The silence that followed stabbed her in the chest.
Auric blinked. “Gone?”
Elowen lowered her hand to her womb, still cramping and already feeling empty. Her voice was barely there. “I lost the baby.”
Kalen stared at her. “No,” he said sharply. “You’re wrong. We made food. We made toys.”
Midas touched his shoulder as Auric stepped forward, tears already in his eyes. “Where did they go?”
Elowen’s throat closed. “I don’t know, sweetheart.”
Kalen dropped the toy in his hand. It hit the stone floor with a dull clatter. And then he ran off, deeper into the cave.
Later, long after the sun had fallen behind the ridge,Elowen sat outside the cave alone. She clutched the small wooden carving Kalen had dropped, her thumb running along its uneven edges.
Midas found her there.
“I can’t stop thinking,” she whispered, “about how much they loved someone who never had a name.”
Midas nodded.
“Do you think they’ll hate me for this?”
“No,” he said. “They are hurting. But they could never hate you.”
She closed her eyes. “I don’t know how to help them understand.”
“You don’t need to. They are young, their hearts are fiery like mine,” he said softly. “They will come back to you when they are ready to learn more.”
The toys remained untouched.The fire burned low. The laughter that once rang through the stone corridors had faded into silence.
Elowen sat on the fur-lined nest, her knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them. She had braided her hair to keep her hands busy, but her fingers trembled. Her eyes were dry, but only because even tears had abandoned her.
The boys stood a few feet away, fidgeting. Nervous. Eyes flickering between her and each other. Finally, Kalen spoke:
“Why did it die?”
Elowen looked up slowly and swallowed. “Sometimes…things like this happen. Even when everything seems right.”
“But it was safe,” Kalen said. “You were eating. Sleeping. We brought you food. We helped.”
“I know,” she said softly.
“Then…” He hesitated. “Was it…something you did?”
She stilled. She knew in her heart things like this happened, but it was no easier to bear that guilt, because she asked herself that question every second that passed.
“Maybe you moved too much,” his brother whispered. “Or got too tired. Or what if…what if when we knocked you down we hurt it?”
Elowen’s throat closed. Her heart lurched. “No,” she said, firmer now. “No, my loves. I didn’t do anything to make this happen. None of us did.”
“Then why?” Kalen cried. “Why would it leave if we were ready? If we loved it?”
The words shattered her. She reached for them, but neither stepped forward. They were confused. Hurting. Wanting to blame something,anything, the way young hearts do when they can’t make sense of pain.
She took a slow breath. “My loves,” she said, her voice shaking, “you did everything right. I did everything I could. But sometimes…life is fragile even when it’s surrounded by love.”
They looked at her, wide-eyed and uncertain.
