Reya cleared her throat and tried to sort the thoughts zipping through her head into a farely chronological order. "Delaynn... oh," She sighed and rubbed her temples. How did you explain death to a four year old, even when you found it hard to swallow yourself?
"Delaynn, your father isn't going to come back. Do you remember when he rode of to war with Uncle Elwin and the King?" Reya took her daughter's hands and nodded to Bêthberry, who she saw walk by. The girl resonded with a low, mournful whimper. "And, do you remember when we had Eariel, our kitty? Do you remember what happened to her?"
Dela bit her bottom lip, her eyes distant as she painfully remembered the death of her beloved cat. "Yeah, she got stepped on by a horsie, an' she... died," Dela puckered her lips now, looking up again at her mother.
She knows what death is... maybe it will not be so hard now. "Well, Papa... Papa died too. With... with King Thèoden. He's gone to live with Gaffer Dom and Grandma Eliza. You won't be able to see him again for a very long time," Reya quickly blinked back a tear so that her daughter would not see that she was upset as well.
"But why did Papa have ta leave us? Did he not love us?" Dela's chest was heaving and tears were streaking down her face from her bright brown eyes.
Suddenly, Reya shook her head resolutely and lifted the small girl over the table, cradling her tightly in her arms. "No, Dela. Papa left because he did love us. He wanted to protect us from the darkness- and he did! Oh, your father loved us more than you could ever know," tears now fell down her face again, drawing in a few looks from other Inn patrons. "Papa loved us, and he's looking down on us right now," Reya huggled the girl again, burying her head in Dela's thick sandy waves.
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