Will there be more in this serese. I wanna know what happens to éwen anf faramir. This story is really good!

Phew! A hot time tonight, perhaps! Lovely chapter. Poor Aragorn. Poor Faramir. And what of Eowyn? Nicely done. Can’t wait for the next chapter.

Oh, and I almost forgot: I love that subtle hint that maybe – maybe – there is a tiny possibility Faramir enjoys his role as a martyr a bit more then he is supposed to. Actually he is too intelligent to not be aware of how his attitude affects people – and who knows? In his play with Aragorn there is more than a slight streak of BDSM… ;)

(I have read all chapters at once so this comment refers to the complete story)

First: It is beyond my comprehension how you manage to keep three (3!) series going at once without getting the threads intertwined. I deeply bow to your feet, oh master of multifarious lore!

Second: I really appreciate the way you characterized Eówyn. Personally I must say I never came to terms with what the book did to her. That final twist, when from one minute to another she decides to marry a guy she does not know at all and goes “from now on I am not interested in men´s business anymore” always felt like a betrayal to me. As if all her former life, all her intentions, would be negated and diminished. More, it´s like putting her “in the right place” by only granting her some happiness if she agrees to act in the traditional “female” way (actually it´s somewhat disgracing for the character of Faramir, too. A man who is highly concerned of their people; a man who – now that there is a new guy in town – should be interested in the political situation and instead all he can think of is wooing a woman he has only seen once). For that I never felt quite comfortable with the character – not because of what she is but because the book subliminally tells us that what she is is wrong (at least that is how I understood it).

Well, err…seems I spaced out a little. What I actually wanted to say was: I love the way you gave her enough space to become a real person, even with a streak of very human spitefulness. Independent of the question whether her lawful state as a wife gives her the “right” to utter any accusations she has certainly the right to have her own feelings about the situation and express them according to her own personality (means beyond a seemly “Yes, Sire. No, Sire. What duty do you have for me, Sire?”). I think you perfectly pointed out her – quite understandable – position: Doomed to be excluded from experiencing strength and power in another way than being on the receiving end she might feel strongly drawn to this constellation in which both partners are absolutely equal and the submitting role can be exchanged any time. Thinking about it I had the idea that you wrote her as a very good example of how a fan-(slash) girl might perceive the situation. ;)

Oh, and please don´t get me wrong: All the protagonists are very rich and complex characters! It would have been much easier to reduce them to stereotypes (“the philandering husband”, “the lover”, the betrayed wife”) but you make their actions and emotional states absolutely comprehensible. I am waiting for the upcoming chapters with anticipation! :D

Thanks for all the latest comments, guys! :)

Haha, yes, not too much development ;) On the whole, I must confess this is turning out far, far longer than I’d initially intended – and therefore less swift in pace as well. The thing is, whereas I had originally envisioned this story as a PWP focusing mainly on hotness bred of spying and spite, in the process of writing it I’ve become quite enthralled with the inner states of the characters (even though I’m mostly depicting Eowyn’s – so far at the least…). Which is not to say that I’ve forgotten about the hotness – not at all :D It’s just that it seems that all the details of their feelings and thoughts (including the reasons for why they behave as they do) deserve as much of the story’s focus as the “action” itself.

Special smooches to Nerey for noting the thing about black-and-silver-etc :) I’ve no idea whether Tolkien paired them up this way on purpose or rather it was a somewhat coincidental result of the overall harmony and integratedness of his writing themes. Either way, it feels to me this complementariness is two sided in the sense that, although symbolising how matching F and E are, at the same time it underscores that they are also, in a sense, direct opposites. You know, some of their character traits… And in that, sometimes it can be difficult for them to foresee the other’s response :D

Again, thank you all for your support and unwavering interest!! :)

Just happened to wander over here and what a delight to see. Ah ha ha… You have really got these three in a conundrum, don’t you? Can’t wait to see the next chapter.

Hi December!
Wow, no real developments in this chapter, that’s cruel indeed! Still, my hunches were right: we learn that Éowyn has more sense than letting Faramir go; and obviously Aragorn is going to do something. He plainly thinks they’re both acting like idiots and he alone can save the situation now.

I wonder, what will he say? And how will Éowyn react to his speaking when he’s the lover?
He could, maybe, tell Faramir that he’s not going to authorize the separation, and ask them to think better about it. But in the end the problem has not changed: neither Aragorn nor Faramir are ready to stop seeing each other, and how can Éowyn be made to accept that? The trickiest part of the plot is still before us. I’m so looking forward to read it!

By the way, I loved this: white and gold to black and silver. How true, and to think I had never thought of it!

