Chapter 37: Making a Break For It and Painful Honesty

Faramir was the next victim. He took up his place in the chair feeling pressure on all sides. He had not quite recovered from his previous reading experience. He felt the dread of what lay on the pages before him. There was also the pressure inflicted by the steely glares of Eowyn, when she thought he wasn't paying attention. Those chilled him to the bone.

"Yes…well…" Faramir cleared his throat, suddenly feeling very claustrophobic. "I…I believe I left the fire on back in my room!" he said quickly, lurching towards the door.

Aragorn grabbed him and hauled him back, whispering words of encouragement in his ear.

Gimli was not quite so helpful. "First off, if you did indeed 'leave the fire on', this castle will have already burned down by now, and we would have noticed it, so what's your rush? And second, has this story really reduced the pride of Gondor to a sniveling excuse-maker?"

Faramir winced. "Must you be so painfully honest?"

Eomer was looking mad. Faramir had just shut the door on his 'I think I left the fire on back in Rohan' excuse. Now he was trapped until he could think up another one. And in this atmosphere of idiocy, thinking seemed to be impossible.

It did the trick, for Faramir sat down and took it like a man.

Starr twirled her silky hair around her finger as Ganadalf talked on, with no end in sight. Her eyes turned a gorgeously-sophisticated grey color. Celeste, who was next to her, gave a very soft sigh of boredum.

"Tis a very uninteresting conversation, isn't iteth?"

"Aye, mellon."

"Let him stay there. Let him rot. Why should we care?" Gimli puffed.

Starr rolled hur eyes at the stupidity of dwarves. "Because ten thousand orcs now stand between Frodo and Mount Doom."

While all the others looked indignant at this insult to Gimli, Faramir couldn't help but wear a small and barely noticeable smile, for he was still smarting from that early comment.

"I may not have been there, but I'm quite sure she did not think up that comeback on her own. Who did she steal it from?" Sam asked.

"Gandalf." Merry answered.

"Thought so."

"Not for ourselves. But we can give Frodo his chance if we keep Sauron's Eye fixed upon us. Keep him blind to all else that moves." Aragorn said.

"A diversion…" Legolas said.

Starr and Celeste exchanged a long look as if to say 'Look how hott our men are!1!'

"Correction. Look how hot MY man is. And Legolas…well, you can have him." Arwen smirked.

"HEY!" Legolas exclaimed, looking stricken. "You'd abandon me to these she-wolves!"

Later on that knight, Aragorn beckoned to Celeste and Starr. "I have something I must do, and I need ur help."

The two beautiful girls glanced at each uther knowingly and followed quietly.

Glorfindel let out a loud groan, having an excellent idea of what was going to happen.

Aragorn grabbed the Paluntir. "Long have you hunted me. Long have I eluded you. No more." He pointed over his shoulder to the two girls behind him. "Behold, the daughters of the modern world."

Saron's eye seared into Starr and Celeste, yet their power was too great, and he couldn't get any info from them. At last he gave up.

When Aragorn turned to the girls, both looked shaken.

"I saw my Ada…" Starr said. "He was in such a depression at no longer being graced with my company that he is on the verge of insanity."

Legolas shuddered. "I know nothing of being depressed at no longer being around her…I find that the opposite is true."

"I saw the world…" Celeste said. "It was missing the beauty that was gone when we came here."

Pippin made a derisive snort and rolled his eyes.

As the others made their way to war, poor Faramir was rudely interrupted by that silly Eowyn.

Faramir twitched, knowing the severe rebuke that was coming. Maybe not to him personally, but if the book had an anger sensor, it would be bursting into flames any second now.

"It just so happens that HE was the one who came over to me." Eowyn said in a low and dangerous tone.

Elladan peered over Faramir's shoulder. "Well, on a good note, she spelled your name right…"

"The city has fallen silent. There is no warmth left in the sun. It grows so cold." She said dully.

"It's just the damp of the first spring rain. I do not believe this darkness will endure." Faramir said poetically.

The slimy wench snaked her greasy hand into his and rested on his shoulder. Being the gentleman that he was, Faramir could not run off to take a long bath and scrub his hands as he so wished.

"Someone's Faramir fangirl instincts are kicking in," Elrohir mumbled amusedly.

As they rode, Starr remembered this scene and hung her head in pity for the poor man.

"Oh, everyone's a cynic!" Eowyn huffed.

"Yes, and yet they hang all over Legolas and myself and give explicit details of their…private lives…" Aragorn said, unsure of how to word the horror that is NC-17 scenes.

"Well, naturally, because Sues are exempt from their own preaching!" Arwen said sarcastically.

Merry made a face. "I thought I had seen everything, but this is the first case of my viewing someone with an ego the size of an oliphaunt."

"With an intelligence level directly the opposite?" Eowyn smirked.

TBC….