Impurities

Chapter One: Unfortunate Soul

The wind blew chilling as the rain continued to beat down on this particularly woeful evening. Only by flashes of lightning were the guards of Mirkwood able to have sight while suffering the assault of the storm. These were the unfortunate elves; the five lowest in ranking required to fulfill the midnight watch under King Thranduil's order. With a clap of thunder and a whip of lightning, the youngest and newest enrolled of the five thought he had seen someone riding on horseback. No one can be travelling this night, he thought to himself. Though doubtful of what he had seen, he patiently awaited for lightning to strike again. When the sky split with veins of light, the elf no longer doubted what he saw but now was unsure if his companions had seen the traveller too. He raised his voice over the downpour, "Did anybody else see that!" The response was a number of groans and grumbles before the eldest of them spoke up, "Nothing is going to be out there, we should be inside like everyone else!"

Discouraged to bring up the matter again, the young elf watched the traveller move across his range of vision with each flash. Because the rider appeared to be passing through and not coming to Mirkwood, he saw no reason for alarm. It was when he parted his dampened hair from his eyes that lightening struck and allowed him to witness the traveller fall from the horse. "The rider has just fallen!" he shouted as an immediate reaction. The others were still disbelieving until a large bolt lit up the sky and the night momentarily appeared as day. In the fragment of the second they all saw the hooded rider laying at the feet of a still horse and rushed out to investigate.

They reached the rider and were shocked to find it to be a woman. She was curled unto her side in grave pain. The young elf dropped unto his knees in question, "Are you wounded?" Lightning brought him better sight and he realized that she was swollen, pregnant with child. The female released a struggling scream before she was thrown into deep breathing. She was going into labor and needed to be taken to an able healer that could deliver her baby at that very hour. 

There was at least one nurse constantly on duty at the palace. Two of the guards managed to bring the woman in from the rain and hoped that the elleth on post had experience delivering children; there had not been any births in Mirkwood in over four centuries. The young guard was making his way through the halls to inform the king and prince of their finding in the forest. Arriving first at prince Legolas's door, he knocked feverishly before the door was answered. Legolas appeared in his nightwear with sleep in his eyes and looked at the soaked guard that stood before him. Observant of the elf's wet clothing and trail of water leading up to him, the prince shook the slumber from his face and curiously asked what needed his attention this very night. "My lord, we found a pregnant woman in our forest and she has gone into labor. We have brought her to the nurse on duty". Immediately Legolas stepped through the threshold and shut his bedroom door behind him, "What oddity is this?" Water continued to drip from the young guard's body as he agreed with the prince who was more than four times his senior, "Indeed this is very strange. I go to inform you father now". Legolas took off in the opposite direction for the healing quarter, stopping only to wake Tauriel a few halls away. The emergency was shared with her and they together hurried to the healing room.

The woman was barely a woman, a human no more than 17 of age. They found her propped in a bed cold, wet, and frightened. "Where is your husband?" Legolas asked her. With her chest heaving uncontrollably, she managed to respond, "I have no husband!" She had conceived this child out of wedlock. Her deep breathing broke into harsh cries as she felt the pain of labor heighten. The nurse on duty asked that Legolas and Tauriel stand on either side of her and hold her hands. As the young woman gripped the hands of the elves at her sides, the nurse cleansed her own and prepared a station for the baby. With each squeeze of the hand and cry, the contractions grew and before long the crown of the child's head was exposed. The nurse positioned herself before the mother's parted thighs, "You need to push in between contractions, the child will be here soon".

Several minutes later, tears were pouring from the young woman's eyes for she felt the pain to be too much for her body. There was a deep inhale, then a scream that occurred simultaneously as the mother exhorted herself. With the final strong push, a bloodied body fell into the nurse's arms before a trying cry filled the air; a daughter was born. Thranduil came into the room soon after and found his son and the captain of his guards looking over the bed created for the child while the mother was still attempting to gather herself. He glanced upon the woman and from her age, physical attributes, and attire, he concluded for himself everything he would need to know about her. Without saying anything to the mother, he made his way to the baby. The king stepped in between his son and Tauriel and looked down into the bed. The human baby opened her eyes for the first time and her unusual bright blue eyes were instantly captivated by Thranduil who stared back at her saying, "You poor unfortunate soul".