CHAPTER 12 | MELISANDRE

THE next day, Ygritte found herself in a place very dear to her heart. She had broken her fast earlier than intended and made a quick escape to visit her mother before anyone else could rise. She brushed her fingertips along the soft, lushish flowers that sprung up like weeds all around the bright green opening and, in the center of all the exquisite flowers, resided an equally exquisite statue that resembled the very woman whom gave Ygritte life.

The statue brought tears to her eyes as she rounded it and came to stand in front it. She looked up with a smile. "Hello amil," she whispered in her mother's native tongue. "Ni have missed le."

Ygritte moved away from the statue a few paces to pluck a beautiful flower by its stem. She turned and walked back to where she was standing before, only to kneel down and place the flower at her mother's feet. "I hope you can find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me. I know it has been quite some time since I've been home╶ I never intend to be away for so long. I suppose I'm not only just following your path, but father's as well. I remember how angry you'd become when he journeyed away from home for too long..."

Ygritte remained silent for a few moments, then her voice came out sounding just as broken as her heart, a ballad her mother would often sing to her falling from her tongue.

"Roads go ever ever on, over rock and under tree, by caves where never sun has shone, by streams that never find the sea; over snow by winter sown, and through the merry flowers of June," Ygritte paused for a moment to gather her bearings. She could hear her mother singing now, as if she were right next to her. As if it was years ago and there they stood, together, washing and drying dishes after supper.

"Over grass and over stone, and under mountains in the moon," a new voice sang, startling her. Ygritte gasped and turned to see whom had arrived, only to find her father standing a few feet behind her with a smile on his face. "Your mother, she quite liked that song. She'd╶ "

"She'd sing it all the time, humming it even, as she tended to the garden or was washing the dishes," Ygritte finished.

"Her voice never failed to waver in tune, even with the years that passed and when her youth began to wither," Gandalf stated as he stepped closer. While staring up at the intricately carved statue of his dearly beloved, he said to his daughter, with a smile on his lips, "you sing just as beautifully."

Ygritte smiled. "Thank you, father."

Gandalf only nodded, a smile on his face. He then left, continuing the ballad Melisandre loved so much as his back faced his daughter. "Roads go ever ever on, under cloud and under star, yet feet that wandering have gone turn at last to home afar."

Ygritte closed her eyes and listened to his voice fade away the further he got. "Eyes that fire and sword have seen, and horror in the halls of stone look at last on meadows green and trees and hills they long have known..."

"Oh amil ... Ni mel tye so limbe," Ygritte whispered into the soft wind as she remained kneeling, eyes closed, and reminiscing on the bittersweet memories of her childhood.

The peaceful silence broke when there was a loud crack that startled Ygritte and caused her eyes to snap open and move in the direction she believed the noise had originated. Her wide, alert eyes met Aninth's guilty ones. The two blonds looked at each other with startled expressions for a moment before Aninth shook herself out of it.

"I'm sorry for intruding, you seemed like you wanted to be alone, I will leave╶ "

"No, no," Ygritte cut in quickly, rising to her feet, "it's alright. I didn't expect anyone else to be up at this hour."

"I always tend to wake early. I'm sorry that I disturbed you," Aninth apologized. Ygritte could tell she was regretting taking her stroll on this route, but Ygritte found herself not caring that her privacy had been interrupted. Afterall, unlike the Elves and her father, Aninth didn't know Ygritte's morning routine when she was back home.

"You didn't," Ygritte assured her. "I always come to visit my mother when I'm in Rivendell."

When Aninth's eyes went wide and she looked back up to the statue in shock, Ygritte found an amusing smirk creeping onto her face. She figured she would receive this sort of reaction. She always did.

Most people found it shocking that an Elven beauty such as her mother was able to snatch a man like Gandalf the Grey. Now if only I can see how the dwarves react, she thought, her smirk widening into an amusing grin that a quiet chuckle managed to escape through. How humorous that would be, when they discovered she had Elvish and the magical blood of a great wizard in her body.

"Most people do not know that my mother was an Elf," Ygritte told her new friend as she looked up at the statue's face. "Nor do they believe I am the daughter of a great wizard."

"I admit, I have been very curious about your mother since learning that Gandalf was your father." Aninth seemed to hesitate before asking the question Ygritte had been expecting for quite some time now, since everyone had learned her relation to her father. "Would you mind ... telling me about her?"

Ygritte shook her head and tucked her blond hair behind both her ears. "Not at all."

