The Eastern Woman

The siege

"One evening I went to that human. King Thranduil had ordered me to take care of her, which meant, to dedicate all the hours of the day and night to her. I didn't like that. I didn't like her. She was arrogant, silly  and unaware of the enormous honor she had been given. Never before that damned year had a mortal managed to enter our community, never in the millenary history of our people had a mortal woman succeeded in stealing the heart  of an elven king. And to have an heir from him, too. Sadly, I had to witness that abominable fact. "

Amon had told Goneril everything about his King and his human mistress, a few days before leaving her forever.  They were both sitting on a large boulder in the middle of the woods that the former Healer had chosen as his home, and Goneril eagerly listened to every word.  In silence.

"Anyway, one evening I went to the large room that the King had chosen for his mistress. A beautiful room near the great waterfall, a golden refuge where his late Queen, Calenduin, used to go when she wanted to reflect." Amon continued.  "I heard, from behind the door, that the King was in the room. He had gone to see the human, and they were arguing. They were talking about their son. They were talking about the name he should have had. The woman insisted on calling him Haldir, the name of  an Elf of whom she was very fond. I didn't know who he was, I found out later. However, King Thranduil did not agree at all. To be honest, that thing made him furious. He said that his heir would have never ever been called as an Elf of the Lothlórien; he said that his father, King Oropher, had decided centuries before to leave that territory to not have to submit to Celeborn and Galadriel, and that the human was defying his patience. I exulted, inside of me. I thought: here we are, the King will finally kick this mortal out of our territory, they are arguing, it's over. "

"...but?" asked Goneril.

"... but a few minutes later she managed to calm him. She swore to love him more than anything else in the world, and promised that she would have left Eryn Galen once their son was old enough to separate from his mother. She told him that she would entrust their son to his father and that he would have been free to educate him as he wished. But about the name, she wanted freedom of decision. King Thranduil did not answer at that moment, but I know for sure that that story bothered him madly. A King of Greenwood ... to call his descendant as the most famous Captain of the Lórien ... that was inconceivable. "

"Why did the woman insist that way?" Goneril wanted to know.

"I didn't understand either. But try to think a little: if you get pregnant, let's assume, and you have to decide how to call your child ... what name would you choose?" Amon had asked.

Goneril had been pensive for a few moments. "Hmm ... I don't know ... maybe ..., I would think of a name that for me means something special. I mean, I'd like to give him an important name."

"Important ... yes. Important to you. Do you know what I believe? I think that Haldir of Lòrien had played a much deeper role in her life than what our King believed ... I mean, Lord Thranduil." revealed Amon.

"So, you think ... that they loved each other?" Goneril had asked.

"No, I don't think so." the Healer replied. "I'm sure about that."
Then he stood up. "And I also tell you another thing, since I am here: I suspect that that half-breed is not even Thranduil's son."

"What ?! He could be the other Elf's child? Haldir's son?" Goneril had asked. The girl believed that such things happened only among humans.

"I don't know. When the little elf was born, the King was over the moon. I tried to make him notice the scarce resemblance between him and the child ... and for this he banished me. The baby had round ears, like yours, like those of you humans. But there was something else: his face did not resemble that of the King ...at all. " said Amon.