Wow! You guys are making my ego swell to twice the size it was originally! Keep up the good work! Here is another chapie for you!
To Omara Eldu: Belegmir means mighty jewel. I didn't intend for him to even be in the story, but I just wanted to portray Faramir from an unknown angle. Also, I have thought about chapter names, but I don't think that names will work for this story. However, other stories that I am working on (not yet posted) WILL have chapter names.
To all my readers: Omara Eldu alerted me that I'm not catching all of my htm tags. Terribly sorry about that. When you see an (E) with an accent means dot, dot, dot. When you see an (O) with a very strange accent, it means single quote. I'm going to try to catch those better next time!
Chapter Five
Eowyn haunted the halls of Minas Tirith like a ghost. She would drift from on end of the building to another, softly humming to herself. Something had stirred within her, but she couldn't understand what it was. Whatever it was, it left her weak and mindless for many days.
Aragorn caught the words of Eowyn's song one time when he passed her in the halls. He was surprised that she barely took notice of him. Surprised and delighted. Maybe she had forgotten him for Faramir. The future king was sure that he would have a lot better clue if he could recognize the song she sang. But he did not. It went like this:
Helkaiel,
Elgadil,
Vanwawen,
Eva meneulmar.
Raen hae ello i iath.
Mellonnin! Mellonnin!
Ai! Ai!
Aragorn just shook his head in wonder. I didn't know that she spoke elvish, he thought as he continued through the halls. He wondered where she had learned the song. He had never heard it, and he was pretty well learned in Elvish lore, being the foster son of Elrond.
Eowyn didn't even know what she sang. She just sang the lyrics again and again, while thinking of other things. Only she knew what she thought of, and even she mightn't have known. It was like Eowyn lived in a dream for the next few days. And no one could determine exactly what had brought this condition about.
Once, Aragorn became so worried about his friend that he sent for the healers. The Warden himself came, and left more bewildered than he had come, and somewhat exhausted from trying to chase Eowyn down the halls. She ignored everything. All that mattered to her was her little fantasy, whatever it was.
She finally snapped out of her reverie when she heard the trumpets of Gondor blowing, announcing the arrival of some redeemed guest.
There was no doubt as to who it was. As Eowyn walked down through the market, as she was too anxious to see the new arrival to wait with the rest of the ladies in the court, she heard the people shouting all around her, "Faramir! Faramir!" As the horses passed her, Eowyn searched the line for the familiar face. And there it was. When she saw him she cried along with the folk, "Faramir! Faramir!" while she thought, so this is how his people view him.
To her slight discomfort Faramir managed to pick her voice out of the crowd. He spotted her and smiled. Eowyn blushed in return. When Natalie passed right beside Eowyn she leaned down and murmured, "'Tis good to see you again, milady. Faramir has missed you quite a lot." Eowyn looked down at her feet and blushed harder. As Natalie rode on toward the citadel, Eowyn could have sworn she heard Natalie laughing.
Eowyn turned her attention to Faramir, who had also progressed much further along the road. Eowyn rushed to keep up with him, but soon the rangers had left her far behind. She knew that she could continue walking and meet Faramir at the citadel, but she also knew that it could be a while before he could talk. So instead she just walked through the city.
As Eowyn saw more of Minas Tirith, the more she realized the differences between Edoras and this city.
Edoras was wild, like the horses that were worshiped there. It was golden all over, and the people were all different. No two women were the same. Edoras was like a flower. It blossomed, grew, and changed with each passing season.
Here, the people were all the same. All had a place and a status. And they stuck to that status. Everyone did the same things at the same times. But yet, there was something safe and secure about the city. Everyone knew what was going to happen. They all knew how to act. It was like a root of the flower. It was a cage, but it was a safe cage.
If only the flower and root could blend somehow. Perhaps if Eowyn decided to remain in Minas Tirith the city would learn to blossom. She didn't know. Otherwise, she would have to find another place that was safe, but wild. Somehow she would.
(new scene)
"I told you no such thing! I told you to return with a report in three days, which you did not do" "It was raining." "Doesn't matter! Are you such a lady that you can't ride in the rain?"
Eowyn heard this argument as she walked back to her room. She had been walking through the city, when it had started to rain again. Eowyn wanted to tidy herself up ere she saw anyone.
But as she heard this conversation, coming from Denethor's office, she once again stopped to listen...again.
"We didn't stop, but we were slowed down. We couldn't see the road" "Don't give me your excuses. Do not disobey me again. Out of my sight careless son!"
Eowyn tried to slip away when those words were exclaimed, but the door opened too quickly. Instead she just tried to pretend that she had been walking passed at that moment.
