Calidis nodded to Xanderian and then smiled at the Captain in a way that is both serene and somewhat chilling. “Come, we have a great deal to say to Galadriel.”
Calidis and Eduwiges were escorted back to the garden, where Galadriel awaited them alone, slowly filling the basin of the mirror from a silver ewer. As she finished, she looked up. "You are both welcome here...set aside your angers and biases. You are both bound in secrets as a fly is bound in a spider's web…perhaps those bonds might be eased, perhaps knowledge will make them tighter still.'
Calidis stepped into the garden and made a deep curtsey. "Then thank goodness we are no mere flies, my lady."
Eduwiges remembered her manners with a start and bowed. Wisely she kept her mouth shut, for the moment. She crosseed her arms and tried not to gawk at Galadriel.
The Lady of Light smiled fondly. “Let us test that then, dear Calidis...come forward and gaze into the mirror...there is much you need to know that has been kept from even your perceptive gaze.'
Calidis raised a brow but stepped up to the mirror, not yet looking into it. "It is said that even the wise cannot tell what one will see within this mirror..."
The stately elleth nodded, 'Indeed....that is why I leave the matter of what you are to come to know to the mirror....'
Calidis slowly nodded and rested her hands neatly on the sides of the basin before finally looking down into it.
As she gazed the water grew still then seemed to drip and flow like melting silver. As Calidis stared into the basin she saw Addie...yet not Addie. The blond woman was on her knees, gasping for breath...her skin was pale as bone, the veins glowing blue...her eyes pure white and her normally lustrous hair leached of color and hanging like straw...she was slipping into shadow, her soul consumed by the foul energies she had just absorbed....she was dying...worse than dying. Calidis realized that she was seeing Addie as she was in Cal’s own memories (see A Dirge in Red)…yes this moment she did not recall.
As Cal watched, a hand caressed Addie’s face and the pallor left her skin, transferred to the hand. She realizes it is the hand of Aegrod, her father...the dark, unhealthy power seeming to coalesce into the ring he is wearing. The effort that took only betrayed by a slight tremor of his hand.
He spoke...his voice soft and gentle....”This blight shall be mine, not yours. But, I ask you, when your fate seems most dire and you weep in fear and frustration, remember Aegrod with kindness and protect my daughter when you meet her. One day...the power the foe used against you will benefit her...and therefore you as well."'
Calidis gripped at the edges of the mirror as the scene changed
The silver flowed again, and she saw Xanderian laying dead from a wound to her throat, Edu holding her, keening on the stones of Kheledul...and beside her somehow, was another Xanderian, on her knees, still holding a bloodied dagger she had just used to put out her own eyes, maimed face lifted to the sky. As she watched both images of Xanderian seemed to grow ragged, and begin to break apart like stale bread.
Suddenly a voice echoed and both images froze. The words sounded as if sung by many voices at once, yet blended into a single unearthly tone. She had heard that voice, long ago, when she held Xanderian’s bow Heartbreaker. She realized it must be the spirit that lives within the weapon, Lilta. "My sweetest servant....fractured and foolish...let us start again, and see what can be salvaged for we am not done with you yet...either of you..." At those words the two Xanderians seemed to flow backwards in time, ultimately rejoining, eyes and throat both restored into a form as she had been before the Battle of the Spike in Kheledul, and then she saw Xan wake on Calidis's bed in Rivendell, just as she had after the ordeal in Imlad Gelair (See The Masks of Imlad Gelair).'
The silver flowed once more to reveal a final vision. Calidis saw herself from behind looking out over a vast landscape of war...cities burned...armies perished…civilians put to the sword. As her view spun, she realized she was wearing a pristine mask of perfect, expressionless silver…and the mirror went black.
Eduwiges watched Calidis' leaning over the mirror with concern. Galadriel for her part looked over with a serene countenance. The wind rustled through the silver mallorns and bright fireflies flitted through the garden.
Suddenly Calidis jerked backwards away from the mirror, pulling her own hands away and almost upsetting the basin. Her eyes slipped closed and her hands balled into fists beside her as she endeavored to control her emotional reaction without the aid of Hastaina, which she had left with Rian.
Eduwiges rushed forward and puts her hands on Calidis' shoulders, 'Are you well? What did you see?'
Galadriel stood apart, still serene, saying nothing.
Calidis opened her eyes. They were black and bottomless and yet the expression on her face was carefully neutral. She lets out a quiet breath and then nodded. "I am well, Eduwiges. What is seen in the mirror is not to be taken lightly." She rested a hand on Eduwiges' and looked to Galadriel. "I trust that what I have just seen is known to you now as well?"
