OK this is my first attempt at fanfic and my long realized desire to write. I have seen the movies way too many times ( IS that possible?) and am working on the books. Many Tolkien lovers pan the movies but I loved them Most of what I write is based on them, but will probably update as I find things in the book.

I am sure there will be errors and inconsistencies and like my own worst critic, I will probably never be satisfied, so check often. I am always willing to take suggestions into account.

If you don't like it…move on. If you do, let me know.

I am not sure where this will take me. There are many ideas about this floating in my head and am not sure at this time quite how to get to where I want.

1/05/2004: corrected a few typos, but otherwise the same. I really can spell. I just cannot type.Added an okiedoke for reviews, only because it can only be made better.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to the books movies etc. I have found the characters to be far more complex than on the surface and just felt that the story will always go on. I own only the few characters of my own added for the sake of getting the tale told.

Chapter one

IN THE GARDEN

It had been weeks since the eye of Sauron had been closed forever. Life in middle-earth went on. But after such a great adventure, life in the shire often seemed dull to Merry and Pippin.. It had seemed most days they could be found in the Houses of Healing visiting with Faramir and Eowyn. .

Oh! How much had changed. Before the war, no one paid hobbits much mind. Now here they were, on their way to having lunch with the Steward of Gondor and the White-Lady of Rohan.

On their way to lunch with friends.

Other than Pippin, Merry could think of no one else he would rather spend time with than Lady Eowyn. She had always taken him seriously, as few of the Men ever did take any hobbit as much more than a happy spirit who never had much use for solemnity. He never felt small around her-- quite the contrary. They could talk together of almost anything. Other than the fact she was not a male or a hobbit, he could think of nothing that would make her any closer to perfect.

Pippin.. The irrepressible Pippin. Faramir and he had forged a bond that could not be hewn apart by anything of this world. It seemed they could always talk to each other. Pippin could always make Faramir laugh and yet he always knew when the right advice to give when the words needed to be finely chosen. To know that Faramir did not think him a fool-- well not always--to have Faramir vow to protect him and the shire as long as the breath was in his body. Why he even offered to have him live in Gondor if he chose.. Pippin had to turn the last offer down though… as the ale was just not as good anywhere but the shire…. and besides.. who would look after Merry?

And now their friends were in love. .Nothing could make the halflings happier.

Yet something was still not right. They were still having to return here for additional aid. Lord Faramir, seemed weaker and paler each day. Lady Eowyn tired so easily. If often seemed that they remained with breath only out of sheer love for each other. Sometimes the hobbits thought they would be greeted with horrible tidings on arrival as to their friends'passing.

Yet here they both were, sitting in the garden once again, when Marry and Piipin arrived.

" It is about time", Eowyn joked." We have already eaten without you."

" I am truly sorry, my lady…" started Merry.

"Merry!"

" I AM sorry… EOWYN.. And WE are sorry to both of you that we were rude and kept you waiting. But you know Pippin. He has to talk with everyone he meets along the way… all down the halls. Personally, I think the warden gave him an apple just to shut him up while he chewed."

" Faramir smiled weakly at Pippin." My dear friend, what shall I ever do with you? I chance wonder that the stars would fall from the sky if you ever found yourself at a loss for words.'

Pippin took another bite of apple and, with it still in his mouth, smiled and said, "That's why I am so loveable."

Merry looked at him in amazement.

" You are? Says who?"

" Say all of us," Eowyn chimed in." And we have NOT eaten, but wanted to scare you into being more prompt next time. It has been a week, Merry, how are things at the shire?

" Same shire as always. I love home, Eowyn, but we always need the company of those we shared so much with."

Merry looked down." obviously, we sometimes intrude… so tell us to be off and we will."

" Intrude?: laughed Eowyn." We owe our lives to you.."

Faramir looked into her eyes as he gaze met his. Oh! How he loved the sound of her laugh! It was as if he were borne up on angel's wings through the heaven. It happened so seldom. There was always that immediate presumption on her face that would suddenly stop her, as if she was convinced she did not have the right to be happy and had come back to reality.

Pippin jumped up, now finished with his apple.

" BY the way….he interjected. " If, indeed I talk so much, would we have met Tannys?"

"Tannys?" Faramir walked toward Pippin, thinking perhaps his friend had been smitten by someone.

Merry stopped him.

" Tannys is a madwoman we met in the hall. They keep her for her healing ability, but she truly has some strange ideas about you both, which is why I feel her mad."

" And what type of strange ideas ?" pressed Faramir.

" Things that are not possible, Lord Faramir."Merry stated.

" Merry, I would ask you afford me the the same address-in-kind as Eowyn. There is no formality among friends."

Faramir knelt down, looking Pippin in the eyes. " Well, obviously you do not think her mad…so I will have to ask you, 'what ideas?'.". And yet the young Steward wondered whether his curiosity should have best been hidden.

Though Merry glared at him, Pippin began.

" We stopped to help her in the hall. She was tending to someone and couldn't carry the supplies by herself. She knew who we were and asked about you both.'

"Go on." Faramir pleaded, getting to his feet and walking toward Eowyn, taking her hand in his as he stood by her side.

"She told us that she was despaired by your sadness. She told us the Black Breath has befallen you both and that's why you cannot get well..Then she said it will take you eventually, but all was not lost."

