Author note: I will clarify something – when two characters are talking that both understand Elvish (whatever dialect they may speak) then I will use English when they converse. If an elvish speaking character is talking around, for example, Keren, who does not speak Elvish, then I will use Elvish. I feel this kind of mirrors her confusion of not knowing what is being said. So reflecting this, when Celeborn and Legolas speak in this chapter, everything is translated into English, including names, as I figured this is only logical. I hope this makes sense.

Thanks Dessuithiel Maethoriel, IMH, Maddell, Nbowles, NightNurse91, RinMine, Ysarielle, driftingpurpose, kaikurayami, pervychan1 and Kushina98 for the followes and favs.

blue7lake, jshaw0624 thanks for your reviews as always.

Tibblets - Keren being Arwen's handmaiden is a cool idea, but we know Keren's not that great at staying put... You'll find out in chapter 16 what's next for her!

Hawaiichick - aw thanks so much for all your reviews as you read the whole story so far! I'm so glad you like Keren so much, she's not perfect but then who is? I hope that's what makes her and all the characters relatable and likeable.

IMH - thanks so much! Yeah none of the relationships between characters are going to be easy, where would the fun be in that? ;) And the prophecy is really tricky, finding a balance between ridiculously crazy and cliché, and kind of believable is hard! Glad you think I'm doing ok.

Rachetg - love Merry and Pippin so they've become slightly more prominent than I originally intended! Hmm a magical elf crystal... Close. ;)

This chapter is long but super important! Enjoy the angst x

Chapter fifteen - Out of control

Dawn had just broken on Mid Years Day, the first of July, and yet another breathtaking sight was approaching the city of Minas Tirith, another image that none would forget, even after all the wondrous events since the siege.

A whole host of elves, riding down from the north. Most of the folk of the city did not know who they were looking at, but a very few there recognised all, and knew that never again would they see them all together again on Middle Earth.

For in the procession were a great many of the most illustrious of elves – the brothers Elladan and Elrohir leading the way, then Glorfindel and Erestor with all the elves of Rivendell, then the Lord and Lady of the Golden Wood, Celeborn and Galadriel, with many of their people. Finally came Lord Elrond, and beside him rode his daughter, the Lady Arwen, and the smile that appeared on King Elessar's face explained to all who knew him just what the great day was that all had been waiting for. It appeared it had come.

Legolas stood beside his friend watching with happiness, although his sharp eyes picked out early on that neither his father nor any of the people from his homeland had made the journey to Gondor.

Why does that not surprise me, thought Legolas bitterly. Anyone would think he was afraid to travel beyond our borders, but the truth is he is just uncaring.

As the elves were lost to his sight as they went through the gates and made their slow and stately way up through the levels of the city to the citadel, Aragorn turned and went to inspect the throne room and the Merethrond, both of which had been prepared for this event. He was satisfied with all he saw, and knew that tonight would be a time for the greatest, happiest feasting and dancing the city had ever seen. For at noon, at last, he would wed Arwen Undomiel, and with the setting of the sun would come the celebrations.

Greetings and welcomes were formal but full of joy, and as Arwen went to bow before the King he raised her in his arms and kissed her. Legolas looked on with happiness as his friend was reunited with his love, but his eye was drawn away by the Lord Celeborn beckoning him to his side.

"Greetings Greenleaf," Celeborn began, raising his hand to his breast. "I bring you tidings of your home."

"Lord, it will bring me ease to hear of my home," Legolas replied. "But pray tell me quickly if the news is good or bad."

"It begins badly, but do not fear. Your father's realm was invaded by goblins, who fled when their strongholds collapsed after the defeat of The Abhorred. The fighting was hard and long, and it grieves me to tell you much was destroyed, many trees burnt and lost."

Celeborn looked grave, but Legolas knew there was more to the tale.

"Go on, I beg you," he said.

"Your father led his armies bravely, and in time, although with many losses, the enemy was defeated."

"And my father?"

"Survived, and is well. I have seen him."

