Fallaciously Framed!
Author's Note/Disclaimer: I'm sure you're all getting tired of looking at this section, and reading the same thing over and over, so I've deleted it. Merry Christmas. If you really want a disclaimer, see the first chapter.
Ch.5
It had been getting late, so Denethor and Finduilas had sent their sons off to bed, postponing the pronouncement of Boromir's punishment till the morrow.
The room was cloaked in darkness, all save the fireplace, embers still burning dimly, and the slight beams of moonlight streaming in from the window. Boromir was finding it very difficult to sleep, what with the prospect of beginning his new life in chains the next day. He kept tossing and turning, uncomfortable no matter what he did. He hadn't realized how noisy he was being until Faramir's voice piped up from the bed a few feet away: "Goodness Boromir, are you okay?"
Boromir was in no mood to talk to his younger brother. Faramir still seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that Boromir had tried to get him in trouble and that, at the moment, he should probably be anything but concerned for him. "I'm fine," he said, somewhat huffily, exasperated not with his brother, but with himself.
"You don't sound fine," was the blunt reply.
"Grrr," Boromir growled, still angry at himself, "Just go to sleep."
Faramir sat up, determined to get to the bottom of this. "Not till you tell me what's wrong!" he pouted perfectly. His childish guiles were all but totally lost in the shadows, however.
"Why do you care?"
Now Faramir was simply confused. Even in the worst trouble his brother had ever been in, he'd never seen him like this. Too young to be warned off by Boromir's acerbic speech, he continued boldly. "Of course I care! I'm your brother!" He exclaimed a little too loudly.
"Shhhh!" shushed Boromir, "Someone will hear and then we'll both be in trouble!"
Faramir humphed, but said nothing more, not wishing to be in trouble. A few minutes of silence later, Boromir heard the sounds of soft snoring coming from his brother's bed and fervently wished sleep could come so swiftly to him.
Morning came all too soon for Boromir's liking. He prepared for the day in silence, Faramir still glancing at him in puzzlement every so often, still trying to decipher his elder brother's strange mood.
At breakfast, too, Boromir was wisely silent, not daring to meet either parent's eyes fully. Faramir had little trepidation, however, in smiling broadly in good morning and chattering to fill in the quiet.
Boromir noted that his brother's effervescent chatter seemed to greatly amuse his mother and father, who, he supposed, were probably mentally arranging the most excruciating ways to keep him locked away for the rest of his days.
As the meal neared its end, Denethor turned to his eldest child. "Boromir, I suppose you know where you're going after breakfast?"
Boromir nodded the affirmative and took another bite of his food. Normally, he would be thrilled to skip his morning studies, but the alternative activity presented this day was in fact far less appealing than lessons. Breakfast soon was at an end, and Boromir quickly found himself tucked into a chair before his father's desk. He was surprised how rapidly one's life could approach its final end.
"You brought this upon yourself, you know," Denethor said quietly staring at Boromir from across the desk's wide surface. "Contrary to what you may believe, we do not enjoy punishing you." Finduilas nodded her agreement to this statement. "Do you understand why this behavior is not at all acceptable and requires consequences so that it—hopefully—will not be repeated?"
"Yes," Boromir acknowledged, head bowed.
"Look at me," Denethor said softly. Boromir did so hesitantly. "What you did was wrong, and it is clear you understand this. While there would be a certain justice, both poetic and ironic, about giving you the sentence you mapped out, I do not think it a punishment that will change your future behavior or help you to learn from your mistakes. Since these are our main goals in enforcing punishments in the first place, it would indeed defeat our purposes to keep you locked away in the citadel, would it not?"
"I suppose so, sir," Boromir replied, still unevenly meeting his father's gaze. He wavered for a moment as both parent's sighed in unison.
"Before we do hand down the consequences for this behavior, we'd like a few answers," Denethor said.
"You thought," Finduilas began, drawing Boromir's gaze to her, "we believed Faramir the offender, and so believed the punishment you planned was for him, though he was innocent. Why then did you make it so… severe?" Boromir dropped his eyes.
"I was just…well…I…I thought…he…he would…he would get away with it as he usually does. I…I…never thought you'd ever really do that tohim." Boromir choked out.
Something in the way he emphasized 'him' made both parent's stop. "So you think we would inflict such a punishment on you?" Finduilas asked.
"Well…maybe."
"I think that answers the question of why you decided to make it look like your brother had done it in the first place: You thought he wouldn't be punished?"
"Uh…yes."
Denethor and Finduilas exchanged a look. "Boromir…" Denethor began. Boromir raised his eyes to his father's face with trepidation. Finduilas chewed noiselessly on the corner of her lip.
"Your brother is younger and therefore requires a different type of punishing than you," Denethor said after a moment. "Divergent from what you think, Faramir would not have gotten away without consequences had he done what you framed him with, though he would have received a different punishment than you."
"You are nearly 5 years his elder, Boromir," Finduilas continued. "Though it may seem unfair to treat you differently sometimes, think of how unjust it would be to treat you exactly the same."
Denethor sighed. "It is a hard lesson to learn. My elder sisters used to complain that I could get away with murder if I'd wanted to. My parent's tried hard to show them this was not true, though I don't think my sisters believed it until the day I was caught sho…never mind what I was doing—that's not the point."
