The Bird In A Cage by Himring

Part II, ch. 2: The Hawk in Flight

Aredhel and Idril in Gondolin.

Idril leans against the battlements and watches a hawk hover above the plain of Tumladen.

‘You love me no less, aunt’, she says to Aredhel, without looking at her, ‘but you do not like me as much as you used to.’

‘Nonsense, child!’, Aredhel protests and is horrified to hear her voice sound strangely flat.

‘But I am no child any more. That is the point, isn’t it? The real reason why you agreed to come with us to Gondolin was because I depended on you. But now I seem to depend less and less on you, and nevertheless you are still not free to leave.’

Idril turns around and determinedly faces her aunt.

‘I cannot stay helpless and dependent just to make your sacrifice meaningful, Aunt Irisse’, she says, with a hint of regret. ‘But I do not enjoy being the galling chain that binds you here. Talk to Father! I will talk to him, too, and he will let you leave.’

She sees the unmistakable relief in Aredhel’s face and, with a sob, throws her arms around her aunt’s neck.

‘But do come back to me if you can. I may have stopped needing you in any way that is obvious to you, but I still need you in ways that you do not even begin to see.’