The Strangling

"Why would you?"

Her expression was so innocently questioning that he couldn't help but laugh. “Yes, why would we know? We knew what was foretold, but there is much to learn.” He smiled, a rich sense of anticipation growing in him as he considered learning more of Maerose of Riversbend.

She looked pensive. “I might not be the one you are looking for, have you consider that?"

"I know it here.” He put his hand to his heart. “Beyond that, what you have said has just confirmed it. Your connection to the place is strong. There was only one young woman in your village

who fitted the prediction.” He paused a while, wishing now that it were not the case. He pushed the urge away, though. It was their destiny to do this; no matter what his personal feelings on the matter were, he must overcome them. “Did your mother tell you anything more? Was much about the place and its history passed down to you?"

She shook her head. “I don't remember much, although sometimes fragments of what she told me come to me in dreams."

Bron felt as if he had found a rich seam of gold. “Did you always have such dreams?"

"Yes, but not with such frequency as I have had these last few nights. I have dreamt of my mother a lot.” She frowned, staring down at her hands. “I dreamt of a strange deathlike place, when I was being held by Veldor. Do you think it is significant?"

"It might be. Your dreams may be made up of memory, fears and wishes, most people's are. But if you have a connection to the place, there may be more to it. What happened when you were in this strange place?"

She frowned as she thought back over it. “I remember it being very dark. I stood as if within a chink of moonlight. Shadows moved all around me and the trees looked like skeletons."

He nodded. It could be the very place.

"My mother walked out of the shadows and told me to remember the lessons she taught me, and to be strong."

"Your mother watches over you."

"My father always said she would, but I have not felt it so much before now."

Bron couldn't help wondering if this fey blood was preparing her in some way. “Sadly, The Strangeling is an ugly, deathlike place now."

"You've been there?"

He nodded. “I had to know what lay ahead."

She continued to brood on her thoughts and then looked at him with narrowing eyes. “There's one thing I don't understand—if everyone died there, who related the tale?"

He threw back his head and laughed. “Maerose, you are everything that was promised and more. I warrant you'll think of everything."

She smiled but pressed him again.

He picked up his dish and shrugged. “The story is related in the elder scrolls. We can only guess that one of the elders was witness.” He sipped his apple and honey brew, watching her over the edge of the dish.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Perhaps the elder had taken on another form, like you did when you came for me, and watched from afar, or from above."

He took another sip from his dish to hide his smile. Her inquisitive nature was something to be admired.

"Is it very different, your life as an elder, to ours?"

Again, she surprised him. “In some ways, yes. There is much to be studied and learnt. It is basically a community though, just like any other small village."

"There are women and children there?"

"Yes, although not all of us were born into the elder life, some of us were drawn to it, or taken in."

A smile played around her lips. “I have to admit I used to think you a very uppity lot."

His eyebrows lifted. “Why?"

"Oh, just the way you live, it's as if you are above us somehow."