Roswehn of Mirkwood

Letters from the Wood

"I can not believe it."

These were Bard's first words, when Hannes Monrose told him what had happened. A Greenwood elf had arrived in Dale to deliver Roswehn's message.
Hannes had read the letter twice to be able to fully realize the situation.

On that piece of raw paper it was written that his daughter had chosen to live in Mirkwood and ... she had ... fallen in love with Thranduil.
But the most extraordinary thing was that the mighty Elf King seemed to have returned the feeling: he had kept the girl with him in his realm, as a new companion.

Hannes was shocked. His daughter.
His Roswehn, who had stealthily left the house one morning in May, to begin a journey that was supposed to have Mirkwood as a first stop, and which had ended up there.

"Bard, we have to go there and get her back." he said, as he walked up and down through the great hall of the Royal Palace of Dale, where the king received emissaries from other territories and gathered the city councils. Monrose was upset and furious.

"I knew ... I knew it would have happened, I told Elrond, he convinced me that I was exaggerating ... it's my fault, I had to follow my instinct ... I shouldn't let her go!" he seemed devastated by guilt. "What will they do to her...those elves...those cursed beings!" he shouted to the ceiling.

"She won't come back ... my poor Roswehn is lost forever ..." Yohlande whimpered, sitting with her hands on her face. She had done nothing but shed tears, after having received the news.

"Calm down, she wrote that she was happy, I think, that should mean something." Bard tried to say, without actually believing his own words. That situation was weird, to say the least.

"Did you stumble this morning and hit your head, Bard?" Hannes snarled, forgetting for a moment that he was in the presence of his sovereign. "Damn...how can you tell us to be quiet? How can you just think that my daughter is really happy in that place ... in that ... forest!" Hannes put his hands on his hips, unable to stop. He was so agitated that Bard feared to see him fall victim to a heart attack. Hannes was old, and those sudden emotions could be fatal for him. "They kidnapped her! They kidnapped her ... Thranduil ... I knew that, that liar, he wants to fool us as he fooled my brother ..."

"Let me read the letter again, please." Bard said calmly. Yohlande handed it to him, afflicted. "She could not have written by herself, they gave her something, some potion to make her stupid ... My daughter can not be so crazy!" the woman complained.

The king again read the words written in black ink on the yellowish parchment. Roswehn's linear and clean calligraphy, however, did not suggest that the girl was in a state of confusion while she was writing.

Dear Mom, dear Dad,
it is difficult for me to write you this new letter. I curse myself for the agitation in which I will push you both with my words, but it is time  you know the truth.
I left home to start a journey, you know. We talked about it a lot, you agreed. Greenwood (which I will no longer call "Mirkwood" because my beloved hates that name) was to be my first destination. It has become my second home instead. Here I found life, love, I discovered sensations unknown to me and of which I can no longer do without.
Here I found new friends, a new culture, and many wonders.
I wish I could describe the fantastic world in which I woke up, but not even in a thousand letters could I do it. This is my world now, and I do not want to leave it.
King Thranduil and I love each other. I know you will struggle to believe it, but it is so. I think he was waiting for me to come back to life, as I was waiting for him to start living. We met in the darkness, and we came back to light together. I'm happy, believe me. More than happy.