"The point is," Finduilas went on, "that we love you and want nothing more than to see you and your brother grow to be honorable men. And that requires consequences and boundaries, rules, now."
Boromir nodded, still taking in all his parent's had said.
"You will continue to be grounded to the Citadel for the remainder of your original punishment and will still be held by all of your initial penalty's confines. However," Denethor said, glancing at Finduilas, "we've decided that the only new addition to your first…sentence, if you will, is that you will be writing what we trust will be sincere letters of apology to Lady Ienmir and your brother."
Boromir nodded avidly.
"Good," said Denethor, rising from his desk. "I must go now and see how the realm fared in my absence this morning," he continued eyes widening, betraying his amusement.
Boromir could not help but smile up at him and Denethor could not help but smile back. He crouched down beside his son and hugged him tight. He rose, kissed Finduilas' cheek and then quit the room, saying nothing more.
Finduilas stared after him for a moment, and then turned her gaze to Boromir, raising her eyebrows as she did. She held out her hand, he took it, and she led him from the room. "Off to school we go."
He tried to hide the face he made, but his mother caught his grimace before he could erase it. She smiled and suppressed a laugh, knowing her son would find it slighting.
Later that night after dinner, Finduilas and Denethor sat on the porch as Faramir zoomed wooden figures around in the air nearby. Boromir was within writing up his letters, more precisely the one to Lady Ienmir—or at least trying to. Every few minutes he'd come out with a new draft, hand it to his father, who concocted a new reaction every time. And though each reaction was different, they all meant the same thing to Boromir: Nice try. Do it again. Boromir would sigh or make a face in exasperation and Finduilas would smile and wait to laugh until Boromir was out of earshot.
The evening wore on, and soon Faramir was yawning more than he was zooming and so Finduilas gathered him up to only minor protestation and took him inside to wash up before bed. Denethor followed, carrying Faramir's toys. As he passed the door to his sons' bedroom where Boromir was hard at work, he knocked on the door jam and said, "Time to get ready for bed."
"Just a minute," Boromir said, pen flying. Denethor made no comment, happy enough that his son was even trying to be apologetic and writing at the same time.
As Faramir was standing on a stool before the sink, brushing his teeth with four-year-old fervor, Finduilas made her way to where her husband stood in the door way. She smiled up at him.
"You're brilliant you know," he said to her. She blushed and looked at him, bemused.
"As are you," she replied.
He leaned in to kiss her just as Faramir looked over.
"Get a room," he pronounced wickedly
Denethor pulled back and simply stared at his son and Finduilas turned around, similarly staring.
"Where in all of Middle earth did you hear that?!" he sputtered after a moment.
"From Boromir," Faramir stated simply.
Finduilas closed her eyes and let out a breath very slow and deliberate like.
Denethor whirled. "Boromir!" he shouted.
THE END
Reviewer Response:
vtangelchix—They are adorable, aren't they? = ) That's a LOT of thank you's! I'm very happy you liked it. Here's to hoping you liked this chapter, too! I always like writing affectionate Denethor & Faramir moments and I'm someone else finds them pleasant, too. I guess you could call me an optimist when it comes to their relationship. And yes, Icouldtell you loved dear Faramir =D Although I probably never would have called Boromir's punishments 'cute' I'm glad to hear someone does! They were driving me crazy trying to word them right! And it seems everyone's a fan of longer chapters these days, myself included ;-)
Noldo—Glad to see our phrases are spreading around! I wonder what I'd do if someone called ME a ball of orc's heads…hmmm. 3 years isn't really that long, but isn't it scary sometimes to think back to what we were like 3 years ago? I, for one, find my 3-years-ago-self to be a rather frightening being. I must be honest: I had not considered Boromir's punishments 'cute' myself (at least that's not the word I was thinking of)…but hey...whatever floats your boat down the Anduin ; ) I did find Boromir's poem however, to be one of my sister's cuter inventions. And yes, a brain is what Ienmir is (allegedly) lacking :D "It's also good to see fics where Denethor is not portrayed as a total jerk" To this I can only add a firm and fervent 'AMEN'
Erestor—Faramir was indeed the one Fallaciously Framed, as I'm sure you figured out by now. I do love a good alliteration. Hope this chapter explained a little bit more about why Boromir's punishments were…uh…harsh…even though he did feel guilty. Sad indeed that Ienmir is no idiot: She was such a perfect victim for the card [devious grins]. When I read the part about Boromir not suffering enough I couldn't help but laugh. Clearly he isn't in too much pain. : ) "Don't look up": That's a good one! It is indeed terrible fun to do such things. I love stuff like that. Reminds me of how The Twins are so often portrayed. That's probably why I like them so much.
Dark Borg Drone—But punishments are good! Really!............Did I convince you? Nope? I didn't think so. They didn't go too hard on him in the end see. Although who knows what trouble will befall him now after he taught Faramir to say such things. Glad to have a new reviewer! : )
Thank you all so much for reading and telling us what you thought along the way! We're terribly thrilled you guys enjoyed this! Thanks a million to all of you who took the time to review. Hope you liked the end!
Cheers & God bless,
Sara and Dene4