Faramir's face was exhausted. Eowyn hadn't noticed the weariness before now. His face was grim, and his eyes were sad. When he saw her, he didn't smile as usual. Instead he closed the door as quickly as he could.
"How much did you hear?" He whispered. Eowyn tried to look taken aback, but Faramir just rolled his eyes.
"Eowyn, I can read you better than you can read yourself. I know that you are faking. You heard it. I ask again, how much?" Eowyn knew that there was no use hiding anymore. He would just be hurt by it if she did.
"I heard your father telling you that he never told you to do something, and then accusing you of not returning on time," Eowyn relayed. Then she thought for a second, and added, "which I could almost accuse you of too. I missed you, Faramir." He smiled finally at her.
"I missed you too." He whispered. But somehow, he seemed surprised when she said that she missed him. Almost like she had specifically told him that she wouldn't miss him. Then she realized. She practically had. She hadn't gone to his room that night, and she hadn't given an explanation for her absence. He still thought that she didn't care for him at all.
"Oh Faramir, I'm so sorry about that night, I just totally forgot. Could you forgive me? I'm so sorry. You see, I wanted to surprise you. I was going to study all this lore, and learn all these songs, and I was going to write my own song, to surprise you! So I studied during the day in the library, and I studied during the evening with you. But you know that the library doesn't have any windows, so that day I lost track of time. I didn't even hear the super bell" Why did she always tend to babble?
Faramir laughed. "Don't worry about it Eowyn. It doesn't matter."
"I was going to knock on your door when I left the library, but I figured that you were already asleep by two-forty-two. Were you?" Eowyn queried fretfully. Faramir just shook his head in response.
"I didn't sleep much that night. But don't worry about it."
"Did I tell you that a new guest came along with us?" He asked, eager to change the subject. He felt that the former one was drawing too close to his feelings for Eowyn, and he didn't really want to bring that up right then.
"No, who is it?"
"I know not, he refused to disclose his name until he was here. He specifically mentioned wanting to speak with Aragorn. And he said something about Arwen as well."
"Humph," was the only response with which Eowyn bothered.
Once again, it was Arwen and Aragorn. Were they the only important people around here? Had she not also won renown? All Arwen had to do was sit around and cry because she was letting go of her immortality, and she was the more renowned then Eowyn! Eowyn knew if she had done that, then she would have been called a spoiled baby and that she should get over it. It was only because Arwen was more beautiful. And now Eowyn had proof. She had asked someone whom she didn't know very well, and whose judgment she could trust. Natalie said that Arwen was the most breathtaking woman that she had ever seen, and that included Eowyn herself.
Eowyn shook her head at herself. Why did it matter? She couldn't win Aragorn, so she would just love him from a distance.
She caught Faramir watching her strangely.
"What?" She asked sharply.
"What were you pondering?" He queried back.
"Nothing of your concern," she answered just as sharply as before.
By this time, the pair had reached the stables without realizing it. Faramir, undaunted by Eowyn's cutting words, conducted her up a ladder and into the loft.
There he said, "What troubles you milady? It has been too long since I could ask that. Now that I am able, I will ask it and you will answer."
Eowyn sighed and tried to begin, "I...it's just that Arwen...Arwen and Aragorn. Everyone treats them like they are the only ones who have won redeem in this whole affair. All Arwen had to do was give up part of her life to live with the one that she loved. That isn't too hard. She just made a big deal about it. Are they the only ones who have won renown?"
Faramir was silent for a moment, and then he responded quietly, "Sometimes, even your own actions say that you feel the same way as the others."
"What do you mean?" Eowyn demanded harshly.
"Nothing milady. 'Twas out of line for me to say. I'm sorry. I know how you feel." And, with that, he held Eowyn tightly, as she began to cry into his shoulder.
"What did Arwen have to do to win him? Why couldn't I? Do you think I'm secondary to Arwen? Which would you pick?" Faramir did not respond.
This agitated Eowyn even more. If Faramir did not respond, that meant that he did not want her to know the answer. Which meant that he would pick Arwen as well. Eowyn didn't even consider how she would react if he told her that he would pick her.
"You would pick Arwen too? What is it about her? What has she done that makes everyone so in love with her? Sure, she is beautiful, but am I not also?"
Faramir laughed gently. Eowyn wondered privately what amused him so.
"Milady, I fear that you are mistaken about what I was saying. I do not love the lady Arwen. I" He hesitated and then continued steadily. "I don't have an opinion on the subject. I think that you are both fair ladies. I cannot say anything else about the subject."
