*** A few words concerning "Faramir, Denethor, Éowyn"... I already mentioned in my very first author's note that I did not read "The two Towers" and "The Return of the King". That means: I am totally (!!) unfamiliar with these three characters. That's basically the reason I tried to either not work them into the story at all (Éowyn) or only very little (Faramir and Denethor). I know that it would have been only logical if Faramir had joined the company to find his brother, but I didn't want to work with him so intensively because I don't want to write him out of character. Now I reached a point in my story where I obviously *have* to deal with Faramir more closely, no matter whether or not I am able to do it well... So I tried in this chapter. Don't rip my head of if he's out of character, please! As I said, I have NO IDEA what Faramir is like, I only know his name and that he's Boromir's younger brother / Éowyn's husband. I definitely will not work in Éowyn. It's not because I dislike her character, but because I know absolutely *nothing* about her! (Perhaps, once I've finished with the rest of the books, I'm going to write a story about Éowyn and Faramir or something, but not now. I'm sure you all understand that!)

Phew, that was a long author's note! On with the story now, and keep in mind that I am unfamiliar with the characters of Faramir and Denethor while you read their scene... But after all, this is an AU fic, so I could write that Faramir throws a huge party because Boromir is dead and you couldn't even point your fingers at me! Haha! ;o) ***

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Aragorn woke up from a terrible scream that cut the peaceful silence of the night. He immediately opened his eyes and sat up abruptly, scanning the surrounding area, his hand already on the hilt of his sword. His eyes caught Legolas who had been on watch while Aragorn rested. The elf was on his feet and obviously ready to walk off. Aragorn fixed his friend with a question in his eyes.

"That was Atalar," Legolas explained calmly, "I will go and have a look."

"Shall I come with you?" Aragorn asked concerned and wanted to get up. He had a very bad feeling about the situation. The scream, so full of horror and pain, had gone right through him and left him wondering in unease about what had happened. But Legolas came closer and put a hand on Aragorn's shoulder, making him sit back down again.

"No, somebody needs to stay with Ghorid. I will return soon."

"Be careful," Aragorn said.

"I am always careful," the elf replied, went away and soon was swallowed by the darkness of the night.

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Legolas frowned when he soon discovered Atalar lying curled up on the ground. He was all on his own. Inunyen was not there. Quickly, Legolas knelt down next to the young lord who was resting on his side and softly put a hand on his shoulder. His whole body was trembling and he breathed heavily, low sounds of anguish coming from his throat every now and then.

"Atalar... can you hear me?" Legolas asked concerned. When there was no reaction he carefully rolled Atalar on his back. His whole face was covered with sweat and his skin was white like snow. His black, short hair was so wet that it shimmered in the moonlight, and liquid drops ran from his hairline down over his face that expressed intense fear and pain.

"Atalar!" Legolas tried again, his voice louder and tensed this time. When the man slowly blinked his eyes open, the elf felt relief and continued to speak more relaxed.

"Are you injured? Did somebody do you harm? We heard your scream."

Atalar shook his head faintly and swallowed hard.

"Only a bad dream," he whispered and closed his fluttering eyelids again.

"Where is Inunyen?"

"I don't know."

Legolas softly lay a hand on Atalar's wet forehead and paused for a moment.

"You have a high temperature," he stated, grabbed Atalar's wrist and wrapped the young man's arm around his neck. Atalar's eyes shot open again and he moved his head to look at Legolas.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"You are coming with me, I won't leave you here in this poor condition, all on your own," Legolas explained, dragged Atalar up on his feet and supported him by wrapping an arm around his waist. The tunic of the younger man was soaked all over, Legolas felt the cold moistness against his fingers when he clutched to him.

"What about the horses?" Atalar whispered.

"I'll get back here once I've taken you to our camp. Don't worry," Legolas answered and shifted his gaze to the animals. He wondered where Inunyen was and why she hadn't taken her horse with her when she left. Something strange was going on here. Something Legolas did not like at all.

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Aragorn rose on his feet and wanted to say something when he saw Legolas return, but the words were stuck in his throat when his eyes captured the sight of Atalar. He looked like near death. Silently he watched how Legolas carefully let Atalar down near to the campfire and wrapped him in a blanket tightly. He heard that the elf whispered soothing words to the other man, but Aragorn could not understand what exactly he said. And he doubted that Atalar could grasp the meaning of Legolas' words. His bad condition seemed serious.

"What happened?" Aragorn asked, once Legolas had left the shivering body and walked over to his friend.

"He suffers from gruesome nightmares," Legolas explained in a low voice, "The mental pain about the loss of his sister makes him fall ill. He has a very high temperature, but yet he's freezing. He also threw up on our way back here."