The Lady of Light slowly shook her head, 'I know not what you have seen...nor can I know what is kept from my vision...if something was shown to you, then it was shown for a reason, but remember not all you see has come to pass, or ever will. Eduwiges....come forward and gaze into the mirror. She half smiled to herself..."If you have the courage, daughter of Rohan.'
Calidis squeezed Edu's hand quickly, as if to warn her not to react to that statement brashly.
Eduwiges looked cautiously at Galadriel, and then at Calidis. She got that muley look on her face and sauntered over to the mirror and looked in defiantly.
The silver flowed...and cleared...and she saw a younger Daedre, standing at a dock as a man took up a knapsack, glancing around to be sure no one is following them. He leaned into kiss her and whispered in her ear. "Silly girl...I just need to make the case...they can't be so stupid as to cast away such a golden situation because Erach is too big for his britches. I will be back before you know it...” He paused. "What did you want to tell me?"'
Dee shook her head. "It can wait...just watch your back. If you die out there in Angmar I will come kill you again."'
The man laughed. "I will hold you to that." As he sauntered to the waiting ship, she rested one hand on her still flat stomach. She had only kept from vomiting on him by force of will. It would do no good for him to carry a burden like this with him to Angmar, a baby unwanted, unlooked for. She whispered a prayer to Bema she hadn’t spoken since she was a little girl…him, for herself…and for the poor child within her.
The silver flowed....and Eduwiges saw Alfara, the man who raised her, standing in the fields of Rohan, facing three Uruk. Alfara’s face was pale, gaunt…and Eduwiges realized suddenly that he must have been ill, perhaps dying, and she never saw it being just a girl then. The leader of the Uruk snarled. "Where is the girl...you were told, Tark, to bring the girl..so commanded our Master....YOUR master as well.'
Eduwiges clenched the sides of the basin, a grimace on her face... 'No' she whispered.
Alfara shook his head...."She is where you cannot reach her, and I will not bring her to you..I know not what you bastards want with her, but I made a promise....she is not yours to play with...."
With the rasp of steel swords were drawn and battle joined. Three on one, and Alfara was no longer a young man and quickly overpowered, forced to his knees...the leader of the Uruk spoke again. "Go...bring her outside the wooden walls or you die here."
Alfara pulled away with the last of his fabled strength, overpowering one of the Uruk and wresting his sword away...but clearly this was a matter of time. He was wounded now, and coughed blood.
He spat crimson and looked defiantly at the leader. "Then I die here, for I will not bring my little one to you monsters....curse you, Gratch, and your Master. One day she will see you all dead!" and with a sudden motion he stabbed himself brutally in the abdomen. Alfara gasped in pain, whispering…”Eduwiges…” and fell to the turf, stone dead.
Gratch snarled. "A waste....leave him but watch from a distance so we may retrieve him later, he may still be of use...'
Eduwiges whispered loudly, 'Nooo!' Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
The silver flowed again...now showing a library in horrible decay, deep in a dead fortress. A thing sat on a throne. It had once been a man and still wore a man's shape, still wearing the remains of the leather jerkin the man on the docks wore in Edu’s earlier vision, now topped by a decayed cloak covered in rich jewels...'
At Eduwiges’ feet lay Daedre, her throat having been torn out by the man's fetid, blood soaked grip. He looks at Edu with flinty, dead eyes...his voice a mockery of what it had been. "She may yet live...join us...join ME...daughter.'…and the mirror went dark'
Eduwiges jerked up and wiped the tears from her face. She took a deep breath and angrily looked at Galadriel, her voice filled with outrage, 'What am i to do with THAT? What was the purpose?'
Galadriel simply smiled, 'The mirror acts of its own will...even the most wise can not know it's purpose until it is revealed and its purpose in this regard is still unknown to me..I only knew that you had things you were fated to see....the both of you.'
Calidis looked to Galadriel and raises a brow, though her eyes remain pitch black. ZShe was still shaken by her own visions but hiding it well."And why would you bestow this... kindness upon us?"
Eduwiges stepped back to Calidis and took her hand, facing the lady of the Golden Wood together.
Galadriel stepped away from the mirror, and gently caressed one of the nearby blossoms. 'Because I was meant to do so, sweet Calidis....but now you have come to petition me regarding the Faradur, Xanderian of Imladris and her sister, she who lives while dead?'
Eduwiges held her hand up, 'No, You do not get to call her that, She is no Faradur, you may call her by her name and none other.'
Calidis rested a hand on Edu's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. 'Yes, I have. I believe you have unjustly kept her here. And even before her sister's... grave mistake, I believe she was also unfairly judged by many and treated unkindly at best and shamefully at worst.'
Eduwiges took a deep breath and relaxed, the tension leaving her at Calidis' touch.
