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Disclaimer: Only own Feywen and her problems and life.

elvish is in bold italics

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She looked up at the white walls of the great city. The people of Gondor had done well to restore it since her brother had become king. That was several centuries ago now. She sighed and looked to the west. It had been twenty-six hundred years ago that they had sailed across the sea to Valinor. She had come back at the urgent request of her great nephew, the current king. Something else had also called her back from Valinor and she was determined to find out what.

She sighed and nudged her horse forward the last five miles. She was immediately let in the gate and hurried to the Citadel, where the king resided. She had barely gotten through the last gate when her name was called.

"Aunt Feywen!" She looked and almost fainted. Before he stood the spitting image of her long dead brother, King Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, King of Gondor and Arnor. "Look at you, you have not aged a day since the picture we have long kept. I am glad that you received my message. My name is Aragorn, after my long dead ancestor.

"You look just like him. But why have you called me from the Undying Lands, dear nephew?" He gestured for her to walk with him and she obliged, handing her pack to a guard to take it to her rooms. She stopped at the white tree a moment and grabbed a handful of dirt and placed it in a pouch she had purchased in Rohan, and then continued walking with Aragorn.

"Something stirs in the east. Something stirs in the Black Lands." Feywen's blood froze as she remembered her dreams and visions. "The Rangers of Ithilian report that the mountain is no more. In its place stands a dark castle." He opened a door and led her inside to a library. "From what I have been told, activity has been going on in Mordor since my great-grandfather was king and my grandfather was conceived."

"Why didn't they send for me then? Mithrandir told me that with even the slightest bit of activity, I should have been sent for."

"King Estel's father wanted to be sure. King Estel wanted to fight with steel. My father indulged him but was slain by what we can only call Dark Elves. So the crown passed to me at Estel's passing and I called for you. My father was a great warrior and he was defeated. Men have no chance against this evil. But the elves do. I know the elves of Mirkwood still live in Middle Earth. I have sent for the prince to come so I may ask for the help of the Woodland people." Feywen nodded, knowing who would more than likely be coming.

"Aragorn, when I passed through Rohan, I felt a shield there that is not of my making. I felt the same shield once I reached the borders of Gondor."

"I placed the shield around both kingdoms. They should hold. Mithrandir gave them to us before he left with the elves."

"They will not hold for much longer. They are weaker than I thought because they are covering too much land. One well organized attack on either border and the shields will fall. I can strengthen them, but the spirits of the elements know that a large area cannot be covered and defended easily. You should have learned this, Aragorn. I can place shields around certain cities and you can gather your people there. In Rohan, I can place the shields around Edoras and Helms Deep. Where were you when you placed the shield?"

"Follow me." He stood up and hurried out the door. She followed after him. She noticed that he did not walk as carefully as her brother had, or she did. Instead, he let his boots click on the marble beneath him and she knew that his boots were not those worn by the Dúnedain. His hard walking would always alert the enemy.

"Aragorn, has your family learned the ways of the Dúnedain of the North or the Rangers of Ithilian?"

"Not for two thousand years. For the first six hundred years, I am told, the princes were sent to either Arnor or Ithilian to learn the ways of the Rangers. Then it stopped, the king of the time deciding it was no longer necessary as he could teach his own sons. He died before he could start their training and no one was willing to send the young princes away to learn the knowledge of their forbearers. My father convinced my grandfather to let him go to Arnor and learn the ways of the Dúnedain, but then this evil declared war on us and he never went. I wanted to go as well, when I heard that we were supposed to, but both my father and grandfather were against it as I was the only heir to the throne. The chieftain of the Dúnedain, I hear, is a relative of mine from the second son of the King Elessar. He would make a fitting king." Feywen didn't say anything more. The twenty-seven year old king was willing to learn, but she could not teach him. She was sure he knew how to fight, but he needed to know more. But she could not teach him. He and his heirs needed the knowledge Aragorn had possessed, the knowledge that had made him a valuable leader.

"I will place a shield extending to Ithilian, Aragorn. No matter what happens, I want you to obey this command." He stopped and looked at her. "My brother, King Elessar was a valuable leader. He was chieftain of the Dúnedain and later King of Gondor and Arnor. But he learned the ways of the Rangers of the North where they did not cater to him even though he was Isildur's heir. For now, I want you and your heirs to send your children, even your daughters, to Ithilian to learn the ways of the Rangers. No army should have a leader that does not know battle and how it works. No army deserves to have orders given to them from someone who spends their days in a palace and has no idea the conditions they are fighting in. Once it is safe, then you can decide whether or not to send then to Arnor to learn from the Dúnedain or to Ithilian. But they need to be taught. An unquiet hunter easily becomes prey."

