She followed behind her love, her horse's steps slowing from exhaustion. He insisted on getting to Bree as fast as possible, which ended up taking at least two years. The trip from Gondor to Bree is a long one, and they had to delay a few times along the path. Over the years, she had never told him that he had a daughter, one in Bree. It felt like lifetimes away, and every day her stomach had twisted in guilt with the memories of her children. She had abandoned them, abandoned her home. Now she had to face it all again, her husband and her children. She had to take their rage.
Or at least she thought.
As the path traveled up the hill to where her old home rested, she saw nothing. Their was no building, no children running around. It was just an empty lot, almost so empty it felt as an ominous silence. She slid off her horse, as did her love, and they stood side by side looking at the nothingness. She could see her breath puffing out of her into the cold air, she could feel herself shivering under her cloak. But she didn't say anything, she just stared in silence.
Finally he was the one to break the silence, "Lynn, are you sure this is where you lived?"
She looked at him before saying, "I would never forget."
They fell silent again as they looked at the building again. Suddenly an angry voice broke the silence, saying harshly, "What are you doing here?"
Lynn looked around to see a very handsome young man, glaring at her. His cloths tattered, his face covered in dirt. He had a short, scruffy beard across his jaw line and over his lip and he had deep, teal eyes. Despite how much he had changed, Lynn recognized him almost instantly. She knew he was hers, his gaze was the same, his facial expressions were the same.
Her mouth fell open as she inched towards him. Though she could feel the hand of her love gripping her arm as she moved, but she swatted it away, "Blake, you've gotten so old."
She heard a snort come from the boy, rolling his eyes, "Yea, no thanks ta ya."
The pit fell again, she could feel it in the bottom of her stomach. The guilt came flooding back almost immediately as she says, "Where's your sister?"
Pain crossed the young man's eyes as his confident stance began to deteriorate slightly, "Sh-She's gone."
And there it was, the response she was to afraid to hear. One that she never would speak in her mind, but was there nonetheless. Her daughter never got to know her, never got to remember her face, her voice. And died without it, died without her actual father. Then something else went across her mind before she said, "What about your father?"
She then saw Blake's face go blank, almost as if any sorrow or anger dissolved and was pushed to the bottom of him, hidden under a wall as he said, "He died too. Just a few months after you left."
Her gaze looked over to the man behind him, staring in silence before matching Lynn's. He then murmured to her, "Is that your son?"
Lynn nodded slightly.
"Does that mean, his sister is-?"
He didn't have to finish the sentence, she knew what he was saying. A soft murmur escaped her in a weakened tone, "Y-Yea... she would have been."
His gaze hardened as he glared at Lynn, then spun on his heels, marching down the hill with his horse following, since he did have the reins gripped in his hands. Lynn called after him, saying, "No, Deanor. Come back."
Deanor didn't even look over his shoulder, didn't pause. He just kept walking till he escaped out of her sight. Lynn then looked back to Blake, his gaze still hard on her. Still accusing of her as he snarls, "You abandoned us."
"I know. I'm so sorry Blake."
The urge to run to him and hug him, to tell him how much she missed and loved him was almost too strong. But his glare was the only thing holding her back. And he held the glare as he snarled out to her, "You have no clue how much I've suffered because of you. Loosein' my sister, seein' my father dead, fightin' for my life. 'N ya were just all comfy cuddlin' some man at who knows where."
"I know"
"You coulda at least 'ave taken Eva 'n me with ya."
"It was more complicated then that, Blake."
"No, a mum's job is ta care 'n love her children, no matter wha'. 'N ya didn' even care, ya jus' left. Abandoned us."
Lynn's breath caught in her throat as he spoke. She knew what he said was true, every word of it. "I'm sorry Blake. I really am."
He just snorted and spun on his heels, walking down the hill. She stood alone on the hill that her old home use to stand. Lynn had never felt so alone in her life as she did at that moment.
