A/N: Finally decided to update this and be serious when it comes to making paragraphs. Thanks so much for the reviews, and I'm heartily sorry if this chapter took forever for lack of Internet access. Well, still don't own anything except Niliwen, Have fun and review, otherwise the little balrog in my room will find its flame-thrower, which I need to bury under my reviews. (shudders).





An expedition and the Window Curtain



It was about March when we went on our next expedition, this time to North Ithilien. Not that there was border trouble or anything serious. It was just one of those routine expeditions. Yeah right. Routine my foot.

So we set out on the first day of March after visiting the city for a short while. We went there mainly to drop by at the Citadel for a while and get a few things we might need for the trip. So we went our separate ways for a while. Thankfully, no mishaps occurred.yet

We'd agreed to meet back at the Gate, and by the time I arrived at the gate Faramir and Éowyn had already returned from the Citadel. Only Beregond was missing.

"How are we going to go there?" Éowyn asked after I'd joined them.

"We should go on horses, but once again the stables are empty and the errand riders who borrowed our own ones won't be back for sometime. . We're going to have to take a boat until Cair Andros before we can get horses" Faramir said.

"What's keeping Beregond?" I asked.

Just then, Beregond came running up, rather out of breath. "Nice going. What took you so long?" I said icily as he approached.

"Well, if you were stuck in the middle of a tangle of wains, then of course you'd be late" he snapped.

"This is not the time to fight, you two. Please, do control yourselves" Éowyn warned us as we began walking towards the Harlond.



A few hours later, we were sailing up the Anduin at a rather good pace, and I was excited. I'd never sailed up this way before. Nor had Éowyn. Only Faramir and Beregond had ever gone sailing before on the Anduin. A breeze filled the sails, and I thought it a good thing, until I noticed the clouds gathering in the sky.

That evening, I fell asleep early, but I awoke to the sound of rain hammering hard on the deck. Honestly, it wasn't raining cats and dogs; it was raining horses. The river was getting wilder, and a swell suddenly knocked me out of bed.

I got up, with my right side aching from landing on the floor, and I wanted to light the candle to check if anybody else had gotten knocked out of bed. The beds in this boat were of the bunk sort, so there was a chance of finding at least one other person who had fallen out of the top bunk.

"Is there a storm outside?" I heard a familiar voice call from somewhere else on the floor.

"Did you also get knocked out of your bunk, Éowyn?" I asked.

"No, but I heard something fall on the floor and I went to check" she replied.

"That was me. I can't seem to find the candle anywhere" I informed her.

"I think it's just on the table near the door" the princess of Ithilien said, just before another strong swell nearly tipped the boat and sent both of us sliding down near the door.

"Ouch. Anything broken?" I asked after the boat steadied.

"I hope not," another very well known voice said from beside us.

"Where did you leave the candle, Faramir?" Éowyn asked her husband.

"On the table. I think it's gone out" he replied.

"I hope the river doesn't flood. If it does, we're in some serious trouble" I mused.

'I feel sick. This river is so wild" Éowyn muttered.

"It doesn't look like it's going to get better. Maybe you should get back to sleep. You might feel better" Faramir suggested.

:"The question is how to get back into bed" I joked.

We finally got to Cair Andros several long and wet days later. Thankfully the storm ended before we arrived. However, since the boat was being tossed on the waters for several days straight, I'd somehow gotten so used to it to the point that when we disembarked, I nearly lost my balance.

"Are you ill?" Éowyn asked me after I straightened up.

"Just got too used to the boat" I replied.

"It's about after lunch. And there are still no horses" Faramir said after conversing with a few people.

"So, that means we have to walk" Beregond said. I hated it when he stated the obvious.

"It's not so far to Henneth Annun" Faramir reassured.

"For you. But you're the only one who's been there, and there's a chance we're going to get lost" Beregond said.

"Lighten up. This trip looks easy. After all, there are no orcs or Oliphaunts around" Éowyn said merrily.

"Yeah sure. And every time you say the trip is fine, then we get into an accident" I scowled behind her back.



We'd been walking along through the woods of Ithilien for a time, when I realized that I'd been separated from the group. The woods of Ithilien can be confusing, especially in the spring when all the sweet herbs release their odors and confuse one to the point of actually getting lost. Which is what happened to me anyway.

"Is anybody there?" I heard Beregond call from somewhere in the woods.

"Right here!" I yelled back.

"Where are you?" he shouted.

"Oh, right near this glade full of thyme and sage" I said nonchalantly.

"I've been walking in circles for the past half-hour and all I get from you is that description?"

"Well, how am I supposed to put it?"

Then after a while, Éowyn arrived in the glade, with Faramir and Beregond at her heels.

"How did you find me?" I asked.

"You were yelling loud enough to wake up the dead", Éowyn said nonchalantly as we continued walking.

After a while, Faramir told us to stop. "There is something I remember about this place," he said.

"You've been here" Éowyn reminded him.

"I left something here. Something to catch something" he said.

All this time, I'd been walking backwards. Suddenly, I felt something tighten on my ankle and jerk me upwards. The next thing I knew, I was being suspended upside down from an old rope and I was screaming my head off.