Aninth moved closer so as to peer up at the statue that she found so breathtaking. Her gaze continued to roam about the intricate carvings until Ygritte decided to begin the story of her parents.

"My mother was beautiful," Ygritte began with a smile etched on her features. She didn't look at Aninth as she spoke, she looked up to her mother's stone eyes, but she could feel Aninth's curious gaze on her face as she spoke. "I know you must think I say such things because I am her daughter, but even strangers thought she was enticing. Few of her many alias given to her by admirable suitors out for her hand, had been 'Melisandre the Marvelous' or 'Melisandre the Divine.' Everyone knew of her beauty. Some, I believe, only traveled to Rivendell to see if the rumors spoken by men and enviess woman were truthful. My father used to tell her she was like the sun; bright and radiant and the breath of dawn in his every morning."

"I must agree that she was beautiful," Aninth said, smiling as she looked up to the statue.

"I suppose I can thank the men in the sky for gifting me with her beauty."

"I must agree with you, my friend." A smirk curved onto Aninth's face and her eyes danced with amusement. "I can't even begin to imagine you with gray hair and a beard."

Ygritte broke out into fits of laughter as she began to think about what she would look like if she had long, gray hair and a beard to match. Aninth followed in suit, her mouth opening and her own laughter mixing in with Ygritte's. Their amusement lasted for quite some time, even waking Ryvniss from his slumber. The Pygmy Dragon grumbled and Aninth set him down. Ygritte watch him leave, still amazed that she was able to be so close to an actual dragon.

"How did they meet?" Aninth asked when their laughter had died.

"You'd think it was so causal a meeting, but it was nothing of the sort." Ygritte smirked lightly at the mere thought of their meeting. Aninth's eyes seemed to fill with even more curiosity at this statement.

"As you must have discovered by now, my mother was not your average lady. Lord Elrond crafted her a blade of fine steel." Ygritte unsheathed her mother's sword as she continued, and held it out in her palms for Aninth to see it. "A jewel founded by Lord Elrond himself, in the falls of Rivendell, as you can see, was placed within the grip. This sword alone could buy me so much, though I have no desire to ever rid myself of it."

"May I?" Aninth asked, gesturing toward the blade. Ygritte nodded, allowing Aninth to take it into her hands and observe it closer. The weight alone was shocking. The expression on Aninth's face caused Ygritte to chuckle.

"The weight is shocking, I presume?"

Aninth nodded. "Very."

"I admit, it always surprises me as well. Lord Elrond crafted it so well that it lacks comparison to that of normal sword. Believe my words when I speak how it moves far better than any blade I've ever had the pleasure of wielding."

"As you should, it's a fine blade," Aninth responded, handing the blade back to Ygritte, who placed it back in its casing.

"Anyway," Ygritte continued, "Lord Elrond gifted my mother with it when she began to reveal her adventurous side to her kin. You can imagine how thrilled my grandmother must have been when her only daughter refused to be the lady she wanted her to be."

Aninth smiled. "My grandmother was the same way. She wanted my mother to just stay in Erebor, raise a family but my mother never could keep still for too long."

Ygritte nodded. She had assumed so, seeing as Aninth and herself had much in common. Other than the fact they were the same in stature, their eyes were blue and full of adventure, and their hair blond, they are strong women whom were always trying to prove themselves worthy to the minds of doubt. Mainly the minds of disbelieving men that typically think they belong in a kitchen or in a bed.

"She began to go on adventures, my mother, with this sword never leaving her hip," Ygritte continued. "I've gone nearly everywhere she has, just by following her journal. I will have to show it to you one day, if you'd like?"

Aninth eagerly nodded. "That would be lovely, actually. I admire a woman whom takes a weapon."

"As do I," Ygritte agreed. "She recorded everything, including the moment she ventured into the Whispering Woods."

Aninth's brows furrowed. "The Whispering Woods? I don't recall such a place."

"As you should. It isn't known to many now. My father lived there only for a few years╶ he didn't stay long. He claimed the voices in the trees got too loud for him to bear." A smirk curved it's way onto Ygritte's lips. "I do believe his claims were a lie, though. I see the truth in his eyes everytime he tells me the tale of their love. He merely desired to see my mother again, that is why I suspect he left."

Aninth smiled.

"You see, she had stumbled upon my father's home without even realizing. Her horse got spooked by the spell my father kept nearby, so as to avoid trespassers and lurking dangers that came with the whispers. She never did say what her horse got spooked by or what sort of spell it was in her journal, but her horse had ran so fast, jumping trees and rocks. So fast that she couldn't stop him. She fell and hit her head. When my mother awoke, she found herself in my father's home. She described it as small, but ever-so cozy."

