Love in a Time of Change - chapter 5
The time had come for Bard, and his family to get ready for the ball. It was Tilda’s 16th birthday and Bard had no idea of what to get his youngest daughter. He decided that we would surprise Tilda with a visit to the market and let her choose her own gift this year. As they walked around the stalls, Tilda and Bard stopped to take a look at some of the dresses that were being told by a merchant who was visiting Laketown. It was then that a particular gown had caught Tilda’s eye. The gown itself was light green with silver thread embroidery around the collar and on the sleeves.
“It seems that you have chosen your gift for this year!” chuckled Bard. He could no longer deny that all three of his children were growing up and that his sister, Mira, had seen most of it while he had missed most of their growing up due to his shifts on the Lake as a bargeman.
“Oh da!” Tilda cheered happily, “This is my choice of gown for the ball that King Fili is hosting at Erebor. Will you allow it?” she looked towards Bard with a pleasant smile, perhaps hoping that her father would agree to purchase the gown for her.
“All right, Tilda. I’ll buy this gown for you but I expect to make the most of it, and wear it more than once” Bard suggested.
“Oh, I will da! I promise” Tilda smiled softly. Then an idea entered her mind, and she considered her older sister Sigrid.
“What about Sigrid?” enquired Tilda, wondering what her sister was going to wear.
“When we left to visit the market, I asked her if she wanted to come, and she said that she had other ideas.” Bard answered her.
Tilda wondered what it meant for them, or if Sigrid had previously planned something.
Meanwhile, back at Bard’s home, Mira and Sigrid were discussing the issue of the ball that was fast approaching.
“Aunt Mira, do you have any ideas of what I could wear to the ball?” Sigrid was seated beside Mira with her hands clasped across her knees. She sighed again. Sigrid was starting to wish that she accompanied her father and Tilda to the market now. Yet in hindsight, the time had been given to Mira and Sigrid to have another heart-to-heart.
“As it stands, I do,” answered Mira.
“I have brought you a selection of your mother’s old clothes from when she was around the age that you are now. It was before she started courting your father,” Mira said.
Mira looked to her left side where she had a large cloth bag filled with some of her sister in law’s old gowns.
“You may choose any of these to wear to the ball, and I am sure that your dear mother would have approved” said Mira.
Sigrid’s eyes lit up at the sight of that many gowns in one bag. There must have been at least four or five ones to choose from. Mira allowed Sigrid to take her time and choose two that had appealed to her the most.
“I think that I will choose the yellow one for the ball,” Sigrid answered Mira.
“The rest of those gowns are yours to do with as you please” said Mira.
With that in mind, Mira handed over the rest of the gowns to Sigrid. For Sigrid, it was the most tremendous gift she had ever received.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart!” said Sigrid with happiness as she thanked her aunt for the kind gift of her mother’s old gowns.
Just then Bard and Tilda returned from the market. Bard was relieved to see that Sigrid had not been alone while he had been visiting the market with Tilda.
“So, what news do you have to tell me?” asked Bard with a quizzical tone.
“Oh nothing much,” said Mira. “Just the fact that Sigrid here has chosen her dress for the ball” Mira answered with a slight sigh as she remembered Sigrid and Tilda’s mother.
Bard was silent for a moment when Sigrid showed him the yellow dress with gold threaded embroidery that she had chosen to wear.
“This is the very dress that I hope to wear for the ball. It belonged to my mother, Aunt Mira kindly gifted me with the dress” said Sigrid with some sadness in her tone, knowing that she had very few memories of her mother before she died.
Bard breathed out a shaky breath as he remembered his dear wife. A tear was brought to his own eyes when he stepped forward to hug his eldest daughter.
“You ought to know, Sigrid, that your mother would be very proud of you and Tilda,” said Bard shakily. It was then when Tilda heard her father and sister talk of her mother, that Tilda ran into her fathers arms and the three of them hugged as the family that they were.
“Ah, now there is a sight to behold,” said Mira as she chose that moment to leave Bard and his two young daughters in privacy.
Tag list: @nocompromise-noregrets @i-did-not-mean-to
