Chapter 30
March 7 night
The man and elf burst into the hall where everyone was passed out after the party and saw Pippin immediately. He was writhing around on the floor, the illuminated palantir in his hands. Merry screamed for help as he tried to get near his cousin without touching the glowing seeing stone.
Aragorn rushed forward, grabbing the palantir and jerking it out of Pippin's grasp. Immediately he fell to his knees as a wave of intense pain rushed through his body. Dropping the seeing stone he collapsed just as Legolas reached his side to catch him.
Ignoring the palantir as it rolled away, figuring Gandalf could take care of that end of things, Legolas concentrated on his husband, "Estel? Are you well, meleth nin?"
Aragorn gave no reply and the elf felt a flare of panic. Giving the man a small shake he reverted to his own language, "Dambeth nin, adan!"
"Im mae, meleth nin." Aragorn whispered. He moaned quietly as he sat up, only half using Legolas as a brace, always mindful of their unborn daughter. As he got fully upright he saw Gandalf pull a sobbing Pippin into his arms.
Legolas saved him the trouble of speaking as he did so, himself, "Gandalf?"
The wizard nodded, "He will be fine."
As Gandalf continued to console Pippin Aragorn glanced around. Surprisingly, only a couple of the other men in the hall were awake but none of them were any of his companions save the hobbits and Gandalf. He looked back at Legolas who was surreptitiously checking him over.
"Where are the others?"
"Eomer, Boromir and Gimli are currently sleeping off their drinking game..." Legolas started, unconsciously toying with a lock of Aragorn's hair.
"Drinking game?"
Legolas merely nodded and Aragorn continued, "Where is Farothen?"
"He's..." Legolas hesitated momentarily. He couldn't very well tell the man in his arms that their son was currently locked in his guest chamber fretting over being pregnant.
Luckily, he was saved from having to come up with a believable lie as Farothen ran into the hall shirtless and with his hair pulled back into a single, loose braid, looking sleepy and annoyed. Legolas motioned toward his son with his head.
"Farothen is there."
Aragorn looked over but anything he was about to say was halted as Farothen demanded, "Somebody better bloody well tell me why I was woken up by screaming!"
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March 8 morning
"There was no lie in Pippin's eyes."
As Gandalf continued Aragorn only half listened. His mind was ablaze with what he'd seen in the palantir the few short seconds it had been in his possession. Death: Legolas' and Farothen's, at the foot of the Black Gate.
That was his deepest fear, that he would lose his family in this war. If they were to die...
"Tell me, why should we ride to the aid of those who did not come to ours?" Theoden asked, pulling Aragorn out of his thoughts, "What do we owe Gondor?"
Aragorn gave the king of Rohan a spiteful glare before turning back to Gandalf, "I will go."
"No." Gandalf said, knowing that was not Aragorn's path.
"They must be warned!" Aragorn argued. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what he was arguing since he hadn't been listening. Fortunately nobody was giving him funny looks so he figured he'd said the right thing.
"And I won't be going alone." Gandalf said suddenly, jerking Aragorn out of his thoughts once more, and turned to look down at Pippin.
Aragorn shook his head. He really had to pay closer attention to what was going on around him or he'd miss something important. He stood to attention when Gandalf stepped toward him to speak privately.
"You must come by a different road, Aragorn." Gandalf whispered, "Follow the river; look to the black ships."
Aragorn nodded gravely, knowing of what Gandalf spoke. Corsairs. An old enemy of Gondor Aragorn had fought many times before as Thorongil.
"I will not fail." Aragorn vowed.
"I know." Gandalf replied, clasping Aragorn's shoulder in a paternal fashion. Giving a final, gentle squeeze he turned back to the hobbits.
As the wizard spoke to the hobbits Aragorn turned to face Legolas and Farothen as they stepped up behind him. For a split second he debated ordering them to stay behind.
"What is our road, hervenn?" Legolas asked, half suspecting the ranger's intentions and hoping to evade.
"We stay with the Rohirrim." Aragorn sighed, knowing better than to argue with his elf, "For a time."
"Good." Farothen said with a yawn, "That means I can go back to bed."
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'Ai Gods! And I thought my headache was horrible yesterday morning!' Boromir thought first thing as he woke up in the early afternoon. After clumsily getting dressed he stumbled outside just in time to see Aragorn leading a very dejected looking Merry down from the look out tower.
"Okay, what did I miss?" Boromir asked with a slight slur to his words.
