesson will be tomorrow at the same time, and do remember to visit the garden and look at the species the way they look while fresh"

The students nodded and left the room and Elrond heard that the hooves got closer, the horses were galloping and hard. He put his books down on the desk and ran out the door, down some stairs and to a spot where he could see the main courtyard. Three horses were crossing the bridge, one was pulling a narrow wagon behind it, and the driver and the two riders were edain. He recognized them, the driver was a very kind old man he had healed the last winter and the two riders his youngest sons. Some human had to have gotten injured. He hurried down the last stairs, not too fast but with some haste, and he shouted some orders. If this was an injured human he would need some help for sure.

The riders were waiting, the horses panting and shivering and he frowned. Humans had so little respect for their steeds and would gladly ride them to death, no elf would treat a noble animal that way. The old man was trembling and he got out of the wagon on shaking legs. Elrond did never get used to seeing the damages time left on a human face, it was something he never could truly understand and it made his own brother's choice even harder to accept. Eiran bowed deeply. "My lord, I was out fishing in the high lakes, and I saw something in the water. When I checked it was…it is one of your people my lord, we…we thought it best to bring the body back here, where it belongs…So that you may bury the person the way it is supposed to be done"

Elrond held his breath, his eyes widening. A dead elf?! Oh Eru no! He couldn't believe it, who could it be? Nobody was missing but of course some did belong to travelling tribes or groups and there were elves who lived more or less like hermits too. He went over to the wagon, touched the thick fur which covered the body. It was a tall person, and he suddenly feared removing the fur and seeing a familiar face. He took a deep breath, others had come now and he couldn't look like a coward. He flipped the furs aside and gasped. What lay there was an elleth, and she was completely unfamiliar and more so, she didn't look like any elf he had ever seen before. Her hair was very long and tangled and it had a deep rich burgundy tone of red but it looked brittle and stiff and the poor thing was just skin and bones. Her facial features told of great beauty but her ears…They were different from ordinary elven ears, way pointier and the points longer than on even a silvan elf. They seemed to be flexible and her eyes were larger than normal and slanted, with an almost triangular shaped face and very high cheekbones she did look feral. She even had tattoos on her cheeks and on her forehead, he had never heard of elves with tattoos, Elrond was puzzled, who, and what, was she?

Eiran swallowed. "Under the dark fur, please…."

Elrond saw that something was strapped to the female's chest, hidden under yet another piece of roughly sewn fur and he pulled it aside, let out an audible groan when he saw what it hid. It was an elfling, a very young one by the looks of it. He felt dizzy, a young mother and child? What horrible tragedy, he blinked the tears out of his eyes, then he took a deep breath and tried to think. " Eiran, I am very grateful you brought her here, she is not of this vale but an elf nevertheless and I will do my very best to find out what's happened to her."

Eiran tried to smile, his eyes were watering. "Aye my lord, I know you will. It is such a shame isn't it, she is so pretty"

The old adan was right, the elleth was very pretty but obviously she had suffered a lot before her death and Elrond felt a strong surge of sorrow rush through him. Where could she have come from? He saw that Lindir had showed up and he gave the younger elf a quick order. The three men were taken to the halls of fire for a good meal and Elrond decided to reward them with some good rolls of expensive cloth and some coin too. They needed it beyond doubt. The elves who had gathered looked stunned and Elrond took a deep breath. "My friends, get a stretcher. I want to examine the body, if she was murdered we have to find out who did it."

