Xanderian sat beside the great bronze and crystal mirror, turned to face the full moon from the highest point on Tol Lochul. She watched the stars silently, occasionally moving her hand through the bright beam of moonlight that the mirror reflected into the sky, like a child playing in a tide pool. From below, the sounds of Edu and Dee arguing about something unimportant drifted up, punctuated by the occasional sound of breaking crockery and curses that would make an orc prostitute with an extensive vocabulary blush. Occasionally over the two would be the piping sounds of Nimlindir, attempting to keep the peace as the two women struggled to become family.
Calidis sat nearby, her slender back to the brass carriage of the mirror, gazing out across the water. She was watching how the reflection of the stars rippled with the ebb and flow of the waves and wondered what lesson could be taken from it. She sighed as she heard the endless argument down below and shook her head slightly, though it was clear she had more thoughts on the subject.
Xanderian smiled and reached out, petting her companion’s dark hair softly. Calidis’ hair was like her own yet more lustrous, softer, even seemingly even darker black. Xan tilted her head and watched Calidis, smiling to herself. In all ways Calidis always seemed more graceful and refined than she did, the grace of ages upon her. Around her, Xan always felt ham-handed and awkward, or too loud and brash. She wore her great age so effortlessly that she made Xan feel even younger than she was, despite her many travels.
Xan shrugged to Calidis slightly, reading her pensive expression. 'They have followed this pattern for days....they will argue to the death over how best to cook an egg, or the precise color of a cloak...and then weep and embrace and speak of memories and regrets and hopes until the next time they wrangle…which is always quite soon...'
Calidis relaxed into Xanderian’s touch, her black eyes closing for a short moment, sighing in contentment. Then her eyes opened, looking concerned and wary. "... Do you trust her, this Daedre? I like not how she speaks to Eduwiges. I understand why but... I worry that she may use Eduwige's noble and open heart to her own advantage." Clearly, there was more upon her mind concerning Edu and Dee but she did not give voice to it yet.
'It is possible...” Xan nodded thoughtfully. “She has spent her life as a thief and a con woman....but I believe her desire to restore her lost love is real, and Edu shares that desire if only to meet her true father....so I do not see her willfully betraying us. What concerns me more is her being used by outside forces....'
Calidis nodded and closed her eyes again. "It seems that is the way with evil. To take those who are near and dear to us, or those we have lost and found again, and use them to strike against us again and again. First Nethrida and her mother and now possibly Eduwiges..."
Xan looked out to sea, her eyes growing veiled. 'Perhaps that is also the way of mothers....'
Calidis went silent for a moment, then nodded. 'Perhaps... It was not the way of my mother. I was very different from her and I took after my father in many ways, but she loved that as well, for she loved my father. It... pains and baffles me how other mothers were and are not as she was. I was naive and thought my own to be the norm."
Xanderian turned, and drawing Cali’s head closer kissed her softly on the forehead. 'I barely remember my mother, the Lady Morwen. What images I have of her are more from visions then true encounters. In each vision she had the same advice, sometimes subtle, sometimes direct. With me, she always counselled....well...surrender. To give up, to cease caring and striving and simply...float away.”
Calidis frowned, 'From what I witnessed at Xanir's funeral, I suspect that the nature of your family bore little resemblance to the relationship I had with mine. If so, I am sorry for it.'
You say, 'Indeed.... but Gawad resents her far more than I do...I mainly feel...sorry for her. My sister truly despises her, and that fact colors everything about her. Xandilif cannot bear indifference, which is all she ever felt from our Mother. She WILL provoke a reaction, a response, in everyone she meets....One way....or another.”
Calidis smiled. "Though perhaps, in the girl, Finchley, she did not quite get the reaction she wanted." She gazed up to the night sky again, the light of the stars reflecting and pooling in the black depths of her eyes. "... I miss her."
Xanderian nodded softly. "I miss Small Finchley as well.....and fear for her....but that is the way with the Banshee, she does not want a specific reaction, she wants ANY reaction and will usually take what she can get.”
Calidis smiled a bit. "So it would seem….” Then she fell silent, struggling with the thoughts that had been pursuing her of late. Finally she took both Xanderian’s hands in hers and spoke. “I encountered a man in the archives of Bree when searching for reading material for Ryn. He seemed frightened and I recalled when Xandilif dubbed me 'creepy' and staring. I asked Ryn if I was frightening and she said no but that it might be because she has seen many horrors. Somehow, that did not calm my worries at all."