"He agreed to meet with you?" Legolas was shocked that Thranduil had either ventured out of his realm or had allowed another in.

"We met in the southern woods, now called the Golden Wood of the East, for the Hill of Sorcery is destroyed and all trace of darkness is gone. The woods to the north, your father's lands, we have renamed The Wood of Greenleaves, for the spiders and all other evil things are leaving, never to return."

"Greenleaves?"

Celeborn smiled.

"Your father was adamant we chose that name. Now why would that be I wonder?"

"Father renamed our land after… me?" Now Legolas was truly dumbfounded.

"For one day you shall rule it, and he is reminding all of that fact," Celeborn replied. "Including you, I imagine."

The younger elf's face grew grave.

"Of course," Celeborn went on with a smile, "it could also be because he loves you, and is proud of you."

"Of course," Legolas said quietly as Celeborn retreated back to his wife.

"I'm not wearing it."

Keren was sullen and beginning to panic.

"Well what else do you have?" asked Palen, knowing the answer would be nothing.

"I am not. Wearing. It."

Palen sighed.

"Do you want to go?"

"Of course."

"Do you want to go in your healers garb?"

"No."

"Then you're stuck."

"Palen!" Keren reached the end of her tether. "You know why I cannot wear it, you know he will be there, you know it will remind him of… then. And I will die inside."

"It's just a dress Keren," Palen said. "And he is a man, he won't remember what you were wearing, it was months ago now."

But Keren knew that he would. For she would never forget the way he had looked at her the first time he laid eyes on her. It seemed almost dream-like now, but she clearly remembered the look of surprise and wonder on his face when he saw her in the forest green dress that had once been her mother's, that made it impossible for her to believe now that they would have no future together, that another had taken her place. She believed she was fulfilling her prophecy, and for a few wonderful days, it appeared to have worked. Still sometimes, in the quiet of the night, she clung on to the old belief, and a tiny voice rose up in her now, despite all the heartache and pain.

Wear it again, let him remember, let him see, perhaps it will wake him up to the truth. Then he can leave her and remember he is supposed to be with you. It's been foretold, Keren, foretold. Trust the prophecy.

"No." Keren said to herself in the mirror, for the prophecy had lied and led her to nothing but sorrow and regret over the time wasted on her juvenile fantasies.

"Well then, don't go." Palen had assumed her younger sister was talking to her. "Don't go, and sit here and be bored. Or sit here and agonise over what you might be missing. Either way it's not going to be fun."

Keren knew that she either had to turn up to the royal wedding feast in her work clothes or wear the fated dress that she now associated with total disaster. Or she could do as Palen said and spend a miserable evening alone. She did not want to seem ungrateful – her and Palen were the only healers other than Ioreth and the warden who had been offered an invite, through their closeness to the hobbits – but she really did not think that she could face Faramir in the same guise that she had thought would win his heart. How would he react? With amusement, disdain, or anger? Or worse – would he really have forgotten it? Would it mean nothing? She sighed and looked down on it as it lay innocently on her bed. It was so beautiful, and she knew Palen was jealous that it did not fit her. And it did look well on her, setting off the different tones of brown in her hair, and the paleness of her skin.

As if reading her thoughts, Palen spoke again.

"You know, there will be other men there, not just him. Other lords and princes. You will never get a chance like this again to mingle with such fine folk. And the elves will be there, and all of the fellowship. We have fallen into the strangest pattern of chances, and I cannot let you miss what could be one of the most exciting nights of our lives. You don't have to talk to him, or even look at him if you don't want to. You need to stop making everything about him."

Keren knew her sister was right, and that she was throwing away a golden opportunity. She sighed with a little confused frown as she met Palen's eye.

"Now will you put it on and get ready to go?"

With one last squeeze of the crystal in her hand, there so much lately that it felt almost like an extension of her arm, she made her decision.

Faramir had been at the wedding at noon, one of the few of the race of men present. Greatly outnumbering them were the elves, for of course it was an elvish ceremony, and comparatively few were present to witness the moment that Arwen, daughter of Elrond, became Queen. But now, after a quiet afternoon of preparation – during which, Faramir assumed with his political head, the new King and Queen had also consummated the marriage – there was to be a large crowd descending on the Merethrond, and probably spilling out onto the Place of the Fountain, for the celebrations.