Some ran off and returned with a stretcher from the infirmary and Elrond and one of the other healers there lifted the body carefully from the wagon and onto it. She was light, way too light for someone of that height. He did see that some of the ellith gathered had seen the dead infant and a few were sobbing, seeing a dead elfling was something none of them were used to. Elrond couldn't remember the last time he had seen a dead elleth, or an elfling. He had seen plenty of dead Ellyn yes, warriors slain in battle but this…this was something he just had problems coping with. They carried the body into the infirmary and placed her on a bench, Elrond sighed. "Aldoron, Vorondar, you may stay. Lindir, go get Erestor, I want him to write down everything we do and everything I say"

Lindir bowed his head and ran off and Elrond tried to forget about who and what this was and just focus on doing his job. They had to find out who she was, and where she had come from. Aldoron and Vorondar were among the most experienced of the other healers there and Elrond enjoyed working with them. Aldoron were of noldorin descent but Vorondar was a silvan and very quick at finding unusual solutions to problems. Erestor came rushing into the room with his robes flying behind him and a bag of papers and pens in his hand. He did look very shocked and he choked a small shriek when he saw the body on the bench. "Oh sweet Eru, what has happened to this elleth?!"

Elrond tried to smile, but his face felt horribly stiff. " That is what we are trying to find out"

Erestor found a desk and got his papers ready, Elrond could see that his hands were shaking and knowing that the dark haired counsellor was one of the survivors from Gondolin that made sense, he had seen more death than most others. Elrond took a deep breath. "The deceased is a female, apparently rather young, rather tall and with red hair. She is wrapped in very primitive fur clothes and was found with an elfling strapped to her body"

Erestor was writing, he was fast and Elrond slowly started to remove the clothing of the elleth and the little one. The elfling proved to be a girl, she had dark blonde hair and was very skinny and Elrond could quickly determine that she hadn't drowned, there was no water in the lungs. The clothes were made from animal hides, well cut and sewn but still very primitive, nobody wore stuff like that anymore. And the tattoos on the adult female? Vorondar made a grimace. "If I didn't know any better I would say that she resemble the way the quendi must have looked at the time of the awakening, without any knowledge of how to weave or forge weapons."

Elrond had found a small knife in a pocket in the female's coat, and it was made from flint. Aldoron swallowed. "She cannot be that ancient, she looks like a young one? "

Vorondar frowned. "The adan who found her said he had been at the high lakes? There are glaciers up there, I have heard of bodies thawing out of the ice centuries after they fell into cracks and died"

Elrond scoffed. "I see what you mean my friend but that is impossible, no glaciers are that ancient these days, and it would have ruined the body. She looks like she died just hours ago."

He picked up a hand and studied it, being a bit puzzled. "Look, she has got frostbite on her hands, and yet there is some sort of burns there as well?"

The two others almost banged their heads together, eager to see. "You are right, those are frost damages."

Elrond had come to the elleth's inner layer of clothing now, a sort of socks tied to the thighs and a sort of tunic made from very soft thin leather. He cut it away gently, nothing of it had been frozen or at least just for a short while for the body wasn't stiff and it wasn't in any way decomposed. He stared at the body which was revealed to them, Eru, he had never seen a skinnier elf ever. She looked almost like a skeleton with skin on it and it made the markings on her skin look oddly out of place. Vorondar blushed. "Ah, look, her…breasts"

Elrond frowned, her breasts? What about…oh, he did see it. Her areolas were pink, not dark as they would be on a female who had been nursing a baby and he sighed. It wasn't her elfling then, but she had cared for it and tried to save it beyond any doubt. What had happened to them? They both had starved, that was obvious, and they were found in the lake. Had they been cut off from their tribe? But Elrond knew of no elven tribe that primitive, and absolutely not in this part of the world. Had they been held captive by orcs maybe? And been able to escape? No, they would have killed an infant that young. He took a closer look at her, there was no signs of abuse but she did have cuts and scrapes along her legs and arms, as if she had been fallen and tried to hang onto something. There were bruises here and there and some finger nails were torn out too. And she had more burns, like her skin had been exposed to great heat. Elrond was getting more and more confused, what in Eru's name had happened to her?

