Impurities

Chapter Twenty Four: Unintended

Effortlessly Ezra carried a stack of freshly axed wood into the home. When he reached the inner room, he set the logs down unto the kitchen table only to pick them back up again. He recalled how cross Annawrete had been with him the last time he did this and opted to lay the wood down in one of the chairs instead. He was her least favorite person--- but he was trying his best to be less so everyday. If she would put away her coldness towards him, they might actually work and everything that they have suffered might not be for nothing. "I've gotten more work", Ezra called out into the house. He listened for the silence before picking out two logs from the stack. He was to add them to the preexisting fire in the hearth, when his wife came into the room.

Both of them had changed. Annawrete was now so heavily burdened with child that she stopped leaving the house. Ezra's changes were more voluntary. He had grown out his hair and beard and created an honest living for himself doing carpentry. "Have you been paid in advance?" Annawrete asked without making eye contact. Ezra shook his head as she passed. "No", he answered, "The client wants the finished product before paying." They were almost out of money---again. "Things will pick up", Ezra vowed, "I promise". Annawrete didn't believe him---not anymore.

At the hearth, Ezra added logs to the crackling fire but not before tearing his saddened eyes from the image of her turned back. He had just stood back up when Annawrete screamed. The pool of liquid at her feet was her just ruptured water. She gripped the top of the counter she had started cooking at as if it would ensure her survival. She was going into labor.

A handful of children had just arrived in Mirkwood. Infants, male and female, they were half Elvin. Born yesterday, or the day before, it was obvious they were conceived at a certain party months ago. Thranduil watched critically from a balcony. "Father", Legolas appeared, "What is to be done?" After the king saw the last babe enter through to the inside, in the arms of her human mother, he turned to face his son.

"We will identify the Elvin fathers and they will raise their child", Thranduil said. "As for the half Elvin born to our elleth", he paused, "They will fit better living amongst elves than with their human fathers. We will not burden the elleth mothers to raise them alone. They will be raised illegitimate by the palace". Legolas looked surprised. He had not been expecting such a decision from his father. It definitely wasn't what Bard and Thranduil had agreed upon several months ago---then again, Thranduil hadn't thought they'd actually be faced with these circumstances.

In the converted nursery, the king and the prince saw that the nine babies brought from Laketown had settled in with the three born today to elleth mothers. Two more elleths were suspected of carrying children fathered by men, but only time, a day or two, would tell. "His name is Theo", a woman said of her baby. She kept her gaze on the child in his crib.

"T-H-E-O", she spelled out, "Please let his father know---when you find him". Thranduil came to pick up the boy. He had dark brown hair, but the brightest of green eyes---eyes which were clearly given to him by his Elvin father. "Until his father is identified", Thranduil began, "We are his family". The mother looked up then to find that the king had placed baby Theo over the shoulder and was walking about, surveying the other infants.

Legolas was neither happy nor unhappy with his father's choice. However, he had to leave. Charlotte would be waiting for him. "At another time I will become acquainted with my new 'siblings' ". At hearing the prince, the Elvin mothers almost felt proud; their child would grow up under the care, protection, and roof of a king.

Looking at the three illegitimates, two male and one female, Thranduil took a moment to reflect. He realized he had more in common with the Elvin mothers there than he had with his actual son. They were dying too. However, their loss of immortality was no secret. It was for that very reason Thranduil envied them.

Somehow Ezra had managed to carry his wife to the village doctor's house. With the clinic closed at sundown, they had no other choice. The doctor and his wife were alarmed, but welcoming. Annawrete had been carried quite a long way, and time was of the essence. She was given the bed in the guest room upstairs and Ezra was shown afterwards to the den. It was there he was expected to wait for the arrival of the child, but he came to pace outside the guest room door instead. It sounded like a difficult labor---Ezra was a pool of sweat from just listening. A few hours had passed, and just when he thought he would enter the room and be of any support at all, he heard a baby wail.

Annawrete did not know when she fell asleep, but when she awoke, the first words that met her were her husband's. "I can't be any more happy for you" Ezra's voice, though kept low, was full of sarcasm, "He's handsome--- everything you could've wanted". Although she was still so weak, Annawrete got her eyes to focus on Ezra. Her heart sank at what she saw. Ezra was holding the newborn baby---a precious little half Elvin son. With tears, knowing that her lie had caught up to her, Annawrete began, "I wasn't going to tell you because I thought the baby was yours..."