Chapter Text
Faramir Denethorion, Captain of the Ithilien Rangers, son of the Steward of Gondor was not happy. In the months since the War of the Ring had been won, everyone living in the Citadel of Minas Minas Tirith had been kept extremely busy with the rebuilding. Everyone except Faramir that is. That dictator whom his father had acknowledged as king wouldn't let Faramir do anything. Yes he fallen to the black breath, but he'd spent so much time in Ithilien that that wasn't much of a surprise. The wound he had taken in the Battle for the Pelennor wasn't that bad, it had only taken twenty stitches to fix it, no where near his record. Worst of all was the way the supposed King kept stuffing him with food. He had always been rather slim, an inheritance that came from his mother. He was not as under weight as the 'King' seemed to thing he was.
Much to his disgust, his father, whom the King had 'graciously' allowed to remain as Steward, had been backing every single one of the King's demand about Faramir's health.
Faramir could remember the temper tantrum both had thrown when he had returned to his room after setting off the fireworks to celebrate the end of the war. His father had put him back to bed, and given him a large number of law books to memorise. He was finished them within days. He could remember the one bright point of that incident. Elladan Elrondion did not agree with how hiss little brother was treating Faramir. He and Elrohir, both healers as well as warriors with a few thousand years experience, felt that it would be a better idea to let Faramir go about his daily activities, but with someone to supervise, on the off chance he over did things. Both had volunteered. Aragorn had disagreed.
The worst part of the forced inactivity was that Aragorn wouldn't let anyone talk about how things were going in the field, lest it make him any more restive than he already was. As such, he had heard nothing of his rangers since the Pellenor. He had no idea of casualties, no way of knowing which of his friends had survived the war. The twins tried to tell him what they knew, but the Ithilien rangers did not speak to those they didn't know. Boromir had complained once that getting information from an uncooperative ranger was like trying to steal Mithrandir's fireworks without being caught. Faramir could do it, but no one else could, and he would never give away his secrets.
There was one bright spark on the horizon. Merry and Pippin were returning to Gondor so that they could experience a proper Gondorian Mettare. Apparently Boromir hadn't shut up about the festival the Mettare that he was away on the quest, and now the hobbits were wanting to see it for themselves. Particularly, they wanted to see the Mettare day feast. They bet Boromir that he was exaggerating the size of the feast, and now they wanted to collect. Unfortunately for them, Boromir was quite right about the feast. Boromir was one of the most honest people in Minas Tirith. He would have made a terrible ranger.
One upside to the enforced isolation and relaxation was that Faramir had been able to start planning the comeuppance of those who had plotted against him. The twins, who had claimed Denethor as another little brother, which meant they had claimed the position of Uncles to both of his sons, had already offered their assistance in whatever plan he could come up with.
Another suprising co-conspirator was Aragorn's closest friend, Legolas. Quite annoyed with his friend for refusing to listen to anyone but Denethor, Leglas had appeared in Faramir's room asking if he had started plotting yet. The twins, who had also been visiting at the time, grinned at him, while Faramir gave him his best innocent look. Uncle Legolas, as the twins insisted Faramir call him, was not fooled for a moment. Apparently, his father had had been friends with Prince Angelimar of Dol Amroth, Faramir's great grandfather. On one visit, Thranduil had taken Legolas with him. Angelimar's heir, Faramir's beloved Grandfather, Adrahil, had apparently tried that particular look on his father. It had resulted in Angelimar locking down security all through Dol Amroth, much to amusement of all watching, particularly the young heir to the Stewardship, as it meant he got a longer holiday than planned, as Angelimar couldn't spare the men at that particular moment to escort the young one back to Minas Tirith. Faramir had plans for teaching his monarch not to cross the Captain of the Ithilien Rangers, but that didn't mean that he had to tell everyone about them just yet. When the time was right, he would tell those people who needed information exactly what he wanted to know. Then Aragorn would find out what happened to someone who stood in the way Faramir Denethorion.