It felt wrong touching her, treating her thus but they needed to know more and Elrond swore to himself that they would give her a very proper funeral, and show her all possible respect too whence this was done. She had been a strong one before she became so thin, and she was probably a very healthy individual. The elfling on the other hand showed signs of having been weak from the start, the body seemed frail somehow, as if it hadn't been fed properly. Her features and the odd ears told Elrond that she somehow had come from somewhere far away, very far away. Could there be tribes living far north still? Descendants of elves lost during the crossing of the helcaraxe? Not impossible but what the heck was she then doing in one of the high lakes? alone? No, that was not a believable explanation at all and he sighed and grimaced. They had come no further, all they knew was that she wore clothing similar to the things the very first elves would have worn and that she probably came from a culture very different from this one.

Elrond wrapped the dead infant in some white linen and whispered a short but sad prayer, whoever this little girl had been, she had been just an innocent little one and nothing like this ought to have happen to such. The elleth looked very fragile laying like that, exposed and in some ways humiliated. He threw a sheet over the body, felt as if he had committed some sort of crime by examining her. Vorondar let a hand slide through a lock of thick red hair, he did look very sad indeed. "I wonder what she was like? I mean, her personality? She seems strong somehow?"

Aldoron nodded. "Red hair, not usual among elves. I bet she was a fiery one"

He leaned forth and placed a hand on her forehead, whispering a short prayer. "I hope Namo has room for you young one, and that he is able to heal your wounds, whatever they may be"

Elrond smiled and found a pillow to lay underneath her head, just to make her look a bit more alive. He lifted her head and Vorondar helped him as he slid the pillow in underneath her neck. Suddenly the silvan yelped. "Elrond, her jugular, it moved!"

Elrond raised an eyebrow. "Nonsense, she is cold, there is no heartbeat and she isn't breathing."

Vorondar sent him a rather wide stare. "It moved, I am telling you it moved! I have good eyes my lord, they do not deceive me!"

Elrond frowned and sighed. The elleth had been found floating in a lake, and he had felt no heat nor heartbeat at all. She felt dead, like a dead tree. He put a finger onto the jugular, no motion and he was about to tell Vorondar that he was delusional when there was a sudden movement under his fingertip. It wasn't large, just barely there but he almost jumped out of his skin. "Oh by Manwê's breath, she is alive!"

Vorondar sort of hissed. "Told you so!"

Elrond grasped an instrument they used to listen to people's heartbeat and placed it on her chest, listened for a long time. "Damnation, her heart beats only once every second minute, how is that possible?"

Aldoron took a deep breath. "Cold, it is the cold, I am sure."

Elrond stared at him and Aldoron shrugged. "My parents crossed the grinding ice, they told me that nobody is truly dead until they are warm and dead. Her body must have gone into a sort of hibernation perhaps? "

Elrond moaned, oh how were they going to deal with this? He was thinking fast. "Right, bring a tub full of warm water and some athelas, fresh athelas."

The two ran off and Elrond felt sick to the heart, he had never ever misdiagnosed anyone like this, but this was an extreme case too. They placed the elleth in the warm water and made sure that she lay there for over an hour and when they dragged her out she was breathing but very shallowly and with some ghastly rasping sounds. Elrond checked her airways and found that they too had been scorched somehow. She was a mess, but alive. He crushed athelas and made her inhale the sweet vapor from the leaves and he rubbed her chest and abdomen with it before they wrapped her in warm blankets and rubbed her with peppermint to increase her blood flow. She was alive but only barely and he knew that she still could perish at any moment. He had never been so shocked by a case, nor as bewildered. Erestor was deeply shocked too and Lindir spread the news all over the settlement faster than Elrond would have preferred. Before sunset everybody knew that the mysterious elleth was alive, and that Elrond was doing everything within his power to save her. Now it became a waiting game, would she wake up again? And if she did, would she even be normal?

