Seven Scattered Scrolls

by Raksha The Demon

A collection of drabbles and ficlets from various viewpoints, describing moments in the life of Faramir, twenty-seventh Steward of Gondor (bookverse). Some words and phrases in the third chapter's text are taken from THE TWO TOWERS. Complete.

4. Tell Me Why

IV. Tell Me Why

"Mithrandir, tell me why…."

"I want to know! Tell me why the sky is blue over our City this day, but grey and red in the East."

"Tell me why the King left us."

"But why there are seven stars and seven stones and not six of each?"

"Tell me why Quenya is hardly spoken any more..."

There never was such a lad for questions as my young friend Faramir. He was one of the few Men who feared me not, even as a small child; and I enjoyed filling his questing mind with what knowledge I was permitted to share.

But later, I could not give him the clear knowledge he craved, when Faramir entreated me sorrowfully: "Mithrandir, I do not understand. Tell me why my father tried to kill me."

I gave the best answer I could, that his father would have taken Faramir with him out of love as well as despair. I watched Faramir struggle to comprehend the incomprehensible, and the desolation in his eyes change to weary acceptance. He had learned crueler lessons than mine, including the sad truth that the heart and mind can hold greater mysteries than all the lore of fallen Númenor.