Thank you to sevensies for requesting this! I hope you like it! Thank you all for getting this book to 910 reads! Sorry I haven't updated in a month...😅 Blazed Memories part 3 will be out soon, I promise! Also, how do you like the new cover? Love it? Hate it? If you would like to request, please leave it in the comments! I hope you all have an amazing day- enjoy! Xx

She wasn't anyone of renown, nor anyone of particular grace or class. But, he found beauty in her. He found wonder, he found excitement, he found laughter. No, she wasn't anything extraordinary- but that was what had made her special. Boromir had spent his entire life surrounded by kings and queens, warriors and assassins. He kept company with those in power, not with those who lacked it. But in such times as these, he had been forced to be acquainted with those of all sorts. Isildur's heir, a man who rejected his lineage. A dwarf, brethren to those Durin's folk. Then a Thranduilion, and four feeble halflings.

Then, there was her. 

She was a human, who had the escaped from the rule of Théoden when she was but a child. She had joined the fellowship by the request of Aragorn, her guardian and old friend. 

(Y/N).

The thought of her made him smile. At first, he didn't take much liking to her. He did his best not to get into her way, and scarce spoke to her. As their journey went on, Boromir came to the conclusion that they could not keep silent with each other forever. Their first few conversations consisted mostly of small talk. Little comments, small gestures of friendship.

There were moments when his heart had jolted. His stomach fluttered. He found himself enamoured with her. Every time a conversation ended, he wanted it to continue. Every time she walked from him, he wished she would stay with him. It was not until he had almost lost her, when he realised his own feelings. 

Moria had been hectic. The woman had almost lost her life in battle against the orcs. She had bled for days, before they reached Lórien. Boromir waited by her bedside as she recovered. When she woke, (Y/N) found the steward's son sleeping on a chair to her left. She shook him awake, and they had embraced fondly. Boromir had hoped that she did not hear his clamouring heart.

They were now beyond the land of Celeborn or Galadriel. In the forests at the shore, the fellowship departed from their boats to camp. They settled for the night, to find they hadn't a fire going. (Y/N) had volunteered to gather some, and crept off into the rows of trees.

Boromir sat idly, trying to push the thoughts of (Y/N) out of his mind. He hadn't really liked anyone in the way he liked (Y/N). He was unaccustomed to such feelings as these. He had recalled falling in love as boy through adolescence- but it was the first time he had ever felt this strongly about someone. Often the troubles of war and diplomacy got in the way of him achieving a romantic relationship. But now, he was by her side, fighting for his country with the woman of his dreams.

Chewing his nails, Boromir leant against the trunk of a tree, trying to sift through his unruly thoughts. Orcs were on their tail- it wouldn't be long till they met with them. Sometimes the ring played on his mind, but with it out of sight, he had a weight of his mind. He found himself more and more intrigued with that belt of gold, smiling as it gleamed and glittered.

His contemplation was disturbed by Gimli, the dwarf, harrumphing. Raising an eyebrow, Boromir looked over the other company. The hobbits were giggling to themselves like small children (which in a sense, they were), whilst Aragorn tended to the food in the pot over the fire. Gimli smoked from his pipe, and Legolas was sharpening his arrows. He had expected them to say something when he looked, but they didn't.

He pulled out on his own pipe, and puffed out three rings of smoke. Aragorn glanced at him sideways. "How long are you going to deny it, Boromir?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Why will you not tell her how you feel?"

The end of the pipe dropped out of his mouth. The steward's son tensed his shoulders, clenching his jaw to meet Aragorn's gaze.

"What's it to you?"

"She's my ward. I'm her protector."

"Yes. You tend to her needs. But mine? They're none of your concern."

He resumed to smoke, when the bliss was broken once more.

"C'mon, laddie! You're smitten!" Gimli laughed, gusting out a puff of smoke.

"I am not smitten," he said firmly. "Besides, what proof do you have of such a thing?"

"You can't keep your eyes off her," Merry cried, with mouth full of bread.

"And you look forlorn when she stops speaking to you..." Aragorn said, moving to hand a pot of stew over to Boromir. "It's rather pathetic really..."

"Do shut up."

"Come now, Boromir," Legolas muttered with upturned lips. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I'm ashamed not of her. I'm ashamed that I have you all as my company! Gosh, even my father would've taken me having feelings for a girl better..."

"Why? Did he never intend you to marry?"

"He didn't think I would, at least during his lifetime. Besides, he didn't want anything to be in the way of our relationship."

"So your father holds you back from telling her?" Aragorn enquired, taking a spoon full of his stew.

"No. If I had ever felt this way before, I would've acted on it. But I have next to no experience in romance. Even so, I doubt she'd reciprocate how I feel. I doubt she's thought much of it."

"You think too little of yourself, Boromir. She may think of you as more than just a friend."

"Well..."

Boromir didn't want to get his hopes up. If she did reject him, he best be prepared. He couldn't look back and see whether or not she really did care from him romantically- he was so wrapped up in his own feelings, that he didn't dare consider hers. It would be a miracle if (Y/N) did love him back- something beyond his wildest dreams.

"... I hope that she could see me that way."

"Well, there's always a chance, isn't there?"

Boromir glanced at his friends, as a coy smile stretched over his lips. "I hope there's one."

The sky was now painted in deep indigos and blues. Still, no fire raged in the middle of the company. A chill brushed over Boromir's shoulders, his spine shivering in the gelid night. Frodo had returned from a walk, and was enjoying the stew with a smile. (Y/N) still had not returned. They had let her be while the sun was in the sky- but now that a sheet of black had been pulled over its beams, trouble awaited in the depths of these forests. Aragorn was the first to volunteer to go after her, but Boromir craftly told him it would be better for him to go rather than Isildur's heir to.

And so, with sword in hand, he crept through the shadows of the forest.

Through the brambles and the bushes, he found a small fire lit in a clearing, with a woman sitting at a log, tending to the sparks. "(Y/N)?" he asked, lowering his blade.

She looked back with a startled gasp, taking to her feet to stagger. "Boromir! I...sorry, I just wanted some privacy for the night. I had thought--"

"--that you could run off and expect no one to worry about you? Orcs could swarm these lands in an instant! You can't just leave!"

"I know that! But I can defend myself easily enough, can I not?"

"That's not the point. In such times we need to stick together. Now come, Aragorn's saved you some supper." He moved forward to stamp on the small fire- (Y/N) rushed forward to stop him.

"Wait! I'm...I'm going to stay here for a while. Just have some time alone, you know?"

"You've had four hours alone," he snorted.

"I know, I..." She sighed, rubbing her head. She paced around him, before looking him in the eye. Her (E/C) orbs were sincere, yet so afraid. "I heard what you and the others were saying."

Boromir had never known such embarrassment. He could only manage to mutter, "What?"

"I heard you. You said...you had feelings for me."

"I didn't...exactly say that."

"Well, then I'm paraphrasing. I was bringing the firewood back when I heard you. I didn't know what to do! I couldn't face you after hearing that. I was...intimidated. I just...I didn't know how to handle it. I'm sorry, I'm usually more well together and don't do such stupid things but..."

(Y/N) turned from him, hiding her reddened cheeks. Boromir was wondering whether she could hear his thumping heart. "But?" he swallowed.

"But...I care about you, Boromir. Over these last weeks, I've...I've grown attached to you. I don't think I realised how much...until now."

When she turned, her eyes were illuminated by the steady glow of the dying flame. Breath left the steward's son. 

"I like you, Boromir," she said in a hushed voice.

A smile appeared on his face. "And I like you, (Y/N)."