Thanks to who cares, who left me 11 reviews! =0) Made me very big-headed but I pricked my head with a pin and so it's back to normal size now. And now for this chapter I am going to try not to disappoint you!

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CHAPTER 16 : Acceptance

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Aislin picked up the picnic basket she had packed and left the kitchens with a wave to the cook. She had decided that cooping herself up indoors was definitely not a good way to pass her time while she waited for Boromir to reach a conclusion, and therefore had decided to have a meal up next to the beacon like she had done before with the brothers. Perhaps that would give her a clear mind to think things through.

She walked up to the beacon, humming to herself. By the time she realised that there was someone else already eating there, she had already set down her basket. "Oh, I'm sorry… I could move…" she began to say.

Boromir gave her a smile. "That's all right, I don't own this place. You're welcome to join me. I just hope that you brought enough food for yourself, because I didn't bring too much."

Relieved that things did not seem to be getting awkward, Aislin sat down next to him. "Don't worry, I brought more than enough for myself, actually. Just in case I decided to eat more than I should." She passed the basket to him. "Help yourself if you want anything."

Boromir accepted the basket and took a biscuit. "We haven't eaten here together for such a long time."

"Yes, it's been many years," Aislin agreed. "But somehow when we're here, it doesn't feel as if anything has changed, does it?" She sighed and looked out. "It feels just like our first meal here together, with Faramir, and the long years have not passed."

Boromir followed her gaze to Osgiliath. "Things were so much simpler then," he said softly.

Aislin looked down at her lap shyly. "But our lives were so much emptier."

He put his hand over hers, and they both smiled in mutual understanding.

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"I didn't see you the past week," Boromir remarked.

"I didn't see you as well," Aislin said with a laugh. "I was working so hard, trying not to think about what your reaction would be."

"Were you really that worried? Weren't you confused as well?"

Aislin shook her head. "I wasn't confused at all. All these years I had tried my best to forget about you, to push you away, and to devote myself to Faramir, but I knew long ago that it was impossible. Yet I persisted and tried my best not to let Faramir down. Unfortunately Faramir saw through it all, and he decided to let me go." She sighed. "He is a very good man, Faramir, and it would have been my good fortune if I could spend the rest of my life with him, but I would never have been really happy." She looked up, straight into his eyes. "I would never be happy with anyone other than you."

Caring not about the guards on duty, Boromir leaned in to kiss her.

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Another sleepless night. Faramir squeezed his eyes shut. Images of Aislin and Boromir together swirled in his mind. But he found that it was no longer such a terrible pain, found that he was no longer hurting so badly. It was the only way. He had known that he had to let go, and finally he did. It was the right thing to do, there was no alternative. Now Boromir and Aislin will be happy. After all these years of trying not to let me down, this is the least that they deserve.

He turned his mind to other matters. Tomorrow he would inspect all the guards in Osgiliath, and make sure that they were all still at the best. The shadow from the east was lengthening. Usually nothing out of the ordinary happened, but he could feel that something was going on, that the shadow was lengthening bit by bit, creeping slowly towards Osgiliath. It could be upon them in ten days, or ten years; there was nothing he could do about that. But what he could do was to make sure that the soldiers were alert, and ready. And that was exactly what he would do, carrying out his task such that he was fit to be the son of the Steward.

He would just have to get over Aislin. Over time, he would, healing slowly from this wound. And with that, he would pour every ounce of his attention into the protection of Osgiliath. If he could not marry the one he loved, he would at least gain the respect of his father.