Travelling Soldier

by BikerFujin

Part 1 of 3

Faramir the Matchmaker?

Minas Tirith region, Midday, First of Afterlithe (July?), year 3002

The midsummer day was surprisingly beautiful, even for the day after

Overlithe. The entire country of Gondor was in a sunny, pleasant mood.

The sun shone brightly, the birds sung. For the first time in many years,

the annual Midsummer's festival had been held over an extra day. It allowed

the citizens time to relax and just enjoy themselves.

Unfortunately, not everyone took the opportunity. While the rest of the

people of Minas Tirith danced and made merry, a figure sat in the

near-shadows, resting his head on his hand, a bored expression on his face,

or what could be seen of it. The shadows concealed nearly every feature,

except for a few wisps of long, light brown hair, and cold grey-blue

eyes which reflected his boredom like a mirror. Suddenly, a shout

was heard, and another young man came rushing through the crowd. He

looked almost exactly like the man in the shadows, except with slightly

curlier hair, which was logical since the two were brothers.

"Boromir! Boromir! What're you doing sitting around? There's a festival

going on!"

The older man said nothing, simply staring at the festivities with a scowl.

"Well? You're still young! Father won't mind if you didn't act like a

grownup just this one day!" To this, Boromir grumbled something, and

glared at his younger sibling before finally speaking.

"And Father wouldn't exactly despise it if you didn't act like a child

just this one day, Faramir!" The elder brother was laughing even as he

finished speaking, and was soon joined by the younger.

"True, True. But today, we both deserve to act like children. It's a

festival after all. Now, come on! I've a surprise for you, Brother!"

Not giving Boromir a chance to complain or protest, Faramir dragged

him across the pavillion, past all the dancers and merrymakers, eyes

searching for a specific area. He found the spot, stopped, and gestured a

few feet ahead, where a young woman stood, looking very unsure of things.

Her hair was blond, and tied in a braid that went down past her waist,

and seemed to be matched perfectly by eyes the color of freshly

polished topaz. She looked questioningly at Faramir, who only nodded.

"Boromir, this is Esira Ainora." The youngest son of Denethor was

grinning like an idiot. She smiled sweetly, the topaz of her eyes shining

smoothly in the morning sunlight.

"Hello. Boromir, is it? Faramir has told me a lot about you. Would you

care for a dance, Sir?"

A look to Faramir told Boromir that he really didn't have a choice in the

matter.

"Oh, alright." Not saying another word, the pair headed off to the dance

square. The whole time, Boromir was silent.

Love wasn't part of his duty.

~To Be Continued~

All LoTR characters, locations, etc, belong to Tolkien.