The Lady of Light shrugged, but her serenity seemed a bit shaken. 'What was done, was done....though they have maligned me with many false statements both then and now, none of that is of matter any longer. What is of matter now is that the Gwerth-i-cuina used a tool of shadow in this very grove and by doing so, allowed a fell spirit to enter this haven. If you wish to win Xanderian's freedom, then the three of you must hunt and destroy this foul thing and restore the sanctity of Lothlorien.'
Calidis nodded, 'And where is this fell spirit now? I assume you have chased it from this city, lest it endanger others here.'
Galadriel stopped…for a moment her calm shattered before she was able to restore her expression, 'Because it came here through the Mirror of Twilight, it is hidden from my view....I know not where it is but I can feel it watching...waiting....'
Eduwiges stepped forward, “Well, know you at least WHAT this thing is we are to slay?' She cracked her knuckles, happy to have something tangible to do...
Calidis reached up and pinched at the bridge of her nose, whispering Xandilif's name venemously under her breath. Eventually she looked up and nodded. "Then I would ask one more boon if we are succesful."
Galadriel looked between them, 'I know not its nature, Eduwiges of Faldham....and what is this boon, dear Calidis?'
Calidis set herself, 'That Xanderian and Xandilif will no longer be looked upon with disdain and dishonor in these woods. Regardless of the fact that they were Lord Elrond's subjects in days past, they served the Malledhrim and therefore were under a measure of your protection. Thus, you can indeed grant this boon... And you can be rest assured that Xandilif will be soundly and /perfectly/ scolded." Calidis smiled in that serene yet somewhat frightening way as she speaks those last words.
Galadriel raised an eyebrow. "Scolded? You might just as well command a Warg to sit and stay like a lap dog.'
Calidis whispered, 'A Warg can be MADE to sit if it will not sit quietly.'
Eduwiges thumped her fist against her chest, 'If we have to do it together Lady, we shall!'
The Lady of Light smiled at them fondly again, 'Then in the hope of having you make that beast Sit, if not stay, I will consider your request, as far as I am able...for not even I can change the hearts of my people. So be it...you have your task before you...as is so often required of the companions of the Farea Nasto, you must undo the havoc they leave in their wake. In this task, Xanderian is granted the freedom of this land...but do not allow her to take advantage of that fact unduly.'
Eduwiges nodded, 'Then let us waste no more time in this. Where is this thing you wish us to kill?'
Galadriel turned to sit on the marble bench near at hand. 'I have no idea....that is for you to seek out. Calidis...if I might ask you to remain a few moments while your companion is escorted back?'
Calidis nodded. "Of course." Asa the captain awaited Eduwiges.'
Eduwiges looked back at Calidis as she was led away. Her mind reviewed the things she had seen that night as she gave the lady a bow and headed off.
Galadriel held out a hand to Calidis. "Dear child...I feel I must speak to you in the stead of your parents, so long departed.'
Calidis hesitated a moment but eventually took the offered hand into one of her own and stepped nearer. "Of what do you wish to discuss, my lady?"
'Speaking in their place...I must caution you, so inexperienced of the ways of the world, to protect your heart and your destiny Be careful who you pledge yourself to....especially in these difficult times.' Galadriel squeezed Cal’s hand gently.
Calidis sighed softly and nodded her head once. "You are not the first to have given me such caution. What experience I lack is more than made up for by what lore my father has left to me and the expertise of those I now call near and dear to my heart. As for my destiny, it is already decided. The Lady of Pity and Mourning paid me a visit... after which my decision was made."
Galadriel looked distressed. 'I worry for you, child, as a mother would....she is not as she seems, your beloved. I cannot clearly see what role she will ultimately play in all of this, and I fear you may be disappointed…or worse, betrayed. Even if she does not mean to...those who stand near to her are often felled in her stead....you would not be the first.'
Calidis raised her chin, 'I would rather fall in her company and spend my last moments close to her heart than to sail to the Undying Lands where there is little to comfort me. And, in light of what I have just seen within your mirror, I believe that my choice, while perhaps not the wisest by your reckoning, is, in fact, the right one. Can you not understand my choice, given the choice that your daughter's daughter has made for herself and the one she has given her heart to?'
Galadriel recoiled slightly as if struck…then nodded. "I can understand your choice...even while I fear it may be based on unsure ground...but we will speak more of this at another time. Go now with your companions and be wary....neither of them tend to be cautious and the nature of this evil is still unknown to me, but it is powerful.'
Calidis nodded and then curtsied again. "I appreciate your concern and your care, my lady... I just wish it could be extended to those who are close to my heart as well." She then made her way out of the garden.
