CHAPTER 14: FACE TO FACE

Aragorn’s brow was furrowed as he sat deep in thought in his library, Faramir seated in the chair across from him. He had been depressed since lunch, after finding out about Legolas’ wound, but determined that he would ride to Ithilien the next day, no matter what anyone said. But now his Steward had come with information gleaned from the prisoner.

“So, Sauron even recruited forces from the region around the Sea of Rhûn,” the king murmured. “Far was his reach, and we were not aware.”

Faramir nodded. “We could not know the full extent of his domain or his influence。”

“He wants revenge, you say, and for his son, so I must have fought them and killed his son, I guess. But our enemies were many as we battled from Rohan to the Black Ships to the Fields of Pelennor and even at the Black Gates of Mordor.” He sighed.

“But in the heat of battle, where one seeks to end the life of another, and a blade is placed at your neck, Elessar, who has the choice to stop and think about whose kin it is?”

“Yet that changes not the grief of he who loses, even if he is the one who encroaches,” Aragorn pointed out. “And most of them were but under the enchantment of Sauron, they could not see the evil they were aiding. Even if they could see, they still felt kinship. …Some pay the price for being loyal, my friend,” Aragorn said unexpectedly. “Those loyal to Sauron and Saruman suffered much.”

 “Loyalty does have a price, as you said,” Faramir said at last. “But one has to choose wisely whom to be loyal to. I know that Boromir, before he died, would have taken Sauron’s Ring of Power for his own. And yet not for himself. It would have been for our father, who foolishly desired it. Faithfulness it was that Boromir showed, and he paid the price for it. You spoke true.” He seemed to have more to say, so Aragorn waited again.

Faramir drew a deep breath and continued in a rush. “The loss of my brother led me to question where my loyalties should lie. Through the years of your reign, Elessar, I have come to see where it is worth pledging them. You have no need to question whether they are rightly placed, for they are. Your people see it. Eomer is loyal to you because he sees what I see. Legolas himself – ”

He stopped short when he saw the smile vanish from the king’s face at the mention of the name, replaced by a look of sadness. Faramir bit his tongue but quickly decided that what he wanted to say had to be said. “Legolas would not have left the Greenwood to devote himself to your realm and to you, if he did not feel the same.”

“Then he too pays the price,” Aragorn said softly. “He has been nothing but loyal to me, no matter what I… how I…”

Faramir knew Aragorn was still tormented by what had taken place in the Houses of Healing. “What happened that night – ” he began.

“Is something I shall regret for the rest of my life,” Aragorn finished sharply.

“Then regret it, Elessar,” Faramir said unexpectedly. “But know this: you have returned to the throne of Gondor after a long, long absence of the line of Elendil, and you have much to do still to see the glory of Gondor fully restored. Even after that, the running of the realm cannot be easy. The weight you carry on your shoulders is a great one, as I said. You anticipated this, my lord, we all knew it, and Legolas knows it.”

Aragorn cast his eyes down at those words, and his words hinted at despair. “King of Gondor and Arnor am I, and yet I am powerless to keep that which is dear to me.”

“You will not lose his friendship,” Faramir spoke firmly against the fear that he knew Aragorn would not put into words. “Nor his love, or his loyalty.”

By the end of the evening, Aragorn found himself ready to withdraw into solitude. His earlier talk with Faramir in the library had somewhat assured him that he had had little control over whatever had transpired with Sarambaq in the war, but he could not bring himself to feel any less remorse over Legolas. Finding out that he had hurt his friend not only verbally but physically as well, no matter how inadvertent the action, haunted him, and he had barely managed to last through the discussions.

“My duties are not the most important of my concerns at this moment, melleth, my love. I will not delay any more, Arwen,” Aragorn choked out the words at last. “The court will have to wait. I will go at first light tomorrow.”

“He knows your regret, Estel.  Now it is time for you to tell him so face to face, heart to heart. Speak not of just one night in a healing room, but of the months past, of a friend you missed more than you realized, of patience you were too burdened to notice, and of love you were too distant to feel.”

Aragorn looked up, searching her eyes and finding support and gentle admonition.

“It has been there, Estel. He has been there, beside you, always beside you. You cannot stop being the king, a good king. But now, you must be his friend as well. Take the time.”

Aragorn closed his eyes, and they listened to the relentless slap of rain against the glass panes of the bay windows for a while before he spoke again, his sorrow almost palpable.

“No less high do I hold him in my esteem or dearer in affection than I did before, Arwen, you know that. Yet you speak the truth, I have been careless. One finger of blame I would not lay on him now should he wash his hands of me.”

“He will not,” Arwen reassured him. “His heart is purer than that. Just go to him.”

A knock sounded on the door. Upon being granted permission to enter, in stepped Faramir. He cleared his throat.

“Elessar, forgive the interruption, but – ” he seemed at a loss to continue. “A strange situation has presented itself.” He cleared his throat again, suddenly feeling rather foolish at the thought of conveying the prisoner’s request.

“He wants to see me?”

“Not only you, Elessar, he wishes to see Eldarion as well. He seems to think it is important – he seems to have something else to tell us.”

Aragorn’s face was a stern mask of controlled emotions…..“Well, we meet,” Aragorn broke the silence first, his chin held high. “Does it satisfy your twisted mind in some way, to see my son that you tired to capture, into whom you sent your vile poison?”

To everyone’s bewilderment, he did what no one expected him to do.

He laughed.

Mingled with an earsplitting crash of thunder which caused Eldarion to stop his ears and press further into the folds of his father’s tunic, the laugh seemed to turn into an eerie cackle that froze every heart in the room save that of the man from the East.

“Be silent!” he instructed fiercely.

“But you do not want me to be silent, you fool. You want me to talk, do you not? Give you answers? Tell you more?” he sneered in response.

“Speak then! What is it you have to tell us?” Aragorn demanded with all the authority of his regal status.

And speak he did.

As the man of Adhûn gave answers to the questions they asked – and to several they did not – Aragorn’s face turned pale.