As he approached the cavernous hall, he felt a brief regret that Eowyn was not on his arm. For almost two months they had been parted. But of course, she was in her rightful place beside her brother in her homeland, preparing Edoras for the burial of her uncle. She would return for his body, and when the procession departed he would go with her. But until then he had much to keep him occupied.

He knew he would be one of the last to arrive, for, the King being otherwise occupied today, he had found himself having to deal with a few more duties than previously in his role as Steward. Either side of the marriage his day had been filled with documents and charters, and welcoming noble visitors for the celebrations.

His eyes scanned the room as he entered. The dancing had not yet begun, but the feasting was well underway. Aragorn and Arwen sat under a canopy, and near them he picked out the now familiar faces of the fellowship and some of the elves, although he had not committed all of their names to memory yet. He was surprised to see the Lord and Lady of the Golden Wood there, for they had seemed far too ethereal and solemn to wish to attend a feast. And yet they were laughing merrily, although he noticed most of their food was untouched. He smiled as he noticed that the food on the hobbits' plates was practically gone, and Pippin was reloading his whilst talking with a mouthful of something or other.

Faramir made his way towards Frodo and Sam, whom he had not seen as often as he would have liked since their meeting in Ithilien. Mithrandir stood and offered him his seat next to Frodo, waving his pipe in the air as if to indicate he was going outside. He nodded his thanks as a plate was swiftly brought to him, and he sat down to enjoy his evening.

Keren, about as far away from the King as it was possible to be whilst still being in the room, had a goblet of wine halfway to her mouth when she noticed Faramir had taken the place of Mithrandir.

"When did he get here?" she whispered to Palen.

"He has been here for a while. I was surprised you had not noticed him before," was her sisters reply.

"Why did you not tell me?"

"Why do you think?" Palen looked pointedly at the goblet which still had not made it to Keren's mouth.

She made it through the rest of the meal, and was rather proud of herself, for she only looked at Faramir twelve times in the hour – not that she was counting.

The rather large operation of clearing the tables began, and the guests flooded out into the Place of the Fountain to give the servants the chance to clear the floor for the dances to follow.

"Palen, Keren!" A familiar voice came from behind them – Beregond.

Now free of the worry over his fate, he was back to his old self. He even held himself with a little more pride than before, his new office sitting well on his shoulders. Beside him was his wife, Orel, who greeted the girls warmly.

The girls had not seen much of Beregond since that dreadful moment in the throne room when they thought he was to be put to death, and they asked him many questions of his new role as the captain of Faramir's guard. Beregond, however, was watching Keren's face closely as he gave his answers, and had his suspicions confirmed when she began to look as if she wished she was somewhere else when he spoke of Faramir's plans to build a new life with Eowyn in Ithilien. He quickly changed the subject.

Keren had begun to feel a little warm and panicky, despite being outside. She was not sure if she had drunk too much wine with dinner, or whether hearing Beregond speak of Faramir and Eowyn had caused her breathing to quicken. Either way there suddenly seemed to be far too many people, and everything was far too loud. She found she did not especially want to go back inside to dance, and certainly did not want Faramir to see her. She hastily gave her excuses and went in the direction of the privy.

She knew the buildings well, however, after the tours given to her by Beregond, and the privy was not her destination. Once she had passed under the archway by the side of the Merethrond and was out of sight of Palen, she instead turned sharply to the right and went up some twisting stairs to somewhere she knew she could get some fresh air in peace. She was now in the old House of the King, only recently made public again, and this week used to house guests for the wedding, all of whom were currently at the festivities.

This left the corridor entirely deserted as she had hoped, with the rooms along it all locked up for the evening. She went all the way to the end, where she knew there was a small balcony which was not overlooked. Her and Palen, allowed to sneak into the unused building in the past few years when Beregond had turned a not very blind eye, had spent several afternoons there together when they felt the need to reminisce about their mother away from the Houses. Keren had often taken her book of Elvish myths there and read in silence alone. She hoped Palen would not realise she had gone there tonight.

