-The Red Castle, Fangorn Forest; 8 July 3018

"Irsa, you know the time has come. You must ride forth, and you must come to the council." Gandalf the Grey Wizard leaned on his staff in the library of the Red Castle, hidden deep within the Fangorn Forest, his gaze on a dark corner.

"And if I choose not to?" A low, smoky voice drifted from the shadows.

"Then you condemn Middle-Earth to Sauron's reign, and brand yourself a coward!" Gandalf's voice was low and furious.

"A coward?!"

With a snarl, Irsa the Red Wizard leapt from her chair in the corner, a furious look on her pretty face. Red curls tumbled down her back as she began pacing back and forth in the library of the sanctuary that she had built more than three thousand years before, after the Battle on the Slopes of Mount Doom. Unlike the remaining Wizards, Irsa had never aged after the war, and considered it her curse- her reminder of all she had lost. And to her, she had lost everything that she had held dear to her- her fiance, her child, all of it. So she had hidden herself away. She had rarely left her castle, and had never stepped foot outside the Forbidden Forrest in the years since, for the protection of the outside world, not her own. Anger had built up inside Irsa in the years since the war, after the initial shock and grief had passed, and she had exiled herself to the Fangorn Forest, not for her own protection, but for the protection of Middle-Earth. The rage that had built up in her would have destroyed many kingdoms, and she wasn't going to risk that. She wouldn't destroy the lands that she had once loved. Few dared to enter the shadowed woods, and if anyone ever did, they would run into the Ents before they could find her castle, with the exception of Gandalf, and the Head of the Wizard Council, whom she hadn't seen in centuries, Saruman.

"I am far from a coward, Gandalf. I was the only woman who dared to fight in the war, until the Healers discovered that I was carrying a child. Even then, even though I carried a child of Gondor's royal line, I stayed near the battlefield. I would have fought, had the need come, but I did not. Anarion was killed, Sauron deceived me, and I lost the child. I exiled myself for the sake of Middle-Earth, and all that live here." Irsa's voice was quiet.

"I know why you did what you did, Irsa. I was there when you raged, when you grieved. But Middle-Earth is now on the brink of war. If you refuse to ride forth, then you condemn not only this land to Sauron's reign, but you condemn the one that you are truly destined to be with to death. Already, Irsa, I have seen the possibilities. Men, Elves, there are many who could be meant for you." Gandalf stepped towards the younger Wizard.

"He will be a captain of Gondor, Gandalf. I was always meant to be a part of Gondor, a defender of the lands, at the Gate of Mordor."

"Irsa, you cannot keep yourself hidden any longer. I no longer think that Saruman is on the side of Middle-Earth. If my suspicions are correct, then I need you to be at my side, to take your rightful place as the second in command of the Wizards."

Irsa sighed, dropping her head as she leaned some on the desk in the room. Leaving the Fangorn would be hard for her, because she hadn't left in so many years, but she knew that Gandalf only asked because it was imperative. Even she could feel the shifting winds, hidden as deeply as she was, and she knew that Middle-Earth was about torn in two, and she would have to choose a side. And it wouldn't be difficult for her. Sauron had betrayed her in the worst way three thousand years before, and he had once been a friend. Until he had gotten greedy, power hungry and murderous, and had killed Anarion with his own hand, and caused Irsa to miscarry the child that had been safely growing inside of her womb. And when she found out that Anarion had been lead into an ambush by a traitor, something had snapped inside Irsa, and she had destroyed nearly half of the land on the other side of the camp, closer to Mordor, startling the council of Mordor enough to make sure that they kept her far from the men who had survived the attack, and when she had healed enough to leave, the Red Wizard had simply walked away from the camps, and built her home in the Fangorn Forest with the help of the Ents.

"Will you take your place in the council, Irsa? Will you ride forth for Middle-Earth once more, this time when the need is greater than ever?" Gandalf's voice was quiet as he watched the tall Wizard closely. "Will you grasp your heritage, and take up the staff as the Wizard you were truly meant to be?"

"I will go to the council, Gandalf. But do not look to me to be the salvation of Middle-Earth. It was my curse, you remember, that forbids a Wizard to touch the Ring of Power, and that I am responsible for scorching part of Gondor with my power." Irsa finally gave a nod.

"Then I ride for Isengard, to try to reason with Saruman."