"How much bad luck can we possibly have?" Aragorn said and wrinkles of worry showed on his forehead, "First, Faramir was wounded and could not come with us. Then Ghorid was bitten by several wolves and carries a serious infection in his body, plus your horse was almost ripped. And now this!"

"Inunyen is gone," Legolas informed Aragorn, making an addition to the negative events that had happened during their journey so far.

"What?"

"I don't know where she is, neither does Atalar. He was alone when I found him."

"I hope our journey will turn to the better soon, or we will be doomed to fail," Aragorn said gravely.

"I will go back to get Atalar's horse," Legolas said, ignoring Aragorn's last remark, "I think it would be good if you had a look at him while I'm gone. Perhaps there's something you can do to ease his suffering."

"I'm afraid there isn't, Legolas. I can treat physical wounds, but Atalar's wounds are in his heart and soul. I cannot heal his mind."

"Then sit with him and give him comfort," Legolas said. He saw hesitation in Aragorn's eyes and there was a slightly sharp undertone in Legolas' usually soft voice when he continued, "Aragorn, I know we are not best friends with him, but you need to ignore your dislike towards Atalar and..."

"Not only aren't we *good* friends with him, we are no friends with him at all!" Aragorn interrupted, "And it's not I who creates this stupid hostility between us! So don't blame me!"

He slowly started to feel as if Legolas was about to swap the sides and he didn't like that idea at all.

"Of course it is not you! I never said it was you!" Legolas hissed back, "I suggest you listen to my words more closely before you start accusing me of things I didn't mean and didn't do!"

They stared at each other for a few seconds until the elf raised his voice again, continuing more quietly.

"I know that it is hard to excuse Atalar's behavior, but he suffers immensely. I beg you, forget what has gone before and focus on the time at hand. He needs us now. And you have to admit that we need him as well. But we need him in a better condition. He cannot help to rescue Boromir if he breaks down the next days."

"You are right," Aragorn admitted, calming down again.

"I'm glad you agree," Legolas said, "I do not wish to quarrel with you."

"I don't want to quarrel with you, either."

"Good. Then let us not do it. Go and stay with Atalar, I will go and get the horse."

"So be it, my friend," Aragorn said and once again watched Legolas vanish into the darkness of the night.

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Inunyen's heart was racing and her breath rushed in and out with quick pants. When she had come back from the place she had withdrawn to earlier this night, she came to their small camp only to discover that Atalar was not there. Panic had started to take control over her when she didn't find him in the surrounding area. Once she had calmed down from their kiss, she had been determined to fulfill her order. She had been determined to finally do it, to kill him. And now he was gone, and the first feeling that enfolded in her was concern. The one minute she had wanted to murder him, and the next she was going crazy with worry about him. This didn't make any sense, but she couldn't help it. She was searching for quite some time now, soaked with sweat and out of breath, but he was nowhere to be found. Slowly she was giving up on finding him, and so she returned to the camp quickly. When she rapidly passed another tree, she bumped into somebody who was hurrying through the woods at quite some pace, too. She couldn't help shrieking in surprise. She would have fallen down to the ground from the heavy impact of their colliding bodies, but arms closed around her, holding to her tight and preventing her from hitting the ground. For a second she thought it was Atalar, but when she raised her head it wasn't her secret lover's face she looked at.

"Legolas!" Inunyen panted once she recognized the elf. She clasped his clothes and looked him in the eyes with a desperate expression.

"What's wrong?" he replied, his hands still resting on her back, "Why are you so out of breath?"

"Atalar is gone! I cannot find him..." she told him and swallowed hardly.

"He is in safety," Legolas said and a soft smile spread on his face, "He is with Aragorn."

"With Aragorn?" Inunyen echoed in disbelief. That would have been the last place she had pictured Atalar to be.

"Yes, I brought him to our camp since he is ill."

Legolas let go of her and frowned slightly.

"What happened to your hair?" he asked.

"My hair?" Inunyen asked back wonderingly and then remembered that Atalar had loosened her firm ponytail. Before she could tell Legolas a made up explanation he asked another question. A question that was harder to explain than the one about her hair.

"Why weren't you with Lord Atalar?" the elf wanted to know, "Where were you and why?"

"I... I want to see him. Let's go to your camp," Inunyen said, ignoring Legolas' questions stubbornly. The elf nodded slowly and then turned around to get Atalar's horse, but she had seen in his eyes that he wouldn't give up so soon. He knew that something terribly wrong was going on here and he was determined to find out what it was. Time was pushing. Inunyen had to act quickly if she didn't want to have two men on her list of people to murder.

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Once back at the camp again, Inunyen took Aragorn's place at the side of Atalar. She knelt with her back to the others, but she could hear that they sat not too far away on the other side of the small campfire.

"How are you?" she whispered in a voice low enough to prevent Aragorn and Legolas from eavesdropping. He didn't respond to her question, but looked at her with an odd expression in his eyes that made her feel both sad and happy at the same time.

