Epilogue

The stars seemed blotted out as the clouds descended on Minas Tirith, the raindrops mingling with the tears on Faramir's face. His heart seemed to explode with pain within his chest with each gasping breath. His eyes strained to find the path as he ran to the only place in the city of stone he would ever feel whole. He found the place deep in the gardens, the place where he had held Éowyn in his arms, where he had heard her voice call his name, where they had been together. Flinging himself on the cold and wet ground, he began to scream with pain into the earth, emptying his heart of all his pain so that he would never feel again.

But just as he began to feel numb, he stopped. My life cannot end with hers, he thought. He remembered how he had watched her fade and grow cold. And he knew that he would have to feel the pain of this parting in order to feel his love for her rush through his veins. His eyes filled with tears, he turned his face towards the sky.

Footsteps sounded in front of him. And he knew who it was, for it could only be one person.

"Aragorn," he said, mustering the strength to speak. The night was dark, and he could only dimly make out Aragorn as he approached him. But he could sense that Aragorn was crying. Aragorn hesitated before sitting down on the ground next to the man who had taken his wife from him, but in the end he found he could no longer stand.

The two man sat there, crying and broken. They had both loved Éowyn in their own ways and her death filled both men with the pain of loss. This pain united them, and though there was still anger in both their hearts for the other and for themselves, in that moment they shared a bond closer than friendship.

It was Aragorn who first found the strength for words. He did not know what force compelled him to speak through his agony, but he found himself saying, "She was never meant for this life. I should have suspected it when I first saw her strength of spirit. You, I think, knew it all along. I don't think I wanted to see it…" Aragorn's voice faltered as he thought of all the times she had reached for him as her heart withered in her breast and he had walked away.

The clouds began to break and the sun began to rise above the mountains. A new day was dawning and for both men the world was changed. Aragorn finally looked at Faramir, and he was surprised that his heart warmed towards him. Aragorn saw Faramir's genuine pain at the loss of his love, a loss that he knew only too well. At that moment, Aragorn wanted nothing more than to ease Faramir's pain.

He cleared his throat. "There is the matter… of your daughter to discuss." Faramir's breath caught in his throat. In his pain he had almost blocked out the knowledge that he now had a child, Éowyn's child, and with that child there was the hope of a future. He wiped away his tears and slowly began to look around him. The world had not ended, he found, and he also found that his heart still beat, his lungs still drew in breath, his eyes still saw.

Aragorn continued: "Éowyn is… she's dead. The Queen is dead. And the only people who know that the child she carried is alive… are you, the healers, and I. I do not know what Éowyn would have wanted for the child. I did not know much about her, it seems…"

Faramir looked into Aragorn's eyes. "She would not want for our daughter to grow up in the silent chill of Minas Tirith. I do not want that for my child." Faramir's voice was strong, his purpose set. He was finally standing up for what he wanted; the power within him was finally asserting itself.

"I cannot have Éowyn… I knew in my heart that I would only ever have her soul; her body was lost long ago. But I will have our child, and I will raise her in freedom, peace and happiness. I will take her to Emyn Arnen where she can know the fragrant blooms of wildflowers and the sound of rushing water over the river. I will do this Aragorn, because it is what Éowyn should have had."

Aragorn nodded, his spirit waning. The fatigue of long life weighed on him heavily now as never before. He had lived to lose the love of those around him and now he doubted his purpose and the meaning of his life as never before.  He asked Faramir's assistance to stand up and together they made the silent march back to the Houses.

***

Éowyn, Queen of Gondor, was prepared for burial as Faramir rode out from the city limits, accompanied by a woman carrying a small child. He excited little suspicion or inspection as he left Minas Tirith, as most of the city had gathered on the uppermost level to hear the sad tidings of Queen's death and the loss of her child. Faramir once again turned back to look up at the walls of the city, but he did not see Éowyn there. He would never see her again.

The child began to cry and the woman who carried the baby girl began to comfort her. "Begging your pardon, my lord, but what is her name?" the woman, who would act as a wet nurse to the newborn, asked.

Faramir looked at the child. He was surprised that he had never thought of a name in all those months that she had been the foremost thing on his mind. Suddenly he knew what her name had to be, to make up for all that was wrong… for all that had happened. "Her name is Finduilas. But she will not share her fate."

The End.