Elrond stayed in the infirmary that night, he wondered about her strange features and her odd ears, she was an elf but not of any race he had ever encountered and a new idea started to sneak into his mind. What if she wasn't from middle earth at all? He didn't sleep but stayed there while meditating and in the morning Vorondar took his place. They switched three times a day and made sure to rub her arms and legs, turn her over in bed and rub her with ointments and more peppermint. Her breath did become more steady but she didn't wake up and Elrond was afraid that her fragile state would be the end of her. She had no reserves left, her body just bones and that could harm even an elf. He remembered how his foster father had been close to death when Fingon got him off the Thangorodrim, he had nothing left, no will nor energy and only his anger towards the enemy had kept his fêa and hrôa together. Elrond knew naught about this elleth, perhaps the news of the child's death would break her, he didn't know.

The vale was in a state of silent waiting now, everybody was curious and worried and Elrond hoped that they wouldn't be disappointed. He wanted to rescue that female, he felt that whoever she was, she didn't deserve to die like that. She was young, had she even had time to fully taste life? He had no idea and as he sat there by her side he tried to imagine what her life had been like. He could tell a lot about a person from their body and this body did tell quite a tale. She had callouses on her fingers from using a needle but it had to be a bone needle, no steel one would leave such marks. She had very strong muscles in her shoulders but they were not archer's shoulders, more like those of one who throws a spear. Her legs were long and there were no callouses along her thighs, no rider then. But she did have very flat feet and that told him she was used to carrying heavy loads and her neck muscles too were a bit on the over developed side. She probably carried things on her head or hanging from her head in a sort of sling. He had seen edain females doing that and again he wondered about the type of culture she had come from.

He wondered where his sons were at the moment, if they had been there they would have been crawling up the walls with curiosity and he had to grin thinking of all the questions they would have made. Arwen would have been terribly upset because of the dead elfling and he was glad she wasn't there. The body of the infant had been wrapped and placed in a cold basement until further notice, it could be that the elleth needed to see it to accept that it was dead. Now Elrond could only wait, and hope and so did many others there. They referred to her as the lady in the lake now and many prayed for her recovery. It made Elrond feel humble, they knew naught of her and yet everybody did care and they all tried to do whatever they could to make sure she woke up again.

It was dark, and the darkness had always frightened her. She was fighting it, she didn't know for how long, feeling how her lungs filled with water, how her body was screaming for air that wasn't there. Fear, confusion, mostly grief and some odd sparks of light coming from all directions. She was cold, to the core, feeling afloat in nothing. Red flower, she had to save her, or was she dead already? There was no up or down, no anything really and she wailed and trashed around, trying to understand but there was no movement, just stillness. Death, this was death. But where were her kin, her friends? There was nothing there, had they all lied?

She wanted to cry, to scream but there was nothing to scream with, no eyes to shed tears. Nothing, just nothing. Then she heard a distant voice, a very sad voice which seemed to chant something and all of a sudden she felt. She felt so much at once, a horrible pain in her chest, as if some huge load had been placed upon it, a desperate struggle to draw breath. Pain, agony, everywhere! It hurt! Being dead shouldn't hurt, this was wrong. She tried to wail, to move but something was wrapped around her and she did panic. She felt odd scents, light against her skin but she saw nothing, was unable to open her eyes.

Where was she? What had happened? Was this the afterlife? She felt a touch against her forehead, heard a voice whisper something but she didn't understand a single syllable and she felt so lost, what was this? Tears ran down her cheeks and those she did feel, they stung and burned and she remembered the heat from that fissure in the earth. She had been burned, and then… She remembered everything and sobbed, it was lost. There was nothing left, her world no more, engulfed and swallowed by ice. What would become of her now? She had nothing! She let out a gasp and the hand stroked her hair, it felt warm and real and comforting but she didn't understand, she couldn't see, she couldn't speak!