Awwww! Still no comfort to them (and all of us readers)?! My, you are a cruel one!
Still, this one seems to lead a lighter way than the chapters before (to my relief!). It would be to mean to have them suffer for very much longer, wouldn’t it?
I enjoyed the humor bits: Faramirs “private” virtues (hope to read more about them!) and the King who isn#t used any more (has he ever?) to getting no attention at all… ;)

Hi December!

Only saw your last comment from June when reading this chapter. Good point about the room being Faramir’s (how inconvenient for Éowyn, isn’t it?).
As for Éowyn’s “I couldn’t care less” reaction, I partly agree with Elektra in that concealing pain does not suffice to eliminate it, but neither does the fact of letting it out. Right now only Faramir could bring healing to her, and by the look of things he isn’t going to. Then what remains for Éowyn but to accept the situation and move on?
Like December, I think “I couldn’t care less what you do now” doesn’t mean “I don’t care about you” or “I’m not hurt” but rather “You’ve hurt me so much and you’ve disgraced yourself so fully in my eyes that I’m finished caring for what you do”. To me, for Éowyn to renounce any claim on Faramir is no “good” solution, only the best possible option. She won’t obtain anything through asking, begging or insulting him, so why bother? At least thus she forces him to respect her. In any case only Faramir can decide to earn her forgiveness or not. She can’t force him to.

Now, this was all about the previous chapter, but now we have another one! It seems Faramir’s done what I expected Éowyn to do: rather than being rejected by her, he’s taken the initiative to leave her. That leaves Éowyn in a very difficult position, for now either she’ll have to accept to be chucked on top of cheated on, or she’ll have to soften and be ready to forgive him without him even asking. It is most clever of Faramir (however uncalculated it probably is), and rather unfair on her. I’m sure she must feel despair (she didn’t expect her husband to leave her, obviously) and at the same time her pride must be badly hurt as well (if he can let her go so easily, how much can he really love her?).
What will she do? Act on pride and say “OK, leave then”, however much she suffers inside, or act on her love for him and admit she wasn’t intending to leave him and she’d rather he doesn’t leave her? Both would be credible enough, though I rather think (and also hope) she’ll do the second.
It is unfair of Faramir to thus throw on her the responsibility of leaving him or taking the first step toward reconciliation, but at the same time… it’s also fair somehow, though I can’t quite explain why. It’s hard on her but she can take it, I don’t know if you know what I mean… I feel it empowers her, despite all appearances to the contrary, and it also gives her the opportunity of being generous and mature instead of just being very cross and throwing all the responsibility of what’s happened on him.
Oh, I’m very much looking forward to the next chapter. This development was something completely unexpected to me (as well as to Éowyn, I’m sure) and it opens new possibilities. It’s brilliant.
There are other quite interesting things in the chapter: Faramir saying he can’t decide whom he loves (yes, but he could decide whom to sleep with, couldn’t he?), and then the fact he’s convinced what Éowyn’s standing is, though he doesn’t really take the time to ask her… which probably shows he’s also hurt and not entirely master of himself… otherwise he would have taken time before directly assuming she’ll leave him and all is lost. Like her, he’s confused and suffering and afraid, and that is moving. Well… we’ll see how this works out in the end. Aragorn’s being rather silent, maybe it’s time for him to say something that’ll help them?

"had it been she whom Aragorn had directed his advances at, would have her resolve withstood?" - now that has potential! That'd be a great new challenge, and indeed could be a great new story! How would she react, and how would Faramir react to a decision either way? Oh my, lots and lots of great plots right there!

But let's not forget about this story! I really enjoyed this chapter- they way you describe Eowyn gearing up for a sparring match is perfect, and how her fighting spirit transitions to a daze. I love how you've made this purely a conversation between husband and wife, even with Aragorn (boned-up and all;)) right there, yet you don't let us completely forget about him, which adds some lighthearted sparks to this otherwise strained situation.

And, surprise, surprise, another cliff-hanger. You really know how to keep us at the edge of our seats!

Many thanks for this - brilliant as always!

Well, I won’t argue that you should see this story as brilliant – I perosnally don’t! :)

Anyway, I would agree that your dissatisfaction comes in part from the differences in our perception of Eowyn. I haven’t yet sent you the reply to your answer regarding your Eowyn story, but in that reply, in point of fact, I tried to lay out my understanding of how her head/heart work, and it’s very different from yours. I don’t know if either of us is correct – only Tolkien could say that ;)

What I think of Eowyn is she doesn’t always do what she did the first time. She had immediately turned towards Aragorn – but had been very cautious with Faramir. She had wanted to fight, and win glory and maybe even die – and then she wanted to fight no more but rather be a healer. So I feel that in a situation like this she might also behave not like she had in her previous moment of despair. Besides, much as she loves Faramir, she is also furious with him – he has just upturned her perfectly settled life, not to mention the rest – and there is also the question of her dignity at stake, especially with Aragorn being present – and she is a proud woman, after all. Not to mention that, albeit in her previous life, she had worked up quite a habit of concealing her sorrow and acting strong, and in moments of such stress old habits sometimes resurface.