She walked down the cold cobblestone path, feeling the chill bite into her. As she stopped in front of the fountain, she peered into it to see a thin layer of ice on the edges of the water. Even that felt bleak and empty, she then turned her gaze up to see a little girl, curled up into a tight ball, hugging her cloak to her. The girl's back was to Lynn, and she sat on a bench beside the fountain. She was probably eight or nine, her hair was down her back in dark ringlets.
Lynn moved around the fountain, easing herself on the bench beside the little girl, saying in a softened tone, "You all alone?"
The girl's gaze quickly snapped up to Lynn, her eyes a deep, beautiful shade of green while the rest of her face was soft and pale. She was a beautiful girl, Lynn had to admit that. The girl finally slowly shook her head, indicating her answer was no.
"Oh? Where's your friend?" Lynn asked, her gaze shifting to the area around as if expecting to find a mother or a father that looked like the girl in some way.
The girl just pointed over to the tavern by them, which Lynn assumed she met that whoever she was with was inside while she sat out here. Though something about the girl was oddly silent, as if she was either to shy or she just didn't generally talk.
Finally Lynn looked back to the girl, murmuring out softly, "I see. What's your name?"
A weak, mouse like voice escaped the girl. It was gentle and almost comforting, but it was quiet and caused Lynn to have to strain her ears to hear as the girl said, "Nimeway."
Lynn tilted her head again as she looked into the girls green eyes, "Nimeway? That sounds very pretty. My name's Lynn."
The softest, almost warmest smile spread across Nimeway's face, warming Lynn's heart. Something about the girl comforted the loneliness that Lynn had typically been feeling since she told Deanor about Eva.
"Well Nimeway, I have nothing to do right now. My friend is angry with me and my son is even more angry."
The little girl tilted her head slightly before saying in the same weak voice, "Why are they angry at you?"
"I did a really bad thing about eight years ago, and they haven't forgiven me for it. But I can't really blame them."
"But everyone does bad things. They can't be that mad at you."
Lynn laughed slightly, the girl's words were so oddly wise for her size. It was something no one could have seen coming, "Well, Nimeway. People get mad really easy. It's how the world works."
"I think that's really dumb."
"So do I."
They fell silent for a little bit, snow beginning to drift down over them, hitting the ground softly before Lynn speaks up again, saying, "Does your mom... or does your dad normally leave you out here alone?"
Nimeway nodded slightly, "When we come to Bree."
"Does anyone watch over you?"
"My sister."
"Where is she now?"
"Inside."
"Oh."
Silence fell over again as Lynn looked at the ground, now covered with a soft layer of snow. She let out a long sigh before saying, "Well, it's not really safe to be out here all alone in the cold at your age."
Nimeway's gaze had never left Lynn, even in the silence. The little girl's eyes were so sweet and loving that Lynn sort of just wanted to pick her up and take her home. But Lynn knew she couldn't, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. Nimeway had been silent for a little bit before she says softly with a shrug, "You're never safe."
'You're never safe'. The words rang through Lynn's head a few times. The girl was right, even if she was with her parents she wouldn't have been safe, but instead of admitting that, Lynn said, "But you are slightly safer than out here alone."
Nimeway's skinny shoulders shrugged, "I don't like being around a lot of people though."
Lynn sighed again, "I guess I can understand that."
Finally a pretty young woman with long blonde hair came out, almost running to Nimeway as she glared at Lynn. Her blue eyes were almost scary when they glared at Lynn, "Who is this, Nime?"
The little girl looked up before saying, "A friend."
The woman snorted, pulling Nimeway to her feet before saying, "Come on." The two walked off, Nimeway glancing over her shoulder to wave to Lynn with her only free hand, the other one being pulled off by the woman. How did Lynn not notice it, the warm smile, green eyes? It was so familiar, so very familiar. Yet it couldn't be, could it?
'the warm smile, green eyes'
by StephanieVALENTINE
