Post by amariedan on Dec 16, 2009 17:40:12 GMT -5
((This is a continuation/interlude of the Blacksmiths of Bree plotline I got going on for Edan... enjoy! ...
((For those newer to forums, if you haven't already read the BoB thread and/or are just not up to date on the story/plotline, I implore you to go read this thread first!: londtreneri.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=plots&action=display&thread=599 ...
((Then come back here for this one...
((This post is OOC for everyone in that it is meant for you to read to get a better understanding of Edan as a character/person, and Bridgur somewhat as well, a little bit. NOTHING that happens in this post, however, is ANYTHING that ANYONE's character would know- unless Edan were to tell you himself...
((For some, I know this may then be considered a spoilerage and thus you wouldn't want to read it as I know some of you don't like to read spoiler stuff However, I implore you to read this, BECAUSE there will be some things in this that you will otherwise NEVER be able to find out about him and his past!))
He'd always thought of himself as a good Man, a just Man. not perfect or absolute in any way, of course, but respectable and honourable. It's how he tried to live his life since his mother left had left him as a child of nearly 16 years old, almost 45 yrs ago!
The first thing he had done then was manage to acquire himself a squireship with Captain Thomas of the Bree guard. It had always amazed him how easily he had done that- he had merely asked, the Captain looked him over briefly and said Aye. In hindsight, Edan could only reckon that Captain Thomas had known his true heritage at the time, and was under sway of the Blacksmiths.
This thought disheartened Edan, because it brought to mind many other similar thoughts- just how much of his life had been affected and manipulated by the Blacksmiths, by Bridgur, from the shadows of Bree? He used to think that he'd managed to build his own life and repuatation completley on his own merits as a person, that he had made something out of nothing of himself. Now... he just couldn't be sure anymore.
He finished cleaning up the house for Ceallian and he stood there in the middle of the main room, phasing in and out between the Past and the Present, concerned about his Future. Ceallian had seemed to handle the revelation of Edan's family history surprisingly well, but Edan had come to know that she could hide such things rather well when she wanted to. He couldn't blame her for hiding any of her fears from him, he was just glad that she hadn't decided to take their baby and leave him.
Not that she could, by law it was his right as husband and father to keep the family together at his will. But the way things were now, the way HE was now, he had little will of his own anymore. Until he figured himself out, until he saved his mother from the clutches of Mordirith- Ceallian's will was Edan's. He simply felt that he hadn't the strength of heart to make any real decisions on his own. He doubted himself and feared the consequences of any such decision he made on his own right now.
He was afraid to talk to Ceallian about it though, he didn't want to risk her wrath, to make her angry at him and start a fight. And he couldn't talk to Anoth right now because his friend was simply gone. The day that this had all started, the day Bridgur had come into his life and told him the truth- that he was the son of a bastard Black Numenorean- Anoth had just disappeared.
No word, no sight, from anyone since he'd sent Anoth to the guards of Bree. And after the initial settling down of the whole matter, Edan had scoured among his contacts, his friends, everyone he knew in search of Anoth, but to no avail. After a few days he gave up. Either Anoth had abandoned him in fear, or something had happened. Either way, Edan had no idea and could not figure it out.
He shook his head with a heavy sigh and snapped out of his thought train momentarily when he realized he was now standing outside the Blacksmith Apartment where it had all started.
"If you have need of me," Bridgur said, "you may find me here."
Apparently, Edan felt he had nowhere else to go to find himself here. Bridgur was a bastard, but he needed to talk to someone, he needed to know more information- about his family, about his father, his mother... himself.
With a brief acknowledging nod to the Blacksmith at the forge outside, Edan stepped in and walked up the stairs in the back leading to the apartments. He entered the room where it had all started, the room that Ceallian had rented while she was pregnant and heaved a soft sigh to find it empty, a thin layer of dust settled over everything.
Edan took a few steps into the room, his eye glazed over, focused on the Past instead of the Present, remembering when he'd met Bridgur for the first time and that conversation that had exploded his life and meaning from him.