The breeze was warm as it caught Faramir's black hair, and whipped at the robes and gowns of the guests. The Place of the Fountain was crowded, and Faramir was being sure to attempt to keep moving and making small talk with various people. He had been struggling to make conversation with some of the elves in his very broken Sindarin, when something caught his eye.

A flash of green in the light of the setting sun.

A strange feeling of timelessness hit him as he felt hope rise in his heart at the sight. He blinked to make sure he had seen aright, and without knowing it smiled at the memory of when he had first seen such a green on such a person, and the feeling of simple hope and happiness it had brought him.

It was indeed Keren again, in that same gown that he had not seen since that day when he had been sure he was riding to his death. She was walking gracefully but quickly away from the crowd.

Faramir had seen nothing of her since their parting, apart from the day he had been named Prince of Ithilien, and then he had noticed she was stubbornly refusing to look his way. He had not judged her for this, but assumed it meant that her feelings had not changed and to look at him would cause her pain. He certainly had not expected to see her here, and wondered how she had come to be invited.

And now, just as before, he was compelled to look at her, to try and work out why the simple sight of her made his heart soar and his mind confused. He felt it yet again as he had that day, a calling of her spirit to his, and now it commanded him to follow her.

He made his excuses and slipped away. No one saw him follow Keren – except one, who watched with mild concern as he smoked his pipe.

Keren leant on the wall and took a few deep steadying breaths. The night was warm, the sun was almost set, and she could see the lights of the city below her, homely but impressive due to the sheer number of them. Already being alone she had found some clarity. She was not going to be defeated by fear, she was going to stay at the party and enjoy herself, she was going to dance, she was going to drink more if she wished. She just needed a few moments alone to steady her nerves, to prepare herself for the moment when she may find herself face to face with Faramir.

"Keren?"

She rolled her eyes with annoyance, for now she was hearing his voice in her head. Things were worse than she had thought, for that had never happened before. It was so clear it was as if he were truly there.

"Keren, are you alright?"

Leave me alone, you are not real, she thought, highly annoyed with her imagination.

But then she felt a large, warm hand on her shoulder. She jumped, holding in a scream, and whipped around.

I will not cry, I will not let him see me cry, was her first thought, as truly he was there in front of her, as tall, as stern, as close as he had been the day that they parted.

And she did not cry, nor say a word, but managed to hold his gaze.

"Shall I leave you?" he asked eventually.

And then words came from somewhere unbidden, almost overlapping his.

"Did you follow me?"

Faramir took a step back.

"I saw you leave," he said. "And I – I had not seen you for many weeks, not since I saw you in the throne room."

There was another silence.

"I will leave you," Faramir decided when Keren did not speak, did not even look at him after turning her face away.

He turned to leave, when a very small voice asked a question.

"Why did you follow me?"

He took a deep breath and, without turning to face her, answered honestly.

"As with all things in regard to you, I do not know."

He paused a while, deliberating whether to continue, but then turned to face her and spoke clearly.

"The last time we spoke you said to me that, for the sake of your heart, we should choose not to meet until fate brought us together once more."

Keren was still, surprised that he had remembered her words.

"That is why I have been anxious to avoid you," she said. "And I cannot tell you what pain that brought me, still brings me – to be robbed of the sight of you because I am afraid of my heart breaking again. I cannot tell you what I have been through in the past few months. And now, despite my request to stay away, you have followed me here when I wanted to be alone. Are you saying that fate guided your footsteps? For it does not seem that way to me – you have placed us in this position, we are not alone by chance. You saw me and followed, so I must assume you wished to see me, and I must assume you did this despite knowing it would cause me pain."

Faramir was rather taken aback at this speech, one of the longest he had heard Keren give.

"Keren, I would never knowingly cause you pain, you know this," he began. "But I would have caused you more hurt if I had not said what I said, if I had not been true to my heart at the time."