"I am sorry," he whispered, his pale lips hardly moving while he spoke, "I did not mean to rush you into something just now."

"I know," she whispered back and tried to smile. She lifted a hand and gently caressed his head, feeling the cold, wet curls of dark hair between her shaky fingers.

"Once we are back home," he told her with a faint voice, "I will go to my father and tell him about us. We will not hide any longer."

Inunyen was paralyzed and speechless for a moment and not able to respond to his statement immediately. Her hand stopped moving and lay upon his head at rest.

"We wasted all those years already. I am not willing to go on like this. I want us to be together," he continued and blinked slowly, exhaustion written all across his sweaty face.

"Your father would never allow this," Inunyen whispered back, trying hard to control her voice that threatened to crack.

"I do not care what my father says."

"Atalar, you know this cannot be. It is hopeless."

"No," he said, his voice getting louder, "No, it is not hopeless. How can you say that? I thought..."

"Shhh," she interrupted him and softly lay a finger upon his lips to silence him. She did not want one of the others to catch their dialogue. She knew they observed them, she could feel their gazes on her back.

"We could go away," Atalar whispered, Inunyen's finger still resting on his mouth, and the determination in his eyes told her that he was serious about it.

"Away?" she echoed and withdrew her hand from his lips.

"Why not? We could go anywhere we want. To a place far away from my parents, where I am not the son of the steward and you are not the steward's messenger. A place where we can be together, just you and me, and nobody would ever separate us again."

"You speak nonsense. That would never work."

"But..."

"No, Atalar, stop it now!" she hissed in a low voice. His sweet promises made everything even more difficult. She had dreamed of this since she had fallen for him many years ago. How many times had she imagined what it would be like to live a carefree life together with Atalar, a life without lies, intrigues and imperious fathers who controlled both of them... But now that he had spoken her fantasies out loud and promised to make her dreams come true, she wished their lives would go back to what they had been like in earlier days, when they had been nothing more than two teenagers who weren't interested in each other. She was desperate and scared about the future. She didn't know what to do and what to expect. Her inner struggle was killing her.

"You have a very high temperature, you know not what you are saying. You are fantasizing," she added with a softer voice.

"I know very well what I am saying," he replied, his tone suddenly sharp. Then he took a deep breath and looked at her with the saddest expression she had ever seen in a man's eyes.

"So it is nonsense to you that I would give up everything only to be with you?" he asked, his voice trembling with pain, "It is nonsense to you that I love you?"

"No! No, that was not what I was trying to tell you..." she replied desperately, watching the sorrowful expression in his dark eyes. She didn't intend to hurt him like that. But still she thought that his plans were just a castle in the air.

"Sleep now, we have to go a long way tomorrow," she whispered, feeling tears building up in her eyes. She kissed her own fingertips and then gently touched Atalar's forehead with them. She just couldn't kiss him for real when Legolas and Aragorn were watching from behind, although she was sure they already reckoned that there was more between the two of them than the formal relationship that was usually found between masters and servants.

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It was early in the morning and Aerilyn was on her way to apologize to Steward Denethor, like her father had told her. She wore a beautiful dress and her unruly, wild hair was tamed with a lot of tiny barrettes and bands. Nevertheless she didn't feel differently from yesterday evening and her outer appearance didn't reflect her inner feelings at all. Her father could make her look pretty, he could make her apologize for her behavior, but never would he be able to make her change her mind or feelings. She was determined to apologize only for the inappropriate tone she had used during her outburst, not for the meaning of her words.

She turned around a corner of the long corridors and stopped for a moment when she saw the door who would lead her to the man who was going to be her father-in-law, no matter whether or not Boromir ever returned to Minas Tirith alive. She had to admit that she was a bit afraid of coming face to face with him all on her own. Denethor always had been polite towards her, but still there was something about him she didn't like. Aerilyn sighed and quickly walked towards the door. The sooner she started with what she had to do, the sooner she would be finished again. But before she could even reach the door to knock politely, she heard that Denethor was not alone. Faramir was with him and it was unmistakable that they were quarreling heavily as they screamed at each other furiously. Aerilyn decided that it was a most inconvenient moment to bother either of the men with her apologies and turned around to quickly leave again, but then she caught her own name and paused for a moment. She held her breath and tried to understand more of the dialogue between father and son. She usually didn't eavesdrop, but this time she couldn't help it. When she heard that the two men were indeed fighting about her and the planned wedding she got even closer to the door and followed the argument with a racing heart and dry mouth.

"You cannot ask that from me!" Faramir yelled, both rage and despair welling in his voice.

"I can and I will! And you will obey, you are my son!" Denethor hollered back authoritatively.

"I will not marry the betrothed of my brother!" Faramir hissed.

