The river chugged slowly from upstream to downstream, sinuously curving with plentiful meanders. It carried its water through the Breelands and under a small, stone bridge where two figures sat, dangling their legs over the edge and watching the blue snake below them…
Egbert Yarrow sat proudly beside his daughter. It had been a long time since he had been able to spend any time with his precious Ariagne and he was lapping up their time together like an enthusiastic, thirsty dog. He was a tall man and rather fair for his people, with short, raggedy blonde hair sporting one or two grey patches, a rich man's pale, delicate skin and a slightly rounded, muscular figure which he was ever trying to keep as trim and sleek as it was when he was a young man - an endless and rather thankless task. Many people throughout Bree knew him to be a clever man as well as a canny businessman and it was this very reputation that had ended him in the arranged marriage with Annabelle Pinsleferret, a pretty maid from a family of nobles which stretched long back into Bree's history.
Slowly Egbert wrapped his arm around his pretty daughter and they sat in companiable silence, each lost in their own thoughts; hers were on the small spot by the waterfall that she'd called home for the last few weeks; his were on the early days of his marriage. Annabelle was very opinionated and had been bought up to uphold her families reputation, in some people this would produce a fine woman...this was not the case for Anna who became vain, arrogant and exceedingly annoying, caught up in a world that she was determined to bring her daughter up in when they had her. Ariagne became the focus of the couple's marriage. She was spoilt, selfish and the apple of her father's eye. Her mother took a different approach to the girl, determining that she would be married into a rich family, preferably one above their current social standing. All the same, they bought Ariagne up into a world of glamour of which she was the centre.
Time passed.
Both father and daughter now thought of that day when her childhood ended and Adelainee took her prisoner. He had reclined into himself, becoming a shadow of a man, barely able to put up with his wife's insensitive ramblings about how bad the whole thing would look on their reputations. Soon, Ariagne came back but only briefly. She had changed, there was malice in her heart and her vanity had been crushed to loathing for all, including herself. Egbert was unsure of the change but before he knew it she had gone again and then...she was outlawed?! Neither parent was sure of how to deal with this news. Egbert ignored it, assuming that there was some mistake, although it was noted that he became irritable in other people’s company and was even found crying in his room by one of the servants at one point. Anna took a different approach and started rumours around town about the corrupting influences of Carlotta and the misfortunes that befall those who’s father’s have no social standing. Slowly the couple started to drift apart…
Egbert gazed up at the setting sun, shivering slightly as a small gust of wind blew idly over them. He had found Anna to be increasingly irritating and they had been caught arguing many times, indeed sometimes they would argue several times a day and would barely be able to hold a civil conversation together. In the meantime Ariagne had met elves, travelled, and been to the brink of madness and back. She had changed deeply, becoming a new and better person, although not one without a haunting guilt which plagued her every waking moment; and often many sleeping moments as well. It had been a difficult time for her and when she finally got the opportunity to go back to her home she hardly knew what to think other than to be vaguely grateful that she might have a chance to see her family again. Of course, she didn’t know that her family would have changed so much in her absence.
Ariagne pulled her legs up from where they dangled over the edge, crossing them beneath her and resting her hands in her lap. Her mind wondered to the moment her parents saw her for that first time since her second, longer absence. Daerundros the elf, who was disguised as a woman, bought her all the way to her house and had knocked on the door. A servant had appeared after a few moments and, on seeing Ariagne, ran off to alert the whole household of her return. Her parents had come running to great her; Anna flung her arms around Ariagne, Egbert remained at the doorway, peering around Daerundros to stare at his daughter in disbelief. After a few moments of fussing the all retreated into the house and sat down to tea and cake and for the moment talk was of trivial things and the whole table seemed fairly happy. Egbert spent his time watching his daughter, almost as though he feared taking his eyes of her in case she vanished again; Anna and Daerundros chatted amiably; Ariagne sat almost in silence, trying to focus her mind into this latest change of events. Normality reigned for the briefest of moments and then Anna started to show her true colours!
Egbert unwrapped his arm from Ariagne and pulled himself to his feet, stretching his arms and legs and gazing down at the water below, thinking of those last few moments they spent as a family. Anna had made increasingly snide comments about the plebs much to the anger of her daughter and guest who eventually turned on her, both unable to cope with the selfish woman any longer. It was at this point that Daerundros had revealed her true nature, the hood came off and standing before them all was the fair elf maiden that Ariagne knew! Anna took one look at the beautiful face which only graces those of the firstborn, screamed with shock and fainted in a heap; Egbert almost fell off his chair but instantly stood up and bowed before her, in utter awe of her presence. The servants clustered around their fallen mistress, scared and shocked by the sudden presence of an elf and utterly oblivious to the figure of Ariagne who remained still as a statue, ignoring the chaos around her. Events progressed quickly and before any of them knew it, Daerundros was standing over the now awake form of Anna, offering Egbert a choice to go back on his marriage vows, to make her leave his household forever and to take care of his daughter in a proper manner and much to Anna’s horror, he took the chance!
Egbert peered down at his daughter and thought of the words that he had said to change their lives and Anna’s forever…”I’d do anything for my daughter!” and with that he took Anna and dragged her roughly out the house. He almost felt guilty at the way he had fooled himself into affection for Anna and at blowing her off after all this time but then again things were very different when Ariagne left and he almost daren’t disobey an elf’s wisdom not that she forced him or anything but her advice seemed completely sound at the time and the idea had often circulated itself around Egbert’s mind, waiting for an excuse to strike. Now was his chance and he took it!
Egbert offered a hand down to Ariagne who took it and used it to pull herself to her feet. Hand in hand they strolled down across the bridge, silently contemplating their life without Anna and how Ariagne would cope now that she was living once more in her home town of
