My Strange Persephone

Part ten: Laera

Adar was knocked off his feet as explosions rocked the castle. He made sure he didn't drop either of the babies, but he landed hard on his back. He'd feel that one tomorrow. Adar stood up, and walked to the window. He could see a figure ascending, flames glowing in her hands, an expression of fury and determination on her familiar features. Adar sighed. Of all the people that could be attacking the woodland elves, it had to be his sister.

Laera was one of the Moriondor that, like Adar, had survived their experiments. Morgoth had thought the Moriondor to be a failed experiment, and had tried to...dispose of them. Adar still had conflicted feelings about his father, and didn't like to think of that part of that story. The way Morgoth had done it was by sending all the Moriondor, Laera and Adar included, into the lair of Shelob. Laera had managed to fly away, never to be seen again until now. Adar had almost been eaten, and probably would have been if Sauron hadn't stepped in. Back then, Adar had thought Sauron was his knight in shining armor. Of course, he knew now that the whole thing was set up to make Sauron into Adar's savior. That was the kind of thing Sauron liked to do. Needless to say, Adar's memories weren't fun. But he still remembered his adoptive sister clearly.

A young woman landed on the windowsill before Adar. She was tall, and had dark brown eyes, light brown skin, and long green hair that was apparently natural. Laera also had wings. Morgoth had been fascinated by giant eagles back then, and had stitched a pair of their wings to Laera's back. She shouldn't have been able to control them, but yet, Adar's sister loved to fly. Laera also had the ability to summon fire, but as she didn't have particularly great control over it, she only used it when she really wanted to destroy something. Clearly, Laera had it out for Thranduil.

"Adar?" Laera asked, as shocked as he'd ever seen her. "Hey, Laera." He said. "It's me." Immediately, Laera jumped down off the windowsill, the flames extinguishing in her hands. Before Adar could do anything, Laera had crossed the room, and was pulling him into a very tight hug. "You're alive." Laera said, and pulled away to take a good look at Adar. She'd always been a lot taller than him, and even after hundreds of years, he'd hadn't really grown. The only change was the amount of burns and scars on his face.

"That's Sauron's mark." Laera said when she saw the brand on Adar's face, her palms close to igniting again. "What did he do to you?" If Adar was going to get into that now, the whole place was in danger of getting set in fire by Laera. "It's a long story." Adar finally said. "And as nice as this reunion is, why are you attacking the woodland elves?"

Laera frowned. "They killed Greta." She said. Greta had been Laera's best friend, back when they'd all been in Morgoth's captivity. "I found her the other day, full of elven arrows." Laera continued. "All I had to do was find out where the arrows came from, and I'd find who killed her." Adar shook his head quickly, anger rising and feeling sick. "The woodland elves didn't kill Greta." He said. "Sauron did."

There were a few seconds of silence. "What?" Laera asked. Adar nodded. "When I was last in Sauron's captivity, he killed Greta in front of me because he knew it would hurt me." Adar said. "If he's trying to frame the woodland elves, then he's using you too. I'm sorry, Laera. But the enemy you seek lies elsewhere."

Laera clenched her fist, and Adar could see smoke rising. "When you were 'last' in his captivity?" She asked carefully. When she was deliberate, that's when Adar knew Laera was truly mad. "You mean to say that not only did Sauron kill Greta, but he's been kidnapping you on the regular?" Adar shrugged, as much as one could shrug while carrying two babies. "I suppose you could say that."

"And why does Sauron frequently kidnap you?" Laera asked. "Tell me it's not what I'm thinking." Adar looked down. "Are you thinking he got Morgoth to marry us, he's been obsessed with me ever since, and he has a bad habit of killing anyone I ever get close to that isn't him?" The wall behind Laera ignited.