The white wizard came at them as an apparition from below, laughing at their feeble attempt to climb to catch sight of him as he lurked below.
The sight of a familiar face instead of the evil one they had expected was too much a relief. All their worst fears were seeming to be coming undone, and Boromir took that as a sign that maybe the most evil thing to have befallen them, the capture of two of their company, would come undone as well.
The inability to focus on the reunion with their old guide and to absorb his story with the raptness shown by the others surprised him. He didn't consider himself to be flighty, nor to have wandering attentions. But as Gandalf spoke he gazed out past them into the dark, thick forest of Fangorn and was nearly impatient to have the tale done with so they could continue on their search.
"But now, this is all the time we have for a reunion of old friends. The game has started, and the pieces are moving. We must get to Edoras, not the least because you gave your word to do so."
That caught Boromir's attention, and he looked back at the group.
Gimli spoke first, saying the words that came to Boromir's mind. "And what about the hobbits? Have we come so far to track them only to give up without answers?"
"Merry and Pippin are safe. They are with Treebeard and the Ents. Their coming here is like the falling of small rocks that causes an avalanche. They are much safer for the present than we are, in the course we must take."
Boromir spoke instantly. "I don't like leaving them, no matter what hands they're in. To go without even seeing that they're alright seems foolish, if we're so close."
"Close?" Gandalf shook his head. "By now they are at the very heart of Fangorn, and without Ents to carry you the trip would be more than a few days. Come, Boromir, the place for us now is on the battlefield. Rohan first, and then to return to Gondor. The right, of course, is yours to go where you please. But your word was given to Eomer, if I heard your tale correctly."
Boromir frowned deeply, looking off into the woods again. "Very well. I will trust you, Gandalf, though my heart wants to have sight of my own to trust."
Aragorn clapped him on the arm, smiling with an ease of the care he'd had since Gandalf's fall in Moria. "Come, Boromir. You'll have enough to see and do to keep your thoughts distracted. And you ought finally to have that wound looked at by healers."
"Wound?" Gandalf faced him in curiosity.
"He took an orc arrow defending these two hobbits from our enemies at the ford where our fellowship was broken," Legolas explained.
"Then I understand more this concern to see them." Gandalf smiled, looking a kindly old man - deceptive, Boromir knew, but he relaxed all the same. "You have my word, Master Boromir, that you will see these two hobbits alive and in better times than these."