~ Mother is Not Happy™ and gives Wynne a new task. ~

57. An Unfair Ultimatum

There were boys everywhere, or at least it felt so. Baby Rohi climbed into Wynne's lap where he stained her tunic with his grubby hands. Nearby his brother straddled Galion's broad shoulders while Elboron and Eldarion fought each other with wooden swords.

She had forgotten who was who, but both were unbearably loud.

"Elboron, Eldarion... Elfwine... Why do they have to name their kids the same?" she grumbled. It was hard enough to tell the orclings apart, who had different names.

"Maybe they like elves," suggested Galion, smiling. "Who is Elfwine, anyway?"

"The Rohan prince. Thankfully King Éomer left him at home."

Galion only chuckled at her sour comment, dodging his young rider's kicking leg.

Wynne had endlessly preferred to be alone but in her room her mother could easily find her so she had come back to Aragorn's lawn as soon as she had composed herself after the catastrophic talk with Thranduil.

She didn't want to think about that.

Sidra and Nugu had been unusually downcast after the council and when they recounted how it had gone Wynne understood them. Apparently her mother had been the worst of their enemies there. Why was she not surprised?

She sighed. She felt worn, exhausted by today's work of tending children and emotionally spent after confessing to Thranduil.

She did not want to think about that.

Instead she wondered why she had agreed to babysit, terrible with children as she were. But Sidra had claimed Galion needed help and that Nodir and Bronedir were busy. Yeah, right... Busy in the bathhouse until noon, and the rest of the day relaxing in the shade under the white tree together with two young Gondorian ladies.

Wynne wished she could relax in the shade as well but her head was too full; a flurry of thoughts and emotions had been tumbling around in her mind all day. Her private audience with Legolas's father only added to the cacophony.

How different Legolas was from him! Legolas had immediately forgiven everything and seemed not the least upset to learn the truth about Wynne's secret mission. It had been almost too easy.

What if he believed she had only chosen him because her mother told her to? That would be so painful to him and she wanted to explain how it really was, but at the same time she did not want to talk to him for then she would also have to tell him about her tete-a-tete with Thranduil.

Legolas would of course find out anyway, probably have it from the source – but at least then she wouldn't have to describe her own pathetic performance.

With a ragged sigh Wynne realized her thoughts were on it once again, she kept returning there, kept bringing back the humiliation and shame. Stupid, stupid. Why had she blurted everything out in the least flattering way? But he had scared her, more than he ever had before, and her mouth had worked on its own.

And of course, after hearing her confession he had grown madder still and that had effectively stopped her from trying to explain or excuse herself. At one time she was certain he would hit her but instead he had calmed down and said he was not angry with her.

She didn't believe that was true and when she left his room it was with a lingering sense of upcoming disaster.

"Wynne! There you are, finally!"

She groaned inwardly. She had been right, here came disaster.

Mother strode up to her with billowing skirts, face ghostly pale except for her flaming red cheeks and neck. When she spotted the orcling in Wynne's lap, her face twisted into a disgusted grimace.

"Remove that thing and then come with me." She lowered her voice to a hiss. "And you are not to be near those monsters ever again!"

"But Mother..."

"Silence. Now come."

Wynne was too used to obeying to refuse, and as she walked behind her furious mother she suspected she knew the reason for the anger. Thranduil had said no. She had feared it ever since she left him, but fearing was not the same as knowing. Now her stomach plummeted. Without his father's blessing, how could she and Legolas ever be happy together?

Mother confirmed Wynne's suspicions as soon as she had slammed the door behind them. What made her even more upset was that Thranduil had claimed she was the reason.

"He had the nerve to say that he didn't want the eaves of Greenwood to be polluted by my presence. That he found my meddling insufferable. Such rudeness! He really took delight in vexing me!" She paced around, clenching and unclenching her hands. Then she threw herself down on a chair. "This will be the end of me."

Wynne sat on the bed, not knowing what to say, disconcerted by her mother's air of defeat. Mother never lost a battle of wills. But perhaps in Thranduil, she had found a worthy opponent for the first time.

"I am quite worn out," she sighed now. "First that horrible meeting with those disgusting orcs, and now this."

"They are my friends," Wynne protested meekly. "And Sidra is human."

"One who voluntarily lies with an orc is not much different herself." There was venom in her voice. Then she looked like a thought had struck her. Her countenance changed; the exasperation disappeared and was replaced with shrewdness. "How long has it been since you had your last period?"

"What?"

"Just answer the question."

"A week or so, I think. But why–" Wynne stopped, understanding. "No. No Mother!"

"Perfect! We shall be here for several days, I dare say, and it is just the right time."

"Legolas will never shame me so."

"Nonsense, you will not be shamed. Thranduil will accept the union to avoid such disgrace. If you marry soon afterwards nobody will know you were with child before the ceremony."

"I won't do it, we won't do it! Not when his father is against it. Thranduil will hate us if we force him to agree." She rose hastily, aiming for the door.

"You stay here," Mother snapped. "Sit."

As Wynne reluctantly obeyed, she regarded her thoughtfully. "You say the orcs are your friends." The shrewd expression was back. "You want this peace with them, I dare say?"

Wynne could only stare, baffled. Was she giving her an ultimatum?

"Your father and I were going to vote against it, of course. It would be horrible to let orcs spread their filth in the human realms again, where they have already done so much evil; killed, robbed, raped. Yes, they claim to have changed but I find that hard to believe." Mother's voice had grown passionate but then it changed and became sly. "Even so... I cannot help thinking that if I would find my House allied to the wood-elves... Well, then I might feel a bit safer even with orcs nearby. Yes, I think I would, actually." She rose from the chair to loom over Wynne. "Let me put this plainly. Beginning tonight, you will sleep with Legolas, and do so every night for the duration of our stay. If you do it, I promise I will persuade the other Houses to accept the peace treaty."

