♕ 5th - video - The Sight

[skjalf]

[ there had been a point to her opening this channel. in light of the tragic losses they have suffered here, she has wanted to hold a dinner to celebrate the memory of those who have died and vanished. her mouth moves, but no words are produced. her face becomes deathly pale, her eyes wide and dilated as though in fear. but she has not seen a ghost. no, what she is seeing is something else entirely.

horrible images play before her, which only she might see. the blank look she sports is soon replaced with a one of complete and utter horror. ]

It is hot.. too hot to fight! The Dragon has come from across the sea to wage war against the Boar. Ah, the sun blinds the eyes!

[ she shudders, blinking her unfocused eyes. ] The field is an ocean of blood. I can barely hear over the din of it. The Dragon is swooping in, and his men roar behind him.

His Grace is brave to wear his crown to battle. He is winning.. standing alone in a field of dead, blood coursing over his boots. Ah, it is splendid and horrible!

[ once again, her face becomes a mask of pure terror, scrunching up while her eyes are too-wide for her face. ]

But here comes Lord Stanley! "For Tudor!" he calls. And His Grace has lost his horse. Treason, treason, treason!

[ and that seems to have snapped her out of it. still on camera, elizabeth exposes vulnerability for the first time to those aboard the ship at large, as she cannot control the violent shaking of her form or the tears that appear in her eyes. this is, unsurprisingly, a result of the nightmare she endured within the maze.

she cannot seem to speak for a long, long time. elizabeth covers her mouth with her hands to cover the fact that she is biting her lower lip so hard it is bleeding. and while she is able to finally get a few words out, it is muffled and quavering: ]

Forgive me.

[ she then abruptly ends the broadcast. ]

Comments

[skjalf]

Sadly, I think that you are correct. Which is utter foolishness, but very few of us rail against the notion. The Church has been in supreme power of Europe at least since the fall of the Roman Empire.

But there have been some who have. ( she tilts her head, interested as well as wistful. )

Do you know that i envy her a little bit? I would so very much prefer to learn how to do all three; and I am learning the art of fighting with various weapons already.

I would not be a pretty bauble for a man to use for decoration. ( though she believes she has found one who would not, anyway. )

The truth is that I admire you very much. You are strong, but you are able to be gentle most times, as well. That is also how I would be.

[inafadingcrown]

It seems to me that you have begun to learn more than you realize. [This little discussion here- on what would and wouldn't be permitted and why- it's a start. That last sentence, though- that's higher praise than all the songs composed in her honor. She bows her head for a moment, smiling.]

Kindness is its own strength. Others will attempt to tell you otherwise. They will call it a weakness. But force is easy to wield. It is simple and seductive. To show mercy and forbearance when you have every reason to do otherwise- on occasion, when you desire to do otherwise- that is true strength.

[skjalf]

If I have, it is because I have a wonderful example to follow and encouragement to do so. I hope that I am changing for the better, Your Grace. ( she is able to manage a tiny smile in return, as she reaches for her hands to squeeze gently with her own. )

All my life, they have; and to my father before me. But you are right, just as he was. Forgiveness is harder to grant than a swift death. Ah..

( she nods. ) I agree. Might I tell you something? I take no pride in it, and regret having done it. But after the death of my brother Edward, my Mother cursed whoever gave the order for his murder. And she had my aid for it. We were bitter and angry, but I am rarely so vengeful as my Mother. It does not sit well with me.

Because we cursed the murderer's firstborn son to die. Do you know that according to a friend of mine, that I will marry the suspected murderer should I return home? He and I would have a son first. That son, an innocent, died. This is why I loathe and fear this power I have so often.

( she sets her jaw, sitting straighter as the shame she feels for her crime is apparent on her face. ) And why I am resolved to be other than how my mother is.

[inafadingcrown]

I do not know if even I could have shown restraint when faced with the murder of my child or of my brother.

[She's an elf, after all, not a saint, and even she has her limits. Indeed, the greatest sin Galadriel sees here is that they targeted the murderer's child and not the murderer himself. But she'll keep those thoughts to herself, just reaching up to trace Elizabeth's face with her fingers.] Thank you, for entrusting me with this. It is easy to see that this weighs heavily upon you.

[skjalf]

None sought justice for his death. So we cursed the murderer's line to die out as we thought ours had. It was wrong, I know it.

The fault lies with the murderer and his mother. There is no excuse. And I have condemned my own child to die. I will never be free of that sin. He will be an innocent.

( she won't cry again. if she hadn't already, she would, however. she would never knowingly murder her own child. ever. no matter who had fathered him.

elizabeth's grip upon galadriel's hands tightens further, as she releases a shaky exhale of air. )

It does. It will never cease to. Thank you for hearing it. Do you think ill of me now?

[inafadingcrown]

[Galadriel does quiet for a moment, giving Elizabeth's hands a comforting squeeze.]

You know that I am a kinslayer- of the blood upon my hands. Do you think ill of me? [She shakes her head] It is not so simple as that. You are more, much more, than your sins.

[skjalf]

No! ( the word is blurted out in automatic and vehement reply to her question. of

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No! <small>( the word is blurted out in automatic and vehement reply to her question. of <i.course</i> she could never think ill of her. )</small>

Never. But I must wonder what that says of me, that I would harm someone's child rather than the person who had harmed a child of my family, grief-stricken or no. Children are innocent, no matter the deeds of their parents.

It was more than simply wrong.

[inafadingcrown]

It was. [Galadriel won't argue with that. It's a rather horrifying thing to have done. Still, there's no real judgement in her tone, as if she's offering a neutral observation.]

Yet you are far from the first to have lashed out in anger and in pain. You wished your tormentor to suffer as you had suffered. It does not excuse what you have done- [She pauses to stroke Elizabeth's hair again, this time leaning forward to kiss forehead too.] -but neither need it define you.

[skjalf]

I know not if any amount of repenting I do would wipe the sin clean in the eyes of God. ( she can't atone for it. especially if that child will not ever exist. now that she knows? well. she won't be having any sons with henry tudor.

elizabeth nods, though her expression remains troubled as her brow furrows. ) But that is my mother's way. Not mine. I would not be thus.

( she closes her eyes, leaning subtly into galadriel's gentle touch. )

You are right. I will never have that child with this man, knowing of him now what I do. It does not make it any better, perhaps.

But somehow it eases me a little.

[inafadingcrown]

If I have eased your mind at all, then I am glad. [This is something that she can relate to, in a way, something that she's thought a great deal about- sin and repentance and how to move forward.]

[skjalf]

You have, Your Grace. It will be a long road, but I will walk it to its end without faltering. ( what else can she do? she will not become mired in the past like her mother.

no. the only way to move is forward. )

I thank you.