Author's Note: Hello and welcome to chapter five of "Wounded"! I would like to thank MerryKK and Awen1923 for taking the time review. As always, I do not have a beta for this fic and though I have taken care to proofread it many times, I am sure I have not caught all my errors. Any mistakes that appear in canon, spelling or grammar are my fault and fault alone. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Tolkien's masterpiece.
Chapter Five Impulsion
"I lied to you brother," Faramir said and watched as Boromir turned away. They stood within a small chamber the Lady's servants had shown them, just off the dining hall. Two beds draped in silver silks and guarded by thin curtains furnished the room. Outside a long a branch curved upwards.
"Would that you had told me," Boromir said at length. He shrugged out of his heavy over-tunic and stooped to undo his boots.
Faramir could not bear to look at him. He walked to the window and leaned against the frame. His hands still trembled. Could Aniror have forgotten him?
He remembered the certain look of fear in her eyes…and recognition. She remembers me, Faramir tried to convince himself. She must. Behind him, Boromir sighed and Faramir stiffened. His brother was displeased, angry.
Faramir folded his arms. No chill resided in the air, but a dreadful coldness settled within him. The months of pondering, the terrible longing was at once replaced with heavy grief.
What had he done?
"What happened?" Boromir's voice sounded stern, but curiosity bordered his tone. Faramir turned from the window.
"I am not sure I can tell."
"Then tell what you can." Boromir lowered himself onto the bed and stared at his younger brother. Faramir met his gaze. It was a tale he did not know how to begin and did not wish to end.
"Last fall," he said and took a deep breath. "Last fall it happened. I had gone from Henneth Annun alone one night, just below into the wood. In a small clearing I found her, with her hood cast back and her fair hair resting upon her shoulders. She smiled and I knew she was of the Elven kind."
He paused and wondered how to phrase things best. Boromir waved his hand. "I understand, go on."
Faramir nodded and relished in the relief that coursed through him. "She promised me things and I believed her. I longed for her each night and we met in the woods for some time, how long I can not tell. But when winter crept over Ithilien she departed and commanded me to come to her. Find Lorien, she said. Come in six months time. And so I have."
Boromir continued to stare at him, his gaze hard. Faramir shook his head. "That Elf, that Aniror. I know her not. She was not courteous, but cruel and cold I think. I do not know her. It was wrong of me to come."
"And to leave Gondor on a mindless errand," Boromir muttered. He stood and Faramir shrank back in embarrassment. "It is obvious she employed some enchantment on you. Oh brother, what a fool you are."
Faramir sighed. "I know."
"Why did you ask me to accompany you? Why did you ask me to leave our people when their need is most great?"
Faramir did not answer at once. Boromir seemed to lose his patience.
"Have you little sense? None at all, I think. Love born to coldness will only shrivel and die. Do you not see it?"
"Yes!" Faramir had not meant to shout but his emotions came spilling out. Black anger coiled in his breast along with betrayal. His brother thought he was foolish and the lady he had so long pined for had discarded him. He had been cast off as meaningless, a thing that was once toyed with and then forgotten.
How could it all have gone so wrong?
Suddenly, to his great astonishment, Boromir began to laugh. Faramir gaped at him.
"And I was thoughtless enough to follow you, you trickster. What a merry band of fools we must be to these Elves, even if the Lady is gracious." He stepped forward and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.
Faramir managed a smile. Boromir had always tried to comfort him in times of despair. When as child he awoke at night and cried for his mother, Boromir would soothe him with stories. Or when his father found some cause to scold him, Boromir bolstered his confidence with encouraging words.
And now, amidst his folly, amidst his ruin, Boromir stayed by his side.
"I promised to repay my debt," he said. "And it is not for me to set its course. I will stay with you brother, for a time and then return home. Is that agreeable?"
"Yes," Faramir breathed. Boromir drew away and collapsed on the bed.
"Sleep, brother," he mumbled. "Our journey has been perilous enough."
Faramir watched as Boromir's breathing evened and he slept. But he could find no rest. Pacing back to the window, he studied the great branch outside and his heart sighed. What of Aniror?
Fear not, son of Gondor, Galadriel's voice whispered in his mind and he felt his grief lessen.
Faeleth drew back the curtains and sighed. Cool, morning air leaked into the talan and the sky was white with clouds. Haldir put his hand on her shoulder.
"I am sorry," he said softly.
Faeleth shook her head. "And I am shamed."
"Why?"
"She is my sister and I am bound to her." Faeleth moved into the main room. Pelilas still slumbered and for that she was grateful. She did not want her son privy to such…sordidness.
