In Which Evaleith's Hope Is Shattered

April 19, 1164

"No, don't cry..." Ceidrid urged gently as he rubbed her shoulder in a vain attempt to comfort her. "I know it's hard, but..."

Evaleith didn't want to hear it; she got that he was trying to be nice, but that didn't give him the right to tell such lies. "You don't know anything! She's been gone for so long, and I finally find her and she denies everything just so she can keep her perfect new family free of me!"

The boy sighed. "Oh, don't say that..."

"Why not? It's true!" she wailed, her hands balling into such tight fists that her nails pierced several layers of skin. "She abandoned me and my father, and now she's giving her new, perfect husband and her new, perfect children everything they could ever want! What did I do?"

"Evaleith..."

She silenced him with a shake of her head. "Why am I not good enough for her? Why would she just deny me like that?"

"Evaleith," Ceidrid addressed her once more, wiping away her tears with the back of his hand, "Evaleith... maybe she hasn't denied you. After all, you haven't seen your mother since you were so little that you can barely remember her anyway--maybe the name and the eyes and everything are just a coincidence? Maybe she's really not your mother; maybe you haven't found your mother yet?"

Considering this, Evaleith swallowed. Such a possibility was an embarrassing prospect, but in some ways, she supposed it was also a hopeful view. If anything, it did lessen the pain of being disowned by a woman she had believed to be her mother if she figured that the woman might not actually be her mother after all. "Thanks, Ceidrid. That... well, maybe that helps."

Still--she almost wished she hadn't suggested that they crouch by the bedroom windows and eavesdrop on the couple's argument.

"You can stay at my house for the night, if you want," he offered. "We have some extra beds, and I'm sure my sister and brother would like to meet you."

Evaleith shrugged. "I suppose it'll have to do--I doubt I'll be able to actually earn a bed anywhere to--"

"Excuse me... can I talk to you for a second?"

Despite what she had been trying to tell herself, her heart stopped at the very sight of Honora. "...Alone, if you don't mind?"

Evaleith bit away at the flesh of her tongue as she stared at the older woman, her head and her heart locked in conflict. Finally, she muttered, "Ceidrid... do you mind?"

"Not at all," he assured her. "I'll just head a few minutes down the road, and you can meet me whenever you're done here."

She pawed the ground with the toe of her boot. "Fair enough."

As Ceidrid hurried off out of earshot, Evaleith cautiously approached Honora. She doubted that the older woman was aware that they had been eavesdropping, but that was the least of her concerns. Was Honora just going to tell her that which she had already told her husband? Evaleith did not think she cared to hear that again.

"Look, I think I can guess how you must feel," the older woman began, her voice neutral to the point of near-iciness, "but I do believe that you are capable of understanding that there comes a time when one simply desires a fresh start."

This seemed a rather odd thing to say given the circumstances. "Er... what are you talking about?"

Honora sighed. "Just go home. Go home to Adwyn--he always did adore you."

Evaleith could do nothing but gape; any hope Ceidrid had given her had now shattered like a fallen vase. "How do you know my father's name?"

The older woman looked away, still as much of a mystery as she had always been. "Go home, Evaleith. Just... go."

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