I am the Queen of Short Chapters! Yeah!

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CHAPTER 7 : Uncertainties

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"Boromir!"

Boromir looked back to see Aislin standing behind him, trying to hide behind a pillar. "What are you doing here?" he asked, obeying her gesture and coming to stand before her.

She looked over her shoulder as if expecting Marian to be standing right behind her. "I'm supposed to be airing out the guest rooms, but I just wanted to come and say goodbye to you."

Boromir grinned. "Everyone knows that you are friend to Faramir and I. It would not seem odd if you bid me farewell outside my father's hall, like everyone else."

Aislin looked down shyly. "But then I wouldn't be able to do this…" She stood on tiptoe and hugged him, then gave him a kiss on his cheek. Then she turned and was gone, leaving Boromir standing stunned and staring after her.

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Aislin hurried down the corridor to the room that she was supposed to air, feeling her cheeks burning. Why did she do that? What madness had driven her? Yes, she had figured out that she loved Boromir, but she had Faramir… and he loved her. It felt good to be loved, and so why was she wasting her time thinking about Boromir, who never thought of her as anything but a friend, when she had Faramir?

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Faramir stood rooted to the spot, not entirely believing what he had just seen. Both Aislin and his brother had not seen him, and he knew that he should move away in case Boromir noticed him, but he could not will his legs to move. Aislin, giving Boromir a kiss? She had never done that for him before. And it was clear that there was something between the both of them, even if they did not know it yet. Faramir could feel it in his very bones, and suddenly didn't know why he had never suspected it before.

Suddenly a wave of jealousy came over him. Boromir had everything: status, respect, the love of their father… and now he had Aislin as well. And that left him, Faramir, with absolutely nothing. That was so unfair! He was every bit as much a son of the Steward as Boromir!

Then it was over. It was of no fault of Boromir's that everyone loved him. Faramir loved him too, his dear brother. Boromir was just so good that everyone could not help loving him. Including Aislin. Faramir shook his head. Why Aislin? He had thought that she was the only one who loved him and the only person who really cared.

I won't tell her what I've seen, he decided. Perhaps with time she could come to love me like she loves Boromir.

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Aislin watched from the window as Boromir said his goodbyes to his family. Then he mounted his stallion, but not before looking back as if he knew that she was there. She moved away from the window, blushing again, and went back to her dusting.

I will not repeat what I did today. I will stick to Faramir, who loves me, and I will learn to love him as well.

That she had promised herself.

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Boromir rode ahead, before the small group of soldiers who were going to Osgiliath with him. He touched his cheek, still wondering if he had dreamed it all. It did seem like something he would have dreamt of. Why did Aislin do that?

She is my brother's love, I will not take that away from him. Him, who has so little love for himself.

He had asked her once, a year ago, to help her brother, and help him she had. She had held true to her word; what right did he have to take that away from Faramir now? Aislin was his brother's, and he had no right to lift a hand to take that away.

I will forget Aislin, and she will forget that she had ever given me this kiss.