"Not to her deeds." Haldir followed his wife, hands folded behind his back. "What she has done has no bearing upon you."
Faeleth glanced down at a carved bench that stood in the main room. Blue cloth covered it, the seams stitched with silver. Thin threads and beads wrapped about the hem. Aniror had scoffed at her handiwork, called it useless and Faeleth had been tempted to believe her. Not now.
Her sister had committed a crime or at least, what she considered to be one. Eternally impulsive, she had bound herself with a human man and then deserted him, thinking the incident would be forgotten. But what she did not account for was the tie such an act would lie upon the man's soul and hers. Forever, they would be joined, in one way or another.
"What is his name?" she sniffed away tears and turned back to Haldir. He smiled and ran his thumb over her cheek.
"Faramir, Captain of Gondor, son of the Steward."
"He is high-born then." And she shuddered to think of the consequences.
"The Lady knows most of the tale," Haldir continued. "The man was quite open with her. He says Aniror came to him some time last fall in Ithilien."
"When she was in the Wild?"
"Yes. She would not give him her name or rank. But," Haldir paused and shifted. Both he and Faeleth looked back to their son's room. "It seems she gave him much more."
Faeleth wrapped her morning robe about her. The silk skimmed her arms and made her flesh prickle. "But how has he come to Lorien if he knew not her name?"
Haldir inhaled. "Your sister was not wise enough to keep herself secret. Upon the last night they met, she told him to come to her, in Lorien, and he has."
"A foul enchantment she has laid upon him!" Faeleth spat. She pattered into the kitchen and began to clear the table of wine goblets. Aniror's still rested upon its side. "For this Faramir to obey her summons, she must have indeed bewitched him. Did she not know what her love would do to him?"
Haldir followed her and a frown pulled at his handsome face. "I am sure she did, but cared not."
Faeleth said nothing. Her hands flew over the table, straightening the cloth, blotting out stains.
"He knew your sister from the moment he saw her, Faeleth," Haldir said at length. "He knew of the scar upon her forearm."
Faeleth stopped and placed her full weight against the table. She trembled. "Oh Haldir." Tears plummeted down her cheeks.
Haldir wrapped his arms about her waist. "The Lady knows his story to be true, though Aniror denies it. Fear not, Galadriel is compassionate and she worries for your sister. The men of Gondor, she says, will remain in Lorien for a time, until the matter has sorted itself."
Faeleth breathed shakily. "Then I will go to this Faramir myself and apologize for the crime my own blood has committed."
"I would advise against it, my dear wife. Aniror was harsh with him upon the meeting or so Galadriel told me. Let the Lady see to Faramir and your sister."
Faeleth leaned against her husband's shoulder and her tears stayed. "Do you suppose this trouble has anything to do with, well, with Erthor?"
"The Elf Captain of Imladris?" Haldir asked quickly. "The one Aniror was so enamored with two years ago?"
"Yes, do you remember what his rejection did to her?"
"It is unfair to say he rejected her. He never accepted her in the first place."
"I know. I know." Faeleth wrapped her hand around her husband's upper arm. "But do you think she meant to avenge herself against him by loving the human?"
Haldir slackened his grip about her waist. "Do not vex yourself with such thoughts now. Speak not of it, especially before such keen ears."
As if hearing his father's words, Pelilas opened the door to his room and stepped out. With tousled hair and a bright smile he trotted into the kitchen.
"Good morn Naneth! Good morn Ada!" he chirped. 'What is for breakfast?"
Aniror gripped the sides of the bench she sat upon. Everything had gone wrong, horribly wrong. She had not meant for this to happen, no. She had not meant to the see the man again or to have him come to Lorien.
Well, you should not have called for him then, she thought and bitter regret rose up within her. Trembling, she tried to swallow it away.
It had been foolish to call for him, Aniror decided. She should have let matters be and left the man in Ithilien where he belonged.
But who could have foreseen his arrival to her own wood? She never thought he would be mindless enough to search for her. The Men of Gondor were not known to approach the Golden Wood. What made this one different?
Aniror shifted her legs and watched the closed door with terror in her eyes. For three days she had managed to avoid this moment, the moment when the Lady once more summoned her to face her crime. In that time she had concealed herself in Caras Galadhon, not daring to return to her sister's talan or her own. In a dark corner of her mind, Aniror prayed that the matter would be forgotten and the men would leave.
But they did not.
Impulsion! Aniror leapt to her feet and paced. The word spun in her thoughts. Her impulsion.
She remembered their first night, his surprise at finding one of her kind in Ithilien, her surprise at his lordly bearing.
