Dal held the baby in his arms as padded through the now silent mansion. The screams of her birth had finally faded from his ears, her cries just a faint echo in the corners of his mind. How she had slid into his waiting hands like a bloody, goo covered lump of meat, something he'd get from the Shire for their dinner. That moment of uncertainty....was she just something to break a mother's heart or was her will to live strong and powerful to shatter lives and rebuild them in a different shape.
It didn't take long for her to answer that, bawling out her discomfort at the cool air stinging her newly opened lips as soon as he held her, wriggling and kicking. There was something honoured, special about being the first to hold new life. To look down into large, clumsy hands and see that intake, feeling it on his palm as her chest quivered into action for the first time in her life. Something sacred.
Now he walked through a hall that was dim, lit only by moonlight. Her mother slept, as did child, peaceful and exhausted by their journeys that night. Even as he stepped out the door into the cooler night air she did not stir, wrapped in blankets and a shawl, her name stitched on it...Voilet.
If anyone had looked up at the hill that night of new life they would have seen a man and baby, walking towards the crest of the road where the flowers grew, their stems waving in the moon's breath as their closed heads slumbered and bobbed in muted shades of the colourful dance of day. He stepped carefully through them, unwilling to crush even their life as he finally reached the bandstand, folding legs that usually bumbled and crashed under him to sit, rocking her slowly and gazing at the stars, murmuring,
“When I was born my mother crawled from her tent to watch the stars little one, even though she were exhausted and weak. She lay there with me in her arms, gazing up as a light rain fell to her face. That's when she declared I had a strong future, a shadow behind the light, a force pushing and guarding unseen as darkness is overlooked in a blazing day's sun. But..she was a proper seer, a true seer. Not like me.”
His eyes looked down warmly, chuckling as the child finally stirred, a pudgy hand punching as the blankets as she gave a sour sounding little gurgle as finding herself in a cold place, quite unlike the crib she had fallen asleep in.
“I don't have that talent, that gift Voilet but...I do try and read the signs, as she taught me. I get feelings too, like when your little friend was born. He had a long, hard journey and found rest. The mark of an explorer you see. Quite unlike you who burst into the world and marked your presence immediately. I don't know if you'll know hardship and battle like he will....or if you do, you may just sail through with a determined smile and battle cry.”
A small laugh as he leaned back, ignoring the baby's small grunts of demand, stroking the small, wispy tufts of dark brown hair as he gazed upwards, eyes searching the skies, “You look the image of your father....yet he ran. You must have the spirit of your mother then, to battle through so directly to the world. Or maybe something all of your own...”
Suddenly it came to him, his eyes widening, nodding hurriedly and looking down, pressing a finger to her rumpled little nose, whispering, “You shall be a leader little Voilet....a pathfinder and strong figure. That is what I see for you. To be at the front and cleave a path for those weaker.” He paused, gazing up again before his lips split into a wide, relived smile of acceptance and knowledge, whispering, “A leader...”