"Ah, I see," Aninth smirked knowingly. "So he was her, what do they say, 'Knight in armour'?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," Ygritte laughed. "He patched up her head and even though it was a short meeting, their love had never been stronger. She wrote in her journals that the great Gandalf the Grey had swooned her heart with just one look."

Aninth's brows furrowed. "Did she not stay?"

"No, she left not long after she was healed. Two years later, when my father traveled to Rivendell, did they reunite. Mother always said it was as if no time had passed by. She loved him dearly."

"How did she die?" Aninth asked.

Ygritte frowned and her eyes closed for a few moments, her mind going back to the last memory she ever had with her mother. She can still feel the weak kiss her mother had placed on the tip of her nose before she went to sleep that night and it made her heart hurt.

"A fever took her in the dawn. We still have no knowledge of the illness that had fallen upon her. It was incurable, unreconizable╶ Lord Elrond tried every remedy, but to no avail. She took her last breath in the arms of my father." Melancholy tears began to roll down Ygritte's cheeks as she recalled that morning and how she had walked from her room to see her mother, only to find her father with tear stained cheeks clutching gingerly, her mother's motionless form.

"I remember waking that morning. I wanted to tell my mother of the sweet dreams I had been blessed with in the night, but there she was." Ygritte's words seemed to get caught in her throat for a few moment. She swallowed down the sobs and forced herself to keep going. "So strange ... how cold her skin felt, when for days her skin had burned like the pits of Mordor. She was beautiful even as she laid still in my father's arms." Her voice began to break with emotion, causing Aninth to frown and lay a hand against her arm, rubbing up and down in attempt to comfort her.

"I miss her," Ygritte admitted painfully.

"Death is peaceful for souls such as your mother," Aninth assured her. "I know she is well now. I imagine she is with my mother and father, and looking down upon us from the sky with smiles and pride."

Ygritte's tear-filled eyes lifted to meet Aninth's and she smiled, her droplets of tears dripping from her cheeks and staining her shirt. "Thank you."

"Of course. I do have a question though, if you do not mind?"

"Not at all," Ygritte said. She used her hand to wipe away her tears and she cleared her throat, willing herself to stop crying. If she completely broke down, Ygritte wasn't sure she would be able to stop crying. And she really didn't want to have her friend think was weak. Especially now when their journey had taken the next step with Lord Elrond revealing the moon runes.

"Lord Elrond, did he ... love her? I apologize if it is too brash, I just feel╶ "

"No, it's quite alright," Ygritte interrupted her, "really. And as to answer your question ... yes. Lord Elrond loved my mother. He wanted to take her hand, but her heart was on a different path than his. She wanted to see the world while as he wanted to have a family with her. But despite their different desires, their friendship never ceased to end. Lord Elrond felt happiness when she met my father and bore me a few years after, as he had always admired the man my father is. He loved her until her very last breath. I dare say╶ "

Suddenly, Aninth clutched at her side, crying out in pain. Her hand retracted from Ygritte's arm as she stumbled backwards to lean back against a pillar. Ygritte stopped talking immediately and her teary eyes were quick to fill with worry for the other blond.

"Are you alright?" Ygritte asked.

"Fine, fine, I think Ryvniss is having too much fun hunting," she joked, giving a small laugh.

Ygritte's brows furrowed in confusion. What did Ryvniss has to do with her pain?

"Sorry," Aninth said after noticing her expression, "that doesn't make much sense to you, does it?"

"None at all," Ygritte admitted.

"Well, remember how I told you about the ancient magic that allowed my people to bond with the Pygmy Dragons?" Ygritte nodded. "Well, that bond is extremely strong."

Aninth eased herself down onto a bench and Ygritte sat down next to her, her worry still evident in her eyes, which had now stopped spilling tears.

"Did you ever wonder how my people were wiped out so quickly?" Aninth asked.

"A lot of people did," Ygritte answered.

"Here's your answer. The bond between Dragonkin and Pygmy Dragon is one of the strongest out there, whatever happens to one of us, happens to the other. If one gets sick with something that can't be cured, so does the other. If Ryvniss gets struck with an Orc's arrow and wounded, I am wounded too." Ygritte looked down to Aninth's wound and it all suddenly made sense in that moment. "If he stretches his wound and it hurts, mine hurts," Aninth explained.

"Amazing!" Ygritte said, eyes wide in astonishment.

"Most of the time, I agree."