A Man Who Flies From His Fear May Find He Has Only Taken A Shortcut To Meet It by LadySternchen  

Childbirth- Melian

“I am scared.”

Only now that they are alone in the forest, away from their family and court, can Melian truly confess to her fears. Elu puts an arm around her, and one look at him is enough for Melian to know that he is just as frightened.

“You need not do this alone, meleth. We can return to our people, or else ask Thônwen to accompany us.”

“I am not alone. I have you.”

She leans against his chest, and feels calmer at once. That is, until the next contraction rolls over her. They are not frequent enough yet, and Melian knows they have to be much stronger ere her babe will be born. But they hurt, and the pain frightens her. Her, who has not known the true meaning of pain before.

“But I am no midwife. I have seen children being born, yes, have been taught the basics of healing because such was the custom back at Cuiviénen, but there are other people who can help you much better.”

There is much he does not say. That she is a Maia, that none of her people have borne child before, that there is no way of knowing if her body will work like a purely Elvish body. That she even feels pain in labour already suggests otherwise. This is what frightens her so much, too. What if she does it wrong? What if she breaks the child? Or the child her?

“But you know me.” Melian is pleading now, she is aware of it, yet cannot change it just now “You know me, and you can lead me when I lose the way ahead.”

She does not say all that is on her mind, either. That of course, Elu’s idea of what a woman should feel within her body is as limited as her own experience in childbirth. They have talked this through countless times. And despite all this, giving birth with no one but her husband by her side is still the way that frightens her the least.