Gil-galad, son of... by chrissystriped

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Chapter One

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Faranwe looked up when the bell of the shop-door rang and looked into the wide, dark eyes of a woman. She had the disoriented look of the newly reborn and while she didn’t have the eyes or skin of an orc, Faranwe knew that her finding her way here meant she must have been one in her first life — or her second.

“Good day”, he said. “My name is Faranwe, but in the old life I was also Gârsh.” 

“Kashnai”, she said with trembling voice. “I don’t know of any family I have and here would be a good place to start, I was told?”

“It is.”

Faranwe smiled at her. Over the years a slow trickle of orcs had been reborn. Most of them showed up either on the Island or here with Shai and him, if they didn’t have family — or didn’t dare to meet those who’d thought them long lost.

“We have a guest room upstairs. You can stay here for a time, get your bearings, and then decide what to do.”

“I don’t want to be any trouble”, she said uncertainly.

“You aren’t. We know how disorienting it is to be reborn here. Let us help you and no strings attached.”

Kashnai smiled at that and nodded. “Come, I’ll introduce you to my wives.”

Kashnai followed him behind the counter into the workshop where Shai and Arasiel were poring over a new cutting pattern for a coat.

“These are Shai and Arasiel”, Faranwe said. “Kashnai has just come back from Mandos”, he told his wives.

“Welcome back to life”, Shai said. “Would you like a cup of something hot to drink? I know it can be all a little overwhelming. But you’ll see that people are usually very nice here.”

Faranwe felt Kashnai relax when she saw Shai’s orcish features — or maybe it was because she was more comfortable with women — she nodded.

 

Kashnai held the hot earthenware between her hands to hide her trembling. She had wanted to live again, but it was scary to be here. And it was scary to have this new body. She had chosen it, she knew that, and her fea and hroa felt whole like they’d never done in her old life — in her old life she had never known that the ache in her soul came from her body not completely fitting it — but each time she looked down on her hands, she startled. She expected grey-green mottled skin, instead of the warm brown she saw.

“Made or born?”, Faranwe asked her.

“Born”, she answered and sipped on her drink. It tasted fruity and sweet. She looked at Shai, because her orcish face felt less scary. Faranwe, for all the kindness he was showing her, looked too much like an elf. ‘Like yourself’, she thought.

“Feeling a little odd in your new skin?”, Shai asked.

Kashnai shrugged awkwardly. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful for the new life she’d been given. But it still felt strange being an elf — an enemy.

“You’ll settle in”, Shai answered with a kind smile. “If you want, I can introduce you to some of us, who’ve made them same experience.”

“Maybe”, Kashnai said uncertainly. “What’s going to happen to me now?”, she asked, trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

“Nothing is going to happen to you”, Shai said gently. “You can stay here for as long as you like. You can do what you want. Get to know people — I know meeting elves is scary, but they are usually very nice. Find a profession, learn new skills. Make yourself at home in this new world.”

Kashnai was overwhelmed by the possibilities. “There always were orders”, she said. “I was never… free to choose. But you know that.”

Shai and Faranwe nodded solemnly.

“Is there something, you always wanted to do?”, Shai asked. “Anything that’s left unfinished from your old life?”

“Well… I know I said I don’t have family, but I had a child. He… he looked like an elf, I knew he’d be killed, so I ran away with him. I died, but he was found by two elves. Maybe he’s still alive — or again, I suppose. Do you think there might be a way to find him?”

“We can certainly ask around”, Shai said. “We’ll try to find him.” She squeezed Kashnai’s arm.

 

Sharû walked whistling towards his parents' house. He had had business on the Island and decided to stop by to visit his parents. Arasiel smiled at him when he entered the shop.

“We have a visitor. A new arrival”, she said. “Faranwe and Shai are with her upstairs.”

“Should I come back another time, do you think?”, Sharû asked. Newly reborn orcs were often a little jumpy — especially if they recognised him, he was a living reminder of their old life.

“No. She seemed relatively stable. And I think she’ll be more comfortable with ‘real’ orcs around”, Arasiel answered.

Sharû thanked her end went upstairs. His father opened the door to him when he knocked. “Sharû! Good to see you.”

They embraced and Sharû’s heart beat quicker with love. It was so good to have his father back — whole and happy.

“We have a newcomer.” Faranwe led him inside, a hand on his shoulder.

Sharû smiled at the woman sitting at the dinner table, a cup between her hands.

“Kashnai, this is my son Sharû”, his mother said.

The woman’s eyes widened when she looked at him, a startled sound came from her mouth. Sharû tried to make himself as small and non-threatening as possible.

“I know you”, she said. “You helped me escape.”

“I’m sorry?” Sharû blinked at her.

“Oh, you wouldn’t remember me”, she said, touching her face self-consciously. “But you helped me get out of Angband with my newborn son who looked like an elf.”

“Oh.” Sharû had a faint memory of a friend of his sister coming to him with a frightened woman and a newborn. “I wondered what had happened to you and your child.”

“I… died. But my child was found.”

“She’d like to see him again”, his mother said. “Do you think there is a way?”

“I don’t know. Did you make towards Himring?”

If there were any place where an elvish looking child of an orc might have been accepted, it was there. For all the fierceness Maedhros showed in battle, he had also been known for taking in escapees.

Kashnai nodded. “I think, I was close, but…” She shivered. “It was so cold.”

“I’m sure my husband can ask Maedhros, if there were any foundlings in Himring.”

“Thank you.” Kashnai smiled at him. “For everything. My child would not have survived without you.”

Sharû blushed, because she looked at him like he was a hero. He had only done the decent thing.