"You mean the Lady Eowyn," she said quickly.

"I mean that I was unsure of how to proceed with all the talk of fate and being brought together," he explained. "With Eowyn I found simplicity and mutual understanding. With you it was all confusion and a feeling that I was not in control."

"But you love her?"

There was the tiniest whisper of time too long before he replied that he did, and Keren could not decide if that was because he was doubting it, or simply because he knew it would hurt her to say it aloud.

And it did, it did hurt. But she was not done with her questions yet. Now the two of them were together again all of her held in emotions and frustrations were threatening to spill out.

"And do you think she would be happy you are here alone with me?"

He could not answer that, but decided to attempt to explain what had brought him to her side.

"I felt called to follow, I felt a pull in your direction," he began.

"I feel that all the time, I have since I was a child, but now I have had to train myself to ignore it. You should have too," she said angrily.

"But it is newer and stranger to me," he said. "And I saw you just now, in this…" He gestured to her green gown. "And I remembered that day, and I remembered all. And I felt hope and joy and confusion and all the things I associate with you. And I had to come. I cannot explain it further, nor do I understand."

"There are many things about us that I can explain but do not understand." Keren was swaying between annoyance and sympathy, for she too had felt the call to his side and had hidden it deep within her. "But you should not have come looking for answers now, it is too late. You should go back, you should wait for your betrothed to return to you, and you should forget about me."

Finally, and to her great shame, the tears came, quickly spilling over. She turned her back. All was silent for a while, and she let the silence grow, as did he, for both knew that if they were to continue their words must be chosen with great care. Eventually it was Keren who spoke.

"I shall be honest with you, for I wish you to know what you have caused me," she began. "I saw you and Eowyn in the gardens. I saw you kiss her and I saw her look at you with love in her eyes. And my heart broke, I felt it. For I loved you, as you knew. And it was a love I had no control over, so I felt cheated by fate, like I had been guided to you purely to encounter heartbreak. And these months – some of it I do not even remember, for I disappeared within myself, and I wished to hide from the world – these past few weeks I have finally started to feel like myself again, where you are not always present in my mind, where you are not a burden to me. But I still love you, and I always will, for that love, unfair as it is, is a part of me."

She looked him in the eye, and knew not how to feel. The strangest mix of emotions were swirling around her, pride for speaking the truth, mixed with shame and a feeling of weakness for admitting he still had some power over her.

He held her gaze, and felt unnerved. Guilt was laying heavy on him for causing her so much pain, but also worry that he had already been alone with her too long. And something else, deep in his heart, that made him most uncomfortable and questioning all that he knew of his own character. A desire to know more.

"When we parted you told me that the next time we met you would explain everything, things you felt you could not say then. And I said I would try to understand." He took a tiny step towards her, and noticed she did not automatically step away. "Well we are together again, and I wish to understand."

Keren shook her head.

"You are not who I thought you were," she said sadly. "Or if you are, then you do not realise it, so I do not think you will believe me, or understand if you did."

"Who did you think I was?" he asked.

"That is part of the telling." Keren felt almost as if she were outside her body watching the scene play out, for she could not believe she was having this conversation mere months after they had parted. She had assumed it would be years until they would meet again, if ever.

"Keren." Faramir said, calling her back to herself once more. "All I will say is yes, I do believe that we have been fate-led to have this meeting. It is far sooner than I thought, and I must tell you that my love for Eowyn is – ."

Keren quietly registered that Faramir had repeated her thought, but then on hearing Eowyn's name she interrupted.

"There is no point me telling you the truth, for if you truly love her then nothing I say will change how you feel."

"But if it will help you? If it will perhaps clear your mind?"

Faramir patiently waited as he watched Keren clearly struggling with conflicting thoughts.

Keren felt powerless. The crystal was a strangely heavy weight in her pocket, as if willing her to speak. She had learnt, though, not to always heed its promptings lest it lead her down dark paths again. But bravery within her reared its head this time.

