The news of the victory at Helm's Deep was much welcomed at Edoras, as was the birth of little Elfhilda. It did not matter that she was a daughter, the House of Eorl had gotten a new member on the current family tree and both she and her mother had survived the birth.

"I am an aunt! I have got a sweet little niece!" Éowyn repeated for herself over and over in joy over the news, making a true smile for the first time since her cousin got injured. And given her worry about Faramir, as well her not so well-hidden frustration over that she could not help her betrothed due to the travel distance between Minas Tirith and Edoras, she needed something more joyful as distraction.

"Feder is going to be so emotional at hearing that my cousin named his first daughter after my modur," Théodred smiled at hearing the news about Éomer and Lothíriel being blessed with their first child on a such important victory for Rohan.

"Yes. And what a dawn to be born at! I only hope that she will not be overshadowed by the memory of this victory when she grows up. It is never enjoyable to have your own birthday be forgotten in favor of something else."

Elia had realized this problem many years earlier, thanks to Rhaenys being born the day after the winter solstice here in Arda, and the whole family had done their best to make her birthday a day of celebration as well.

"Fair point. But she will be called Battle-born as a nickname, for sure."

It felt comfortable to see her husband a little more active, even if he still had to remain in bed and rest for his wounds. But he was no longer in danger of dying from a horrible infection, and had managed to stay awake for longer periods now. A good sign of recovery, despite it being slow.

"Feder! Do you think that we may meet Elfhilda before long?"

"And that she is just as small as cousin Loreza was, when she was born?"

Seeing their father feeling good enough to sit up in bed for a while, had done some wonder for Andréth and Aégnor too. Théodred would still need to make a long recovery, but both Elia herself and their children were less afraid that they would lose him now.

"I am surprised that you still remember Loreza as a baby, but then again, it is not that long ago and I am sure that some of those memories can still be recalled when seeing the swaddle blankets aunt Ellaria used for her," Elia smiled, thinking of the three-year-old eighth and youngest daughter of Oberyn. While most of the next generation was old enough to realize what this horrible war was about, it felt like a small comfort that at least Loreza would be spared from any such memories.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

On the other hand, something very different was happening in Isengard:

Saruman could only stare at the devastation below the tower's balcony. The choice to join Sauron, all his work to breed new Uruk-hai, to try and weaken Rohan so Sauron would more or less have the conquest of the Mannish Kingdom served on a silver platter….

All of it was in ruins. He had failed to realize the powers of the Ents, Lady Yavanna's own creations, all because they were nearly extinct in numbers. To see them attack Isengard, storming the valley after breaking its gates and even breaking the dam so everything sans the tower of Orthane was flooded…

And worse, something else was now coming straight towards the tower.

"Oh no…"

All of his usual cunning and self-confidence was blown away by the sound of the dreaded cry he heard in the distance. One of the Nazgûl had come on their winged beasts, and would see his failure.

"No, no, no, no….!"

Even as Saruman hurried inside and locked every door he could, the force of a sand storm crossed the windows, breaking the glass. The winged fey-beast landed on top of Orthane, held on with its claws as it gave a warning roar to the Ents below. Much to the fallen Maia's dread, the sound of iron boots was heard against the stones of which the towers were built from.

"You have failed my Master."

Not the Witch-king of Angmar that forced up the doors to reveal himself, but Khamûl who was equally feared by the enemies of Sauron, and there was a very good reason why he was second-in-command to the Witch-king.

"I had everything under control until this morning when Helm's Deep proved harder to defeat than I expected! Were it not for the current Queen consort of Rohan and her family, Rohan would have lost its King and fallen into chaos…!"

Saruman was terrified, and he could feel a tighter hold around his throat where Khamûl used fine grains of sand to slowly choke him.

"You still failed, craven Wizard. You are worthless as an ally now. No army, no way of sowing distrust between the powerful ones in Rohan...you are useless!"

Just like Rhaenys had done with the ghost of Aerys the night before at Dragonstone, Khamûl tossed Saruman around and slammed him against the walls, like a upset child would do with a ragdoll during a temper tantrum, but both attacks were meant to show displeasure. And since Saruman was in the body of an old man, this meant that he suffered grave injuries whatever he was thrown against something.

"Agh!"

Even if Sauruman desperately summoned his staff in an attempt to defend himself, Khamûl had expected such a move and focused his sand on the staff, drying the wood so much that it broke in two halves, one top and one bottom, when Saruman grabbed it.

