Becoming Aredhel

Chapter Ten- Baby's Breath and a Bit of Embarrassment

Aredhel's POV

"Hush now, little one," I coo to the small baby in my arms.

His hair is golden and soft as silk, and his eyes are shut tightly as he cries. The sound is loud yet strangled, as if he is still learning how to use his voice. His tiny fists wave about awkwardly. His breath smells like breast milk, having just been fed by his nursemaid, and his nose shines with snot from crying so much.

He is perfect.

I bounce him gently in my arms, wrapping his blanket tighter around his tiny body. I stroke the bridge of his nose, watching as my touch slowly begins to calm him. He lets out a few more cries, each weaker than the last, until he is asleep in my arms.

I stare at him in fascination. His long, blonde lashes rest against his chubby cheeks. His chest rises and falls with each sleepy breath. He is utterly perfect.

I clutch him closer to my chest as tears sting my eyes.

I have dreamt of this. I have dreamt of holding my own child in my arms, kissing his cheeks, running my fingers over his hair. I have dreamt up names for him, learned how to sew baby clothes so that I would know how to when the time came, and I have wished and prayed so hard to be a mother. Holding this sweet baby in my arms is like having one of my own, and my heart cannot handle the elation and the love it feels for this wee creature.

"His name is Aldon."

I turn to see Lady Celebrían approaching me with a knowing smile. Her gaze flickers over my face, noticing my misty eyes but not mentioning them.

"He is perfect," I whisper, looking at him again as he makes a small noise in his sleep.

"I knew Freda would hand off the baby to you," she says with a small laugh, speaking of the lady who watches the children during the day.

Freda is a short and curvy human woman who Lady Celebrían befriended many years ago when the lady was just a child. She was an orphan in the great city of Gondor and had snuck onto a wagon full of goods that were being transported to Rivendell. She heard of Rivendell's splendor and the kindness of Lord Elrond and his family, and she decided that she would travel there and live there until the day she died. When the elves discovered the half starved, weary little girl hidden in one of their wagons, they brought her before Lord Elrond who bestowed the greatest of kindness upon her by allowing her to stay. She grew to be a beautiful young woman and captured the heart of her mate Toross. Being half elven, the ellon chose mortality in order to live a peaceful life of love with his mate.

Now Freda has a few grey streaks in her brown curls, but her eyes sparkle with life and laughter. Her pink gown stretches tightly across her stomach that is swollen with pregnancy, adding to her cuteness. I watch as she animatedly reads a story to the elflings gathered in front of her, marvelling over the words that spring to life inside their minds.

"Why do you say that?" I question Lady Celebrían, gazing at her with a smile.

Her lips lift into a small smirk. "She hardly has the patience for babies. She prefers older children."

My eyebrows furrow. "But she is about to have a baby!"

She laughs at me, brushing her fingers over Aldon's hair. "She is."

"Then why does she not like babies?"

"I did not mean that she does not love them. Babies are taxing things, with their screaming at all hours. Older elflings do not scream nearly as much," she says amusedly as she looks over the group of elflings gathered around the woman.