Work Text:
Kythorn 1476
Baldur’s Gate
“I know what I want to do tomorrow,” Wyll says, raising his eyes from the paper where he is practicing his vocabulary. “Father took me somewhere the other day and I want to go back.”
Eliwyn slides the paper closer and peers down at his work. Most of it is correct, though he’s bungled the definition of ‘infer.’ He’s written the definition for ‘imply’ instead, though that’s an understandable mix-up. “Where is it he took you?”
“…the temple of Umberlee…,” he murmurs.
“The Water Queen’s House?” Eliwyn shakes her head. “Wyll, you know we can’t go into the Lower Cit—“
“—you said we could do whatever I want!”
Eliwyn lets out a huff. She did in fact promise that. Tomorrow is the last day of spring. With the start of summer comes the end of Eliwyn’s time as Wyll’s caretaker and teacher. He’s eight years old now, which means he must start the formal lessons befitting the son of a future duke. She promised him an entire day to do whatever he wants before he begins his lessons with his tutors.
Wyll stares at her hard, his brow pinched in defiance. Eliwyn sighs. She hates to see anything but happiness or joy or peace in his eyes.
“…alright,” she finally concedes. After all, she is over a hundred now. She’s an adult according to elven culture. Her mother hardly has the same authority over her as she once did. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning. I’ll pack a picnic.”
“Yes!” Wyll pumps a fist into the air, his eyes bright with excitement.
“Now back to work! We still have history lessons to do after this.”
Wyll hunches intently over the table, his tongue stuck out between his teeth, and hurriedly scribbles away. Eliwyn rests her chin on her fist and watches him.
How terribly she will miss these days.
***
Eliwyn and Wyll sit on the crags upon which stands the elaborate temple to Umberlee. The melodious voices of the Waveservants as they sing their hymns carry through the air. The waters of the Chionthar, calm this far into the harbor, lap against the rocks. Wyll’s fishing pole sits shoved into a crevice as he lounges back, one ankle propped on his knee. Eliwyn gave an extra generous donation to the temple so that Wyll could cast his line from here.
“Did you know,” Eliwyn says, lazily turning the page in her book, “that in Kozakura they eat fish raw?”
“Gross!”
“I’d say let’s try it, but probably best not to eat anything raw from the Chionthar.”
“Torold Eomane ate a worm yesterday. I think I’d eat a worm.”
“Ew,” Eliwyn scoffs. “Now you’re the one being gross.”
Wyll chuckles as he picks up a rock and tosses it straight up in the air only to catch it and toss it up once more.
“Maybe if it was served with a nice sauce, though…,” Eliwyn muses.
“Or covered in chocolate.”
“Lots and lots and lots of chocolate.”
They both laugh at this then lapse back into silence. When the shadows start to shorten and Eliwyn hears a gurgling grumble from Wyll’s direction she unpacks the frail she brought full of food for their picnic. Roasted chicken, cheese, fresh berries from her mother’s garden, and of course two honey cakes from the bakery.
“Eliwyn,” Wyll says past a mouthful of roasted chicken. “Do I really have to start spending all day with tutors?”
“Yes, dearest, I’m afraid you do.” Eliwyn nibbles on a bit of cheese, head tilted at Wyll’s crestfallen expression. “It won’t be so bad. They’re going to teach you all sorts of interesting things.”
“Why can’t you teach me?”
Eliwyn sighs and rolls a berry from her mother’s garden in her fingers. Why, indeed? If she could she would, and in fact she pleaded with Ulder to allow her to do so, at least in some areas. Reading and writing and history are all subjects she could easily manage. But Ulder refused. He refused to give a reason, as well.
“Because I don’t know all the things you’re supposed to learn,” she finally says. It isn’t entirely false. There are parts of his curriculum where she would be dismal as a governess—mathematics and politics, in particular. “But think of it this way, you can tell me all about the things you learn that I don’t know. You will be my teacher now, yes?”
“No I won’t be,” he says and his face drops into a deeper frown.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re leaving. I heard your father talking to my father. He said you’re going to Evereska.”
Eliwyn’s stomach plummets. That is the other reason she cannot continue to care for Wyll as she has been. Her father believes it is time is for her to leave home, just as he did when he turned one hundred. Her mother agrees, though she does not like the idea of Eliwyn going on a Wandering as her father did. So she’s been making preparations with a cousin of hers in Evereska. The plan is for Eliwyn to spend some a few decades among the elves. Perhaps, even—should her mother’s own machinations come to fruition—find someone suitable to marry.
“Wyll, what have I told you about listening at keyholes?” she says quietly.
Wyll stays silent. He turns his face away, but she does not miss the quick swipe of his hand across his eyes.
“What else did you hear them say?”
A sniff and a shaky breath punctuates the long silence before Wyll finally speaks. “Father was asking if I could join The Watch if I’m no good at being a Flaming Fist.”
It takes everything in her not to let her exasperation be heard. Luckily, Wyll is still turned away, so he does not see the roll of her eyes. Ulder is a man of impossible expectations and he does nothing to lessen the burden of them for his son. And Wyll is far too eager to please. His yoke is already too heavy and he is only eight years of age.
Eliwyn slides over to Wyll and pulls him into her arms. “Your father didn’t mean anything by it. This is just his way of making sure you’re taken care of. Don’t think on it, dearest. Don’t think on it for a moment.” Her finger smoothes over his cheek to dry a few spilled tears and she presses a kiss onto his head.
“But what if I’m not any good at it?”
“Then you’ll join The Watch, or you’ll find something else to do and you’ll be immensely happy doing it.” Eliwyn turns his face up to her so that she can see his eyes. “But I don’t think that will be the case. You’ll see. You’ll be the pride of The Gate one day.”
At that, Wyll’s frown twitches up and some of the sadness and worry starts to ease away from his gaze. Yet a knot of concern is already tying itself in her chest.
“As for Evereska…,” she continues. “I was planning to tell my parents tonight that I won’t be going.”
At her words Wyll truly perks up. “You won’t?”
“No,” she says with a shake of her head and a shrug. “There’s far too much to be done at The Rose Portal now that Dawnmaster Dera has retired. And besides, why would I want to live around a bunch of stuffy elves?”
Just then, Wyll’s line snaps taught. The pole twitches and bends. Wyll yelps and lurches for it, all worries now gone from his mind.
Eliwyn laughs as she watches him struggle to bring in the line. A sense of relief spreads through her. In truth, she never wanted to go to Evereska, but she could not think of an excuse to give her father. Now, she has a reason.
Wyll needs her still, even if just the peace of mind knowing she is nearby. So, she must stay. That is what she promised Perrin all those decades ago. So long as one of Perrin’s own needs her, she will stay.