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After an hour spent swimming and diving in her favourite lake, Dawn returned to the encampent, her mind calculating several plans before formulating them into one cohesive whole. Already she could sense her wedding night had been fruitful; a child would resort from the night's brutality she'd suffered at the hands of her husbands. And the child was going to be incredibly talented, carrying the traits of three parents, as it were; sun, night, and forest. Whether the child would be born a night elf was up for debate, but Dawn wasn't too worried. Her child was already going to be very highly skilled, and thus the wishes of the council would be one step closer to fruition.
But Dawn had no plans for letting her child fall into the hands of the council. At the very least, she wasn't going to let her unborn child fall into the hands of the council unprepared. The council would get its due one way or another, but Dawn was determined that they'd choke on it when her child made his or her way onto the stage.
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Gwydion and Mordred were torn between shock and admiration as they watched the three babies sleeping in their mother's crowded arms. Against all expectation, Dawn had given birth to a forest elf, a night elf, and a sun elf, and the twins were stunned at how neatly the council's plan had started to come together. For the children also carried the traits of each parent whilst physically resembling one parent or the other, and Gwydion shared a firm look with his brother, who nodded. "You have done well," he told Dawn. "I do not know how you managed to birth three children who physically resemble each of us, whilst also carrying the traits of forest, night and sun elves in them as well, but the council is going to be very pleased."
Dawn snorted to show what she thought of that. "Like I'm going to hand them over to be abused," she said crossly. Having witnessed the miracle herself, she was now determined to never her children fall into the hands of the council. "Sorry, but these three are mine, and they will remain free from abuse and mistreatment."
Gwydion cracked his knuckles in a rare display of temper as he glared at his wife. "I regret commanding you to be fair with us," he growled. "You will hand them over, or that punishment I promised you nine months ago will be very swiftly enacted."
"Go ahead," Dawn invited, giving her furious sun elf husband a toothy smile. "I doubt you're going to get your way, since, as you've both seem to forgotten, you're living amongs the clannish of all the elven tribes, and we look out for our own. Since my children have a forest elf for their mother, that protection extends to them. And my threat remains in force; abuse me, and you'll get no further children from me, and you'll be forced into celibacy for the rest of your lives whilst watching my children grow up, marry, and have children of their own untainted by the twisted wiles of your corrupt council!"
The brothers looked taken aback by this, and Dawn gave them no chance to recover. "Seize them," she said to the midwife, who, ironically, was a sun elf, but also fiercely devoted to her mistress. The woman grinned, and had the brothers summarily removed from the birthing chamber. "Lock them up?" she called over her shoulder.
"Lock them up," Dawn agreed.
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But Dawn hadn't counted on the council being determined to get its hands on her three children, whom she'd named Elwyn, Cenwyn, and Maelgwyn. Two days after the triplets' birth, Navi himself came to the forest, blazing with anger, glowing with power, and ready to thrown down with the errant girl who'd put a serious crimp in her plans. "You dare to have two of my citizens locked up?" he roared at her. "I ought to kill your misbegotten brats here and now!"
"Try me," Dawn warned, in no mood for his threats. Navi soon blustered into silence anyway when he found himself the target of some very angry forest elves, all with broadhead arrows nocked and ready to draw. Forest elves were very skilled and very deadly with their bows; they could keep a bow at full draw for hours if need be, and their accuracy was unquestioned. And right now, they were ready to spit the arrogant sun elf like a boar; sun elves did not get along with forest elves on a good day, and each archer was ready to loose if Navi twitched a finger wrong. Some of them looked like they didn't need an excuse, and Dawn almost grinned at the chagrin on Navi's face. "Well?" she challenged. 124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvTTVhqtPo
Navi took a deep breath. "I offer a proposition," he said stiffly, tensing as the bows creaked in readiness. He forced himself to a more civil tone. "You are young. You can bear as many children as you wish. I will have your three children in exchange for dissolving this marriage. You can marry and bear as may children as you want in the future, and we will leave you alone."
"Not going to happen," Dawn said firmly. "My sons are no weapons, and I will not have them treated and raised as such. Why in the name of the gods can't you see that? You've got your cure, even though you're being spectacularly heavy-handed and arbitrary with it, but what you do with your own citizens is your own business, I suppose. So why the hell can't you just let it go? You've got enough children to start your army; my sons' gifts won't be used to further strengthen your ranks, and if you want to think otherwise, you won't leave this place alive. I already know most of your own tribe have abandoned you, and your fellow leaders have already walked away. You're the only one who is still clinging to those outdated ideas. Why?"