A brief snarl crossed his face as he heard Bridgur in his mind "Touchy touchy Edan! A bit too much like your father I fear." Edan then sighed and growled at the same time, angry and afraid. Angry for how easily Bridgur had managed to manipulate him and set him off. Afraid of being set off again!
His father may have been a Black Numenorean, but Edan's mother was a Dunedain, or half Dunedain anyways, so he was a truly split being, born of both Darkness and Light. He tried to focus on the Light, and remembered his fondest memory of his mother from when he was a child.
He was only 10 years old, and had been caught sneaking off outside of the Bree-town limits. She had been so mad at him!
"Forbidden Edan! Does that not mean anything to you my boy? You are not allowed outside the gates of Bree yet!"
Little Edan sniffled, a small tear sliding down his cheek, "I... I know mama, but-"
"No 'buts' Edan! Rules are rules and are there for good reason! What would you have done if a wild boar had attacked you?"
Little Edan started to blubber and cry, "I'm sorry mama! I just wanted to get these for you!" He produced a small boquet of wild flowers that he had picked from outside the town. "There wasn't nowhere else to get them but outside mama, I'm sorry! I know you love flowers and I wanted to get you the prettiest ones!"
Ellesia's anger slid from her face as her eyes softened up and her frown turned into a bright smile at the flowers Little Edan held before her. It was a mostly pitiful looking boquet comprised mostly of actual weeds rather than flowers, but there in the center of all of it was one bright yellow rose, it's head fully bloomed and open, as gorgeous as a morning sun. One hand reached to her mouth, the other out to accept the flowers from Little Edan's hand. "Oh my sweet boy!" She exclaimed as she took the boquet from his hands then got down on her knees and wrapped her arms around him tightly in a warm hug.
"I'm sorry I disobeyed mama, I just wanted you to know how much I love you!" Little Edan leaned back to look at his mama, "Mama? Why you cryin?"
Ellesia sniffled and leaned back, she pet Edan's face, and kissed him on the forehead. "My sweet boy, you don't need to give me flowers to tell me you love me! But thank you! I'm crying happy tears, because I'm the happiest mother in all the world, because of my darling Edan!" She then returned to hugging Edan tightly and he hugged her back, inhaling that sweet scent of lavendar that always seemed to come from her.
It was that look, that smile she had given him that he remembered so fondly. He couldn't ever remember his mother being as happy as she had been in that moment. Although she had always smiled for Edan, and always appeared to be happy for him, he knew she was never truly happy. There had been a shadow on her that he had never understood... until now. But in that one moment, he had seen her genuinely and truly happy. It was his most sacred memory of his mother, because he had always wanted nothing more than to see her like that always.
Edan frowned, angered now because he couldn't help but think of his mother trapped in Carn Dum, at the mercy of Mordirith! She deserved so much better! He had to save her, and soon!
A soft growl escaped his throat as he turned around sharply and proceeded to storm out of the apartment only to stop abruptly mere inches away from bumping into Bridgur.
"Hello nephew," Bridgur spoke evenly to Edan, "I've come at your request, what can I do for you?"
"I didn't request to see you," Edan spoke harshly.
"But you are here, where I told you to come if you needed me."
"I don't need anything from you."
"And yet here you are, lost in thoughts and doubting. Are you sure there is nothing I can do for you my son?"
Edan looked up to Bridgur with a curious glare.
"I mean that figuratively, of course, "spoke Bridgur with a slight respectful nod of the head, "You are my nephew still, but you are as like a son to me as my own. I would do anything for you."
"Would you rot in Carn Dum in my mother's place then?" grated out Edan.
Bridgur smiled a kind of grimace, holding back a retort. "And so we come to the matter at hand, disgracefully, but nonetheless we are here." Bridgur pauses and steps past Edan into the room and sits himself on the bed, lowering the hood of his elven cloak to expose his face and head.
Edan watches Bridgur with a glare.
"No, I would not 'rot in Carn Dum' in her place, nephew," spoke Bridgur evenly, again, "I will give you whatever aid I can to rescue her however, naturally. Have you thought of a plan to get in and out? Have you enough friends to help you?"
