Secrets by Himring

Secrets

In the palace gardens, Inzilbeth sits by the ornamental pond. In a whisper, she tells Inziladun of home, of Andunie, how, when she was young, she would explore the coastline of the bay, how she would part reeds and sedge to discover, maybe, a resting mallard or a nest of duck eggs. Inziladun, leaning against her, listens as if it was the greatest adventure.

She cannot take him there. Any attempt to leave Armenelos is forbidden, any attempt to leave with her son doubly so. Even Inziladun knows that.

She knows: to the Andunie she remembers there is no returning.

For the New Year, Lindorie gives her daughter a box ingeniously carved like a duck. The bird’s back is the lid, hidden by its wings. Ladies uses such boxes for cosmetics. Female frippery, thinks Gimilzor. His gaze passes over it.

Inzilbeth stores athelas beneath the duck’s back, against tension headaches, for luck, and below, in the tiny concealed compartment in the duck’s belly, the small secrets she manages to keep.

Years later, she gives the duck to her granddaughter. Just a pretty thing, a toy—Inzilbeth hopes that Miriel will never need to hide secrets from those close to her.

Chapter End Notes

2 x 100 words in MS Word

For the tolkienshortfanworks April thematic prompt: duck or egg.
With extra inspiration from the bonus prompt, the image of a small carved duck from the excavation of Alalakh, which clearly had contained something in its back.

Earlier story about Inzilbeth: To Doubt and to have Faith