Eowyn sighed. Apparently Faramir was the wrong person to talk to. Perhaps Natalie would understand what it was like to love a man and not have the love returned. Perhaps, too, she would know what it was like for that man to favor another woman whom she deemed to be lesser. Perhaps.
(new scene)
"Eowyn, did you hear? My father has come here! I'm so glad. I thought that I might never see him again! But he is here now!" Arwen cried out to her friend.
Eowyn couldn't figure out why Arwen liked her so much. Eowyn herself found Arwen annoying. She liked her at times, but much of the time Eowyn found her as just another gossip. But Arwen kept hanging on to the friendship.
Maybe if Eowyn had stepped back and looked at Arwen without connecting her to Aragorn, she might have liked Arwen. She also might have seen Arwen as an elf, without any friends, the only one of her race in a whole city. She was different. And probably had trouble with the fact. She had been raised in an elvish country, and now was thrust out in to a man's country.
Eowyn was also different. She used a blade. She had a Rohirrim's rough manners. Perhaps that was why Arwen liked her so. They were both so different from the other ladies, and they both struggled to be accepted.
"That is wonderful Arwen," Eowyn replied half-heartedly.
Arwen pondered for a moment. "Eowyn, do you ever wonder which life-path you should take? My father's wise. You know that if you have any questions about your life, he can sometimes see into the future? I just was thinking about it because you seem very confused about where to go with your life now."
"I am not confused about anything!" Eowyn retorted. "However, is it true that he can foresee things?"
Arwen nodded vehemently. "Some things," she added.
Eowyn thought for a moment. She wasn't confused, but she was curious. What did her life hold? Could this man really see into the future? She would give it a try.
Eowyn suddenly took off down the halls. Arwen wondered where she was going. Then she realized that she was going to see Lord Elrond.
When Eowyn reached the door, she paused. What was she going to say? 'hi! I'm Eowyn, and I want you to tell me my future because I don't believe that you can!' As if. Then she decided a good reason to go there.
She knocked.
"Come in!" Someone called from inside. Eowyn's hands shook as she opened the door.
The room was small, but neat. There was a bed in one corner, a dresser in another, and a window in another. Under the window sat a little desk with neat stacks of papers on it. A man sat at the desk.
He was a man, but he had some sort of Elvish quality about him. He wore his hair in an Elvish style, he wore Elvish clothes, and his ears were slightly pointed. But yet, he was still a man.
"Can I help you?" the man asked.
"Um...well, Lady Arwen...she said...she said that I should come here...be...because I was unsure about what I should do with my life now." There. She had said it. Though she still insisted inside that she wasn't confused, she felt almost as though her lie was more of the truth than the truth.
Elrond frowned. "Lady Eowyn is it not?" Eowyn nodded weakly.
Elrond turned from her and looked out the window. He stared for a long time, so long that Eowyn was wondering if that was his way of saying, 'I'm not going to help you, so leave.' She was on the verge of leaving, when he finally turned around.
"I cannot tell you what your future holds, as there are many decisions that must be made first. My eyes do not tell me what will happen, they just speak as to what will happen considering current circumstances. However, I can give you this piece of advice. You are so fixed upon the darkness in front of you, that you do not see the light beside you. Take into full account all whom surround you ere you give your self up for lost and plunge headlong into the darkness."
Eowyn frowned. "Thank you milord. I shall do my best to follow your advice," she said quietly. And with that, she left.
Eowyn pondered the advice as she walked back to the stables. That wasn't exactly what she had wanted from the visit. And she didn't understand the little that she had gotten out of it. Unfortunately, she had a feeling that, though she had gotten little from the meeting, the Lord Elrond had learned much about her. Eowyn didn't like to think about that.
In the end, she decided to ignore it. Whatever it meant, she would just ignore it and hopefully it would reveal itself in time.
(new scene)
Faramir sat with the new guest listening to the tales that he had. Elrond, having been alive for such a long time, had an immense amount of stories. Faramir listened with vigor. They were all fascinating.
All to soon, the lunch was over. Denethor had invited Lord Elrond to lunch, along with Faramir, but unfortunately, or not, depending on the perspective, he had been unable to make it. So Faramir and Elrond ate together instead.
As Faramir was preparing to leave, Elrond stopped him.
"You may know that Eowyn came to me two days ago and asked me to tell her about her future. When I looked into hers, I also found yours. I do not tell people what to do, but I do give advice every now and then. I would like to give some of this advice to you. Do not turn away from the cry of the seagull. If you do, all hope might be lost. Remember, don't turn away."