The gods, those all above were cruel to Maerîl this night. From their place lightly below did she wake to the sound of chains rattling, and a knock at her door. . .
The Matriarch squirmed from her quilts, and shuffled to meet the sound.
To her horror was a note handed to her. Upon her rough unfurl was she met with the strung, a strung deep in her heart breaking so violently. A scream came over her.
"MY BABY, MY BABY!"
. . .
Collapsing to the floor, the mother cried as large hands came to console her from the innards of her chambers, hands that trembled too for the loss of something so magnificent. ( @Bones)
From those days forth, the Matriarch had naught expressed a smile, her mouth never inclining even at the greatest jape. She was numb, numb at the thought that this was all her doing. . . That she had never heard Naoise, the babe that she held in her womb, the second child that mirrored features of the High Lady. The babe was hers, in ways that many couldn't understand.
She had failed.
She had let her baby girl down.
She had made her closest daughter feel so suffocated that she took her life.
She was a terrible mother.
...
The woman would never be the same, but continued on, mournfully, in her honor.