10. In the Midst - Edoraslass
Her pregnancy had been fraught with difficulty, and we could not allow her to be evacuated without risk to both mother and child.
She has been in labour for hours, too many hours. Her stifled screams occasionally drift into the main room, and a number of the men have taken to asking after her, as if childbirth were a wound more dire than those which many of them bear.
The ringing, somehow defiant blast of a horn comes from the Field while I am stitching a soldier’s leg, and it is followed by the distant sounds of terrible, fierce singing.
An amazed hush falls over the Houses, roof to foundation.
A high, outraged shriek breaks the silence, startling all for a moment, then the midwife’s assistant appears in the doorway, tired but beaming. “It is a boy, and she has named him Estel!”
A great cheer erupts from the injured, and for the first time in days, I feel that all is not lost.
In the midst of death, life. In the midst of despair, hope.
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.