"Faramir! You must marry her! Boromir can not because he rests in eternal peace! Don't you dare to think this is easy for me! My firstborn's precious life was taken! This is a true tragedy for our family and for Gondor! The least you could do now is trying to finish what Boromir was supposed to accomplish, although I doubt you will ever achieve what he would have... But Gondor needs this alliance! Gondor needs an heir that will arise from this bonding!"

"Never will I lie with my brother's love and produce an heir!" Faramir shouted, horrified.

"You must!"

"You cannot force me! I am not one of your stud horses!"

Aerilyn jerked when she heard the loud sound of a very hard slap. Shocked and paralyzed she remained in front of the door, not able to move and not daring to choke or even breathe.

"My brother is not dead!" Faramir said after a few moments of silence, his voice still loud but yet cracking, "You have no evidence of his death! I will not follow in Boromir's footsteps and usurp his position and status under these circumstances! As long as I do not see my brother's corpse with my very own eyes, I will not do a single thing of what you are asking from me! And even if he is proven to be dead, I never will lay my hands upon the woman he loved and with that disgrace his remembrance!"

Aerilyn jerked once more when suddenly the heavy door flew open with a loud bang. Startled and scared, she found herself face to face with Faramir who had pushed his way out of the room so aggressively. He stared back, at least as startled as she was. On his face, the anger about his father mixed with the surprise of finding Aerilyn in front of the door.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her in a low voice, a bit out of breath from yelling so much.

"I just wanted... I..." Aerilyn stuttered, staring at his face that seemed so unfamiliar all of a sudden, so full of deep emotions. He usually was rather quiet and reserved.

"Come," Faramir said, gently grabbed her elbow and led her with him down the corridor.

"I am sorry I was so impolite yesterday," she suddenly said a bit clumsily, remembering her father's order.

"No need to apologize. You spoke true words," Faramir responded without looking at her. They went along the corridors silently for some more moments until Aerilyn couldn't hold it back anymore. She felt as if she would explode if she didn't say something.

"I heard what you and your father said. I am sorry, it is unexcuseable that I listened, but I wanted to tell you that..."

"Hush, Aerilyn. We need to get to a place where we can talk alone," Faramir said. She only nodded and let him guide her through the corridor's quickly until they were in a large room together. Faramir locked the door and offered Aerilyn a seat. She sat down, not paying any attention to the beautiful and expensive furniture. Her mind was occupied with other things at the moment.

"I wanted to tell you that I don't desire this wedding between us, either," she finished the sentence she had wanted to say earlier when they had been on the corridors, "It's not because of you... I mean, I am sure you would make a good husband. But... but my heart belongs Boromir. I love him."

"I know," Faramir said, "And I can only tell you the same you told me. I am sure you will be a lovely wife, but it will not be me who benefits from that. I love Boromir, too. I couldn't do anything that would hurt him."

"But what are we going to do now?" Aerilyn asked while Faramir paced up and down the room, "We cannot simply refuse? Can we?"

"We can," Faramir replied determined, "We only have to stick to our decision. We need to stay together on this. We'll go through this with joined forces."

"My brother used to say that, too. We need to stay together. We will join forces," Aerilyn said and had to smile about the memories, "My parents are no easy ones. Often, Atalar lied to them in order to keep them from punishing me. For example when I broke something, or when I came from playing outsides and made everything dirty. Then he said it was him and not me. And then he got the punishment I was supposed to get, probably even a harder one. I never witnessed how our father hit him, but I saw the damage afterwards. Atalar always had bruises when he was a child, whereas I never had one. Sometimes he cried during the nights, but he never would admit to me that he was hurting. I believe he rather would have let our father beat him to death than stop protecting me."

Aerilyn paused for a moment, caught up in her thoughts, and then looked up to Faramir who had listened silently.

"I am sorry, I don't know why I told you about this. I don't want to bother you with stories from my childhood. It's just...I...," Aerilyn took a deep breath and wiped a tear from her cheek, "I miss him so very much."

"I know exactly what you feel, Aerilyn," Faramir said and sat down next to her. He was missing a big brother, too.

"So you two have a really deep relationship too, I guess?" she asked.

"Yes, I would give my life to save Boromir's. And I am sure he would give his for mine. Actually he tried to protect me from some punishments when we were children, too. Do you want me to tell you about it?"

"Please," Aerilyn said and a small smile spread on her face, "I would love to hear a few stories from your childhood."

"Oh, I have a good one," Faramir said after he had thought for a second, "Boromir had just turned fourteen and I was eight..."

And so they sat together, sharing childhood memories, and both of them had to laugh every now and then although they were full of sorrow about the missing of their brothers.

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~ to be continued ~

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*** Get prepared for some action that will "spice up" the story within the next chapters... And I have a really mean Cliffhanger for you the next time! *Evil grin* I hope you all stay tuned! Cheers! ***