"I remember that trap," Faramir said as Beregond clumsily cut the rope. I landed in a pile of leaves. Suddenly, the contents of Faramir's backpack fell on the ground, and he ended up having to sit on the pile to retrieve the stuff.

"Oh, there are nice big ants on the leaves" Beregond said nonchalantly.

At the word ants, I became aware of an itch on my foot..



It was almost sunset when I heard the sound of a waterfall gushing. We'd made good progress despite ant bites and a little accident involving Beregond, Éowyn and a hole. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man came out to meet us on the trail.

"Faramir! It is good you're here again, Captain" the man hailed.

"It's good to be back here, Mablung. The King sent me here on an errand," Faramir said. I remembered that he once was Captain of the rangers of Ithilien. But I guess he would still be that to the rangers even though the world had changed.

"I see that the stars shine on this meeting, for it is not only of old friends but also a meeting of the fairest in this land," Mablung said as he shook Beregond's hand. I heard that they'd met before in Cormallen.

"Good afternoon Lady Éowyn, and " Mablung began before he turned to me.

"Niliwen, an attendant of the Lady" I said softly.

" And Niliwen. Welcome to North Ithilien. Henneth Annun is not too far from here, and unlike before, there will be no need of blindfolds for the trail" Mablung said.

"You used to use blindfolds here?" Éowyn said in surprise.

"This was during the days of Sauron. Times are different" I reminded her.



We walked along the woods, through many narrow and winding ways until we finally came out of a dark passage into a rock chamber with a sparkling waterfall at one of its openings. What made this special was that the setting sun in the West shone through the waterfall, turning it into a fiery curtain of red, gold and orange. In truth, it seemed like melted gold.

"We're in Henneth Annun, the Window to the West" Faramir said from behind Beregond and me.

"So, this is the refuge of the rangers" Beregond breathed.

I looked behind and I saw that this was part of a long, dark rock cave. Mablung and Faramir went to the cave to meet the other rangers, and soon Beregond followed them.

"This is beautiful" I heard Éowyn say as we looked at the Window Curtain.

"And I've heard this is the fairest of all the falls in Ithilien" I said as we began walking to the back of the cave to find out where the men had gone.



Supper that night was a merry affair. There were so many old tales to be told news to learn and lots of jokes and laughter to be shared. Though Éowyn was the only one who didn't quite know about the older tales of Ithilien (I've heard my share as a child), she also enjoyed the discussion.

Of course, just as most conversations this year were, the topics soon turned to as what each had done in the War. I was slightly embarrassed about having not much of a tale to tell. After all, last year I was only a helper in the Houses of Healing, and all I could really tell of was about the King's entry into the Houses of Healing after the Battle of the Pelennor. As usual, the topic soon turned to the events before and during the battle, and for the nth time I heard about Éowyn's deed on the battlefield. I guess the men were abashed that she had done something that no man could ever do: slay the Witch-King of Morgul. But in effect, they owe something to her, since her act saved a lot of lives. Really, who knows what could have happened if the Witch-King was not slain.

The hours marched on as we talked and the time came that I had to excuse myself. I crashed out on the mattress set out for me, and within minutes, I was asleep.

I awoke to the strange sound of wild splashing, as if it came from the pool that the waterfall flowed into. It sounded awfully weird, as if something or someone had decided to take a dip in there. Now what inane idiot would go swimming in there on a night in March?

I got up and looked upon the Window Curtain, and now it was a lovely tapestry of liquid starlight, silver and pearls. No doubt, the effect of moonlight. But still the splashing sound continued, so I decided to investigate. I walked out of the dark cave into the rock chamber. But somehow, I lost my footing and I went sliding on the wet floor.towards the Window Curtain!

The icy waters came down on me for a second, before I found myself in a frigid pool. I didn't want to sink. I'd been warned about the "knives of stone" at the bottom. Then I discovered the source of the splashing. Twas just a nice fat kingfisher. Great.

"What was that?" I heard Éowyn call from behind the waterfall. I guess my splash had awoken the whole refuge.

"Sounds like something awfully large fell in" I heard Beregond say.

"Are you sure that it isn't another intruder?" I heard a ranger asked.

"Aye, let's go out and see" another voice said.

"Where's Niliwen?" Éowyn asked.

"I'm betting ten to one that she fell in," Beregond said.

"I think that's precisely what happened. But how, I know not" Faramir said.

Now I knew I had to get out. So I lifted myself shakily out to the bank and I walked up the stairs. Before I'd gone far, I met Faramir, Mablung and Beregond.

"Did you decide to take a walk? Or a dip perhaps?" Beregond said.

"N-no. I'm not as insane as that" I said, my teeth beginning to chatter. At this, I was shown back inside quickly. After I'd changed into dry clothing inside a dark recess of the cave, I was hard put telling what had really happened.

"Really, that's unbelievable" Éowyn said after I concluded my tale.

"Believe me, I wasn't sleepwalking. Besides, for your information I learned one thing" I said.

"What?" Faramir asked.

"There are things that go splash in the night. And those are kingfishers from the wood of Greenleaves" I said.



A/N: Well, that's it for now. Yes, Niliwen is eventually going to grow up. So, I don't know when I'll update next. Send a review then! Till the next time, "Namarie!"