Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. I am just borrowing the characters and situations from Tolkien and New Line Cinema for my own enjoyment and for the entertainment of others.

The Books of Gondor

The day was perfect for sitting in front of the old fireplace in the library and reading while listening to the gentle pitter-patter of the falling rain outside the window. Earlier in the day more books had arrived from Gondor. There would be plenty of new material for Faramir to examine.  He picked up a thick copy on the history of men. Ever since learning he had been named after one, he had been curious to learn more about them.  He began flipping through it when he realized that it belonged to a series of books and he was holding the third in the series, the one covering the third age.  Faramir was looking at the contents when something caught his eye. There was a section called the War of the Ring. He quickly turned to it; he had always liked hearing tales about his father’s adventures abroad. Faramir began reading and very soon became engrossed. Hours passed and he did not even realize that he had missed luncheon and dinner until his father came wandering in looking for him.

“Faramir-lad, you have missed quite a few meals.  Come and join us for supper, your Uncle Merry has just arrived,” Pippin said, finding his young son curled up by the fireplace with a book. He smiled, “You must really be enjoying that book, lad.”

Faramir looked upon his father, eyes filling with admiration. “Father, I have always known that Cousin Frodo, Uncle Sam, Uncle Merry and you helped save the world, but I never really understood how hard that must have been. I don’t think I ever will, but I know so much more now and I am glad of that,” he said eyes shinning with tears of pride.

Pippin walked over to his son and embraced him, wiping his tears away.  “What are you talking about, lad?”

“Everything is in this book, Da. Look there is whole section devoted to the War of the Ring. You always make your adventures in the outside world seem so much better; you never tell any of us the worst of it. I am so sorry that all of you had to go through that,” Faramir said, tightly clinging to his father.

“Faramir, dear, believe me. Everybody involved knew there would be sacrifices and we were all prepared to make them, in order to defeat Sauron. It wasn’t easy, but I am glad we did it. I am sorry that you had to find out all the details, especially like this.  I just wanted to spare you the pain of hearing of them,” Pippin said kissing his son’s head while wiping away the few tears he himself had let fall. He helped his son rise, “You must be hungry, lad.  Come, let’s go to dinner before Merry eats it all.”

*****

“Merry, did you know that we are in the history books of Gondor?” Pippin asked, puffing contently on his pipe.

“I am not much surprised, Pip, especially with the way they bestowed every honor on us, right and left, as we were leaving Minas Tirith,” Merry said with a laugh.

“I'm not joking, Merry. I didn’t expect us to be in any of the books that were arriving from Gondor. But now that I think about it, I can see Frodo and Sam being in the books.   After all they destroyed the ring, and of course, you vanquished the Witch-King. However, I can’t see why I’m in them.”

“Pip, you can’t possibly think that the people of Gondor would forget their Ernil i Pheriannath,” Merry said with a smile at his humble cousin.

“Well, I suppose not,” Pippin returned with an answering smile. “After all, who else would they gawk at.”

Note: Thank you to Auntiemeesh for the wonderful beta.