After dressing for the meeting, Faramir went to his study and picked up the necessary materials, including spare parchment and ink as well as copies of all prior agreements with Harad. He went to his father's study, from which together they went out to the Tower Hall, it being easier to face the winter chill in somebody's company than separately.

Lord Pharazôn was waiting for them within the Hall, as was not ordinary practice except in inclement weather. He had brought gifts to offer his collaborators and presented them to Aragorn and Faramir before they got into matters of state. Opening a trunk, Pharazôn proffered the usual wines and silks of Harad. Also he gave to Aragorn an ornate chest filled with small brown seed-like beans.

"These," he said, lifting a handful, "can be ground and cooked into a most delicious indulgence. There is instruction on their utilization. Ladies seem to particularly enjoy this delicacy, but if i may offer a word of caution, one should be careful how much of this one takes - it is known to cause certain... amorous situations."

"This works with Elves as well?" Aragorn inquired, momentarily forgetting himself.

Pharazôn just shrugged, chuckling at both Aragorn's keen curiosity and Faramir's look of complete discomfiture.

"Well, i suppose we can get down to dealings now. Faramir, you have those prior agreements?" Aragorn said, intentionally pursuing the change of topic. Naturally, his son produced all necessary paperwork, and then some, instantly. "And have your people requested any changes, additions, so on?" he asked Pharazôn.

There were some requisite negotiations which went back and forth, but overall everything was largely copasetic. "My people are quite eager to have an heir," Pharazôn excitedly pointed out as they were wrapping up negotiations. Aragorn and Faramir half ignored the seemingly out of the blue statement, figuring it was just more of his blather about those three daughters of his. "When the boy is of age, of course," Pharazôn added in a tone which seemed meant to be almost reassuringly, rather confusing them both.

Out of diplomatic courtesy(which he had learned from Erestor as asking a question when you really could not care less about the answer) Aragorn asked, "is your wife again with child or has one of your daughters become betrothed?" He would not be surprised if Pharazôn had managed to arrange a wedding for one of his girls, but he knew them to be rather young and doubted it would be too far from the mark if one planned to marry one not yet a marrying age.

Pharazôn chuckled at what he perceived to be drollness on Aragorn's part, now wholly confusing the King. "Aragorn-King, you truly do not know of the accord?" Pharazon asked, surprised that this had not been mentioned.

"No, i have not been informed," Aragorn said, starting to wonder if had been but just not cared enough to pay any attention to such court gossip that he despised.

Pharazôn then turned to look at Faramir questioningly, but the Steward said nothing, not actually noticing the foreign leader's gaze as he was busy making some final notations about their treaty. Taking out the copy of the treaty he had brought to the bargaining table, Pharazôn thumbed a few pages in and handed it to Aragorn. "There, it states so right... here," he said indicating the clause.

For a moment Aragorn wondered what this man was on about, had he suddenly switched subjects, or why upon Arda would a wedding announcement be imbedded in a peace treaty. His speculation turned to utter shock as he read over the paragraph. "Faramir... what is this? You said nothing of this to me!" he spluttered incredulously.

"Said nothing of what -?" Faramir stopped himself just short of referring to Aragorn as his father, but spoke unconcernedly nonetheless.

"This!" Aragorn said, emphatically poking at the sheets of parchment and showing the offending paragraph to his son.

"It is just the latest treaty, we have both read it, i do not know what should surprise -" Faramir faltered as he read what his father indicated. He dropped the papers to the floor in his shock. "What is this? Since when...? Lord Pharazôn, i do not know if this i meant to be some manner of joke, but that is not a part of this treaty," Faramir said, already hastily searching for his own copy.

"Well, of course it is, Lord Faramir. I should like to meet the little lad soon, if i may; after all, we might as well get to know each other sooner than later," Pharazon said happily, almost as though he was oblivious to the shock the other two were in.

"Sooner than... I do not know where this notion came from! This was never in this treaty. Never!" Faramir all but shouted.

