Boromir Aesir · @Boromir_Aesir
12th Jan 2015 from TwitLonger
Stone-verse: Osgiliath
After http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sjr0ch and http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sjtube?new_post=true
In Osgiliath, Boromir and Elennárë spend time with Kíli.
@Boromir_Aesir @Valandhir @Silmaril_Naro
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Kíli
Osgiliath, the fallen Citadel of the Stars... to Kíli this city would always feel like part of his life, it had become a constant in his journeys and even if his heart tensed when he saw the familiar shape of the forge embedded in the inner fortress wall, he would never not come back here. It felt like home.
Regeron, an old Master Armorer who had held down the fort here for the last few years grinned when he saw Kíli approach. "Should I wonder where Lathiar is hiding?" he asked good-naturedly, when he helped Kíli to unload the cart and the horses, referencing the Swordsmith from the city who should have had this turn of front-duty.
"He just married his Lady and has a child on the way," Kíli replied, while he stacked the crates with truesteel ingots into the storage shed. "It was not a good time for him to play hide and seek with our ugly friends from beyond the river."
Regeron snorted. "And Malaran was too young, Temphil too fragile with his nightmares and what was it you said about Ocares? Oh yes... he had three children to provide for and should not risk his skin."
"I did not hear the Armsmaster complain when I talked to him," Kíli pointed out, without slowing down on the work. "He seemed to agree on the matter entirely." Though Kíli had asked him to not let anyone know he was replacing a man reluctant to go, but make it look like it would have been his turn anyway. It might be his turn a lot in years to come, but that was an entirely different matter.
Now Regeron laughed out loudly. "Of course the Armsmaster will take you if you are willing to go, he'd take you over any other blacksmith in the city, maybe excluding Altareon, and he is really getting too old for this kind of thing."
"He has the other forge, down by the river." Kíli smirked slightly, because he liked the old Master of the Steel Guild, and maybe because he had known him since he had been an eager boy, sneaking into Kíli forge to learn spells. "We agreed to keep it between us this time."
"Not that anyone should complain." Regeron shrugged. "Be careful, Kíli, I had to go out into East-Ithilien at least once a month this last year, our outpost can't stay out of trouble."
"I will be careful. You watch over the city..." Kíli replied with the traditional goodbye for someone who went back inland for a while. The rest of the day he spent busy, getting his things into order, setting the smithy up for the repairs that were to come, and generally settling down again.
He also opened the hidden door - a stone door that sealed another room of the forge - most people probably assumed that the part of the building that touched the wall was solid, but in truth it held a small room with a narrow embrasure that allowed a view beyond the wall and on the river. It held not much, a bed, a chest, a travel desk. Often his throat had tightened when he had come in here, but today he actually relished the thought of a room that gave privacy without him being away from the forge... something inconspicuous. Maybe he should add a chair close to the door at some point.
He smiled at the thought of a visitor, of maybe sitting by the fire and talk... until a few days ago he had believed his new found closeness to Boromir might not go beyond a close friendship - and it was a friendship he welcomed. The human warrior had snuck up on him without Kíli realizing and a warm friendship had grown from it. Until that night. Kíli could not tell whom of them had initiated the kiss and he certainly did not regret what had followed, it had woken a place inside him, that he had left buried and dead decades ago. And while he knew that such things had no room in a war-camp, friendship DID have a place here, and so did closeness if they were careful.
By the time the dawn came Kíli had the forge as he wanted it to be, and lit the fire, it would not burn out, and would keep the thick walls warm.
Boromir
The room Boromir turned in was familiar, almost a second home for how often over the years he had ended up staying here. Even before he was named as a captain it had been granted to him as the son of the Steward and he had not seen fit to move to any other rooms to "befit his status". Larger rooms could be used for meetings, healers, offices of the support personnel...
A flicker out the side of his eye drew his attention as Elennárë's ghostly image settled on a stone bench with a slight smile. Boromir could already pick up in the back of his mind a sense of fond familiarity that echoed his own. Not an unusual thing, he thought, considering all the previous times he had been here he had Elennárë with him, even if he did not know her true nature then.
His hand moved to rest on the secure pocket under several layers of leather and fabric, where her stoneform rested. He had fast grown to accept that she could be quietly standing by his side, unseen to everyone but himself, while her stone remained safely stored.
"I hope to go see how Kíli is settling into his place. I would suppose you would be glad to come with me?"
Elennárë
Elennárë looked up to Boromir and offered him a smile. "I would so be glad to, besides, I would feel safer not being separate from you while we're here...I know the camp is in the safer sector of the city, but I remember how far in some of the enemy forces could reach." There had been past incidents, ones she knows Boromir recalls, where orcs had been supported by the far more intelligent Easterlings and had got further into the ruined city. The Gondorian forces had pushed them back, but it left an unsavory memory when enemy soldiers managed to reach the camp, in an attempt to cripple their forces by killing much-needed healers.