"I told you that I would speak out when next we met," she said eventually, "so I shall hold to that promise. But do not judge me, do not laugh at me, and most of all, do not pity me, for I could not bear it."

Faramir watched her face as it went stony and cold, and he could not imagine what he was about to hear. A small part of him was afraid for them both, so serious did she seem.

And then she told him all – her mother's death, the crystal, the green gown, the prophecy, her first sight of him, her growing love, the day he left, the day they met. All.

She did not know for how long she spoke, for Faramir moved little and it seemed as if time was standing still. She occasionally met his eye and every time she did he was looking at her steadily. It was dark by the time she had finished, the last grey light of twilight gone over the mountains, so that it was hard to see his face, only lit by the lights of the city below.

"And that is the tale," she said simply. "And now you know. You do not have to believe it, but it is true."

He was silent and still. Keren, for the first time in her life, had decided to share her only secret, something not even Palen knew. And in order to make the telling complete she knew she must show him the cause of it all.

"Here is the crystal." She removed it from her pocket and held it lightly in the palm of her hand, her arm reaching out to him.

Faramir stared at it, as if surprised to see that it actually existed and was not a figment of her imagination.

"May I?" he asked, and went to touch it.

Keren nodded, rather bewildered that she was so happy for someone else to hold it after all these years.

But then, she thought, if anyone should be able to, it should be him.

It seemed much smaller in his hand. She watched as he held it up to the moon, just emerging from behind some heavy clouds, and turned and twisted it in the light, creating bright flecks of light in and off it. It appeared for an instant entirely clear, as if the moon was shining through it.

"It is beautiful," he said after a while.

She smiled in acknowledgement as he gently gave it back to her.

"And you say it was this that brought you to me, that it has a voice in your head?"

She wondered if he was mocking her, for to hear such a ridiculous idea come from someone else's lips for the first time made her realise just how mad she must seem. But he seemed calm and serious, so she tentatively nodded.

"I was lost, and I held it to my heart, and it spoke inside me," she said.

"And I am this man who will love you, the one who will change everything? The green gown, the white tree, it is all about me?"

"I do not see how it can be about anyone else," she replied. "It all fits. And I… I do love you, and you have changed all. And the rest – the son of a noble lord, the ruler of a great realm, all love you."

"But I am not a ruler."

"Are you not now Prince of Ithilien?"

"Keren." He spoke a little sternly. "Do you truly believe all this? This is why you watched me leave for Osgiliath, why you barely left my side in the Houses? Because a crystal told you to?"

"No, I did those things because I love you!"

"But only because you were instructed to, or perhaps, in your grief over your mother, you imagined you were."

Keren pulled her head back as if he had physically hit her.

"You think I was mad, you think I am making it up."

"I think…" Faramir sighed heavily, then continued. "As I have said before, there is something strange about you, about us when we are together. I have not felt anything like it before, with anyone else, even… even Eowyn," he conceded. "But while I admit that I feel this peculiar energy when you are around me, I have told you before that I do not know what to make of it and that concerns me. I am not about to say it is love, some magical fated love. I am drawn to you and, clearly, you to me, and there is, perhaps recognition between us of being brought together, but it cannot be forced into one thing or another."

He was mortified as again he watched the tears begin to trickle down her cheeks.

"Oh Keren," he said, stepping closer, and without thinking put a gentle hand on her cheek. "I am sorry. But I must speak my truth, as you have spoken yours. There is love in my heart, I care for you very much, and I cannot explain it. And it would be easy for me to kiss you now, and pretend that it is some months ago. But I am betrothed, and I love my future wife. It is a love perhaps not as powerful as – "

He stopped abruptly, as if belatedly realising what he was saying.

"As what?" she said angrily, stepping even closer so their faces were almost touching. "As your love for me? Or are you too much of a coward to say it?"

"I love Eowyn," he said again, as if to remind himself, "with a true, honest, normal love. Keren with you… Look at us. It is not a human love, it is not a love that could work."

"What do you mean? Why did you say that? Not a human love?"

"There are forces at work that I do not wish to understand," he said cryptically.

