After Daphne first met her grandmother, the middle-aged woman insisted she stay with the family in their home. The house was very large and fairly lavish, but also held the whispers of memories of a time it had not been nearly so empty. Now, it only held Daph's grandmother, a few servants, a friend of her grandmother's and her Aunt Berarna, who was only around ten years older than Daphne herself and remained unmarried.
For weeks they had talked and came to know each other. Her aunt had begun teaching her to read and write only a couple days after they met, and her grandmother allowed her to help where she could in the mercery. Each night, she would go to bed with some new piece of her puzzle found. And each night, she would wear her father's tunic to bed and sleep with a familiar sword within grasp. As comfortable and well-loved as she felt here, it would never be her home. Nor would her family all be here. But that was alright with her...it was meant to be that way, she felt. And it was still very pleasant.
One evening, after a particularly hard day of learning to read, the three women reclined on cushioned benches for a well earned moment of rest. Daph's grandmother had a story to tell. A very important story which she'd never heard in entirety. The story of how the two families became interconnected despite being regions apart.
"He was the finest seasmter in all of Bree-land, your father. The name of "Billy Jewelweed" was known all throughout! He hated hearing it, mind you. Always went by William, but nobody there seemed to listen!" She chuckled to herself and Daphne merely waited for her to continue.
"Now, Andras...your mother, was one of our best workers by the time she reached...oh...fifteen winters? No matter where she went, she always seemed to manage to get our wares sold. We'd never been to Bree before she was nearly sixteen. Many other lands, but not Bree." She sighed with a wistful look. "I did love when we would take our caravan out. Selling our cloth to new people in different lands."
Daphne smiled and nodded in understanding. "You would like my...boss." She paused for a moment. "I mean, the people I work with...er...have traveled a lot. Seen things." This caused her aunt to cackle in good nature. "How many adjectives and titles did you have to think through before you settled on "boss" there?"
Her grandmother shushed them both with a smile. "Do you want the rest of the story or not??" Daphne and Berarna promptly fell silent and turned their attention back to her.
"Let's see...oh, yes! Business in Esgaroth was not always so...fruitful, which is why we no longer need to caravan, though we did then. Now, Andras was nearly sixteen when we came to Bree. But nobody seemed interested in our "fancy, frilly outsider cloths"." Daph chuckled at her Bree-lander impersonation and she smiled a moment before continuing.
"Finally, we heard about this Billy Jewelweed. He was apparently trying to start up a business of his own. His skill was highly spoken of, but nothing most folk needed or wanted. It was just as well for most of them to use the same cloth and make passable clothing, than pay for anything he could do. So, we sought him out. Took awhile, but we found him working his father's farm. When we saw him, we thought we had the wrong man! Tall, strong, young...why, he was just about your age!"
She patted Daph's knee when she said this, causing Daph to blink. She had never known her parents' ages before.
"Anyway, once we spoke to him, he lit up. Took us to see what he was capable of. Finer needlework, we never had seen...even by soft hands which had seen nothing but the life of needlework! Andras though...we weren't sure if she was impressed by him or his work. He was clearly impressed by her too...until it came to haggling price. She won of course...but only after she promised to allow him to make her a dress."
Daphne smiled. She knew her father was a very sweet man, and could easily imagine him thoroughly besotted with her mother and insisting on making her something.
Her grandmother smiled and shook her head at the memory. "He promised he'd have it done by the next time we arrived. After we left, he wrote often. Three letters each time. One to the family, one to Andras and one to my husband and I. We, of course, kept an eye on the words passing between our daughter and him...but they were, both of them, honourable. A year passed...a little over, and we found ourselves back. Andras asked if he'd made the dress. Nearly her first words to him, as though she thought he'd forgotten. My husband nodded at him and he left the room, returning with the most beautiful wedding gown we had ever seen! It was not expensive like some Gondorian noble or anything. It was simple, but very elegant. Your mother didn't expect that at all, and burst into tears!"
Berarna chuckled. "I'd have slapped him to make sure I was awake, and if I was, that he knew what he was getting into!" Her mother poked her and shook her head with a smile. "She was young, not an old maid like you. Hmm, maybe that's part of why you are..." They both laughed and Daphne couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy and pain. She never got such moments with her mother.
She made sure her face conveyed none of that when her grandmother turned back to her. "You can guess the rest. They were married soon after, and had you around a year later. We visited fairly often for four years...until my husband fell ill and passed from this life."
She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. "Then...my sweet daughter...my fiery little Andras..." She sighed, then smiled through her tears and touched Daphne's cheek. "You look very much like your father. But you have so much of your mother's spirit. It is so beautiful to see the both of them in you after they went on."
Daphne swallowed hard to keep from shedding her own tears. She had known so little of her parents. Hearing of them and who they were somehow helped her understand some of who she was. She was already herself...but now she was learning why parts of herself were as they were.
"When you learn to read, you can see the letters from your father and mother." These words caused Daph to simultaneously become excited and groan inwardly. She already had enough reason to learn and her brain was becoming no less tired that evening...
