(A/N) Hello out there. I don't know if any of you out there still remember poor little Luthien Eowyn. But I have returned alive from the torture chamber known as high school. I'm the one who wrote For the Love of an Elf. You know, the one with the girl called Vanessa who many of my early readers deemed to be a Mary Sue, but in the end it turned out that she wasn't so bad. I bet none of you remember that story, but just in case you do.................this is the sequel that I promised to write for those of you who asked for it. Lets see if any of the old readers return. And for any of you new comers you might want to look into reading for the love of an elf before reading this. And the first few chapters of that are rather pathetic, so don't judge me by them. I was young and foolish. By the way, in that last fic, I'm afraid that I made some date and age errors. Does anybody who's actually reading this know how old Legolas is? I think you all know around what time I'm asking for. Do tell if you know please.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that Tolkien created. Pretty self-explanatory.

Ithryn Luin: The Second Tale of Falynn of Ithilien

(or for the sake of a shorter title we'll just call it Ithryn Luin)

Chapter 1: The Last of the Istari

For hours Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry had been waiting anxiously in the hallway outside of Falynn's chamber. She was with child and at last the hour had come for the arrival. Even now the Lord Elrond was with her, offering what help he could. Legolas, the father, had only just arrived at Rivendell.

To rewind a little bit, the quest to destroy the one ring had ended at last. The remaining fellowship had returned to Rivendell with Elrond after the marriage of Aragorn and Arwen. At the beginning of the quest, Legolas and Falynn had met and fallen in love. Sometime after that Falynn had realized that she was with child. Now, as all the excitement was ending, another was on the way. The four hobbits were now waiting for news of their friend. Two Elf guards now stood at the door to keep them from entering.

"How much longer can it possibly take?" Merry wondered out loud.

"You must have patience, Merry. Just be glad it isn't you in there." Aragorn told him.

Merry just gave him a strange look in response.

"It sounds right painful, though." Pippin said as another scream of pain echoed from the room.

Aragorn smiled briefly at this but then turned his attention back to the door. Several tense moments followed. Until finally, the cries of an infant echoed through the hallways.

"It's over. The baby's come at last!" Sam said happily.

Just then, Luinethoniel stepped out of the room. Luinethoniel was Legolas's elder sister.

"What news, Luinethoniel?" Aragorn asked her quietly.

"It is a girl child. Both mother and daughter are doing just fine for the moment." she smiled.

"Can we go in and see them?" Frodo asked her.

"I believe that you should best wait until tomorrow. I'm having trouble enough getting Legolas away as it is." she said with a sigh.

"It is about time that he had some happiness." Aragorn said to himself.

Suddenly one of the guards stepped forward.

"My Lady, are you certain that the child is female?" he asked Luinethoniel.

"Well........yes. Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason. I was just curious."

With that, the guard stepped back into place. Luinethoniel stared at him for only a moment before going back into the room.

Aragorn hearded the Hobbits away down the hall. Soon after they had left, Elrond, Gandalf, and Falynn's maid Cassandra, came out of the chamber.

Finally Luinethoniel led Legolas out of the room so that Falynn could rest. As she turned back to dismiss the two guards an inexplicable chill stole across her heart. Why had the second one asked about Falynn's child? What business was it of his?

The first guard left his post and followed the two royal Elves down the hallway. But the second guard, the one who had questioned Luinethoniel about the baby, lingered by the door. The moment he was certain that he was alone, he crept into Falynn's chambers.

There he beheld Falynn and her child. Both were sleeping soundly. He quietly crossed to the bed and gently lifted the infant from Falynn's arms. Instantly the child's eyes snapped open.

The guard steeled himself for her cry but it never came. Only thirty minutes into the world and this girl was already bold and fearless. Her eyes were blue but he could see that they would one day be a striking emerald green.The intruder shivered as he gazed down at her. She seemed to realize that he was up to no good. An infant should not have such a knowing gaze.

Quickly he placed her back in her mother's arms and headed for his own room. Just as soon as he had entered his quarters and locked the doors, the illusion fell away and he was no longer an Elf.

He was revealed to be a grizzled old man, bent with age and hard labor. His tangled, gray hair fell to his shoulders. His face was marked by an old scar that ran from his brow to just below his left eye socket. The eye itself had been gone for a long time. His tattered robes had once been sea blue but they had long since faded to a drab brown. He had once been called Pallando. Now he had no name to speak of in either the tongues of men or Elves.