'You are not a horror, my beloved...” Xan lifted her hands and kissed them softly as reassurance. “...but you do take more time in contemplation and silence then most, you have never felt the need for haste and brevity that the sons of Numenor feel. And as for Creepy...I think Xandilif was simply trying to push you, to see what would happen if she challenged you. She....is protective in her way. You should have heard the things she said to Cyndwin when she still resided upon the island and the two of them would clash often.'
Calidis nodded, 'I understand. And I respect her for it... She is strong in ways that I cannot be. Though, I have been trying my best to be stronger for what lies ahead.'
'Xandilf has always been so, since I first remember her....and I suspect to a great degree that has been for my benefit.' Xan looked back out towards the sea.
Calidis moved closer to her. "That is because she loves you... But, even so, I am glad that there is someone there that can support her in strength or in weakness." She smiled a little wider. "Even if that someone is small and seemingly powerless. She is more than meets the eye in the end."
'Small Finchley is...an endless revelation.” The huntress laughed softly. She could never think of Finchley without smiling. “I admit when I sent the Banshee to gather her in after Hawke...well...I had assumed she would need to lean upon me. Little did I see that in fact I, and ultimately most of us, have had to lean upon HER.'
Calidis nodded, her voice dropping into a frightened whisper. 'Do you think... that she will come back from Fornost alive?'
Xanderian stared at her companion for a moment, 'Is THAT the fear you have not spoken of to me, the one I feel in your moments of repose, when all pretense deserts you?'
Calidis looked away, blushing softly, '... It is a mere part of a growing fear, yes.'
Xan nodded, and sat up. 'Speak to me of all of it then, and then I will render my view....'
Calidis struggled for a moment, then steeling her nerve, began speaking. '... The forces working against us are powerful and seemingly insurmountable. With Nethrida's mother being worn like clothing by Mans, Eduwiges' father trapped in an uncertain doom in Angmar, and Finchley's fate uncertain as it is, it feels like the walls are closing in about us. Even Addiela, as I've noticed, seems to repress that power that is in her, though that seems to do her just as much harm... I am well versed in loss but that does not mean that I wish to experience it prematurely.'
The Monk of Osgilliath thought for a few moments, then spoke softly and firmly. 'I do not know how we shall deal with Mans now hidden away back in Kheledul, or when we do, what the fate of Nethrida's mother will be, but deal with him we will...and we will free Edu's sire in time, though again I know not how save for that strange weapon Dee keeps beside her....and as for Finch, I cannot shake the confidence that she will indeed return to us, somehow all the better for her ordeals, with a cheery greeting and a desperate demand for food. As for Sister Addie, I suspect she will learn to embrace what she has always feared for I doubt Leon will let her do otherwise.'
Calidis nodded and squeezed her hands. "And your sister?..."
“My sister, Xandilif the Banshee, Champion of the Azure Faithful, the Maiden of Madness…. is as she is, and she will always be as she is. We would be better served watching the Misty Mountains awaiting them to be laid low.'
Calidis shook her head, 'I meant that I was worried for her as I worry for others. Whether she provokes reactions or not, she is not uncared for.'
Xanderian raised an eyebrow. "I admit I am surprised to hear you express concern for her...you had seemed to dwell upon the ways she has slighted you. Not as earnestly or with as much vitriol as Hooded Ryn has done, but I did not think there was much charity in you towards her.
Calidis looked down to her lap. "... She is your sister. As I am yours so too are you mine. Therefore, she is as important to me as she is to you... I realize that I speak little, but that in no way means that I do not care for others."
Xanderian lifted Cal’s chin with her fingertips and kissed the dark eyed elf gently. "Never would I think that....I know the depths of your heart, Nighteye, as perhaps no other does.” To illustrate her pint, she kissed her slowly but more deeply as the moonlight flowed around them.
Just then Eduwiges huffed and puffed as she climbed the last steps to the mirror, 'By Bema! Why the two of you always climb up here is beyond me! No more black market pipeweed dens in Minas Tirith for me!' She reached the top, took a deep breath, and realized the two elves were kissing. 'Oh, sorry' she stammered like a schoolgirl.
