ASHLEY

I had thought the dresses in Rivendell were, bad, but the dress I was forced to wear for the ceremony today was even worse. Lilac in color with silver accents, it swirled and tangled around my legs, the corset beneath too tight around my lungs and making breathing difficult. Its neckline was a little too low for my liking, but its bellowing sleeves covered the stretchmarks on my arms, and the black belt wrapped around my waist offered a place to put my dagger and its sheath.

It appears Denethor has certain requirements for the women in his court, and dressing like a woman is one of the highest ones. Most of my hair was done up in some elaborate style I've never encountered before with strange green flowers braided into it so that the green compliments the near red color. I hated all of it, hated it more than I hated high heels, but Haldir had thought it the funniest thing in the world.

Still, dressed in some of my grandmother's old clothing, I was allowed to wander through the halls as long as I had a guard with me at all times. I suppose I got lucky in that regard since the man following Haldir and I around was Faramir, a sweet man with red hair and a kind face. I'd liked him the second I saw him, finding him to be honest and trustworthy, and it didn't hurt that he was handsome as well.

"Don't worry, Daisy," I assure him as we walk down the hall," your dad may have thought he was punishing you with guard duty, but I'm probably the nicest person you'll ever meet." He gets a weird look on his face, stopping and turning to face me.

"Daisy," he asks with raised brows," you and Andrea truly were friends, weren't you?" I nod, wondering where he was going with this. "It's just that she called me Daisy as well and I can't quite figure out the reason." Because Dom and Billy said that was your nickname during the commentary of Return of the King.

"You just look like a Daisy, is all." Faramir and I share a smile, coming to stop in a doorway when we notice Pip sitting by himself on a wooden bench. He just looked so scared that the mother in me wanted to reach out and hold him forever, but Haldir put a hand on my arm and gave a slight shake of his head.

"What service could a Hobbit offer such a great lord of men," Pippin asks himself, sounding close to tears.

"It was well-done," Faramir offers, obviously feeling the same way I did about comforting Pip. We walk down the hall towards Pippin, the Hobbit standing upon seeing us. "A generous deed should not be checked with cold counsel. You are to join the tower guard." Pip offers up a kind smile, but I could still see the tears that he was struggling to blink back. He was dressed in a black doublet with the white tree of Gondor stitched into the front, and beneath that was silver chainmail.

"I didn't think they would find any livery that would fit me."

"It once belonged to a young boy of the city. A very foolish one who wasted many hours slaying dragons instead of attending to his studies."

"This was yours?" Pip looks genuinely happy now, glad to have finally found someone in this palace that wasn't prepared to stab people in the back. Faramir looked surprised that Pip had caught on, giving the Hobbit the happiest smile I've seen him make all day.

"Yes, it was mine. My father had it made for me." He reaches out to straighten on of the short sleeves of the doublet, the look in his eyes hinting at nostalgia from seeing the outfit again.

"Well, I'm taller than you were then, though I'm not likely to grow anymore, except sideways." We all laugh at that one, each of us knowing how much Hobbits liked their food.

"Never fitted me either. Boromir was always the soldier." Faramir's smile dims at the mention of his father, and that instinct inside me flared up again. I moved before Haldir could suggest I do otherwise, rising up on the tips of my toes so I could wrap Faramir up in a tight hug.

"Your brother was a great man," I tell him," but you're a great man to and anyone who would have you believe otherwise isn't worth your time." Faramir had tensed when I hugged him, but then I felt him relax and hug me back. He hugged me like he never wanted the moment to end, like he hadn't been hugged in a long time, which he probably hadn't considering how cold his father was. "From now on, you're my other brother and I'll kick the ass of anyone who tries to put you down."

"That sounds like an amazing thing to see."

"She's not joking," Haldir informs him when I step back," it was only by luck that I caught her before she hit Lady Galadriel." I nod with a sheepish smile, recalling the incident that got Haldir to hold me for the very first time. Totally worth the verbal reprimand I got from Adar the next evening. "Now, shall we all get this ceremony over with?" All of us face the door at the end of the hall with uneasy looks, knowing Denethor waited beyond it in the throne room. With a nervous twisting in my belly, I allow Faramir to lead the way inside.

"Late as always," Denethor comments when we walk inside, not bothering to rise from his seat. "Kneel, Master Hobbit, and recite your vows." Pippin does just that, bowing his head respectfully while the rest of us stand off to the side.