Elrond had been half asleep when he heard the female cough, he had been upright in the chair faster than a racehorse out of a starting gate and then he got up and ran over to the bed. She was moving, making mewling sounds, trying to breathe, to open her eyes. He had placed soft patches with herbal ointments over her eyelids, to protect her eyes. Those too had been injured by the heat and had to heal. She was crying and he tried to calm her down, to whisper soothing words. Apparently she didn't understand and she was getting more and more agitated. In fact she was getting hysterical and Elrond filled a syringe with some sedative and injected it in her arm. She shrieked and tried to move out of the way and then she went limp, and lay there snoring, mouth open and face contorted. It was very clear that she hadn't understood a word he was saying, it was disappointing but nothing could be done about that. He called Vorondar over and ordered him to get some chicken broth from the kitchens, watered out and filtered. The female needed nourishment and they had to start very easily so they didn't kill her with kindness.

The next time she came too there was a wonderful scent in the air, of something edible. She felt her nose twitch even before she was fully awake and her stomach felt even more hollow than before. It hurt, like there was a giant void inside of her and the scent, oh it was driving her mad. Then she heard someone move close to her and hands grasped her own, lifted them towards her face. She felt her skin again and felt that something was attached over her eyes, felt an odd smell of some sort of herbs and realized that she was bandaged. Was her soul damaged just as her body had been? Did the dead have to heal on the other side? Nobody had told her about that but alright, she could accept it. She felt that she was wrapped in something very soft and warm, laying on a very comfortable bedding. Odd, was the other side perhaps better equipped than the real life?

Then the good smell got stronger and she heard a sort of clatter and something was being pressed against her lips, very gently. She felt heat and opened her mouth hesitantly and she gasped as some sort of liquid was poured into her mouth. It…it was heavenly, it was…She was suddenly leaning forth, eager for more, desperate for more. She tried to grasp after whatever it was that brought the wonderful relief to her but it evaded her and she heard a smooth voice saying something which sounded friendly enough.

The object returned, she got another spoonful of soup and yet another one and she whimpered with anticipation before each one. Oh by the ancestors, this was wonderful, so good. She had never tasted anything that good! After a while her belly felt full and she let out a huge sigh of relief. Again something was held to her lips, this time some sort of cup, that she did recognize but she didn't recognize the scent though. It was fruity and sweet and it left a pleasant warmth within, it had to be like the liquid from the large bulbs. She drank eagerly and drained the cup and then she felt dizzy and sleepy and before she knew it she returned to the world of dreams.

She remembered the shaman, and one of her speeches. It had been in the winter, long before the accursed ice returned, and one hunter had died, skewered by the horn of a woolly rhinoceros. The shaman had explained what awaited the dead on the other side, a land with plenty of prey, where no one would starve or freeze and all cubs would survive to become adults. A land with no sorrow, where you could find your perfect mate easily and where all good things were gathered. Perhaps this was it after all.

Elrond made sure that the elleth didn't eat too fast, she was very hungry and would have over eaten if he didn't sedate her and he kept her asleep most of the time, until she gathered some strength again. She loved the chicken broth and the wine and he decided that it soon would be time to remove the bandages. She had been awake almost a dozen times by now but she didn't try to speak and he suspected that her throat had been damaged so much that it actually hurt a lot when she tried to say something. She didn't understand anything he said, he knew that for certain now and he feared that she would get quite a shock when he allowed her to see. But there was no way around it and he let Aldoron feed her while he un-wrapped her head. They had bathed her once and washed her hair and it had become very apparent that she never had cut it. It reached her feet and was extremely thick. When it got its luster back it would probably look amazing. The female sat still, obviously realizing what they were doing but she looked nervous and was licking her lips. He had noticed something rather bizarre about her, her ears told a lot about her state of mind. They were a bit like the ears of a horse, a window to her soul and now the tips were twitching ever so slightly.

