Morning dawned softly on the two sleeping Rangers. When Faramir woke the sky was just beginning its metamorphosis from black to grey. He breathed in the scent of morning in the wild - the cool, night-tinged air, the refreshing dew-covered foliage, the trace of the smoldered fire from the night before. Across from him lay his father, still sleeping, wearing a countenance of serenity that could have been Elven, if it weren't for his beard and mustache and lack of ear-points.
Faramir rose and went into the woods looking for something in the way of breakfast. A short while after Faramir left Aragorn too woke. Morning was now providing a little more light, but night's cool remained. The last of the stars had been washed from the night sky already, but the sun was not yet high enough that the man could guess at what hour it was. The first bird had yet to sing and it was within those magic morning moments that Aragorn felt all the world was still.
For a moment he almost turned to see if Legolas was still keeping watch, so deep was the habit ingrained in just a few long months. Instead he turned to see if Faramir was asleep, but he saw him nowhere in the clearing. Instead, all that he saw was his son's sword. A shot of panic jolted Aragorn fully awake, but he quelled it quickly and sat still, opening his senses to every sound, sight, and scent around him. It was these moments when he wished for the mysterious Elven ability to sense calm or unrest, malice or good fortune in the very air.
'Think rationally,' he told himself. 'Your still too edgy not to be wakened if.... Don't be unreasonable. No one captured him, you are over-reacting. You hated it when Elrond did that. You're also talking to yourself. Did Elrond ever do that? No, worse, he talked to Glorfindel and Erestor,' he thought somewhat dismally.
Aragorn had yet to fully talk himself out of unnecessary fear. Gimli had totally disagreed with his pardoning those Haradrim last week, even though they had sworn an oath of their allegiance to Gondor. What if the dwarf was actually right about something?
"Faramir?" Aragorn called out hesitantly, just as the younger man stepped from the woods.
"I am here," Faramir replied, causing Aragorn to laugh at his own imprudence. "Here. Breakfast, such as it is," Faramir said offering his father a handful of black and red berries.
"Thank you," Aragorn said, reclining against the fallen tree as he had the night before. "You won't believe this, when i woke and found you gone i feared that you were captured by Easterlings in an attempt to bait me, and capturing us both, pull off a overthrow of the new kingdom."
Faramir laughed sympathetically. "I think it will take us both some while to get over our anxieties about the world."
"Fortunately, we have some while. When do you think we should go back?"
"Midday? We probably won't get this opportunity often, we should enjoy it now."
Aragorn nodded, agreeing. "You think the city is in alarm yet?"
"I think they have been since night. I can picture the whole of Minas Tirith running from gate to gate with torches and lanterns calling for us," Faramir said with a slight smirk.
"They probably think we've both been captured by Easterlings," Aragorn said, unable to suppress a snicker. "I'm sure Gandalf has things under control."