He immediately built up a fire in the hearth. When he had gotten a good blaze going he took a small pouch from the folds of his robes and cast its powdered contents into the flames. Almost immediately a face appeared in the fire. By comparison, this new face was majestic and wise. Old, but not crippled. Old age had been kind to this man. This man who had no name in the tongues of Middle Earth, but of old had been called Alatar the Blue.

"Why do you disturb me?" the face in the flames asked the first man.

"You gave me orders to inform you the moment the child was born." he answered in a deep, menacing voice. He barely concealed his dislike of the second man.

This news caught the attention of the second man.

"What are your orders?" the first man asked him.

"Kill it." the second man commanded coldly. "Legolas Thranduilion and Falynn shall not have a son to plague me."

"Oh, the child is female." the first man added.

The second man was quiet for a moment.

"Not a son? Are you quite certain.........a daughter?"

"Yes. Do you still wish me to kill the infant?"

"No. This may be even better. But stay with them. Make sure that both Falynn and Legolas become overprotective of the girl."

As the fire began to die the second man added to himself under his breath.

"That way my revenge will be all the more satisfactory when they see her die right in front of their eyes."

XXX

Falynn stood with her husband, Legolas, on the shores of the great western sea. They had come to Mithlond, the Gray Havens, to bid the ring bearers farewell. The War of the Ring had been over for two years.

Juneau, their daughter, would soon be two years of age. At the moment, Falynn stood back and watched as the four Hobbits played with her daughter. Frodo would soon depart over seas with Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and many other Elves.

Sam was now married with a child of his own but he was still like an uncle to little Juneau. He was now playing a clapping game with her and the young Elfling was laughing joyfully. Frodo looked on with a small smile. He had never had the joy of falling in love. Though he could not remain in Middle-Earth and enjoy the fruits of his labor, he now stood back and watched others enjoy it. This was what he had destroyed the ring for. So that others could live without fear of the shadow.

Meanwhile, Legolas was exchanging parting words with Elrond and Galadriel and Falynn spoke with Gandalf for the last time.

"I see young Juneau is coming along nicely." Gandalf smiled fondly at the little girl. "There will be many trials for her in future years."

"You know something. Tell me." Falynn said.

Even before she had spoken, a troubled look came into Gandalf's eyes.

"Not all tales and wars come to so easy an end. I see shadows over that girl's head. Shadows from the past."

"What do you mean?" she asked fearfully.

"Beware of the Ithryn Luin, Falynn. Or they shall be your undoing."

"Ithryn Luin? The blue wizards? Why? Who are they?"

"They will come out of the East. They intend to see Juneau dead and that you and Legolas suffer."

"But who are they? How can we stop them?" Falynn was ready to strangle Gandalf for speaking in such riddles.

"Who they are, I cannot say. But fate cannot be stopped. Simply be on your guard." he said gravely.

"Well that is easy for you to say. You're about to go to Valinor. Can you not tell me anymore?"

"No. I myself do not understand this doom upon your daughter. What Alatar would want with Juneau is beyond me."

"But-"

" I am sorry, Falynn. I am not permitted to say more. That is for you to discover on your own. This is where you and I must part."

"Why can't you-"

"No more. Farewell, Falynn, bright lady of Ithilien. The ship is waiting. I only give warning to keep your wits about you. Your child plays a significant role in what is to come."

With that he gave a small nod and left her to board the white ship.

As she watched the ship sail away into the West, Falynn felt like screaming. Why had Gandalf been so vague in telling her the fate of her own daughter?

Finally Sam, Pippin, and Merry mounted their ponies and road away, back to the Shire. As Legolas, Falynn, and Juneau began the journey back to Ithilien, Falynn told Legolas of Gandalf's warnings of the Ithryn Luin.

"What evil is this that Mithrandir should bring on the very eve of his departure? We finally have peace and now a new doom and shadow comes out of the East."

"What shall we do, mela nin?"

"I do not know. But no harm will come to our child. I promise you that." Legolas answered gravely.

Thus, they arrived back in Ithilien with heavy hearts.

XXX

(A/N) okay, okay. Before any of you purists out their get on my back about canon, I know that Aragorn didn't return to Rivendell after the war. I know all of that. I have read the books. I have read unfinished tales and all of that. I know how it works. But many fics are about the "what ifs" of stories. So if anybody tries to tell me about canon, I probably won't listen. I'm just damn sick of canon freaks. I accept constructive criticism that helps improve my writing, but accusing me of being a Mary Sue does not help me improve anything. So if you intend to flame me about canon or MS, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!!!! So don't waste your fingers typing a flame.

( Sorry about that for those of you who are actually with me on this. It's just that past fics have taught me to be cynical and defensive.)