Thank you to both Elves are Awesome and SilverMoonrise for your reviews. I hope you enjoy this next instalment of Feywen's story.
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She sat on the ground and looked across the river into the night. Glorfindel didn't know that she was out here. He didn't even know that she had been having nightmares the past few nights. If he knew, he would be worried and she wouldn't be alone after that.
"This is the third night I have seen you sitting on this bank." A kind voice said from behind her.
"Is it? I've lost track." Elrond sat next to her.
"What is wrong, Feywen? Are you worried about your illness in a few weeks?"
"Is it that predictable?" She laughed. Elrond stayed silent and her laughter died out. "And what about you? If this is the third night you've walked the river, what is keeping you from sleeping?"
"Worry." She looked at him.
"About what?"
"Our family. They've been on my mind since we told you of the curse the evil placed on your family." Feywen stayed silent. She wouldn't admit it, but she had been worried about her brother's children as well. She knew that if this evil escaped, they would have no chance. Her own grandfather, Lord Celebrant, used his own life to seal the creature away. She shivered as she remembered her dream and the creature. It seemed not too long ago that she had had that dream while trying to find Frodo and Sam who had broken from the Fellowship. This coming New Year would mark the 2550th celebration of the end of that war.
"Can I go back?"
"No. You have chosen to come here and live in peace. Feywen, it is not your fault. You did not know that this curse was laid on you. Nor did you know that you had to stay in Middle Earth to keep it sealed."
"But what if I am the only one who can defeat it?"
"Feywen, Middle Earth will have to make do without you. You cannot return unless the Valar permit it. But do not go asking their blessing. That evil is not strong enough to get through their shields that surround this place. We are safe here."
"But what of our family still in Middle Earth? Do we just leave them to die?"
"I am sure that Gandalf left something for them to protect them until a champion can come forth." Feywen nodded once before standing and returning to the house she shared with her husband. She entered and sat at the table, looking at their weapons.
"Feywen, are you alright?"
"I am fine, Naur." She said without looking into the fire. "You four worry too much."
"And you do not? You have been dwelling on this curse for the last fifty years."
"There is nothing that can be done, Feywen."
"I can return to Middle Earth and kill it, Kemen." She said darkly.
"But Elrond said that you have to ask the Valar."
"I know, Alu. But I have a feeling that this evil is far greater than Sauron. Not Mortal is going to be strong enough to defeat it. If my grandfather had not been wounded as he was, he would have destroyed it. It killed my grandmother with a single swing and used the remainder of my grandfather's strength to seal it and make sure it stayed sealed. I can't help but wonder why your fellow spirits didn't hear the curse and warn us about it."
"Feywen," Vilya whispered, "we are bound to the Elves of the House of Celebrant. Each Elf has their own set of spirits they can name. You chose to know us by our true names and therefore, that is what we are to you. Because we are bonded to you, when you die, so do we. When you have a child, four spirits will be born to guard and protect that child and they will forever be bonded to them. Our grandparents, the spirits bonded to your grandfather, did hear the curse, but Celebrant was already dead by the time the soldier found him and so were the spirits bonded to him. That is why no one knew of the curse until you were told about it when they found out about it. Galadriel must have looked in her mirror and found it."
"You are all wonderful friends. Good night."
"The time has come." He growled to his servants. "Move out of my way." The Orcs scattered and he pushed forward out of the mountain. He laughed as he looked at the sun. "I will start with this land that was once ruled by another. The fool thought he could contain me." He ran his hand through the air above him and the sky darkened, blocking out the sun over the land. "The more land I control, the farther my darkness will spread until the whole of this world is mine. I will start with the World of Men. They will fall beneath my power like wheat to a scythe. But first, I must make some new minions." He laughed again and started making a dark palace.
"King Estel! King Estel!" The old man looked up and saw a young Ranger.
"What is it, Ranger of Ithilian?"
"What King Elessar feared has come to pass. We must send for her now, before it is too late. Please, my King. Do what your father would not. Send for the woman who can save us."
"She is at peace. We must do this on our own. Besides, she cannot return from whence she has gone."