"Here do I swear fealty and service to Gondor," Pippin delivers in a strong voice," in peace or war, in living or dying, from…." I wince as he falters, biting my lip to keep from crying out in protest of all of this. "From this hour henceforth until my lord release me... Or death takes me." Haldir keeps me close to him, his malicious gaze trained on the steward in case the older man tried something stupid.

"And I should not forget it, nor fail to reward that which is given," Denethor smiles. He stands from his chair and walks the few feet over to Pippin, holding out his hand for Pippin to kiss his ring. "Fealty with love." He raises Pippin's head while looking at his son. "Valor with honor." He crosses the room to sit at a table with bowls of food on it. "Disloyalty with vengeance." He begins to pile food on his plate while a servant pours wine into his goblet. "I do not think we should so lightly abandon the outer defenses, defenses that your brother long held intact."

"What would you have me do," Faramir asks sadly.

"I will not yield the river in Pelennor unfought. Osgiliath must be retaken."

"My Lord, Osgiliath is overrun."

"Much must be risked in war. Is there a captain here who still has the courage to do his lord's will?" Faramir was fighting back tears and the only thing that kept me from striking out was the stern look Haldir leveled in my direction.

"You wish now that that our places had been exchanged, that I had died and Boromir had lived?"

"Yes," Denethor says coldly," I wish that." Despite the look I received and faster than the guards could grab me, I charge forward and punch Denethor hard enough to send him and his chair to the floor.

"Don't you ever talk to your son like that again, you-" Faramir puts a hand over my mouth as the guards help Denethor back to his feet, the old man looking stunned that I'd done anything. Trying to defuse the situation or distract his father, Faramir speaks again, struggling to keep me from lunging at his father.

"Since you are robbed of Boromir, I will do what I can in his stead." He hands me over to Haldir, giving the barest shake of his head in a gesture that tells me to behave. When he was sure Haldir had a good grip on me, he bows low to his father and spins on his heel towards the exit, stopping in the doorway to send a look back at his father. "If I should return

He bows low and spins on his heel towards the exit, stopping in the doorway and looking over his shoulder back at his father. "If I should return, think better of me, Father."

"That will depend on the manner of your return." I bite my cheek, hands clenching into fists as I physically struggled not to say something that could get me or the people I care about slaughtered. No one should talk to their child like that. He should be happy he still has Faramir, not pissed off. He's the one that sent Boromir off, it's his fault that Boromir was killed. But I keep my mouth closed and my eyes on the ground as is expected of me in this place.

I've already fucked up once today and I can't afford to let my temper get the best of me again. I would protect the ones I care about even if it means shutting down most of what I've been taught. Women aren't considered strong here, they're dainty and fragile, keep your head down, bow when necessary, and say nothing unless spoken to. "I'm fine," I whisper to Haldir, feeling his arms relax in their hold.

"Can you sing, Master Hobbit?"

"Well..." Pippin sends Haldir and me uneasy looks. "Yes, at least, well enough for my own people. But we have no songs for great halls and evil times." Denethor bites into a tomato, some of the juice trailing down his chin in a manner similar to blood.

"And why should your songs be unfit for my halls?" Denethor sends a hateful look in Pippin's direction and I speak up without thinking again.

"My Lord," I interrupt, taking the pressure off Pippin," maybe you could have someone more prepared come in and sing for you." His gaze lands on me, harsh and unyielding. I stare back, glad to finally have a challenge from him without Gandy here to stop me. His nose wasn't broken, but it was already beginning to bruise and his eyes looked puffy.

"Someone like you? Sing, then and we will see if I should have made the Hobbit take your place." Aw fuck.

"When I said someone more prepared—"

"Sing or I shall have you thrown out of these halls for daring to touch me." Bitch, that was just a love tap. But I take a deep breath and meet the bastard's stare head on, singing the first song to pop into my head.

"If you were with me now, I'd find myself in you. If you were with me know, you're the only one who knew all the things we planned to do. I want to live my life the way you said I would with courage as my light, fighting for what's right like you made me believe I could. And I will fly on my father's wings to places I have never been, there is so much I've never seen. And I can feel his heart beats still and I will do great things on my father's wings! This world I'll never see, this world that just won't be, this horse's stride with one days' ride will have covered more distance than me. And I will fly on my father's wings to places I have never been, there is so much I've never seen. And I can feel his heart beats still and I will do great things on my father's wings! Someday, with his spirit to guide me and his memory beside me, I will be free to fly on my father's wings to places I have never been. There is so much I've never seen and I can feel his heart beats still and I will do great things on my father's wings! On my father's wings."

The song Ashley sings is called On my Father's Wings from Quest for Camelot.