Boromir
Boromir nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. It had been something that had made them totally review their camp security, to make sure there were no easy ways in for that to happen again.
"Well let us go see our good smith now." He said, Elennárë already rising to her feet. He knew logically he did not need to wait for her ghostly form, but it felt like good manners to do so. She was not slow either and they were quickly moving down towards the inner wall area, where Kíli's forge was located.
Kíli
Kíli had been giving the forge's ledger a cursory glance, the log detailed the use of materials and so forth and gave him a sense of the amount of material and work to be expected. Material might become a problem, if he read those numbers correctly - in the past they had lasted a year on a solid stocking up, now it seemed that nine to ten months seemed more realistic. He had just begun thinking on ways to work around that, when he heard familiar steps and saw two very familiar people walk through the dusky yard towards his forge. Boromir was accompanied by a ghostly lady - Elennárë walked beside him, invisible to anyone but them. He smiled, her presence was one he appreciated as much as Boromir's and while she was still a marvel to him in some ways, he loved the times they had sat and talked. And she was a sister, a soul-guardian for Boromir.
Closing the book he rose, when Boromir reached the entrance.
Boromir
Boromir could not help the warm smile that stole over his face as he set eyes on Kíli. With the new turn in their relationship even just knowing he has the chance to spend time reasonably away from prying eyes made his heart jump a little.
"How are you settling in?" He asked as he stepped inside, Elennárë already moving to settle near the fireplace. "I already have seen reports about the recent fighting and it's draw on supplies. I would hope things go better, but if recent patterns are true, it's going to get harder." Even as he spoke he moved to Kíli's side and slid an arm around his shoulders in a fond companionably manner.
Kíli
"Coming back here feels like coming home, in a way," Kíli replied, returning the companionable gesture as they walked over to the fire. "As for the supplies - we'll have to smelt every bit of broken material we have, even the Orc junk and see what we can re-use. We'll manage, we always do." He added with a small wink. "How have you two been settling into your ruined tower?"
Boromir
Boromir grinned wryly in response to Kíli's statement about re-using everything. It was all too common to do so with the army, trying to not put more stress in supply lines and levies. "That tower feels almost more my home than the Citadel does, for how often I've lived in it over the years." He said as they came to settle on a rough but moderately comfortable seat together.
Elennárë
"It is slightly different for me now that I am not quietly lurking in dreams, but I have been here just as often as Boromir has, so it's a strange sense of comfort, considering it's warcamp, but the comfort is in familiar things." Elennárë said with a small shrug. "Better to be in rough conditions with close friends than alone even in the most luxurious of places."
Kíli
"Home is not a place, or even a roof over our heads but with the people we love," Kíli replied softly, with a small wistful smile in his eyes. He understands that Elennárë is less comfortable than him and Boromir, who have comfortably settled down on the low, if somewhat rough, seat by the fire. A sudden thought comes to his mind. "There is a small room back there, inside the wall," he says, pointing towards the stone door slightly ajar. "it has a stone lectern in the far corner... it could be an easy place for you to read without having to worry about anyone walking in on you during the days." he suggests.
Elennárë
Elennárë turned the way Kíli indicated, eyes a bit wider as she reached out with her senses to probe the space he mentioned. Boromir had packed some of the books she had expressed an interest in, so the thought of a more secure place to stay with he was busy with his duties, one still close to someone who knew who she was, sounded... ideal was still not quite the best word for it.
"That sounds like an excellent idea. The tower... sometimes I wonder how secure it can be. It is hardly a hidden location..." She bit her lip a bit. "And I know I have my personal problems with both security and being alone, so somewhere both secure, but near someone I trust..." She looked around the forge, then towards Kíli. "You offer the best solution to both worries."
Kíli
Kíli reached over, gingerly touching her hand, it sent a tingle through his senses, when he came into close contact with her arcane presence. "Do not be shy about it, my friend," he says gently, she has a right to wonder how safe some places in this ruin are. "it is more than understandable that you want to be safe, and our friends from across the river will know that the Tower is Boromir's quarters..." he shook his head. "You are welcome to be here, as often and as long as you want. Both of you." And in case of an attack it would only take a kick to close that door, once closed the Easterlings would never find it, let alone think to look for it.
Elennárë
Elennárë smiled, shifting her seat so she can sit a bit closer to Kíli. Though she had only known him for a few weeks, she felt he was something like another brother, filling up another of the holes in her heart left by all the family she had lost over the long centuries. "A long past of being taken from my home, taken from my family gives me the needs I feel." She murmured in a low voice.