"Aye, we'll get her out, and without your help," returned Edan with a snarl.
Bridgur nods slightly, "How will you get inside? And how will you get her safely out? I imagine she will have little strength of her own to escape that place."
Edan's snarl grows as he glares more harshly at Bridgur, "That information is need to know and only those going with me will need to know it when we get there."
Bridgur shakes his head sadly at this and makes a 'tsk tsk' sound, "Still don't trust me then eh?"
"About as far as I can throw you."
Bridgur chuckles and rubs his jaw, "That's rather far I'd imagine, if you can throw a Man as well as you can punch him."
Edan snorts briefly.
"Come now my boy, I am not such an awful person am I? I have my.... quirks, I'll give you that, but what I do, I do for the good of the Blacksmiths and our legacy!"
"I'll give you that as well, a quirky, selfish man who looks out for his own blood and only his own blood!"
"Of which you share, nephew!" Bridgur stands up abruptly and steps forward to Edan, "We are kin, you and I. What's mine is yours!" He puts his hands on Edan's shoulders to make him focus on his face, see the sincerity in his eyes, "Is it so selfish to look out for one's family? You have a child now, tell me you would not do ANYTHING you could for your little boy? Tell me you would not give ANYTHING to make his life easier and better than yours ever was? Tell me!"
Edan abruptly and harshly shrugged himself free of Bridgur's grasp and turned away, he looked off to the side a moment in thought. "What do you know of what I would or would not do for my son?" He could almost feel Bridgur's smile on his back and it somehow sickened him a little.
"Because I know you my boy! You may not think so, but I have followed you throughout your life and career, I know YOU Edan, probably better than you know yourself! I know what you are capable of, and I know to what lengths you will go to see a job done, and I know that any Man such as you who would go to such lengths for just a JOB, would go infinitely further for love and family...
"Because it's what I would do, and we are kin- not so different as you might wish."
Edan looks back at Bridgur over his shoulder with a slight snarl about his lips, "I am NOTHING like you," he says harshly and then storms out of the apartment. He could almost feel Bridgur's feral grin on his back as he slammed the door and headed for his home in the Shire.
((For those newer to forums, if you haven't already read the BoB thread and/or are just not up to date on the story/plotline, I implore you to go read this thread first!: londtreneri.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=plots&action=display&thread=599 ...
((Then come back here for this one...
((This post is OOC for everyone in that it is meant for you to read to get a better understanding of Edan as a character/person, and Bridgur somewhat as well, a little bit. NOTHING that happens in this post, however, is ANYTHING that ANYONE's character would know- unless Edan were to tell you himself...
((For some, I know this may then be considered a spoilerage and thus you wouldn't want to read it as I know some of you don't like to read spoiler stuff However, I implore you to read this, BECAUSE there will be some things in this that you will otherwise NEVER be able to find out about him and his past!))
He'd always thought of himself as a good Man, a just Man. not perfect or absolute in any way, of course, but respectable and honourable. It's how he tried to live his life since his mother left had left him as a child of nearly 16 years old, almost 45 yrs ago!
The first thing he had done then was manage to acquire himself a squireship with Captain Thomas of the Bree guard. It had always amazed him how easily he had done that- he had merely asked, the Captain looked him over briefly and said Aye. In hindsight, Edan could only reckon that Captain Thomas had known his true heritage at the time, and was under sway of the Blacksmiths.
This thought disheartened Edan, because it brought to mind many other similar thoughts- just how much of his life had been affected and manipulated by the Blacksmiths, by Bridgur, from the shadows of Bree? He used to think that he'd managed to build his own life and repuatation completley on his own merits as a person, that he had made something out of nothing of himself. Now... he just couldn't be sure anymore.
He finished cleaning up the house for Ceallian and he stood there in the middle of the main room, phasing in and out between the Past and the Present, concerned about his Future. Ceallian had seemed to handle the revelation of Edan's family history surprisingly well, but Edan had come to know that she could hide such things rather well when she wanted to. He couldn't blame her for hiding any of her fears from him, he was just glad that she hadn't decided to take their baby and leave him.