"Lord Faramir," Pharazôn said, becoming a little annoyed at this continued denial, "I would encourage you to read a contract before you sign it. That article was assuredly in the copy of our treaty as i received it several months ago."

Faramir was staring in disbelief at his own copy of the treaty, which somehow bore the exact same clause. "No, this is some trickery. I had read this five times over, and i would have noticed something like this. This is not an option, not under any circumstances is my son going to be handed over as a pawn for peace between Gondor and Harad."

At that Pharazôn grew affronted. "Liege Aragorn, you do not intend to permit this sudden volte-face to disrupt this process, do you? This was in the contract as it was delivered to me, hand-delivered, personally, by Lord Faramir's adjutant."

Faramir shot in before Aragorn could say anything though. "By the gods! I will personally go to war again before i see my son devolved into some loveless marriage!"

By this time Aragorn had calmed down a great deal. Had Faramir not been so panicked, he too would have seen what his father did, likely even before him. "Lord Pharazôn," he said evenly, "who did you say delivered this treaty to you?"

"Your Steward's adjutant," Pharazôn insisted. "He also called himself your chief military counsel.

Faramir felt an incredible sense of a betrayal. Since setting out for Imladris, the only person in Minas Tirith he could have called his adjutant would have been Belthil, and it just so happened that he occupied the military counsel seat at the King's Council. How could his nephew, Boromir's son, do something like this to him, to his own cousin who he seemed to enjoy so much?

Aragorn read clearly what Faramir was thinking and pulled him close, whispering, "how could he have had anything to do with this? The treaty was to be taken by the messengers and your nephew has not been able to leave the city. He is a Citadel Guard and as you know it is not easy to get leave from that duty."

Faramir's eyes widened as he realized what his father was telling him. "But could Gwaithir have gotten a hold of our copy?" he asked.

"Obviously he did, but that is going to be another matter. Trust me, he will be dealt with, i have had enough of him for one lifetime," Aragorn hissed. "This needs to be settled, immediately," he said aloud to Pharazôn. It looked like it was going to be a long day.

It was past dark by the time the "misunderstanding" had been cleared up to the satisfaction of both parties. By some miracle, peace was still preserved, even though Aragorn did not doubt for a moment that Faramir would have made war on anyone who tried to a lay a claim to his infant son.

That night father and son chose to take their supper privately in Faramir's chambers. Immediately Faramir went to lift Elboron into his arms, relieving nurse Berethil of trying to keep the increasingly mobile baby within the bounds of safety. He held his precious son tightly, savoring the feeling of having his hair lovingly tugged upon. "Oh, how i love you my child, my Elboron," he whispered.

"Ad-da wuv!" Elboron pronounced joyfully, planting a big wet kiss on his father's cheek.

Faramir laughed and wept at once, holding his little one. "That is right, Elboron, and i will love you forever. Never, ever doubt it."

It was one of those moments that Aragorn both loved and rued, for he knew that this was what he had missed with his own son and he hated the thought that Faramir had missed that kind of affection growing up. These were the moments that made Aragorn think that would have given anything to be able to go back and change his choices when Faramir was first born and in the years thereafter.

ooo

Does anyone mind if i just go ahead and finish out this story before continuing with other stories, namely Separate Chaos? This is very near the end now, maybe only two more chapters,and i want to get this one finished.

AM: Yep... they will never expect that manner of revenge, and yet... that will be just the problem.

linda: Aragorn might be an incredible leader, but sometimes all men just say the wrong thing (sorry, lads, but it is true). And of course i am thinking of more stories! I write, therefore i am!

Elenhin: Ah, remodeling! I feel your pain. Just recently there was plumbing work done here and over the weekend shelving was put in the kitchen. I do not have very much patience with that manner of thing. I don't like the dust that builds up over everything.

I get the feeling that this is not to be the last time Aragorn is tossed out of his own private chambers. We shall see (my favorite phrase, is it not?).