Navi didn't answer. "You risk much," he said instead, and once more the bows creaked. He ignored the deadly sound this time. "You speak of things beyond your imagination and understanding," he said, now speaking as though to a child of small intelligence. "I have spent years researching how we can regain our lost glory; your sons, as well as the other children we've bred, will one day form the cornerstone for an army that will finally take back what was ours! Ancient manuscripts speak of a child who will one day wield the powers of all six elven races; night, sun, moon, sea, sky and forest, and their birth will be the harbinger of a new age! Once we have that child, we can finally start down the road to reclaim our lost glory! That, you ignorant child, is why we need talented children. Your sons already carry the gifts of three elven races inside them; once bred to sea, sky and moon elves, the gene pool will widen, until we finally have our prophesied leader!"
"Aaaaand I've heard enough," Moira said sharply. She gestured; the archers reluctantly stood down, but did so without question. Moira regarded her rival with eyes that could pierce a man's soul and read the character of what lay underneath. "You've outlived your prime," she said. "You're bitter, weary, and old. As Dawn has stated, most of your alliies have abandoned you, and those who still remain with you are tied to you out of fear of what you will do to them should they break ranks. Had I the power, I'd undo those chains of compulsion myself, but I can only do so much." She firmed her shoulders. "You speak of prophecy? Then hear mine, and know it for truth. You will get your promised child. But that child will lead a revolution and throw you down into the dirt like the tired, worn down snake you are. And when you look into their face, you will see yourself, a tired, weary old man, burnt out from within by the fires of his misguided passions, until there only remains a shell of the man you once were."
Dead silence reigned once Moira had finished speaking, and Dawn rubbed her arms. Moira carried the gift of foretelling, but never had her words rung so powerfully with unvarnished truth. Navi looked like a man who'd had his death foretold, and in truth, that had been just what had happened. "You do not command me," he said with great effort. "And your prophecy cannot come to pass unless Dawn does as she is commanded and hands her sons over."
"And who says she can't send them as envoys to the other tribes?" Moira asked with an arch smile on her lips. "Your tribe is the only one who still follows you; the others, as Dawn stated, have abandoned you, leaving you in command of a city that is slowly being eaten from the inside out with corruption. Your citizens are terrified of you, and will not go against you for fear of losing their newborn children; and you have worms in your ranks who are slowly eating you from the inside out as well!"
Navi stiffened, and Dawn almost laughed at his chagrin. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, horrified. "Winter and his wife would never go against me; they know the penalty! As does Nimue!"
Moira smirked. "Are you sure you want to find out?" she invited.
Several things finally clicked into place in Dawn's mind, and she therefore wasn't terribly surprised when Gwydion and Mordred emerged from their hut, arms folded as they stared Navi down. The sun elf leader, for his part, looked very green around the gills suddenly. "How?" he demanded.
"We have a night elf for a father, doofus," Gwydion snapped, his manner gone from arrogant to cutting. He spared Dawn an apologetic look, and she nodded, forgiving him for his recent conduct now that she knew where his true loyalties lay. "And despite your charming meddling, I still command his gifts, just as Mordred can command my gift of sunlight along with his own talent for darkness."
Navi now went sheet white. Moira didn't give him the chance to speak. "Get out of here," she said in a tight voice that carried the full and crushing weight of the earth from which she drew her powers. "The day I lay eyes on you again is the day you die."
Whether that was prophecy or a threat didn't matter; Navi took her words in the spirit they were intended and left, escorted by a guard of archers who had their orders. Navi was to be escorted to the forest's edge and given formal banishment by the centaurs who had given the first forest elves their powers millennia ago. A banishment from a centaur carried the death penalty if it was ever broken, and Navi had the look of a man who realised all his plans had, for the moment, come crashing down around his ears as he was led away.
"And good bloody riddance," Mordred added.
Moira chuckled. "I owe you two thanks," she told the twins. "I'm sorry I had to do what I did, but if the council even suspected you two were moles, well, I needn't spell it out."
"No," Gwydion agreed, as he turned to Dawn. "Forgive our recent boorish behaviour," he said formally, dropping to one knee, as did Mordred. "We know it will take time for you to truly forgive us, but we are ready and prepared to be exiled to the couch for some time yet to come."
Dawn shook her head with an amused smile. "Just ... let me get my head back on straight," she told the two young men. "I won't exile you to the couch forever, but I need time to process all that's happened."
"Understood," Mordred said, bestowing a gallant smile on her as he and Gwydion rose. "We know it's all a bit much for you to take in, so we'll give you all the time you need."
"Thank you," Dawn said gratefully. She then added an olive branch. "Would you two like to meet your sons?"124Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkUp1eFLun
The brothers shared a stunned look before nodding. "We'd be honoured," Gwydion said humbly.
Dawn smiled. "Then come with me," she said.
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