Boromir
Boromir picked up the soft words, adding them to a mental collection of other details he had heard since coming to know his dream-sister in the waking world. There is a great story to how she left Valinor, teasing clues that he can't immediately put together. All he can do is offer her what understanding and affection he could, until she felt ready to tell the whole tale.
He gave Kíli an wordless one-armed hug in thanks for how he would help Elennárë.
Kíli
Kíli smiled at Boromir, knowing and feeling that he did worry deeply for his dream-sister. She was a riddle, and Kíli could feel a sad, heartbreakingly sad story inside her words. And sometimes he wished he had the time to truly follow up on the small clues, to find the legend she belonged to. But all the more, he wanted to help her feel safe again. So he shifted just a little when she moved closer, to wrap an arm around her, ignoring the tingles it sent through his skin. "And you'll have a place here, for as long as you need. Let time do the rest."
It might not have been the wisest words, but time and choosing to be at home somewhere else could help, that much Kíli knew all too well. Even if this place, this forge, held his own shadows, shadows of those passed on. For a moment he imagined them here - ghostly appearances like Elennárë, watching over them. Hastily he pushed that picture away, before it could become too intense, and truly gave her that hug he felt she needed.
Boromir
As Elennárë leaned into Kíli's hug, Boromir in turn shifted to hug Kíli a bit more completely. These two... he knew less of Kíli's background than he did of Elennárë's, but it felt like something was there as well, an understanding that came from knowing personally a similar loss. Maybe, he thought, that was why Kíli came to Minas Tirith originally. Boromir was not without his own losses either, with his mother gone in his childhood and several friends of his youth lost in war over the years, but somehow it seemed to pale in comparison. At best he could keep being a support for both of them.
Kíli
Kíli had yet to get used to the way Elennárë was linking them at times, at moments when he suddenly became aware of the presence of Boromir, like feeling an echo of his emotions. It was still new and sometimes raw, often he could not read much beyond strong emotions but the self-depreciating echo he now sensed, was quite distinctive and something he had sensed before. He turned around to face Boromir, both hands clasping his shoulders. He did not know what exactly Boromir felt so low about, but it was there, still was. He leaned close enough for their foreheads to touch, it was a gesture that he has not used in that manner in quite some time... "We should not make you so sad," he says in a hush.
Boromir
"merely... thinking of how we all seem to have lost something." Boromir said softly, his arms moving to tighten around Kíli. "I... do not wish to presume, or pry, but I have an impression you have lost family as well. I simply thought... we three have that so much alike."
Kíli
"We do," Kíli replied, not letting go of their embrace. He had not overheard the question Boromir asked, if indirectly. "We all lost family in the past..." He did remember the time when Lady Findulas died, all the city had been mourning, for she had been a beloved Lady. She left two young children... one of them now a grown warrior, and losing a mother was one of the wounds to the heart that never quite healed. "and... I did not wish to remind you of loss, Boromir, or make you think of your Lady mother."
Boromir
Even though Kíli did not say anything of it, it felt as though he had confirmed Boromir's suspicion. He did not need to know the details until Kíli gave them, only that he knew they did share similar pain was enough. They could help one another deal with it. "You did not do so with intent, only my thoughts went that way of their own accord." He turned his head a little to brush his lips along Kíli's cheek.
Kíli
"And you still managed to be self-depreciating about it," Kíli tilted his head just enough to catch the warm lips for a kiss. He gently traced his fingers through the tawny hair. "There is no comparing of pain, once the pain is there, it stays... there is no "lesser" suffering, or "lesser" loss." It was a guess at what he sensed before, but he was almost sure he was right.
Boromir
That bring a wry twist to Boromir's lips. "I keep trying to be strong even when not in front of people. Everything for Gondor and nothing for myself." It is something Faramir has said a few times when the stress of their father's expectations got to Boromir as well. "Something my brother has said." He added.
Kíli
The words twisted something inside Kíli, for he knew the keeping strong for others too well. And he knew where it can lead, when all that is left, is for their people. "Elennárë and I... we are yours... not Gondor's," he whispered against Boromir's lips before gently kissing him again.
Boromir
Boromir's arms tightened around Kíli, pulling him close as he let himself get lost the warmth of the kiss. All his, this is, he thought. His love, and his sister.
Though she had fallen quiet, he could sense Elennárë quietly echoing Kíli's words as well.
Kíli
Shifting slightly, Kíli settles beside Boromir, curled up with him in a tight embrace, content to hold his love as the night moves on, and to know a good friend... a sister in a way, watching over them.