Elrond removed the patches and she swallowed, the face didn't look quite so emaciated now, she recovered with remarkable speed but she was far from well or healthy, there was a long way to go yet. She held her breath, then she slowly opened her eyes. They were green, as he had seen when he examined her but now they were alive and sparkly and the color seemed to have deepened into a bright emerald color that was just stunning. She blinked, again and again, trying to focus again and then she yelped, staring at them with a frightened expression upon her face. She whimpered, pressing herself back against the headboard of the bed and her eyes were flickering, she was staring at everything with increasing confusion and then her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out. Elrond swore and sighed, the shock had been too much for her, poor poor thing. She probably had no idea of what she was facing at all, her culture and her experiences utterly different. How were they to deal with this?

She had tried to see, but her vision had been so blurry to begin with. Then it got better and she found herself within some sort of room but it wasn't like any hut or cave she had ever seen. It was so airy and she didn't recognize any of the materials. Three males sat by her side, all were very tall and did look friendly but they were so different, their faces handsome though and very attractive but what were they wearing? And why were their ears so small? Where was she? This couldn't be the other side after all? Perhaps this was some other place? A place where those who did wrong were punished? No, she didn't want that, she whimpered and felt how her heart was speeding up, this was too much, way too much. She felt dizzy and then the world turned black again and she didn't try to resist it at all.

Elrond sighed and bit his lower lip, it was a dilemma. She didn't speak the language, she obviously had no clue about what she saw there and her reaction told him she had been terrified. Vorondar hawked. "My lord, if you were to see her mind?"

Elrond scoffed. "You know I cannot do that without permission? It requires a lot, from both me and her and I cannot just peek at her memories, it would be a violation."

Vorondar shrugged. " It was just a suggestion my lord, but you know, it could be that it is the only solution."

Elrond sighed inwards, yes, Vorondar was right, it could be that it was needed. At least he would know from whence she came. He would try to speak to her once more, if that didn't work, well then he had no other option left. He made Vorondar and Aldoron leave the room and then he prepared a special herbal mixture and some more soup. He hadn't filtered it this time, her stomach could handle solids now. She came to slowly, eyes still wide with fear and she was trembling like a tree in a storm. He smiled, didn't move suddenly, held the bowl with the soup in front of him. "Hungry?"

She cocked her head, stared at the bowl, her stomach was growling. She did look nervous but reached out towards the bowl, her hands shaking and he let her take it, very carefully so she didn't drop it. The soup was still rather hot and he didn't want her to get burns yet again. She lifted it, took a sip and then another one, started to drink from the bowl with obvious hunger. Then she licked the bowl, with a distinct lack of manners and Elrond took a deep breath and prepared himself. He pointed at his own chest and sent her his most reassuring smile. "Elrond"

She cocked her head, frowning. "Eh-ll-raah?"

He shook his head. "No, El-ro-nd"

She blinked, her ears were hanging ever so slightly, she looked like a puppy someone has kicked and he had to admit that she was cute too, not just mysterious and pretty. "Ew-hro-nd"

She had problems speaking, it was obvious, her throat too sore for her to make precise sounds yet. "I guess that is good enough for now, your name?"

She frowned, trying to understand. She still looked terrified, ready to bolt and hide under some rock, but she wasn't stupid. In fact he felt that she probably was a very smart person, she just had been tossed into a situation she never had encountered before. Her ears were moving back and forth, and it added some very odd expressions to her body language, but it didn't look animalistic. At least not much. She was still an elf, just a different type of elf. She coughed, then she pointed at herself and it was obvious that she was unsure about this. "Aytha?"