Xanderian broke the kiss gracefully, looking up..."Hail my lynx.”
Calidis smiled at Xan and then stretched her hand out for Eduwiges. But then, she paused and raised a brow. "... They have black market pipeweed dens in Minas Tirith?"
Xan whispered. “Indeed..I blame Lif for showing Edu ever dark corner in Gondor.”
Eduwiges smiled shyly then sought to change the subject, 'That woman is on my last nerve! Ooooh!'
Xan nodded firmly. 'Such is the way with mothers, dear heart...now come here and sit with us."
Calidis shifted to the side a bit to make room for Edu.
Eduwiges sat down eagerly and kissed both Xan and Calidis in an overly friendly greeting. 'I missed this...'
Xanderian kissed the tall woman in return. 'We have been reflecting on our concerns as to what transpires in Fornost...and beyond.'
Calidis turned a little pinkish at all the kissing, but just a little. She was growing used to Xanderian’s ways. "Rather, Xanderian has been soothing my endless concerns and queries, as per usual. Would that I had your unflinching confidence, Eduwiges."
Eduwiges shrugged, 'I may be foolhardy as a rule, but I am very glad not to be in Fornost Cal. Of all my travels, that is one place that frightened me."
Calidis nodded in understanding. "... I remember when the hosts of Imladris left to oust the Witch King of Angmar from Fornost ages ago. Or rather, I remember watching them leave from my window. It was strange to watch a different and far smaller host, consisting of our friends, leave for that cursed place."
Xan sighed. 'For the moment, all we can do is trust in our friends...and in those with whom we have allied.'
Eduwiges grinned, 'That being said, My money is on Lif. She will tear those creepies up and get the ahh, what is it they are after again?' she rubbed her head in irritation.
Xanderian laughed softly at both of them. "They seek a chalice called the Chalice Without Mercy...and the Banshee would be no end of annoyed that you compared her and her band with the hosts of Imladris, Nighteye.
Calidis paused and then smiled a bit. "We shall add bad comparisons to the list of things she finds distasteful about me. We will write it in under 'creepy'."
Eduwiges looked at Calidis in astonishment, 'Cal? Did you just make a joke?' she snickered and began to laugh. “Lif is a host I would not want to tangle with and she will keep track of both Finch and Neth. I do worry about that band of misfits they took with them though, that Cat and the other one.'
Xanderian struggled not to smile...holding Cal's hand. "Soon Nik will change your name, and dub you Giggly Knife ears instead of..well...what he calls you.."
Calidis blinked. "Nik has a name for me?"
Xanderian bit her lip and nodded softly, whising now she had not mentioned it. "He has named all of us, of course. He calls Lif “Yelpy Knife Ears” and myself, “Whiny Knife ears”....I have no idea why.”
Eduwiges rolled to her side and propped her head up with her hand, She brushed her hair away from her face and looked at Cal, 'I guess he likes you if he named you. Pray he does not like you too much...'
Calidis sighed. "I suppose I shall hear what he calls me sooner or later. I shall endure it with patience." She attempted to look confident in that statement.
Xan bit her lip again, best to get it over with. 'Well.... he calls Eduwiges “Highpockets”…and he calls you “Spooky Knife Ears”.....'
Calidis blinked again. "Spooky. Really? What is the me-... Oh, never mind."
Xanderian considered what to say...and finally just kissed Calidis slowly, shamelessly, in a way she seldom did in public.
Calidis kissed Xan back and turned a little pinkish about the ears even as Edu laughed happily. “When you come up for air, Spooky...it’s my turn…”
Just then Nimlindir came into view at the base of the stairs, calling up. “Dear Eduwiges, your mother is unhappy with the house Ale, and insists you acquire her a keg of something called Brown Eastfold Trollblood…whatever that may be. Please...come and parlay with her?”
Huffing again, Eduwiges left the pleasant scene and tromped back down, cursing quite colorfully and descriptively as she did so.
Cal looked at Xanderian and blushed brightly at Edu’s words. “I didn’t know a rider could even DO such a thing on horseback….”
Xan nodded sagely, “Indeed, it is due to the horses being so well trained, the rider can have both hands free...among other things.”
And so they both returned to contemplating the moon…and worrying about their friends in treacherous Fornost.
