Child of frost

Of what the heart sings

The valley was buzzing with rumours by now, they all knew that the female had awakened and that she most likely would make it, Elrond was as shut as a clam but the others did speak and now the inhabitants knew that her name was Aytha. They also heard of the things Elrond had discovered by entering her mind and most were absolutely stunned by it. A whole race of elves? Eradicated? It was horrible and everybody felt very sorry for her and wanted to do their outmost to help her adapt. Elrond sighed and felt trapped somehow, it was great that everybody wanted to help but it could prove to be too much. She wouldn't be allowed to meet that many elves at once, it would simply be too overwhelming for her and Elrond kept her in the infirmary and only allowed Lindir and Erestor access to the room she was in, and then the healers of course. Her burns did heal rather well and he had seen the fissure she had fallen into, it was a miracle she had survived. The frostbite was easily explained too now and Elrond made sure that she was fed often and well. Most elves doesn't need to eat that often, but she needed a lot of sustenance now to recover and Elrond had given the chefs very specific orders. They boiled the bones of large animals and removed the marrow and she ate that with glee, even liver and kidneys and other things few would even bother to cook.

He suspected that her people had been accustomed to eating whatever they could whenever they could, the threat of starvation always a doom hanging over their heads. Aytha did put on weight rather fast, and Elrond realized that he couldn't keep her in there any longer. She was getting frustrated and even if he tried to teach her some words of their language she struggled with it. It was apparent that her own language was very different from Sindarin and the way words were pronounced completely different. Her language sounded a bit like a cats meows, very soft with some sharp almost hissing noises and some sounds made in the far back of the throat.

She managed yes and no and thank you, sort of. But she didn't manage to learn very fast and she showed a sort of curiosity which was a bit shocking. She had no restraints, like a toddler. She tried to grab onto the handle of a kettle Elrond brought even if it was very hot and when they put a dress on her she almost tore it apart trying to figure out how it was made. Elrond knew that his friend had been right when he said that this would be like taming an orc, it would be a monumental challenge. But she couldn't be kept indoors any longer and so he decided that she first and foremost was to be taken to the baths. She needed to learn how to keep herself clean and he ordered two of the female students to take her there in the late evening when it was dark.

She got very excited when she realized that she was to leave the room, she had been out of the bed for many days now and was growing restless. It was obvious that she was very confused when it came to the elves she met, she kept trying to touch their ears, and she was constantly grasping onto their clothes, and their jewellery. But she was also in fear of doing anything wrong, she would wince and cringe whenever she thought she had done something bad and her ears would hang and her eyes went narrow. It had to be her way of showing submission or shame and Elrond was fascinated by her. She was obviously used to a whole different system of showing rank and status and Elrond did remember from her memories that her society was one where the females were in charge. She acted as if she didn't know what to think about the females she met, she acted with a sort of authority around males, even him, but the females made her appear nervous.

Elrond had to grin, she was very submissive when an elleth entered the room, probably out of fear of insulting someone of a higher status than herself and he had picked two ellith who were self-assure and experienced. Dilloth and Meril were both kind and patient and they treated Aytha with respect but they were not going to spoil her in any way, they were demanding in their own way and both held her hand as they showed her the way to the bathhouse. It was empty at this time of the day and Aytha didn't see that much since it was dark. Elrond had thought it smart to take her outside in the dark, she wouldn't be overwhelmed by everything she would see then. Still her eyes did flicker from one side to the other and she was shivering, the scents there were so alien and the stars she saw up overhead unfamiliar. And there was grass there, and flowers, and trees! No ice there at all and that was a relief but she started to realize that she really was in a whole different world.