Silver Crested Moon

Disclaimer - I bow before the brilliance of Lloyd Alexander. It's all his.

Timeline - During High King while the companions were on their way to the Free Commots.

Rating - K+

Summary - Taran tells Eilonwy of what happened to her mother.

A/N - This story might appropriately be called "Because I see fic everywhere now" I would never have thought of this a few years ago.

It was full winter in the Hill Cantrevs. Their gray mountains were even more bleak in wind and snow. It had been a cold day for the companions and promised to be an even colder night.

Even in the midst of their desperate quest, the companions spent a time each evening to tell tales of their years apart. On that particular evening, Taran's gaze was caught by the firelight glinting off Eilonwy's crescent moon necklace.

Taran swallowed. Hard. She had to know what happened. And given his own quest to find his parents, he knew she had constant questions in the back of her mind of what happened to Angarad. "Have Gurgi and I told you of our adventure with Doli?"

Eilonwy and Coll settled into their blankets and packs near the fire. "You know very well you haven't," Eilonwy answered tartly. It still wasn't fair that she had to stay in a dreary castle when her friends got to have grand adventures. "What's wrong with you? You look like someone just asked you to eat a worm."

"And now you almost sound like Orddu telling me I need to learn to scratch for my own worms." Taran tried to add some laughter to break the tension he was feeling to no avail. "No. Fflewddur, Gurgi, and I were wandering the northern Hill Cantrevs when Llyan brought Fflewddur a gift of an overlarge frog. The poor thing was half dead from being dried out. Then the most astonishing thing happened. The frog spoke."

"If you're going to make up stories, you might as well say so. I know we've seen some unusual things, but really. Talking frogs?" The princess tossed her red gold hair and wrapped her cloak tighter about her.

"Kindly master speaks the truth. It was Gurgi who wanted to save froggie."

"Indeed you did. And in so doing you saved our friend. The frog turned out to be Doli."

Eilonwy was baffled. "Why in the world would he do something like that? If he wanted to talk to the frogs, there are much easier ways to go about it and he wouldn't need to worry about a bird swooping him up for dinner."

"He had been enchanted." Eilonwy's and Coll's eyes grew wide. "Someone plundered a treasure trove at the bottom of Black Lake and King Eiddileg was apoplectic about it." Eilonwy nodded with complete knowledge of the king's temper. "Then a watcher from one of the Hill Cantrevs went missing. After two messengers also disappeared, Eiddileg sent Doli to investigate."

Coll laughed. "I can imagine how happy he was about that. Although. .. For all his grumbling, he likes to be in the think of it."

Taran grinned with agreement.

"Hold on. What does any of this have to do with Doli being a frog?" Perhaps it was her training with Achren and Dallben. Maybe it was the enchantments in her own blood, but she knew it was almost impossible to be-spell one of the Fair Folk. "Who enchanted Doli and why?" Eilonwy was starting to get very cross.

"It was a wizard named Morda. He was on a never ending quest for more knowledge and more power. It was one of the jewels he stole from the Fair Folk that let him cast enchantments on the Fair Folk themselves. He could turn anybody into frogs or mice, birds or rabbits. Anything."

Eilonwy gasped in horror. "The Fair Folk and their magic are one of the things keeping Arawn in check. Without them. . ." Eilonwy trailed off. "Oh, why did you get to have all the fun while I was left to molder in a dreary, damp castle? It's not as if I did anything more important than learn to do a proper curtsy."

Taran smiled. Eilonwy, beneath the polish, was still the princess his heart knew. "Gurgi and I left Fflewddur with Doli and went to spy out Morda's lair. We needed to know what his plan was so we could report back to Eiddileg."

Taran tossed another stick on the fire. There was a dampness in the air that made it bitter cold. "It didn't take long to track back to his lair and get tangled in it. He'd enchanted the brambles to trap any who got too close.

"He boasted." Taran was still aghast at how cold and unfeeling Morda was. "He boasted of how he was above mankind and refused to debase himself by sharing in their lives."

"He took to studying the lore of enchantments. His ultimate goal was the Fair Folk treasure troves. For with those stones, he could gain immortality."

"One night, a woman came begging refuge. She was half dead from searching for her infant daughter. Morda claimed she bargained for her shelter with her necklace. He claimed further she died of fever that night."

"He felt no more at her passing than he might if he stepped on a spider. Indeed, he did nothing to try and save her. Some small part of the loathing he felt for the long dead Morda bled through into his voice. "He plundered her few possessions including a book of empty pages."

The terrible realization started to dawn on Eilonwy and Taran nodded regretfully. "It was the same book that Glew had and you burned. Morda still wore the necklace the woman bargained with. It was the Emblem of the House of Llyr. Angharad's necklace."

Eilonwy's eyes welled up even as a great grief welled in her soul. Coll moved nearer to her and put one arm around her. Gurgi moved so he almost sat in her lap. Each tried to offer her some comfort.

"Angharad searched for you. She was never willing to give you up and never sent you away - especially to Achren. She loved you to the end." Taran longed to go around the fire and offer his comfort as well, but felt awkward about it. Friendship, compassion, love, grief, and more mingled and left him unsure what to do.

Eilonwy turned fully into Coll's arms and wept.

After the initial storm of grief passed by, Eilonwy wiped her eyes. It wasn't with her sleeve as it might have been in years past, but it was somehow daintier. Eilonwy, who stood fearlessly before Huntsmen with a sword in hand looked like she ought to have a lace handkerchief.

Finally, she forced the steel back into her spine and her eyes spat angry fire. "This Morda. You obviously took away his powers if Doli is back with the Fair Folk. He is dead?"

Taran nodded. "He is."

"Was it awful?" There was a dreadful tremor in her voice Taran never wanted to hear again.

"In the end, he realized he was as weak and as frail as any other man he scorned." Taran's voice was cold and final. It was an empty comfort, but it was all he could truly give her at the moment.

Tears welled in her sea green eyes again. "I guess I always knew. Especially after seeing Llyr so utterly abandoned. It still feels as if someone took a dream from me," she paused to wipe the tears from her face. "I think when this is all done with, I shall have to go see Teleria. She's the closest to a mother that I've ever known."

Taran could stand it no longer. He went around the fire and gathered Eilonwy in his arms. She buried her face in his chest and wept

A/N - I've got fifty something fics out there and this one makes me more nervous than any of the others save the first. Hope you all liked it..