Not that she could, by law it was his right as husband and father to keep the family together at his will. But the way things were now, the way HE was now, he had little will of his own anymore. Until he figured himself out, until he saved his mother from the clutches of Mordirith- Ceallian's will was Edan's. He simply felt that he hadn't the strength of heart to make any real decisions on his own. He doubted himself and feared the consequences of any such decision he made on his own right now.
He was afraid to talk to Ceallian about it though, he didn't want to risk her wrath, to make her angry at him and start a fight. And he couldn't talk to Anoth right now because his friend was simply gone. The day that this had all started, the day Bridgur had come into his life and told him the truth- that he was the son of a bastard Black Numenorean- Anoth had just disappeared.
No word, no sight, from anyone since he'd sent Anoth to the guards of Bree. And after the initial settling down of the whole matter, Edan had scoured among his contacts, his friends, everyone he knew in search of Anoth, but to no avail. After a few days he gave up. Either Anoth had abandoned him in fear, or something had happened. Either way, Edan had no idea and could not figure it out.
He shook his head with a heavy sigh and snapped out of his thought train momentarily when he realized he was now standing outside the Blacksmith Apartment where it had all started.
"If you have need of me," Bridgur said, "you may find me here."
Apparently, Edan felt he had nowhere else to go to find himself here. Bridgur was a bastard, but he needed to talk to someone, he needed to know more information- about his family, about his father, his mother... himself.
With a brief acknowledging nod to the Blacksmith at the forge outside, Edan stepped in and walked up the stairs in the back leading to the apartments. He entered the room where it had all started, the room that Ceallian had rented while she was pregnant and heaved a soft sigh to find it empty, a thin layer of dust settled over everything.
Edan took a few steps into the room, his eye glazed over, focused on the Past instead of the Present, remembering when he'd met Bridgur for the first time and that conversation that had exploded his life and meaning from him.
A brief snarl crossed his face as he heard Bridgur in his mind "Touchy touchy Edan! A bit too much like your father I fear." Edan then sighed and growled at the same time, angry and afraid. Angry for how easily Bridgur had managed to manipulate him and set him off. Afraid of being set off again!
His father may have been a Black Numenorean, but Edan's mother was a Dunedain, or half Dunedain anyways, so he was a truly split being, born of both Darkness and Light. He tried to focus on the Light, and remembered his fondest memory of his mother from when he was a child.
He was only 10 years old, and had been caught sneaking off outside of the Bree-town limits. She had been so mad at him!
"Forbidden Edan! Does that not mean anything to you my boy? You are not allowed outside the gates of Bree yet!"
Little Edan sniffled, a small tear sliding down his cheek, "I... I know mama, but-"
"No 'buts' Edan! Rules are rules and are there for good reason! What would you have done if a wild boar had attacked you?"
Little Edan started to blubber and cry, "I'm sorry mama! I just wanted to get these for you!" He produced a small boquet of wild flowers that he had picked from outside the town. "There wasn't nowhere else to get them but outside mama, I'm sorry! I know you love flowers and I wanted to get you the prettiest ones!"
Ellesia's anger slid from her face as her eyes softened up and her frown turned into a bright smile at the flowers Little Edan held before her. It was a mostly pitiful looking boquet comprised mostly of actual weeds rather than flowers, but there in the center of all of it was one bright yellow rose, it's head fully bloomed and open, as gorgeous as a morning sun. One hand reached to her mouth, the other out to accept the flowers from Little Edan's hand. "Oh my sweet boy!" She exclaimed as she took the boquet from his hands then got down on her knees and wrapped her arms around him tightly in a warm hug.
"I'm sorry I disobeyed mama, I just wanted you to know how much I love you!" Little Edan leaned back to look at his mama, "Mama? Why you cryin?"
Ellesia sniffled and leaned back, she pet Edan's face, and kissed him on the forehead. "My sweet boy, you don't need to give me flowers to tell me you love me! But thank you! I'm crying happy tears, because I'm the happiest mother in all the world, because of my darling Edan!" She then returned to hugging Edan tightly and he hugged her back, inhaling that sweet scent of lavendar that always seemed to come from her.