Aragorn looked at Boromir and gave him a funny look as he looked the younger man up and down. Taking in his steward's bedraggled appearance he bit back a grin as he said, "Gandalf and Pippin just rode out."
"Where'd they go?" Boromir asked.
"They rode to Minas Tirith because..."
"Without me?!"
"Boromir," Aragorn started, trying hard not to laugh, "You're only wearing one boot and no shirt!"
"But," Boromir said, holding up his index finger for emphasis, "I remembered my pants." He glanced down at himself to be safe then met Aragorn's gaze again just as Legolas walked in, "And they're laced this time."
Merry looked scared as he glanced up at both Aragorn and Legolas, "What is he talking about?"
"I was about to ask the same thing," Aragorn said as he turned to his husband, "Legolas, do you have any idea what he's talking about?"
Legolas lifted his shoulders in a shrug. For once he was completely clueless as to Boromir's meaning.
Boromir was just about to remind them of when he'd been caught with his pants unlaced when his alcohol fuzzed mind remembered who had caught him in that predicament and what he'd done afterward...with Farothen. Legolas would most likely be amused, but Aragorn would be furious.
"You know," Boromir said, his sluggish mind backpedaling as quickly as it could, "I'm thinking of some incident that happened in Minas Tirith. Never mind."
Merry looked completely confused as Aragorn and Legolas raised their eyebrows at Boromir's sudden nervousness. Giving them what he hoped was an innocent smile Boromir turned away from the questioning stares to head back into Meduseld only to find himself face to face with Farothen.
Before he could come up with a decent good morning greeting for his spouse Farothen growled at him, spun on his heel and walked away. Boromir turned back to face his other three companions, "Okay, since it's too early for me to have done anything...what did I forget to do?"
"Never mind him," Legolas said as he walked forward and grabbed Boromir by the arm, "I will have a word with my son later."
"Where are we going?" Boromir asked as Legolas lead him away, "I really shouldn't go anywhere only half dressed."
"That's where we're going," Legolas said, rolling his eyes, "To get you fully dressed."
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It was a couple hours later before Boromir felt sober enough to face his obviously moody husband. He still had no clue what he'd done but whatever it was they had to discuss it so that was why he stood outside the locked door of their guest chamber waiting for Farothen to answer his knock.
"Come on, little elf, open the door." Boromir pleaded.
Almost before he finished speaking the door flew open and Farothen stood there glaring at him, arms crossed over his chest, "What?"
"Tell me what I've done, please." Boromir said, "I cannot apologize if I do not know what I have done."
"Well, if I have to tell you the apology will mean nothing!" Farothen snapped.
Boromir narrowed his gaze, "What? Am I supposed to sense these things? Read your mind?"
"Ah," Farothen said with a slightly superior air, "You are not that sensitive."
"Wha...Farothen, you're not making any sense." Boromir said, "Stop being so irrational."
Unbeknownst to either of the two adversaries Legolas stood just inside the door of his room across from Farothen's listening to the conversation between his son and Boromir, making sure the door was only open a crack so they wouldn't see him. At Boromir's comment about Farothen being irrational he had a mixed reaction. He winced, knowing Farothen would take it badly. Yet he had to bite his bottom lip to hold back a bark of laughter as his giddy side found it somewhat humorous.
Farothen was being irrational. Boromir had no way of knowing why Farothen was angry. And even if he did, the Gondorian was not the only one at fault for this. Farothen had to take half of the blame for the child he carried.
Legolas' attention was pulled back to the conversation out in the hall when Farothen growled, "Irrational?"
"Yes," Boromir said, "Expecting me to know what this is about when you won't tell me is irrational."
Farothen's gaze went several degrees cooler and his voice was deathly calm when he said, "You have gone too far, man of Gondor. Just the sight of you disgusts me."
In the next second Farothen stepped back into his room and shut the door in Boromir's face. Boromir stared at the closed door in shock, his heart crumbling. Hearing the door behind him open he turned just as Legolas stepped out into the hall with a sympathetic look.
"Legolas..." Boromir gasped before stumbling into the elf's comforting embrace.
"Shh, tithen maethor, I am here." Legolas whispered, leading Boromir into his room and sitting down on the bed, "Everything will be okay."
"Why...would he..." Boromir choked on the rest as he lost the battle with his tears.
"I will talk to him. We will get to the bottom of this." Legolas vowed.
"But...he..." Boromir started.
"He is a spoiled little elfling who throws a fit when things do not go his way." Legolas cut in, "I have heard many tales of his childhood tantrums the last few weeks. He should have been spanked long ago."
