Faramir Fiction Archive

Cedar and Cloves (PG)

Written by Mira Took

19 December 2010 | 7721 words

Chapter 5

Faramir woke the next morning on the divan in the middle of the room, with a cushion under his head and a thick white robe smelling of cedar covering him. Elladan was sitting on the floor with his head propped against the side of the divan and his eyes resting on Faramir’s face. Resting in truth, for Faramir thought the Elf was more asleep than awake, though his eyes were still open in Elvish-fashion. Elrohir was lying on his side with his head on his brother’s lap, breathing evenly. Sometime in the night, Elladan had retrieved a mantle to match his twin’s and it was hard to tell one body from the other as they slept curled together. Faramir smiled lovingly down at them and Elladan’s lips slowly curved in an answering smile as his eyes grew more alert.

A sharp knock on the door broke the morning’s peace. The twins had time to leap to their feet, but Faramir was still scrambling off the divan when Boromir strode straight into the room. “Faramir! There you are! My manservant found you had not slept in your bed, and luckily he came straight to me and not to Father.”

Boromir turned to look at the Elves and said hotly, “Lord Elladan, Lord Elrohir, what were you about, to have my brother here overnight?

Faramir heard a roaring in his ears and felt his hands grow cold. He had felt like this before, but never with his brother. He had a sudden, sick certainty that Boromir would want to march him out of the room and straight to the Steward’s chambers, and that he would never see Elladan and Elrohir again. Last night had been the sweetest of his life, but he should have known he couldn’t keep it. Now it would be destroyed by his brother’s disapproval, by his father’s punishment, by Elladan and Elrohir’s offense at being taken to task by his protective elder sibling. And he couldn’t bear it, he could not, to have Elladan look at him with disdain because of his fear, to have Elrohir look at him with disgust because of his weakness. Almost imperceptibly, Faramir began to tremble.

Elladan took a step forward, placing himself halfway in front of Faramir and drawing Boromir’s attention before he spoke. “I am at a loss to understand, Lord Boromir, why you should object to our spending the night in your brother’s company. Were he himself to demur, you would have every right – indeed every obligation – to support his refusal. But as he is a man grown, and in no way unwilling, I cannot accept your interference in a matter that is between Faramir, Elrohir, and myself.”

With a small corner of his mind, Faramir wondered how the Elf could be so disapproving and yet not sound like Denethor. Elladan’s tone was cold, so cold, but not in the least bit like the biting chill that Denethor used to freeze his councilors or his youngest son. Rather, it was the sort of bracing cold that woke you on a winter’s morning. Nothing at all like Faramir’s father – though Elrohir thought that Elladan sounded remarkably like theirs.

The elder twin’s tone had the effect of snapping Boromir to attention. “You don’t understand, Lord Elladan. Our customs in the City are likely different than yours. For him to spend the night here—”

Elrohir, meanwhile, had slowly circled the room to stand behind Boromir. Now he crept up behind the Man, leaned forward slightly and sniffed. Boromir didn’t notice, but Faramir saw the Elf raise an eyebrow – his left – and wrinkle his nose at his brother. Elladan asked without missing a beat, “And where did you spend the night, Lord Boromir?”

Boromir stared at him. Then he cast a quick glance at Faramir and said, “I was up late reading and—”

Faramir couldn’t stop himself, “You were up late reading?”

“Yes,” Boromir sounded defensive. “It was a book on the defense of Maglor’s Gap that Aragorn lent me and—”

“Was it the one with the drawings of the fortifications?” asked Elrohir interestedly, from the spot near the window where he was now standing. “I’ve always liked the bit about the engineering of the trebuchet.”

“Yes, it had lots of diagrams and schematics, and we fell to discussing them, and then we- that is, I was up late looking at the book. That’s all.” Boromir seemed rather disconcerted to find himself responding to the twin’s digression.

Elladan’s face remained impassive, but Faramir could see that he had relaxed. “We mean no disrespect to your customs, Lord Boromir, and certainly none whatsoever to your brother.”

Boromir had started to blush. “I- Yes, I can see that. I was worried when my manservant told me he was missing, but now I can see he’s well, I’ll take your leave. My lords.”

He gave a proper bow and went back out the door. Faramir ran after him into the corridor. “Boromir!”

Boromir turned back toward him. “Fara, I’m sorry about all that. Of course, you have a perfect right to be with whomever you wish. It was just that they’re Elves and I know what Father would say, and, well—”

“I know you’re only taking care of me, brother. I just wanted you to know that I’m- I’m serious about this and that I hope you’ll understand.”

Boromir put out his arms and gripped both Faramir’s shoulders. “I understand, little brother. I was worried about you, but I know you’d never anything that wasn’t right. I think it’s just that I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and—”

Faramir interrupted him again. “That’s the other thing that needs to be made plain between you and me. Nothing happened. I mean, a lot happened but that didn’t happen. We just… kissed each other. And talked. We didn’t… hm.”

“That is indeed the other thing that needs to be made plain,” Boromir said slowly, ruefully. “We did.”

Faramir returned to the outer chamber to find the twins standing at the window. They turned to face him and he smiled shyly.

“My older brother can be a little over-protective.”

“You needn’t worry about that,” Elrohir said blithely. “I have a protective older brother of my own. You should see him when he thinks I’ve gotten myself in trouble.”

“When you have gotten yourself in trouble,” Elladan corrected, with the solemnity that Faramir was beginning to see often hid a sense of humor as lively as his twin’s.

“Of course,” Elrohir explained, “We go everywhere together, so when I’m in trouble…”

Faramir laughed and felt the last of his tension dissolve.

“Now,” Elladan said briskly. “You never answered my question the other day. Do you take pleasure in formal banquets with crowds of people first thing in the morning, or shall we send Estel our excuses?”

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