Giving a short nod, Irsa waved Gandalf out of the library, and with a flick of her wrist, shut the door of the room before sinking into a chair. The idea of leaving her sanctuary did scare her, but going to the council and finding the one that she was destined to be with scared her even more. As much as she would hate to admit it to Gandalf, Sauron knew her entirely too well. He had known that she would snap, that she would leave the war if he killed her lover, and he had personally slain the one man that Irsa had loved then. And she knew that there were several potentials in Gondor that she could be destined for, but she knew that it would be the one who stood for Gondor at the council. But she also knew that the moment they met, he would instantly come into some of the worst danger of his life, because Sauron knew that to destroy Irsa, he would have to destroy her destined mate. But she also knew that he would win if she didn't at least try, if she kept herself in exile. She knew that that would be a victory for him.

Steely determination in her dark green eyes, Irsa strode from the library, the door opening in front on her its own, and then shut behind her. Taking long steps, she easily crossed the distance of the main hall to the stairs, climbing them with ease. The door to her private chambers swung open as she walked into them. Hesitating a moment, she opened a tall wooden case by hand and simply looked at her staff sitting in the case. Taking a deep breath, she slowly closed her hand around the redwood, and instantly felt the familiar warmth flood her body as the large ruby embedded in the top of the staff flared to life. A small, faint smile flitted across her face as she kept the staff in her hand, crossing to another tall wooden chest. Opening it, she drew out a dark green riding outfit that would help her blend in to the surrounding areas as she rode to Rivendell. Shedding the black tunic and leggings that had been her usual garb, she drew on the looser fitting pants and then pulled the tunic over her head. Fastening a thick leather belt around her waist, she lifted her sword from the chest and easily slid it into its sheath, which was dangling from the belt. A quick flick of her wrist brought her thick riding cloak out of its chest, and she quickly swung it around her shoulders. Thick soled boots were pulled onto her feet as she gripped her staff again before striding out of the room. Making a quick stop in the kitchen, she carefully prepared a bag of food that would last through her travel, which would take just over three months.

Letting the doors of the main entrance of her castle swing open, Irsa took a deep breath of the fresh woods air as she stepped outside, and turned towards the stables that she had built on the land, where she trained horses brought to her from Rohan by Gandalf. Selecting the one that had been trained for long-distance travel, she quickly saddled it, and led it out of the stable. A quick glance around told her that the Ents were elsewhere, but she knew that they would still defend her home, even if they discovered that she had left. She trusted the Ents, especially Treebeard, with her life, and knew that the Ent appreciated her explicit trust. Pausing just outside the gate to her castle and the small bit of surrounding land, she carefully slid her staff into a sling across her back, and easily mounted her horse, letting her cloak settle around her. Lifting her hood to complete darken her face and hide her very noticeable hair, she gripped the reins for the horse in one hand, nudging it into a fast gallop with a quick nudge of her heels. She had missed the feel of open riding, of the urgency and need to get somewhere to make sure that something happened like it should. But it was still difficult knowing that she would have to face some of her past, with Elrond who was now the Lord of Rivendell, being there, as well as Gandalf. And the knowledge that whoever was her destined mate would be there as well.

It took her only a couple hours to pick the most cautious and hidden way out of the Fangorn, and she knew that she was close to Isengard, and could only hope that Saruman was preoccupied with something else, and wouldn't see her riding through the Redhorn Pass, her true home. She knew that eventually, she would either have to reclaim the land after the war, or deed it to someone else, someone who was worthy enough to rebuild the land, and make it flourish once more. Hunching somewhat over her horse, she chanced a glance up at Orthanc, and could hear from the sounds ringing out that Saruman was indeed busy, and her passing the tower and through the Redhorn Pass would go unnoticed, which was best for all, if Gandalf's suspicions were correct. Taking a deep breath, she focused her gaze ahead, knowing that once she reached Rivendell, she would have to explain much to Elrond, for she had suspicions that he wouldn't have forgiven her yet for abandoning the war like she had, even if she had scorched part of Mordor in aid for the Alliance. But for now, she had to focus on the present, not the memory of what had been, for everything was about to change for Middle-Earth, and Irsa was one of the only ones who knew what the change could bring.

[This chapter is short, as well as the first, but the chapters will get longer as the story goes on, and I am able to combine the two parts into one. I believe the next chapter will be the first to have both Rhiannon and Irsa in it, and it will also serve as the meeting of Irsa and her Destiny- Boromir. I do know that Wizards didn't appear on Middle-Earth until well after the war, according to the appendices, but this is my story, and as such, I get to have fun with it, just like there were no female Wizards in the original story. I will also be revisiting Rohan in the next chapter, for Eomer to discover that Rhiannon has left, and to show the extreme tension growing in the land due to Saruman's influence. Enjoy, and review, please! -Ky]