Faramir winces back into the shadow for a moment but not too long. This should not concern him too much now, should it? Orcs can speak and most of Sauron's vilest creatures possess that very same ability. True, Faramir cannot distinguish what the strange words mean - something about a smoking bear, maybe a self-reference? - but he watches, eyes narrowing.
Because while the creature lights the strangest pipe Faramir has ever seen, there is still the sword, red with evidence of recent slaughter. And Faramir knows that while he is a skilled warrior his chances in this fight remain in the shadows of the woods. Boromir might be the one to slay such a creature in the open, he is not. He aims at the creature's head, just between the eyes, like he has done a thousand times before, his duty a painful routine, cleansing the woods of his homelands from intruders. And yet he hesitates.
Is not he the intruder, the trespassing creature in this new and unfamiliar land? Faramir does not know exactly what it is but something in that thought lowers his hand and the arrow jumping forward hits nothing but the woodless pipe instead.
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Faramir winces back into the shadow for a moment but not too long. This should not concern him too much now, should it? Orcs can speak and most of Sauron's vilest creatures possess that very same ability. True, Faramir cannot distinguish what the strange words mean - something about a smoking bear, maybe a self-reference? - but he watches, eyes narrowing.
Because while the creature lights the strangest pipe Faramir has ever seen, there is still the sword, red with evidence of recent slaughter. And Faramir knows that while he is a skilled warrior his chances in this fight remain in the shadows of the woods. Boromir might be the one to slay such a creature in the open, he is not. He aims at the creature's head, just between the eyes, like he has done a thousand times before, his duty a painful routine, cleansing the woods of his homelands from intruders. And yet he hesitates.
Is not he the intruder, the trespassing creature in this new and unfamiliar land? Faramir does not know exactly what it is but something in that thought lowers his hand and the arrow jumping forward hits nothing but the woodless pipe instead.