(Archive) - Gweneth\'s Victory

September 20, 2000

*Note - log supplied by Gweneth*

Alone, books at his side and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, sits Torelin, prisoner of Dol Amroth just as he was in Umbar. Little has changed in his life except maybe the meals are better. The room is dark and a bit damp but certainly it affords more comfort than one would expect from a jail.

There are voices outside the cell, in the guard\'s room, and soon after they quiet, the sound of the guard making his way back up out of the dungeon is heard. The glow of a single candle bobs with the shadow of its carrier shown upon the walls. As it rounds the corner, into view of the cell, it is at first a blinding light, like the sun, but soon is more akin to a sprite or fairy pausing in flight to examine the prisoner. As eyes adjust, the porcelin outline of Gweneth\'s face sharpens, the glitter of the jeweled combs in her hair sparkling in time with the flickering flame. Her lips are tight and pursed, her deep grey eyes squinting into the darkness. Her voice comes, almost commanding and without greeting or joy, \"Torelin? Do you sleep?\"

Torelin looks up from the darkness, at first seeming like a caged animal, the glint in his eye fearsome for a moment. A moment is all and then the look is gone and replaced by something else--sadness maybe? However the expression translates is undermined by the flatness in the man\'s voice, \"I slept earlier. It is hard to tell day from night in here. Come to lord over me in my sad state, Gweneth?\" He seems to make it clear that he will only use the woman\'s first name and no title will he attach to her.

\"I think you have been in a sad state since when we first met,\" Gweneth says, taking a unsure step closer to the cell, holding the candle higher to see into the cell more carefully, \"I do not remember lording over you then, I have no plans to do so now.\" As she lifts the candle, the shadows on her face shift downwards.

\"Then what?\" he asks, \"I\'ve nothing left for you to take.\" As the light is held higher you see a much more tanned and thinner man, still large in general but he seems almost undernourished. His eyes are dark and distant. \"You are my second noble visitor to my new home. Do you wish to call me stubborn like a my former Haradrim masters and consider me unaidable as did the Lord Girithlin?\"

The Chamberlain seems unaffected by the verbal blow, her demeaner turning to ice. In hatred or to protect any other emotion escaping, it is hard to tell, \"I wanted to see the face of he who would have me dead. To look into his eyes and have him know that he has failed and that I live yet,\" her words begin to tinge with anger, \"To know that you are a failure in this and that madness or no, you will die for it as surely as you would have my blood dripping from your fingers.\"

Torelin laughs suddenly, leaning back against the wall smiling. \"If I wished you dead I would have just done it myself,\" he says. Growing sterner and making the sigh he stops chuckling. Flipping through some books he continues, \"Did you know the story of Turin? I often wonder at how he could be betrayed as he was and still remain honourable and true. I would have been much more angry than he in his circumstance.\"

Gweneth\'s lips only downturn into a scowl as Torelin laughs and seems to make light of her words, \"Turin was a proud and rash, with the curse of his family upon him. I have no need of a history lesson. Though, if you wish to give me some sort of comfort to deal with whatever pain I may have because of how I was betrayed by you, there is no need. I long ago learned to deal with the terror you put me through. Your execution will be but the last page in the story.\"

Torelin\'s eyes close. \"Fine. You have seen to my ruin utterly and now you have had your chance to see me in my last days. Take what you have stolen from me and do what you will with it.\" He opens his eyes and casts a strong, deadly stare, \"Make sure you kill me right this time, lady. Although I did not plot that which you accuse me of, have fear that I plot now. Curse you and your family I relieve all judgement up to Eru.\" Crossing his arms he again closes his eyes and his face is stone.

The Lady Bragollach in a rage opens her mouth, but naught comes from it but silence. She closes it slowly, confusion brewing on her brow, \"You speak in riddles now Torelin? I can only imagine your trickery has some dire purpose behind your words. I steal nothing from you, indeed the law only punishes you for what crimes you have committed. Indeed, your own blood named you the force directing the plot against me, do you deny his words? Your uncle, where is he to be found? He too disappeared near the time of the letter\'s delivery.\"

Torelin remains silent, like the stones that surround him day and night. \"I was treated better by the Haradrim than by my own people. My cousin said to me he only knows of a letter and when he tried to get to the bottom of the plot he was called a knave and was forced to leave Dol Amroth--I\'m sure that you had a hand in that too.\" He grits his teeth as he adds, \"As for my uncle...he is gone...his ashes lie next to Aiesha\'s, cast out into the Bay of Belfalas.\"

A silence falls after Torelin\'s words as well, Gweneth\'s jaw tightening and loosening, then retightening once more. Her eyes darting to the flor, her brow furrowed in comteplation, her mind battling over an all too obvious idea.

Finally, she snaps.

\"You lie!\" She yells, throwing the lit candy at him, it\'s flame dying out before leaving her hand. Darkness falls over the cell, as her words continue, calmer, \"I cannot allow your attempts to play my mind into some sort of foul trap come to bear. Though I wish your words can be true, there is little hope they are. If I succumbed and sided with you, who knows how you would bid your time before you took your chance to slip your dagger betwixt my ribs.\" There is a pause, the darkness holding no movement and only the sounds of the pair\'s breath, \"I think this visit was a mistake. You words cause me too much pain, for I remember the man that you were and not what you have become.\"

Torelin shakes his head sadly. \"While you idled here in your palace I spent my days avoiding the feet of Mumakils and being whipped for forgetting to use a blue glass instead of green for my master\'s wine. I have not changed except in my faith in Gondor and her people faith in those I thought were friends. See this from my side for a moment Gweneth, I finally escape three years of slavery to return home to the only man I knew as a father is gone, as is my wife, and my lands, my title, all that I have save this...\" He throws the lady a small silver ring, etched with a single wild flower. \"I gave it to her before we were wed. That is all that is left me.\" He sighs and lies down, now just waiting for the woman to leave. \"So finish what you have started and take the ring with you. Then you will hold all except for the truth and my life.\"

The ring falls to the ground in the shadows. Gweneth lowers herself and runs her hand over the ground, taking up the ring as her slender fingers run over it. She speaks once more, her voice quiet and soft, quite unlike her words before, \"Torelin...I...,\" there is none after that save only the sounds of skirts brushing against one another. Their sound moving away till, silence overtake the cell once more.