"I understand, Lady Celebrant." Feywen brushed off the use of her title and waved him forward. He opened a door and led her up the stairs. "King Elessar had this built for his own private use. My father showed it to me when I was sixteen." He opened the door to the tower room and let her enter first and then entered after her. "Mithrandir left us this swallow," he pointed to the perch where a familiar bird rested, "so that we may send for you. After I had sent it, I found a scroll the bowl where your crest had been. It was a shield different from the one my father tried to place in the north before he was killed. I placed this one around Gondor and Rohan."

"And you did it from here?" Aragorn nodded. Feywen stepped up to the bowl found burnt grass in it. She went to the window and poured the dirt into her hands. "Vilya, Alu, Naur, Kemen; lend your power to this land so it may be safe. Protect it from the darkness that rises in the east. Protect all who inhabit the realms of Rohan and Gondor. Tell me the safe havens so the kings may gather their people in safety before the outer shields fall." Aragorn watched in awe as the dirt was taken from her hands by a soft wind. "Aragorn, I am weary."

"Of course. Come, this way."

He looked at the ground in front of him. Feywen was still a week ahead of him at least. But he had tarried in Parth Galen and lost a few more days. He was not skilled at tracking and was hard pressed to find Feywen's trail. When he did find it, it was too late to be moving and so he had stayed the night. He had just reached Rohan. He felt a shield, but it was not Feywen's. "Maybe she hasn't reached Gondor yet. No, she would have bought a horse. She is there already and far ahead of me. It's going to take me at least a month to cross these plains just to reach Gondor. Not to mention another two weeks to reach Minas Tirith. Well, better get moving. Maybe I can buy a horse in the next town I see."

Glorfindel shrugged his back onto his shoulder and started walking. All he knew is that Gondor was east of Rohan and west of Mordor. He knew he needed to hurry. Feywen knew nothing of Morgoth except that he used to be a god who grew greedy and sought to control the silmarilli. After a hard fought war, Morgoth had been subdued. The silmaril Eärendil wrested from the iron crown was now sailing in the skies with Eärendil himself. The other two were lost. Glorfindel was sure that no one had seen them on Morgoth when he tried to free himself when he declared war on Celebrant and his family. Now, he was free of the bonds Celebrant had placed on him and was seeking a way to be truly free. He hung his head as he thought of Feywen. She knew that she was the only one who could defeat him. But what would it cost her? He looked up, made sure the way was clear, and ran. Pack or no pack, he was faster than any who walked the lands of Men. He would be able to reach Feywen in Gondor. Running, he hoped, would take out at least a quarter of the time he had to travel.

"Lady Celebrant," she looked up at him from her book. She had been in Gondor for a week, waiting for access to the archives where she knew her aunt's writings were kept.

"What is it, Aragorn?" She returned to her book."

"I don't get it. You prefer to be called 'lady' instead of 'princess.' But you are King Elessar's sister and that makes you a princess."

"I know it does."

"So why won't you let me announce you as Princess Feywen instead of Lady Feywen Celebrant of the Elven House of Celebrant?"

"Because, even though Aragorn was my brother, I am not of the world of Men. I chose to be elf-kind. In that world, my father's world, I am the descendent of Lord Celebrant and his only heir, which makes me head of my house. That is who I am. I am no princess."

"I beg to differ." Feywen scowled. Even though it had been over two thousand years since she had heard that voice, she would never forget it.

"Aragorn, please go. It would not do well for you to see this." Aragorn looked at the blonde elf in the doorway behind them as he walked past. Legolas started as he felt the glare.

"He may have Aragorn's face, but he is not your brother."

"Of course not, he is my nephew." She closed the book and stood, intending to leave the balcony. Legolas blocked her way. "Where is your husband?"

"That is no concern of yours!" She hissed, not wanting to give the elf prince the idea that she had left Glorfindel in Rivendell. "Though, he may be following me. But then again, maybe not."

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Away from you!" She pushed past him into the hall. "Don't you have a meeting with the king? He sent for you to ask you something."

"Yes, my father wants me to tell him that we refuse."

"Typical. You Woodland folk never do anything unless it benefits you." She sneered over her shoulder, remembering Bilbo's story when he had gone with the dwarves to Erebor over two thousand years ago. Thranduil wouldn't help the dwarves unless they gave him some of their gold. It didn't help that he had imprisoned them when they traveled through Mirkwood.

"What about you? You are an elf, a Woodland folk."

She stopped and rounded on him. "Let's get something straight right now, Legolas. I am not like you and your father. I gave up my peace to come back here to help Aragorn against whatever evils is in Mordor now. It may not benefit me. But then again, it might. I don't know. I can't be sure. It may even cost me my life. Valar only knows what I have gone through since Frodo destroyed the Ring." She turned on her heel and continued down the hall. He caught her arm and turned her.

"You shine so bright when you let your emotions rule you."

She pulled her arm from his grasp. "Yes, but you do not have any." She walked away, leaving him dumbstruck with her words.

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