Elrond smiled. "Is that your name? it is pretty. Pleased to meet you Aytha"

She tried to smile, her lips twitching and her eyes were still nervous, her ears hanging and then perking up again. She was really out of her comfort zone and by Eru how he did pity her. She swallowed, then she made a whimpering sound and pretended to be rocking something in her arms. Oh no, how did he explain this? He tried to remain calm. "The infant? She was dead, I am sorry"

Aytha saw that he didn't meet her eyes, that he looked sad and it said everything, she let out a wail of grief and started rocking back and forth, what was this? What was happening? Oh Goddess, where was she? The male in front of her who had that odd name seemed to be old, she felt it and saw it in his eyes. And he sort of looked like a very dominant male, one of extremely high status, maybe it wasn't so bad that he sat this close, perhaps he wanted to keep her safe? He did have compassion, that was obvious, and skills too and Aytha just surrendered, she let her tears flow and didn't protest when the dark haired male got up and sat down again next to her. He seemed uncertain and so she assumed that he was afraid of going too far without her permission. She fell forward, throwing her arms around his neck, seeking comfort and safety. She needed a strong male protecting her now, until she knew more.

Elrond went almost rigid with shock when she embraced him thus but he realized that she was desperate to feel safe, and he returned the hug and held her close. She was sobbing, obviously heartbroken and he hummed and rocked her in his arms. This reminded him a lot of Arwen when she was a child and had gotten scared by something and he wondered how in the world they were going to communicate with her. He had to do it, he had to peek at her memories and he started to chant slowly, bringing her mind into a state of trance where he could enter it telepathically and see her memories. Aytha just sat there, he felt warm and solid and safe and he did smell of flowers and wood and some strong masculine scent that probably was his own. She wouldn't mind bedding him, no, not at all. She was rather sure that he would be amazing, but she was too weak yet. Her body felt like crap and she knew she looked awful too. But soon, soon she would most certainly be ready for a male again.

She suddenly felt sleepy listening to the deep soft voice and before she really knew it she drifted off to sleep, or something akin to sleep. Elrond gathered her up in his arms and held her in a comfortable position as he allowed his own fêa to access her mind. Now, where did she come from and what had happened to her?

The first thing he did see was water, from underneath the surface, cold water stinging the lungs, a desperate fear, grief, disappointment. Then he saw her memories in reverse, lightning fast and yet slowly and he gasped and shivered as he witnessed something so amazing and so tragic he had a hard time understanding at first. He saw it all, the journey south, the camps and the joys and then the fear and the sorrow. He saw the cave up north, the tribe at its greatest, her coming of age ceremony. He saw her bed the chief and he saw her long for a mate of her own. He saw her carefree days as a child and he wept, he wept for a people which had been proud and strong and beautiful. They were no more, wiped from the face of their world, a world encased in ice. A whole race of elves, extinct with one exception, the one laying in his arms. It was a tragedy, no, more than that. It was a crime, an atrocity, it was like spitting in the eye of the creator. All life, eradicated by ice. How could that even be? He realized he was sobbing, the grief heartbreaking and he knew how she felt, oh by Eru how he understood her. But he didn't understand the language, not one sentence and he realized that they would have to teach her Sindarin from scratch. It would be a monumental task, from what he had seen she had lived a life that was very different from what the elves of Imladris was used to. She was a stone age person damn it, they had owned nothing made of metal and they had lived from hand to mouth. Her religion, her culture, it was all so alien, so new. He stroked her hair gently, shaking his head from one side to the others in slowly growing despair. "Oh little frostborn one, how are you gonna adapt to our world? It is so different, so much harsher."

Vorondar entered after having knocked and he stared when he realized that his lord had been crying. Elrond swallowed. Tried to keep his voice steady but failed, it shivered. "I saw it all Vorondar, her people, her world. They are all dead, a whole race of elves are dead, and she is the last one, the very last one"

Vorondar sat down slowly, his eyes filling with tears too. "Oh Eru, I had no idea, what are we to do?"

Elrond shrugged. "What can we do except trying to make her life here a good one? Try to help her adapt. But I fear it will be a monumental task"

Vorondar stared at his lord with a distant gaze. "No shit! It will be like trying to tame an orc!"

Elrond just let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. He feared that even that would be a piece of pie compared to teaching this one how to behave. What on earth was he to do now? How would he manage this task? He had no idea and he just prayed the valar for guidance for right now he was completely out of knowledge for the first time in his life.