"I witnessed how all you Nine were defeated by a group of untrained brats using wind and water magic on the 25th of February. Feeling upset over losing the hostages you intended to bring to Mordor for your Master?"

In response, Khamûl almost choked Saruman for real. Below his hood, the golden mask with quartz for the eyes and obsidian acting in place for the pupils, were still unmoving but a burning glare could be felt behind the mask nonetheless.

"Watch that tongue of yours, Wizard, or you shall find yourself without it. Do you even know how long it has been since someone with magical powers has been able to actually challenge us Nine?"

Gasping for breath as he knelt in terror, Saruman did not dare to try saying anything that would possibly result in Khamûl truly killing him. True, he was a Maia, but being bound to a body of flesh and blood had its disadvantages. Not to mention that if the Witch-king would somehow be killed, Khamûl would rise to become the leader of the Nazgûl, and be even more feared than what he was right now. The two most powerful Ringwraiths were different in basic personality and did not exactly hide that had it not been for Sauron, they would most likely have tried to kill each other a long time ago.

"We will be keeping an eye on you, Wizard."

But as the former Farao was about to leave Saruman with this warning, the palantír began to glow from its place in the middle of the other chamber. Yet it was not Sauron who tried to see what the Fallen Wizard was doing, but a very different image was visible:

An image of Elia, as she and Rhaenys were talking about something outside Edoras between them in private. Side by side, anyone who had seen Mara in her original life would see some strong similarity to this set of mother and daughter, for Elia had been looking nearly exactly the same as Mara in her twenties and even if she did look different from her past self, Rhaenys still radiated the same aura and mannerisms as the Princess of Kemet.

A strange sound left Khamûl as he once again felt the old scar on his long-gone body acting up as if it was burning. Memories of that fateful day in the past when he had become a Ringwraith, the endless search for Mara and her descendants over the passage of time…

"Hah...hah aha, ha ha...so this was your game, sweet Mara?" the Ringwraith laughed darkly, "Making one of your descendants so alike yourself in looks, and yourself as her daughter? Clever, my dear daughter, very clever! Nerfertari would have been proud of you using your mind like that! But no more! Now I finally know your current face, just like for your reborn siblings from my other wives and concubines! All of you teaming up together against me and Sauron? Let us all see who shall win!"

With a powerful strike, Khamûl knocked Saruman unconscious, and put a magical seal on him to prevent the Wizard from remembering this vision of Elia and Rhaenys, and possibly trying to use that information for his own purposes once Khamûl had left Isengard.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Back where they were outside Edoras, however, Elia and Rhaenys were unaware of what was about to happen. Instead, they talked about what to do if Khamûl indeed found out that Rhaenys was the current reincarnation of Mara.

"I know that he is an enemy, Rhaenys, but at the same time, I feel some form of understanding of his actions and why he must have believed that Sauron could offer him help to get revenge on Tar-Minyatur. As a parent, the desire to protect my children from dangers and people who threaten them..."

A deep irony, indeed, for that Elia could feel sympathy for a Nazgûl of all beings, especially when it was such a contrast to Lyanna Stark and her selfish attempt to escape her expected duty as a daughter in one of the most high-ranked noble families in Westeros.

"Madre, you have always been a realist and been able to think ahead of how all actions have their consequences. This has saved you many times, yet sadly, you can not stand people who are narrow-minded about their own behavior…?!"

Suddenly, both mother and daughter felt a dark aura come closer. And a very unwanted scream was heard when Elia looked down on her left palm to see the glowing image of a spear.

"Khamûl!?"

"He must have been near Isengard and seen it fall!" Rhaenys gasped in alarm over why her past-life father was here in Rohan, holding up her spear to cast a barrier around all of Edoras for protection. It was a good choice of action, for the fey-beast could cover vast distances with those wings. A smaller sandstorm was thrown against the barrier, likely to test her magical and spiritual strength in this life.

"Do not underestimate us after all those years and times of Mara being reborn into her own blood descendants...FARAO!"

Focusing her own aura, Elia broke the sandstorm apart, revealing Khamûl standing in front of them. Expect that he was not wearing the normal black cloak and hood, but taking a ghostly form of his mortal self.

"Impressive for the woman who you did choose as your current mother. You have birthed mighty descendants from your son, Mara. A good choice, a very good choice."

