A/N: Angst ahead. Great fun ;)
In this chapter a couple of elves have a conversation, so it's a good time to point out that, for the entirety of this story, when characters are conversing in any form of Elvish and they both fully understand what's being said, I just write it in English - including all the name translations. So a lot of times Legolas is called Greenleaf, the literal translation of his name, for example. (When Gandalf calls Legolas 'Legolas Greenleaf' in LOTR he's not using his surname, but acknowledging that he knows the meaning of his first name).
But if anyone is involved in a conversation and doesn't speak the language, I use Elvish to reflect their confusion, courtesy of realelvish.net. This sometimes means that the reader doesn't fully understand the conversation either, but can get the gist. I enjoy that approach, so I won't be providing translations for those short moments in later chapters.
There are eighteen chapters in each book, so we're nearing the end of this one! Make sure to give me a follow if you want to read the next two books in the trilogy. It's very much an ongoing story, the second one pretty much starts off where this one ends.
Dawn had just broken on Mid Years Day, 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 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 he had been waiting for.
Legolas stood beside his friend, his sharp eyes picking 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, he thought bitterly.
As the elves passed 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. 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 Undómiel, 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 in Sindarin, raising his hand to his breast. "I come with 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. The woods to the north, your father's lands, he has renamed The Wood of Green Leaves."
"Green leaves?"
Celeborn smiled.
"Father renamed his land after me?" Now Legolas was truly dumbfounded.
"One day you may 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.
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"I'm not wearing it."
Keren was sullen, and beginning to panic.
"Well what else do you have that's suitable?" 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 shift?"
"No."
"Then you're stuck."
"Palen." Keren reached the end of her tether. "You know why I can't wear it, you know he will be there, you know it'll remind him of - "
"It's just a dress, Keren," Palen said. "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 - the look of surprise and wonder on his face when he saw her in the forest green gown that had once been her mother's. She had 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's 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 she had wasted on her juvenile fantasies.
"Well then, don't go." Palen had assumed her younger sister was talking to her. "Don't go. Sit here and be bored. Or sit here and agonise over what you might be missing. Either way you're not going to have fun."
Keren knew that she either had to turn up to the royal wedding feast in her work clothes, or wear the fated gown 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 – she and Palen were the only healers, other than Ioreth and the warden, who had been invited. But she really did not think she could face Faramir in the same guise that she had thought would win his heart. How would he react? With amusement, disdain, pity, 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 people there, not just him. Other lords, and princes. You will never get a chance like this again to mingle with such fine folk. 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 best 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. She sighed with a little confused frown as she met Palen's eyes.
"Now, will you put it on and get ready to go?" her sister said. "We'll be late."
With one last squeeze of the crystal, in her palm so much lately that it almost felt like an extension of her arm, Keren made her decision.
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Faramir had been at the wedding, and Arwen's coronation, at noon. Now a far larger crowd was about to descend on the Merethrond and the Place of the Fountain for the celebrations.
As he approached the cavernous hall, he felt a brief regret that Éowyn was not on his arm. For almost two months they had been parted. But she was where she needed to be, beside her brother in her homeland as he was crowned, preparing Edoras for the burial of her uncle.
He knew he would be one of the last to arrive. 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. Elessar 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.
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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's been here for a while. I was surprised you hadn't noticed him before," was her sisters reply.
"Why didn't you 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, 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 Éowyn in Ithilien. He quickly changed the subject.
Keren began to feel a little warm and panicky, despite being outside. Perhaps she had drunk too much wine with dinner. 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 opened 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. In their later childhood she and Palen, allowed to sneak into the unused old building when Beregond had turned a not-very-blind eye, had spent several afternoons there together when they felt the need to speak of their mother. Even in recent years 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 what he had thought was near-fluent Sindarin, when something caught his eye - a flash of warm 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, when he had noticed she was stubbornly refusing to look his way. He had not judged her for this, assuming 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 from beneath his prominent white brows.
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Keren leant on the wall and took a few deep steadying breaths. The night was warm, the sun was almost set, and the lights of the city were shining below her. 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 him.
"Keren?"
She rolled her eyes with annoyance, for now she thought she heard his voice. Things were worse than she had thought.
"Keren, are you alright?"
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's why I've 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'm afraid of my heart breaking again. I cannot tell you what I have been through in the past few months, because of you. And now, despite my request to stay away, you followed me here when I wanted to be alone. Are you saying that fate guided your footsteps? For it doesn't 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," he began. "But I would have caused 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 Éowyn," 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 Éowyn I found simplicity, and mutual understanding. With you it was all confusion, and a feeling that I was not in control."
