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altariel ([personal profile] altariel) wrote2013-01-20 01:56 pm
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Farsightedness

A palantír in the family.


Farsightedness

One day my son this will all be yours

On his sixteenth birthday, he followed his father upstairs to a small chamber in which the whole world was contained. He came back downstairs changed – a man – and his boy-brother eyed him thoughtfully, but did not ask.

On his long quest, he thought often of his father watching him from afar. On the outward journey, wandering through lost and empty lands, this certainty gave comfort. But as the river pulled him steadily closer to home – to his failing city and his father’s scrutiny – he felt only the expectation: as a yoke upon his shoulders, as a weight about his neck.


Tower of Guard

After the event, but before full healing, he pondered whether he should have spoken his mind and warned of the dangers. But his brother had not confided in him, and his father would not have wanted his views upon the matter – that to look too closely is to risk enthrallment, that a wise man looks away.

Sometimes he caught himself studying the new owner. He watched for the signs – the greyness, the silence, the grimness, the withering. But this lord, taking full possession of his inheritance, did not falter. In his hands all flourished; there was no danger of decay.


The very heart of the city

Up in his eyrie, his mind was most often upon higher things: fleets and armies, enemies, the end of the world. Still, he was not above watching them sometimes: their games, and growth and secrets; their impregnable bond.

In the end, they both slipped away from him: like water running through his fingers, like a warm spark that sputters for a second before dying. He went up to his tower to look for them – and, beyond them, for her – but saw only what he was allowed to see: the black ships, the red fire, the certain end, the ever-watchful Eye.

[identity profile] just-ann-now.livejournal.com 2013-01-20 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
These are heartbreaking (in a very good way).
kathyh: (Kathyh Faramir hero)

[personal profile] kathyh 2013-01-20 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
These are lovely and "beyond them, for her"
is quite heartbreakingly sad.

[identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com 2013-01-20 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I like the idea of Boromir being admitted to that inner sanctum, shown that great mystery, as a lad; and then knowing his father would be watching him, first as a comfort and then as a... threat, perhaps?

Then Faramir watching Aragorn; wondering, perhaps, if this time he will speak out if he need - and happy in the realisation that he will not need.

But poor Denethor - to be mastered by that of which you think you have mastery.

[identity profile] vasiliki.livejournal.com 2013-01-20 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
his father would not have wanted his views upon the matter – that to look too closely is to risk enthrallment, that a wise man looks away.

I liked these lines so much! <3

[identity profile] edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com 2013-01-20 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my! Oh my! What have you been getting up to! Fabulous and so, so sad as well. Thanks for posting this - it's made my day.

[identity profile] dwimordene-2011.livejournal.com 2013-01-21 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Given that I like my Boromir complicated, I think my favorite of this series is Boromir. No wonder he tipped over into desperate action on Amon Hen - talk about having the highest authority in your personal universe breathing down your neck! Thought of what could happen to Gondor would obviously drive Boromir quite enough, but then add Denethor and his Gondor-love, and perhaps Sauron as well, and it's all just too much.

Additionally, I love that you've put Faramir between Boromir and Denethor, spacing out the horrors, reminding us that in fact, Faramir does survive to serve a king who doesn't succumb to the stone and can use it well. Also, it adds to the sense of Denethor seeing both his sons slip away from him in more than one sense. And yet for all that he can see that clearly, he can't see Finduilas or Boromir waiting to receive him or anyone in the face of the certain end - that pyre is starting to look very attractive indeed!

[identity profile] wheelrider.livejournal.com 2013-01-21 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
I love this whole series -- knives in the heart. And I see it's not done, eh? More to look forward to!

[identity profile] windswept1.livejournal.com 2013-01-21 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
These are so brilliant, each and every one of them. I particularly like the second one, Faramir's point of view of so many.
tree_and_leaf: Dark haired woman, pen and ink drawing with watercolour.  Looks a bit like Harriet Vane. (Harriet)

[personal profile] tree_and_leaf 2013-01-21 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, very nice. I like the last one in in particular.

[identity profile] wormwood-7.livejournal.com 2013-01-23 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
He went up to his tower to look for them – and, beyond them, for her – but saw only what he was allowed to see: the black ships, the red fire, the certain end, the ever-watchful Eye.
I really, really like these, and the sentence above in particular. Heartbreaking. One can't help but feel that it was all a little easier for Aragorn...
I hope you get still more time to write whatever you want :)