5. Restores My Soul
Restore My Soul ("...he restores my soul.")
"Swim, Ada! The water is lovely!" And, with a splash, Theowyn lay back in the stream and tried to float.
Faramir looked up from where he sat on the bank, and a grin crossed his face when Elboron splashed water into Theowyn's face, prompting her to jerk with surprise, then sink with a squeal. But he did not join them.
"Do you think still about your work?" asked Eowyn, coming to sit beside him. "It was the entire purpose of this to give you a rest from it."
"I do not think of my duties," said Faramir, still watching as Theowyn splashed Elboron full in the face for his trick, but giggling as she did so.
Eowyn tipped her head and looked at him. "You should be enjoying yourself. Why do you not swim?"
Faramir looked into her face then, and his eyes shone gently. "To watch as my children play fearlessly—it gives me more soothing than anything else. They live in happiness, and it restores my soul to see it."
"Oh, very well put," said Eowyn with a grin of her own. "If you must use such fair words, I will not try to persuade you otherwise, however much I may believe that such is the goal you desired."
Faramir's eyelids drooped a little to hide the twinkle, and he turned to watch his children again, saying in his attempt at a neutral tone: "What good would it do, beloved, to have fair words and not use them to fullest advantage?"
Eowyn laughed, and that sound alone, for which he had striven and endeavored, brought restoration sevenfold to Faramir's heart.
This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.