It had not been a matter of love or lust, no, she had more control than that. Anger, yes, that was it. And seeing the look on Erthor's beautiful face when he heard that a human had claimed her.
Too late did she realize her mistake. Too late did she flee the realm of Gondor and that man, whatever his name was. Faramir?
Still, she should have never asked him to come.
Aniror paused by the window and caught sight of the fountain below the Lady's talan. The water seemed to mutter curses at her and she shivered.
She had not forgotten the man completely once she returned to Lorien, but thought of him when the hour darkened and she lay alone. Her skin would crawl, touched by a faded nightmare and with closed eyes, she would wish for the memory to dull.
It never did.
A man. Aniror wrinkled her nose in disgust. She had allowed a wretched, lowly man to touch her, to have her. Humans were no better than wild beasts. Perhaps she was the fool.
The door opened and Aniror hurried back to the bench. She clasped her hands before her.
Lord Celeborn entered the small chamber first and his face was stony. Nervous tears touched Aniror's eyes. Galadriel came next, resplendent in her white raiment. She smiled but it was a sad sort of smile. Aniror looked away.
"I am sorry for this," the Lady said after a moment had passed. "As I am sorry for Faramir and you, my warden."
Aniror said nothing.
"You are wise in many ways, Aniror," she continued. "I know you understand what you have done. By bonding yourself with Faramir bodily, you have bound your mind and spirit with his as well. According to the customs and bylaws of our people such an act makes him your husband."
A soft sob escaped her now and she could not stop the tears. They came, fast and warm, burning her cheeks. Vala, what had she done to herself?
"But you shall not be held to your bond." Now Lord Celeborn spoke and his deep voice soothed her. "At least, not within the realm of Lorien if you should so choose. And the ways of Gondor differ from our own. In Faramir's realm, you are not considered his wife."
Aniror sighed and swiped at her tears. Could she hope to emerge from this folly unscathed? "I…I understand my lord, my lady." She stood and bowed. "Thank you."
"I have not finished," Galadriel said. Her fingers touched Aniror's chin lightly. "Once more, it seems, your impulsive tendencies have gained ground over your wisdom."
"Never again shall it happen, I swear to it, my lady."
Galadriel seemed to ignore her frightened babbling. "I do not believe your words. Nor do I believe your sorrow or fear. This poor man, you thought to enchant him and now he has fallen under a spell, a perilous spell. He is known for gallantry and bravery in his own land and would not readily desert it. You have corrupted him and tormented him and made him a shadow of what he once was."
"I never meant to…" But Aniror felt her voice die and Lady's grow. Inside her mind, it whispered and the words were harsh. For a moment the morning light died and she felt a blackness take her.
Do you know the evil you have caused him? The lies he spoke for you, the fear he faced? I think he was too kind to refuse your bewitchment, not foolish. You have inflicted a wound upon him that he shall not recover from. Do you feel any pity?
Aniror wanted to lie but the truth came to her tongue first. "No."
Galadriel sighed and the room lightened.
Aniror's hand flew to her left forearm and the scar ached anew. The Lady tilted her head to the side.
"You have been most loyal to me, Aniror. But I cannot rely on such rashness. You are released from my service."
Author's Note: Hmm, I wonder why Boromir suddenly changed his mind about staying with Faramir? Maybe Lorien is having is having a good effect on him.
I only have a few notes on this chapter
According to my research on Elves, Aniror is in huge trouble. As it is, extramarital and premarital affairs do not exist amongst the Firstborn. In taking Faramir as her lover, Aniror has wed him. Also her sheer flippancy about the whole thing is very unbecoming as Elves take love and marriage seriously. Which is why Faeleth is ashamed and Galadriel is furious.
I do not believe Faramir would ever willingly leave Gondor to pursue some silly love affair. But if he was put under some sort of enchantment, he might have no choice.
Faramir's need to find Aniror and Galadriel's statement about Aniror "inflicting a wound he shall not recover from" I have based in Celtic mythology, more specifically the tale of Leanan Sidhe. Leanan Sidhe was a fairy woman who often took mortal men as lovers. Using her own enchantments and tricks, she bewitched them. And after being seduced, a mortal man could think of nothing else. If he was abandoned by his fairy mistress the man would slowly die. Other men were stolen by Lenanan Sidhe and taken to her homeland, Tir Na Nog.
These fairy womenwere not kind or pleasant. Humans were toyed with and abandoned easily, left to waste away in longing. In some versions of the tale, Leanan Sidhe is a vampire and instead of sucking blood, she drains the very life force of the mortal man.
Leanan Sidhe was of the Tuatha De Danaan, the fairy people of Ireland whom influenced Toklien's own Elves.
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