"But do 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'd be happy you're 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... pulled towards you," he began.
"I feel that all the time. About you. I have since I was a child, but now I've had to fight with myself to ignore it. You should have too. You made your choice," she said angrily.
"But it is all 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, I remembered all our times together. And I felt hope and joy and confusion - all the things I associate with you. And I had to follow you. I cannot explain it further, nor do I understand."
"There are many things about us that I can explain but don't understand." Keren was swaying between annoyance and sympathy. "But you should not have come looking for answers now. It's too late. You should go back, and you should wait for your betrothed to return to you."
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'll be honest with you, for I wish you to know what you have caused me," she began. "I saw you and Éowyn, 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 love you, as you know. And it's a love I have no control over. So I felt cheated - by fate, by you - like I had been guided to you purely to encounter heartbreak. And these months – some of it I don't even remember, for I disappeared, even from myself, and I wished to hide from the world. These past few weeks I've finally started to feel like myself again, when you're not always present in my mind, when you're 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. 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 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, now we are together again, and I wish to understand."
Keren shook her head.
"You're not who I thought you were," she said sadly. "Or, if you are, then you don't realise it, so I don't think you'll believe me, or understand if you did."
"Who did you think I was?" he asked.
"That's all 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. "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 Éowyn is real and – ."
Keren quietly registered that Faramir had repeated her thought, but then on hearing Eowyn's name she interrupted.
"There's no point in me telling you the truth. If you truly love her then nothing I say will change how you feel."
"But if it will help you? If it will perhaps release you of a burden?"
Faramir patiently waited as he watched Keren clearly struggling with conflicting thoughts.
She 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.
"Don't judge me, don't laugh at me, and most of all, don't pity me, for I couldn't 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.
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 don't have to believe it, but it's 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.
"This 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's beautiful," he said, after a long 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," 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 don't 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 lord, the ruler of a great realm, all love you."
"But I'm 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? This is why you barely left my side in the Houses? Because a voice in your head, from a crystal, told you to?"
"I did those things because I love you!"
"But only because you were instructed to love me. 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 it's all in my head."
"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 Éowyn," he conceded. "But while I admit that I feel this - 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 some magical, fated love. I am drawn to you, and you to me, and there is, perhaps, recognition between us of being brought together by something... other. 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. It would be easy for me to kiss you now, to love you now, and pretend that it is some months ago, and that it is not too late. But I am betrothed, and I love her. It is a love perhaps not so 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 Éowyn," he said again, as if to remind himself, "with a true, honest, peaceful 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, leaving her breathless with confusion.
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 stern face of a woman with glistening silver lights at her brow, at the next a whole sky of stars, burning into eternity. He had heard a strange singing in his head, in his heart. It had thoroughly shaken him, and part of his questioning Keren about her sanity was a hope 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?" Her voice 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 - 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 I first saw you? I hoped beyond everything that I would survive Osgiliath, so that I could see you again. In that moment I thought that if by some miracle I returned I would not rest until I found you, for I wanted to know your name, I wanted to know everything about you. You gave me hope. And when I at last awoke from the King's healing, whose was the first face I saw, the first name I heard? Yours. But I refuse to fall in love at first sight 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 - you do not just look at someone and love everything about them. That is lust, and I'm not saying lust is not powerful, and I'm not saying I don't feel it with you. But from the very first time I saw you there were - are - these whirlings of fate, trying to force me to love you. And I cannot – no – I do not wish to acknowledge them."
Keren stared at him.
"So it's your pride, and nothing more, that has broken my heart?" she cried. "It's 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've caused me!" She was shouting now. "You led me to believe 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, 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 not caring that he was betrothed, for not caring that she was supposed to be bitterly angry with him, for not caring 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's too late for apologies to me," she said quickly.
"That was wrong, of both of us," he said. "Éowyn..."
"Éowyn may as well have been dead, and you know it. We can't fight it, and I hate myself for betraying her, but we're betraying ourselves by not allowing us to feel and act as we – "
"Stop, Keren." Faramir turned his back. "I kissed you because I pitied you."
"You don't mean that," Keren said, after a pause.
Faramir remained facing away.
"I wanted to leave you with a memory of what you had dreamed of, for I knew after 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 try to excuse my actions," he said eventually.
"Will you tell Éowyn?" she asked, partly not really wanting to know the answer.
"No," he said simply. "For it meant nothing. And it was goodbye. I'm sorry."
And without looking back, he walked away and left her alone.
Images: 'Lady on Balcony at Night', property of StephExequies on DeviantArt