𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒

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Eight years later...

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien."

It was a rather peaceful fall afternoon, and the city of Gondor seemed particularly sleepy that day. Deora had disappeared from her house early in the morning, seeking and ultimately finding refuge in the limbs of a large tree that sat at the edge of the city limits. It had been several quiet hours later that she had seen the familiar dusty-red head of hair wandering about the field below her. A small smile had instantly appeared on her face.

Upon hearing her voice, Faramir glanced up into the tree, a smile of his own playing at the corner of his lips when his eyes finally found hers.

"Come to mingle with the common people?" Deora teased.

"I've come to honor a promise." he replied.

Deora raised an eyebrow, swiftly jumping down from the branches that held her, her feet softly landing onto the grass below.

"A promise?"

Faramir nodded, crossing the field until he stood directly in front of her.

"One that I made many years ago."

Deora's head tilted to the side, gesturing with her hands for him to continue. In the beat of silence that followed, she absentmindedly noted that he was trying, and failing, to fight back a smile. The man straightened out his spine ever so slightly before beginning to speak again.

"Would Deora of House Ingold accept my request for her to become a Ranger of Ithilien?"

The hillside went completely silent. Even the wind seemed to stop blowing as Deora's eyes widened beyond what should've been normal for a human.

"Faramir...I swear to everything that is good and pure in this world, if you are lying to me I will splay your innards out beneath the White Tree." she threatened in a semi-shaking voice.

The man scoffed in surprise at the vulgarity of her words.

"Do you truly think so little of me?"

Deora didn't answer, simply continued to stare back at him unwaveringly.

Faramir took a deep and purposeful breath, and this time as he re-set his shoulders, his smile finally settled across his expression.

"I swear on the House of my Father, I am being sincere."

Deora felt her eye twitch.

"You know I don't give a damn about the House of your Father." she whispered.

Faramir had opened his mouth to offer up some sort of retort, but was silenced by Deora darting forward across the already miniscule amount of space between them. Her arms tightly wrapped around his shoulders in a uniquely powerful hug.

The man laughed in surprise, stumbling back slightly as a result of her power, but was eventually able to return the embrace with just as much force.

"Thank you, Faramir." she said seriously as she pulled back, her eyes just the smallest bit misty.

Faramir didn't respond right away. Instead, he had taken the time to stare back at her bright expression with much of the same reverence he would become possessed with whenever listening to the stories Gandalf told them back when they were children.

Seeing this, Deora's smile faltered, a heavy silence blanketing them. A heaviness that suddenly made it fairly difficult to breathe.

Faramir finally gulped, forcibly snapping himself out fo his daze. And in turn, Deora slipped her hands off of his shoulders, coughing in order to clear her throat.

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