For what Faramir had not told Keren was that, when he held the crystal up to the moonlight, he had seen something strange within it – at one moment the face of a woman, at the next the light of a whole sky of stars, burning into eternity. It had thoroughly shaken him, and part of his questioning Keren about her sanity was a hope in him that she would admit that she was indeed making it up, and that therefore he was just seeing things.

"If we had taken this path then I do not feel we would have had a choice in anything," he continued.

"So you admit this is a path you may have taken, with me?" The breath caught in her throat.

"When we parted I turned away from that path," he said simply. "It was for the best for both of us. I had found another. You were not seeing things from a rational perspective. And now I love the one I turned to, and I will not hurt her."

"But you were happy to hurt me," she said bitterly.

"For your own good, Keren, you must believe me."

She made a small huff of disbelief.

"Listen to me," he said, angry now. They were still very close. "Do you know what I thought the day when I first saw you? I hoped beyond everything that I would survive Osgiliath so that I would see you again. In that moment I thought that if I returned I would not rest until I found you, for I wanted to know your name, everything about you. For you gave me hope. And when I awoke from the King's healing, yours was the first face I saw, the first name I heard."

"All this is because we are destined to be together!" she said desperately, fully aware that she sounded a little unhinged. But to hear that he had felt as she had gave her a wild, mad hope.

"Destined to meet, destined to change each other. But I refuse to fall in love by order of some power I cannot see or understand."

"But that is love," Keren said.

"No, Keren, love is getting to know someone, caring for them, understanding them, finding things you share, learning from one another. You do not just look at someone and love everything about them, for you do not know who they truly are. That is lust. And I am not saying lust is not powerful, and I am not saying I do not feel it with you. But underneath it all, from the very beginning, are these strange whirlings of fate trying to force me to love, which I cannot – no wait – I do not wish to acknowledge."

"So it is your pride and nothing more that has broken my heart? It is your fear stopping you from admitting that you have loved me since the first time you saw me, as I did you?"

Keren was angrier than she had ever felt in her life. There were no tears, but fury mixed with painful love showed on her face.

"You have no idea what pain you have caused me!" She was shouting now. "For you led me to believe that we had a future. You should have sent me away the very first day we spoke! And now I see pity and guilt in your eyes, but I do not want your pity and it is too late for guilt. You have set my life on a lonely, unknown path, when you were supposed to bring me joy. I have done nothing wrong, all I did was love, and I – "

Her words were cut short as suddenly his hands were in her hair and he was kissing her, angrily and hard. She lost the ability to think as her body responded by instinct, pressing herself into him rather than pushing him away, opening her mouth for his rough kiss, letting her arms creep around him and pull him closer. They were both, she knew it, not in control of what was happening – she could feel the power emanating from the crystal, and she knew by his face - when they finally broke apart - that he could feel it too. Later she would look back with shame at her actions, for forgetting that he was betrothed, for forgetting that she was supposed to be bitterly angry with him, for forgetting how much he had hurt her. But eventually those thoughts made themselves known, and she broke away with a sob. He immediately backed away from her, horrified with what he had done.

"Keren, I'm so sorry – "

"It is too late for apologies to me," she said quickly.

"That was wrong of both of us," he said. "Eowyn…"

"Eowyn may as well have been dead to us both and you know it. For we cannot fight it, and I hate myself for betraying her, but we are also betraying ourselves for not allowing ourselves to feel and act as we – "

"Stop, Keren." Faramir turned his back. "I kissed you because I pitied you, because I wanted to leave you with a memory of what you had dreamed of. For I knew after our conversation tonight that we cannot see each other again."

A heavy silence fell between them as Keren tried to work out if he was telling the truth.

"It was a terrible thing for me to do, and I am not going to ask for forgiveness, or excuse my actions," he said eventually.

"Will you tell Eowyn?" she asked, partly not really wanting to know the answer.

"No," he said simply. "For it meant nothing. It was goodbye."

Author note: My first cliffhanger muahahahaaaaa. I will try to make the next update quicker than this one was!