From The Ashes

09

Trying to get Alassëa to settle after her moment seemed to fail completely. So instead the two sat in front of the fire, she had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and was holding onto a warm mug of something. In truth she hadn't realised she had been shivering, just like she hadn't realised a warm drink had been made for her until the mug was carefully placed in her hands.

"What's Rivendell like?" Bard asked quietly while looking over at her.

"Beautiful." She simply replied with a growing smile. "It is so beautiful. You're never likely to see a place such as it. Clear waterfalls, and white stone structures. It is so peaceful. You could have had the worst day of your life, yet being in such surroundings would instantly calm you. It has that effect, I always found. So calming...but then, I suppose when I think over it, home is calming, isn't it?" She looked to him at this point.

"But did you not say you had ties to Combe too?" Bard questioned choosing not to answer her question. His question though caused her to frown and fidget, perhaps he shouldn't have asked.

"My mother, Helena lived there. I think I lived there for a small amount of time." Here she paused to look sadly at the fire. "I suppose...I suppose outliving a parent, I had little choice but to move on." She sounded uncertain though.

"Your father?"

Here Alassëa smiled fondly, showing she clearly remembered more about her father than her mother. Bard did not know if that was because of the longevity of elven lives, but she certainly seemed more sure on her father. "Cerediron, I always found it amusing how my mother's name was so simple compared to his." She smiled and shrugged. "He was a guard within Rivendell. He helped patrol the perimeters with others."

Bard looked at her quizzically, "They did not live together?" He found that an odd detail. Perhaps it wasn't such an odd thing to her. But as a parent himself he couldn't think of staying somewhere miles away from the mother of his children, plus the children themselves.

Pinching her nose in thought Alassëa frowned deeply. "He had responsibilities."

"Does having a child not count as one of those things?" He couldn't help but ask.

Alassëa's head snapped up to look at him. "It does. But we weren't permitted entrance into Rivendell, I do not know why, perhaps we were secret? For all I know that's it. No one else knew of us and we were kept secret. I can imagine it's quite a task for an elven guard to come out and admit that he has spawned a half-breed with some common woman." She said cynically with a sidewards look.

"Apologies, I did not mean to offend."

"Oh, I know." Alassëa groaned and placed the mug to one side so she could bury her face in her hands. "I know you didn't, Bard. It's just...my father loved my mother greatly, when I appeared in Rivendell to tell him of my mother's passing he was distraught. I have never seen someone look so utterly defeated and heartbroken." Her voice came out muffled, tilting her head to the side she looked at him through her hair. "Lord Elrond clearly knew who I was by looking at me. And though he didn't openly express his opinions, I don't think he was wholly pleased with my father for his secretive actions. I've never felt so welcomed in a place before, Rivendell felt like home. Combe didn't." Pausing she sat up and sighed heavily. "Here is somewhat homely. But my mother always used to say it was the people who made a place home. My father left for the West not long after I started to call Rivendell home. He left Middle-Earth for the sake of peace, and I can't help but feel slightly put out. And then...well, Rivendell didn't seem so homely anymore without the one person who mattered to me being there." Alassëa said heavily while readjusting the blanket around her shoulders.

"Will you return to Rivendell?" Bard asked after several moments of silence. It seemed that for the most part she had remembered where she came from. She still was in the dark about how she got here, but surely that'd come with time. Perhaps being back home would help her? Though in truth he couldn't help but secretly admit that her leaving would sadden him slightly. He had grown accustomed to her presence. The children certainly had, though Sigrid seemed to still be a little guarded around her, but she was slowly coming round to Alassëa being here.