Unexpectedly turned into a cat, Kat falls into Middle-earth with the mission to prevent a death. In a feline form she can only communicate with the elf Legolas - and that he is such an attractive specimen is certainly not helpful...
A humorous (but...
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Faramir, by Magali Villeneuve
"Sometimes I really think people ought to have to pass a proper exam before they're allowed to be parents. Not just the practical, I mean."
― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
35. The Worst Dad
Pushing down her annoyance and dismay, Kat looked out of the window again. How much time had passed? She would have to think about her strange soul journey later.
The sky still had that unhealthy, inky color, and against it Kat saw five sets of wings. The Nazgûl! They were flying away, gaining height in wide spirals until the black cloud from Mordor swallowed them up. What had scared them off?
There was a commotion outside; people shouting things and cheering. Jumping down from the windowsill, Kat pushed the door open. This clearly was important and she knew she had to be where Gandalf was. The front door was trickier – definitely not constructed to be opened by a paw – but luckily the sound from the street made a few other residents hurry out too. Kat quickly slipped after them before the door slammed closed again.
Outside, she scanned the crowd in the semi-darkness, until a small shape drew her gaze. Pippin!
He grinned when Kat joined him. "Did you see that? Gandalf saved Faramir from the flying shadows. He was brilliant! It was as if he wielded a spear made of sunlight when he galloped out there on Shadowfax."
Kat shook her head in reply. So it had been Gandalf! Not surprising, actually.
They heard a cheer rise from the lower levels of the city. "Faramir! Mithrandir!" people chanted, over and over again.
When Gandalf and Faramir walked in through the gate, followed by a long tail of cheering citizens, the roar became deafening. The bystanders expectantly pressed closer, pulling Pippin with them in the throng, and he quickly picked Kat up before she could be trampled by their eager feet.
From her perch on Pippin's shoulders, Kat soon saw Faramir more clearly. His green clothes were worn and stained, and he walked with the heavy gait of one near exhaustion. Apart from that he seemed composed, and if he was afraid after being attacked by five ringwraiths, he hid it well. Though his face was very pale, he looked sad more than anything.
Kat could see a lot of his brother in Faramir. He was handsome in the same way Boromir was, with more of a boyish charm than the way-above-your-league appearance of Aragorn.
Pippin excitedly joined the chanting choir: "Mithrandir! Mithrandir! Faramir! Faramir!"
Faramir stopped dead when his gaze landed on Pippin. Sounding shocked, he asked how there could be a halfling here, wearing the clothes of a citadel guard?
"He came with me from the land of the halflings," Gandalf explained, adding that they had no time to speak more about it here. Pippin would follow them to Lord Denethor, who was his master too now.