"It's not fair," she mumbled, hearing defeat in her voice. She couldn't refuse, not if the wellbeing of her friends depended on it. Sidra, Nugu, Goltur... the orclings. She couldn't let them waste away underground indefinitely which would be the result if there was no peace.

"Come. Change into that dress you wore to dinner yesterday and I shall follow you there."

oOo

Wynne felt oddly like an animal being led to slaughter as she was escorted down the corridor.

"Here we are then. You stay the entire night, understood?"

"Yes."

"I will notice if you leave beforehand." Meaning, she would be back there tomorrow to witness Wynne come out through that door again. Could it be more humiliating?

Hating herself for doing this to Legolas she knocked, and when he opened she hurried in and slammed the door before he could spot her mother's triumphant face outside.

"Wynne!" He seemed surprised, but pleased. Her gut flipped when she thought of how to explain what they would have to do, and why.

"I must talk to you."

He noticed her distress and looked concerned. "What is wrong?"

"We– We must do it. You know. Mate." Her face was burning and she couldn't hold back her tears.

He silently pulled her into an embrace, stroked her back and allowed her to calm down enough to continue.

"Mother says she will stop the peace treaty unless you make me with ch-child. She wants to force Thranduil to allow our marriage. B-because he said no to it when she asked him today."

"He said no?" Legolas tensed and there was surprise in his voice.

"I t-told him. About Mother's plan," she sobbed. "He suspected it and was so very angry. So I d-didn't dare otherwise."

Legolas held her a little way from him, looking her over. He frowned nearly as deep as Thranduil when he noticed her swollen cheek. "Did he do that?"

"No! He didn't hurt me."

"So where does this come from then?" His eyes had grown hard and flinty.

"It was..." she began, but broke off. She had meant to say it was an accident but she wouldn't lie to him no matter how humiliating the truth was. "Mother punished me." Her gaze dropped to her hands.

"That woman!" His hands clenched into fists as he began to pace the room, looking almost like his father. "Did she beat you before?" When she didn't answer he scowled even more, taking her silence as an affirmation. "It is not right! And to come up with such an ultimatum too. This is not how I wanted our first time to be."

"Me neither."

"And I do not like to go behind my father's back."

"I know. I'm so sorry..."

"Nay. Nay Wynne. Do not apologize for what she did." Again he reacted uncannily like Thranduil. "She is clever, she knows we cannot refuse." He pulled her close to him. She could feel his tension, hear the rapid beat of his heart. "If I must..." He hesitated. "I would lie if I said I had not longed to... be intimate with you. We can make a child if it is the only way, and if you want it too," he mumbled, his arms tightening slightly around her.

"Thranduil will kill us," mumbled Wynne, breathing faster. He was really considering it. Be intimate. Despite herself she felt her body react to the idea.

"Nay. He... I think he would be more hurt than angry and cease speaking with me. Like... when I returned from the quest with the Fellowship."

"You have just become closer to him. I don't want to ruin that between you." She pulled back.

He looked exasperated. "What else can we do?"

"I don't know. I can't think." She was crying again, she couldn't help it, everything was such a mess. "Even if we do what Mother wants, it will be a bad result. She says she will come visit us often and have the children come over to her often too."

"I would never allow a child of mine to be alone with that woman and risk her beating it." His scowl deepened and he began to stride back and forth again.

"I wish we could run away, just you and me, and live in a cottage where she would never find us." Wynne sighed and thought of her old daydream.

He stopped his pacing, staring at her. "That is actually a good idea."

"Your father would be heartbroken. And there would be no treaty."

"Not if... wait, let me think this through..." His forehead screwed up as he pondered for a while. Then he brightened. "I got it! Something that will overturn your mother's plotting."

"Really?"

"First, we pretend we did what she wanted. You sleep here but we will not do it because my father would know if I had. For an elf, such things show. But your mother would be fooled, would she not?"

"I think so, unless she comes in here with us." Wynne shuddered at that horrible thought. "But I can't see how..."

"Wait, hear me out. As soon as the Rohirrim lords have signed the treaty you and I elope and hide in the wilderness. Then I send word to Ada and tell him we wish to marry with his blessing. I cannot see him refusing that, not when your mother is out of the picture. We marry and stay hidden until it is safe to return, perhaps when she is dead. Maybe Ada lets us live far away in Greenwood somewhere, we can work out the details later. The most important thing is that we would be together. And my father and I would still..." He broke off, and some of the excitement left his features. "You would lose your father. And your grandparents."

Wynne considered it carefully. To never see her father again... and Grandmama, and Grandpapa... that would hurt. But if the choice was between Legolas and them, she would always choose him.

And this plan might actually work. She thought she could fool Mother; it took many weeks until a pregnancy showed and before then the treaty would be signed. Thranduil had seemed on the verge to accept their relationship before Mother came – if they eloped to avoid her ultimatum, that would probably sit well with him. Yes, it could work, and even if not, this was a lot better than any of the alternatives.

"Let's do it."

They hugged, hard and long, feeling both scared and relieved. If this worked they would set things in motion that couldn't be undone.

"So, no baby-making tonight then," he said after a while, eyes twinkling impishly. "Almost a shame. That plan had some merits..."

"I'm sure there are other things we could do." Her hands slid under his tunic.

"There are." His gaze was on her very low neckline. "I forgot to say how much I love your dress... At least when only I get to see you in it."

A/N:

Legolas and Wynne are resourceful. Do you think the plan might work?

As always, big hugs to my wonderful readers! Thank you for your continued support of this story, which really means a lot.

Image Credits:

Visitation, painting by Rogier van der Weyden. Source: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Pregnancy_in_art