For Linda Hoyland and Dawn Felagund for their birthdays. And thanks so to RiverOtter for the beta
He cracked the door to Faramir’s office and peered within. Here his newly accepted Steward and Frodo Baggins both worked, Frodo doing research on how historically those crippled or slain in the defense of the realm had been treated while Faramir looked into the records of his father’s purchases of grain and other staples intended to support the city of Minas Tirith during any siege by Mordor. There was, after all, a need for foodstuffs within the city, considering the desolation of the fields and farms that had supported the White City’s needs, there upon what had become the battlefield of the Pelennor. As for Frodo’s research—well, it would be far easier to convince the Council of the need to offer aid to those disabled in the final battles with Mordor and the families of the slain if precedents could be found, the more the better.
Usually when he looked within the room, Aragorn saw two dark heads each bowed closely over bound volumes of statutes or stacks of documents, one high up with dark hair long and straight, leaning over the surface of the Steward’s massive desk; the other with curly dark locks with glints of silver, particularly near the temples, obscuring in part the delicate leaf-like tips of the ears, intent on whatever lay upon the top of the low table he’d been given to work upon. Today, however, Faramir held a document upright and between himself and his fellow, whose head rose but slightly above the height of the desk. Frodo was leaning forward, indicating with an ink-stained, outstretched finger some point he felt was important; Faramir’s face was shining with pleasure at the shared knowledge. It was plain that whatever Frodo was indicating gave the Man a good deal of satisfaction as well.
“They will come to me soon to share this with me,” the King murmured to himself. “Let them know this moment of fellowship uninterrupted.”
And with a feeling of anticipation, he retreated to his own office, and thought how he would mimic surprise when the two of them surged together into his presence to share whatever it was they had found.