It was that look, that smile she had given him that he remembered so fondly. He couldn't ever remember his mother being as happy as she had been in that moment. Although she had always smiled for Edan, and always appeared to be happy for him, he knew she was never truly happy. There had been a shadow on her that he had never understood... until now. But in that one moment, he had seen her genuinely and truly happy. It was his most sacred memory of his mother, because he had always wanted nothing more than to see her like that always.
Edan frowned, angered now because he couldn't help but think of his mother trapped in Carn Dum, at the mercy of Mordirith! She deserved so much better! He had to save her, and soon!
A soft growl escaped his throat as he turned around sharply and proceeded to storm out of the apartment only to stop abruptly mere inches away from bumping into Bridgur.
"Hello nephew," Bridgur spoke evenly to Edan, "I've come at your request, what can I do for you?"
"I didn't request to see you," Edan spoke harshly.
"But you are here, where I told you to come if you needed me."
"I don't need anything from you."
"And yet here you are, lost in thoughts and doubting. Are you sure there is nothing I can do for you my son?"
Edan looked up to Bridgur with a curious glare.
"I mean that figuratively, of course, "spoke Bridgur with a slight respectful nod of the head, "You are my nephew still, but you are as like a son to me as my own. I would do anything for you."
"Would you rot in Carn Dum in my mother's place then?" grated out Edan.
Bridgur smiled a kind of grimace, holding back a retort. "And so we come to the matter at hand, disgracefully, but nonetheless we are here." Bridgur pauses and steps past Edan into the room and sits himself on the bed, lowering the hood of his elven cloak to expose his face and head.
Edan watches Bridgur with a glare.
"No, I would not 'rot in Carn Dum' in her place, nephew," spoke Bridgur evenly, again, "I will give you whatever aid I can to rescue her however, naturally. Have you thought of a plan to get in and out? Have you enough friends to help you?"
"Aye, we'll get her out, and without your help," returned Edan with a snarl.
Bridgur nods slightly, "How will you get inside? And how will you get her safely out? I imagine she will have little strength of her own to escape that place."
Edan's snarl grows as he glares more harshly at Bridgur, "That information is need to know and only those going with me will need to know it when we get there."
Bridgur shakes his head sadly at this and makes a 'tsk tsk' sound, "Still don't trust me then eh?"
"About as far as I can throw you."
Bridgur chuckles and rubs his jaw, "That's rather far I'd imagine, if you can throw a Man as well as you can punch him."
Edan snorts briefly.
"Come now my boy, I am not such an awful person am I? I have my.... quirks, I'll give you that, but what I do, I do for the good of the Blacksmiths and our legacy!"
"I'll give you that as well, a quirky, selfish man who looks out for his own blood and only his own blood!"
"Of which you share, nephew!" Bridgur stands up abruptly and steps forward to Edan, "We are kin, you and I. What's mine is yours!" He puts his hands on Edan's shoulders to make him focus on his face, see the sincerity in his eyes, "Is it so selfish to look out for one's family? You have a child now, tell me you would not do ANYTHING you could for your little boy? Tell me you would not give ANYTHING to make his life easier and better than yours ever was? Tell me!"
Edan abruptly and harshly shrugged himself free of Bridgur's grasp and turned away, he looked off to the side a moment in thought. "What do you know of what I would or would not do for my son?" He could almost feel Bridgur's smile on his back and it somehow sickened him a little.
"Because I know you my boy! You may not think so, but I have followed you throughout your life and career, I know YOU Edan, probably better than you know yourself! I know what you are capable of, and I know to what lengths you will go to see a job done, and I know that any Man such as you who would go to such lengths for just a JOB, would go infinitely further for love and family...
"Because it's what I would do, and we are kin- not so different as you might wish."
Edan looks back at Bridgur over his shoulder with a slight snarl about his lips, "I am NOTHING like you," he says harshly and then storms out of the apartment. He could almost feel Bridgur's feral grin on his back as he slammed the door and headed for his home in the Shire.