"King Estel, you must,"
"No!" He stood up suddenly. He knew this Ranger. His father was the Steward of Gondor. "You will not tell me what I must do, Ranger. We will fight this evil just as our ancestors fought the last one, with steel."
"As you wish, my Lord."
She watched as she cut the Ring and a finger from the hand of a Hobbit. The act haunted her, even now that he was dead. She watched the Hobbits run with her from the mountain as the liquid fire rose. She turned to it. Something was there, just below the surface, waiting for a chance to be free. "Is this the mountain where the evil is sealed? Is this the place that battle was fought so long ago?" She watched as the top of the mountain caved in and was no longer spitting smoke and fire. It was the mountain from her first dream. It was the mountain that held the evil beneath it. "What is this evil? I need answers."
"Feywen!" She turned. No one was there. "Feywen!"
"Feywen, wake up, Love. Wake up," She opened her eyes to find her husband above her, worry in his eyes. "Thank the Valar. I was concerned you wouldn't wake."
"What do you mean?"
"You normally wake with the sunrise. It is well towards Noon now. What did you see?"
"I was back in Mount Doom when the Ring was destroyed. I watched it happen. Then, as we ran out, I stayed behind. I could feel that an evil was beneath it. Then I saw the mountain, caved in. I had a dream once before. Of the battle my grandparents fought. The mountain their evil was imprisoned under looks exactly the same. Glorfindel, the evil is bound beneath Mount Doom. That battle was fought in Mordor." He pulled her close, not wanting to see the fear in her eyes. He knew that she did not fear for herself, but for her family. The royal family of Arnor and Gondor had their seat in Minas Tirith, the closest place to Mordor.
"They will be able to handle whatever is sent at them. They are Aragorn's blood."
"No! They cannot do it. I have to be the one to do it."
"Why you? Why do you have to be the one who always has to face evil? You still haven't recovered from the last time!" He finally yelled at her. She stood and looked at him, her face a calm mask, but her eyes revealed the fire raging inside her.
"Because I am strong!" She yelled back. "I am the granddaughter of Celebrant. He is the one who sealed this evil away because he was weakened by it! This evil killed his wife, my grandmother with a single swipe of its arm! I am the only one strong enough to face it! I can defeat it!"
"You don't even know what it is! Even if you did, how can you be sure you are strong enough to face it when it killed your grandparents?"
"Because I know I can." She said, her voice calm again. "It's the same reason my grandparents were able to fight it before. They knew they could fight it."
"And how did they know?"
"Because, that is what Celebrant was born for. The Valar knew that this evil could not be killed by a normal Elf. And so Celebrant was born, stronger and wiser than the others. But his power waned before the final conflict because of the toll of fighting its creations took on him and having had a son. When I was born, the strength that was my father's and my grandfather's was given to me and I am as powerful as Celebrant was when he first awoke at the beginning of time. It is my turn to face it and I shall face it as he was meant to." Glorfindel looked at her, amazed by her conviction and how wise she seemed.
"Where are these words coming from? How does she seem to know this when he died well before she was born?" He looked at her. She had turned to look out the window.
"I'm scared, Glorfindel. How am I supposed to face this evil when my own grandparents couldn't defeat it?"
"Melamin, you just said you were stronger than them. That you have been born with the strength of your father and grandfather."
"Glorfindel, I never said that. That last thing you said to me was how I was sure I am strong enough to face it after it killed them. Glorfindel, are you sure you are well? You look pale."
"I'm fine, Melamin. I am just worried about you." She smiled at him. "You said this was the second dream you've had about this evil."
"No, this is not the second. I've had others, but they have never been this real. They have never been of my past. They have been of my grandparents and the final battle. They have only given me an idea of what this evil looks like. I need to know what it is. I'm going to the great chamber. I need to know what this is and why I am the only one who can fight it. I need to know why I have the feeling that I am the only one and that the World of Men will fall to it if I do not return to Middle Earth."
"I will come with you." She nodded and turned to her closet. "Was that a vision? Why was it shown to me? It must have something to do with her grandfather. I knew him, but maybe not as well as I thought I did."
And the evil has returned to Middle Earth. Will Feywen return? Or will she leave Middle Earth to its fate?
Thanks for reading and please review. (really guys, it's not that hard to review. It helps me write the chapters.)