But in either case, I perfectly understand what you mean. I also get this quite a lot, when I read something and like it, but then the character begins to stray from my idea of them, and I can relate to it no longer. Oh well :)

Thank you again for commenting!

Well, it COULD. But can you afford running the risk in such a situation?
Besides, that statement is not very much more true than the other one. It is a lie and nothing but, not even so much to the partner but more to oneself.

Moreover: really, I doubt that not showing pain lessens it. A fragile show of unimpressedness can come at very high costs in the long run. Put aside that very few people would believe it.

Sorry to say, that my discomfort with that particular story does not come because of sympatising with the characters. It is a feeling I have gotten quite a few times, when I sense a story (-line) has the potential for something really deep/profound/brilliant, but misses it. It is worse if it misses it only by a hair – since a few chapters I wonder what exactly that point is and I just CANNOT lay my fingers on it, but something about this story just don’t feel right…
Does that make any sense? I’m afraid it does not. ;)
Maybe it is all my fault. :) Maybe because I myself/characters in my fanfiction would act totally different in this situation we just can’t get together…

As to the Eowyn-shows-her-despair-thing (which I of course had in mind): I’d argue exactly on the contrary – if it is about something/-one that is really important to Eowyn – she will let her masks fall and show her utter despair. If she has done it for Aragorn, how much more would she do it for Faramir?

elektra, honey, thank you for the comment!

Don’t be sorry, you are not obliged to appreciate everything I write, especially as this chapter had never been intended to make anyone happy or ‘comfortable’ ;) I mean, dealing with cheating can hardly be comfortable, or can it?

If anything, I am as an author am happy this bit has caused such an intense response from you, even if the emotion is not enjoyment – forgive my little sadistic streak, but I feel that when the characters suffer, it is good when the readers sympathise.

As for the ‘I couldn’t care less’, indeed, isn’t it such a common line of conduct for the people in hurt, embarrassment, even remorse? I’ve seen this in real life many times, too, and hardly ever does it actually make things any better, but it’s a very convenient defence reaction: to not show your own pain/fear/confusion lets you feel less powerless and humiliated in unpleasant situtations. And as for Eowyn specifically – remember, once before she had shown her despair to a man, namely Aragorn – had that made him change his mind about the matter in hand? With Faramir she had been far more cautious – and now he too has let her down…

And also a bit of a hint: ‘I couldn’t care less’ could be read as not only ‘there is no problem, go on’ but also as ‘you’ve fallen so low in my eyes now that I couldn’t possibly care for anything whatsoever related to you’.

Sorry that I might not be able to appreciate this story as much as I maybe should – it just touches some “raw spots” and in a way that makes me very uncomfortable and sad.
Besides, I really CANNOT understand this Eowyn fully. She/ her thinking is SO unlike me/mine I only can wonder at her motives and ideas… I really hope for some nice fucking to sort it all ;) and make some sort of a Happy Ending or I will always be very unconfortable with this story.

Really, I’m very much astounded that everybody (I’ve seen likewise situations in TV shows, films, songs etc.) seems to approach the “I’m too above to even care”-way. Beside the fact that it is highly doubtful you could act like this when catching your partner in the act of cheating, isn’t it one of the most wrong signals to send (= biggest lies): “Please go on, I don’t care, there is no problem”?

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Ooh, Nerey, you’re such a darling!
Interesting – I too, personally, am quite fond of the ‘ignore mode’. I’d much rather use that to communicate inexpressable outrage than swear and holler. And Eowyn as well, I think, was used to showing cold contempt for those who poisoned her existence like Grima instead of passionately confronting them. But Faramir to her is not like Grima, and… You see, the room is actually Faramir’s, not hers – she has her own bed chamber, where she was coming from through the adjoining private corridor when she heard the moans. So she can’t really demand that the men leave and surrender the ‘battlefield’ to her… If she wants to part at the moment, she would have to be the one to leave, and that wouldn’t be quite as victorious as kicking them out, wouldn’t it…? ;)
But I very much like the notion of her saying something like All right, I’m bored of you lot, I’m going to go and make myself a sandwich now. as though she’s too above them to even care.