Faramir's eyes narrowed.

"There's is an enchantress. Hey name is Myrriya. She can heal you. The Black Breath is so bad 'cause it is magic that attacks your soul. It cannot be healed with normal healin'."

Eowyn looked up at Faramir as he took his hand in hers.." Should we summon her?"

Merry interrupted. " What Pippin failed to mention was that Myrriya is not allowed in the houses of healing because she is a necromancer."

Faramir's hold of Eowyn's hand grew tighter.

" You mean she speaks with the dead?"

Faramir's fear was but a moment at the thought speaking with the dead. But it was immediately overtaken by the thought of this father… his mother.. of Boromir.

"But she is evil then." Eowyn said softly.

" Tannys says she is not… that she just knows of ways that aren't.. well....accepted in the usual places. She said this woman is of the Race of Men, like yourself and she could ease the pain because the healers cannot see it."

"See? Madness." Merry quipped. "NO one can cure the Black Breath."

He paused." Not that it has been proven either of you have it."

Eowyn looked at Faramr." What if it is true?"

Faramir's eyes. started to fell with tears. He turned away, not wanting her to see him falter. He sighed..

Oh, to be able to laugh and smile with the one he loved…for the nightmares to end.. Could this be possible?

" Can you find me Tannys? I would like to hear more."

" I would love to," piped Pippin, "but can't we eat just a bit first? I'm starving'

It was shortly after they ate that Pippin found Tannys and brought her to the garden.

She bowed when approaching Faramir and Eowyn.

"You requested to see me my lord and lady?"

Faramir could see the woman was around his father's age. She reminded him of his mother, somehow, not just by her age, but her soft tone in her voice.

" You are Tannys?"

" I am, my Lord Faramir."

" Were you speaking the truth of this Myrriya?" She can cure the Black Breath when all healers have failed.?

" Aye, my lord." she hesitated." Please sir, I have watched you and my lady since you came here. You are much the age of my own son had he not been killed many years ago. And my lady the same as my daughter, had the same accident not befallen her. I am disheartened to see you both struggle with each day….with each breath.. No matter how happy you both make each other, the sadness overshadows you. That is why I spoke with your friends. I wish but to help."

"I am proof she can, my lord. The Black Breath did not stop at the battlefield. Nor was this a late trick of the Dark Lord. I too have almost succumbed."

" And she healed you?" Faramir inquired, growing more intrigued.
"Yes my Lord. I implore you to not ask me how, for I cannot speak of what transpired to make it so."

" Where do you hail from?" Eowyn asked.

" My lord has grown to old to recognize me, my lady. But I am of Gondor"

" I am sorry," Faramir apologized." Should I know you?"

" I took care of you and Boromir as children after your mother died. Perhaps until you were twelve."

" Your name does not seem familiar,." Faramir shot back." And my nursemaid had a withered…."

" Hand, " the woman answered quickly. "That too was healed by Myrriha. Oh and you called me Tannie."

A look of recognition swept over Faramir's face for a moment. Yes, he did remember. He remembered how sometimes she would hide him in the stables when his father was angry…never to openly defy him He even remembered her children and the day of the fire that had been his father's fault and how shortly after, she was gone.

She had left and though, not in the same manner as his mother, he had blotted out her memory.

The others saw the look on his face.

" My lord, you and your brother pulled me from the fire. Such a task for such young lads .to handle. But my children were dead. Something inside me was destroyed. Though I had wept for my children, my anger toward your father, which had seethed inside me could be contained no longer. They were dead because of his callous nature. Every day I watched him intent on destroying you, as well"

" One day, I could take no more and forgetting my place, lashed out at him. I had told him that he would destroy everything he touched because he had no heart, I believe. Which obviously brought my dismissal."

" You never said goodbye." Faramir spoke intently." My father had said I was too old for nursemaid."

"Your father would not allow me to speak with you. So I returned to my village." She continued. "t was attacked shortly after. I was injured, which is how the Black Breath befell me."

"My Lord, for so long I mourned the loss of my children feeling guilt for being alive."

…guilt for being alive."

The words resounded in Faramir's mind. How they appeared to come from his own feelings.

"I also felt guilt knowing you would left in the hands of a madman. And yet Myrriya helped me heal inside as well. Guilt and fear are the things that destroy one. And now, I thank you because you saved me that night. If you and your brother had not pulled me from the fire, I would not have lived to remarry and be happy again. Please. Now I want to help and save you. and the one you love"

" Tell us about Myrriya." Faramir poured himself a glass of cider.

"No one is quite sure where she is from. She was the daughter of a wizard. Her past is not known save for that. She asks for nothing in return but food and lodging. Her journey is but to defeat the evil that destroys men's souls. Some say she lost someone she loved to such evil and that is why she has chosen the path she walks.

The warden appeared at the gate.

"And how can we find her," Eowyn asked hesitantly, looking at Faramir.

Tannys pressed something into Eowyn's palm.

"I must go my lady."

" But..."

Tannys scurried toward the warden, waiting impatiently by the gate.

Eowyn looked down. In her hand was a large red stone--as a ruby only darker--more the color of blood.

She held it up to the light. As she did, Pippin gasped.

"Eowyn, that's not just a stone, "he cried out..

"It's a Palantir."