Normally that would be a compliment that Elia had actually appreciated, had it just been a completely different situation and he was not a mortal enemy.

"You are hardly here for mere smalltalk, are you?" she asked, making the Ringwraith focus on her. However, Khamûl only laughed as if it was something amusing she said.

"As a fellow parent, would you not desire to see your surviving child healthy and strong to stand on her own two feet? Locking up the descendants of Neith was not something I am fond of, but I refused to see my bloodline die out for real, not when I did not know if Mara and her son had survived. And with them living in a golden cage, I could keep an eye on them. Lessening the numbers to one surviving woman or man per generation, made them easier to control."

Elia knew that this was something Suleiman had mentioned as a guess to why Khamûl had acted like that with the descendants of Neith. To hear the former Farao basically confirm the reason, did not make the horrors less real.

"Murdering your own descendants and keeping only one of them alive to be the main prisoner in that golden cage, are not proof of you being a caring ancestor."

She tried very hard to keep her fear hidden. The dark aura around Khamûl was overwhelming, but she had to stay strong for Rhaenys.

"Too bad that you are not thirty years younger, you would have been an excellent addition to my current harem of mortal women with magical abilities. You have the ability to make people be unable to forget you, even years afterwards, do you know that? Such an unforgettable impression...that is worthy of a Queen!"

Rhaenys quickly cast a smaller barrier between them and Khamûl, yet something found itself fastened around the hand joints, fingers, ear lops, neck and forehead of Elia.

"That is...the jewelry of my mother Nerfertari?" Rhaenys whispered in disbelief, seeing the once so familiar set of royal jewelry on the shocked Elia, who had expected to be attacked instead. Khamûl only smiled in a way that reminded very much of how he would look fondly at Nefertari when she was alive.

"She would have wanted to pass down that as a memento of her to yourself and your female descendants, Mara. It has just taken me a very long time to find you again."

An honest underestimation, with the fall of Kemet happening well over 4 000 years ago.

"Father, I am only saying this once: You fell into the darkness for my sake, so I will be the one to break you free from those chains, one way or another!"

Releasing her aura again, the ground below her began to glow a warm golden light as Rhaenys pointed her spear against Khamûl. He actually seemed to like the challenge, for he did not do anything else than mounting his fey-beast again.

"I look forward to seeing you trying, my sweet Princess. If you fail, then I will promise this in return: Your descendants shall find themselves in a golden cage under my control as well!"

Not the most cheerful thing to say, but at least he had promised to not kill everyone in House Martell in front of her eyes and leave her as the only survivor, just like Selim had found himself many years earlier.

"Do us a favor and finish to put the Lion Lord in his rightful place when you are doing this, he may have lost his ancestral seat and noble title, but there are still people who will try to follow his lead and try to restore him," Elia added in, knowing that Tywin Lannister would find himself in hell with Khamûl around for the second time.

"Oh, that ridiculous man who thinks himself a fearsome lion. Clearly he has not been taught that not even those large felines can defeat the sun and desert in the long run. No need to tell me what to do with him, I am still not done with punishing him for trying to have you murdered all those years ago."

That was not surprising to hear from him, since Rhaenys had revealed Tywin Lannister as a danger to herself, Elia and Aegon four years ago when Arianne came of age.

With the fey-beast rising into the air and turned back towards Mordor, Khamûl left them with one final scream echoing through the air. But both Elia and Rhaenys collapsed to their knees, trembling as their inner terror now taking control over them for real.

"Madre! Rhaenys! What happened?! Did the Ringwraith try to kidnap you two to use as hostages against Rohan!?" the alarmed Aegon called as he came running, several soldiers behind him.

"We must defeat Sauron...for the sake of our whole family…" Elia managed to say in a shaky voice, hiding the jewelry of Nerfertari from sight somewhat by pulling up her shawl over her head. She was trembling in her whole body, both from fear and the cold evening wind. Beside her, Rhaenys was staring hard in the direction where Khamûl had vanished, her eyes glowing amber as she began to cry in grief over the monster her once beloved father had become.

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Author note: The idea of Khamûl and the Witch-king of Angmar not really getting along is based on that Witch-king most likely is Númenórean and Khamûl still remembers how Milce and Tar-Minyatur more or less caused the death of his whole family which only Mara and Neith survived alongside their unborn sons and brought a end to the golden era of Kemet under his reign. Hard to get along with someone who hails from the same place of origin as the foreign woman who brought disaster to his own realm!