Boromir gave a choked laugh, "I'd like to see that. He's probably never been spanked in his whole lifetime."
"Well there is a first time for everything." Legolas said, gently settling Boromir against the pillows and covering him up, "You get some rest, mellon. I have a meeting to attend with my son."
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Legolas simply walked out of his room after Boromir fell asleep, walked across the hall and barged into Farothen's room. The young half-elf was pacing when Legolas entered...and he still wasn't in a very good mood.
"Adar! Can't you even bother to..."
"Knock?" Legolas finished as he closed the door behind himself and fixed Farothen with his best glare, "I could not help overhearing your little conversation with your husband."
"Stay out of this, Adar! This is between me and Boromir."
"Under normal circumstances I would agree that you and Boromir should work this out on your own. And I hope the two of you have the chance for several more fights...as weird as that sounds." Legolas said with a touch of his giddiness creeping in, "But we're in the middle of a war, ion nin. The biggest this world has seen since the Last Alliance. This is not the time for us to be divided."
"Then you should agree that it's also a bad time for me to be...pregnant," Farothen said, not backing down from Legolas' glare.
Legolas rolled his eyes, "Unless you had planned from the beginning to have a marriage in name only...which, let's face it, would be really boring and extremely unsatisfying physically...you knew this was bound to happen eventually."
"Not this soon!" Farothen yelled, "I am not ready for this!"
Legolas shook his head, "Certainly not if you continue to act as childish as you currently are."
Farothen grit his teeth at that and fell back on the only defense he could come up with, "This is all Boromir's fault! He should have..."
"Boromir is mortal. He has no control over theses things. And I am quite sure he's not going to be exactly thrilled about the timing either." Legolas replied with forced patience.
"But Boromir does not have to carry it!"
Legolas grinned, "Give it time. He might eventually carry a little one of his own."
"You cannot joke your way out of this!" Farothen replied sharply, "And you do not have to make excuses for Boromir!"
"And you do not have to talk to him like this is all his fault." Legolas said, "He was not the only one there Farothen. Marriage is a partnership. It has it's hard times and trials, but you cannot throw a fit every time you do not get your way."
"Oh! So I have to take relationship advice from someone who's impulsive, has a temper worse that mine and needed the excuse of a child to work out a relationship with..."
Farothen never got a chance to finish because in the next moment he was stung by a vicious slap across the face. He stared at Legolas in shock. No one had ever slapped him before.
However, Legolas looked neither shocked nor remorseful. He was absolutely furious.
"Now you've the one who's gone too far, pentithen! No one ever told you this marriage would be easy. It's difficult, it takes hard work and it's not all about you!" Legolas yelled, "If you love Boromir and you want this to work then you have to be there for him as much as he is there for you. You cannot just throw a fit like a spoiled brat and put the blame on everyone else as you did when you were small. I suggest you work this out with Boromir...and quickly...because both he and the child deserve more than the way you are acting right now!"
Legolas stormed out of the room without another word, leaving Farothen alone. Still in shock and holding his hand over the cheek that had been slapped, Farothen felt something else he'd never felt before.
Shame.
Slowly sitting down on the edge of the bed he burst into tears. Suddenly he wanted more than anything for Boromir to be there holding him.
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Elvish translation...
Dambeth nin, adan! – Answer me, human!
Im mae, meleth nin. – I am well, my love.
Hervenn – Husband
Tithen maethor – Little warrior
Pentithen – Little one
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Replies to reviews...
jldm: Was this quicker? If it wasn't sorry, we got it out as fast as we could. Hope you liked it.
Breon Briarwood: "Baby, baby, who's got the baby?" I thought this was very cute. Your new chant for the story, perhaps? I can't say for sure who all has the baby. Just Farothen and Legolas. But you can keep reading if you're curious.
Starr Light1: Hmm...you do have a point. I guess it could be taken two ways. The hobbits "conked" as in fell asleep and Pippin woke up later. Or they just collapsed and had trouble sleeping. Read it however you wish. I'm sure it will make sense to you however you choose to take it.
Arch-Nemesis: Boromir is bound to find out about the baby eventually. After all, Farothen can't hide it forever. It would be a little suspicious once he starts to get a belly and out grows his clothes. As for Eomer...that's just one of our surprises for later. And Aragorn...well...he's beginning to come around and consider the relationship between Boromir and Farothen, but he's still a long way from accepting the whole of it.
Thanks again to all.
Becky and Brina