Standard disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the setting - it all belongs to the Grand Master, J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm just playing around, having fun with some of my favourite heroes.

Growth

"What are you doing there?"

Aragorn stopped the knife in mid-air and looked up from the small mirror at Boromir who wrinkled his brow in disapproval.

"I'm shaving", he said.

"Yes, I can see that. But why?"

Boromir crouched next to Aragorn. He cupped his hands and splashed some of the clear mountain stream's water in his face.

Aragorn shrugged. "Why not?"

Boromir looked at him.

"You are a man. And you always will be a man, no matter how much you might wish to be an elf."

Aragorn raised his eyebrows. "So?" He still didn't see the point.

"Men have beards", Boromir said and got up, wiping his hands on his tunic.

"Forgive me, but – I don't think I understand what you mean."

Boromir took in a deep breath.

"I have been watching you, Aragorn, son of Arathorn", he said, "not only since we started our journey but also while we were still back in Rivendell. You dress like them, you move and talk like them, you try to be like them in everything you do. But you are no elf, no matter how much you might wish for it. You are a man."

Aragorn opened his mouth to protest. He didn't wish to be an elf – or did he? Boromir raised his hand.

"No, please, let me speak. Who knows if I will ever get another opportunity like this one. You wish to be an elf so much that you forget who you are – and what you are. The people of Gondor want no elven king. They want a man. One of their own. As long as you cannot be just that, we will have no king in Gondor."

Boromir gestured at the knife and the mirror in Aragorn's hands. "Stop denying what you are. Accept you are a man and not an elf and be proud of it."

Before Aragorn could say anything, Boromir turned and left. Aragorn looked in the mirror. He rubbed his stubbly cheek. What a fuss about a beard. Boromir was seeing more than actually was there. He didn't shave because he wished to be an elf. Or – did he? Wasn't it true that for the greater part of his life he had looked upon the elves of Rivendell in envy? Because he wanted to be just like them but had failed over and over again? Was he still trying, even without knowing it? On the other hand, he had grown up among elves. Wasn't it only natural that he was adopting their ways? Was it really just a matter of taste that he chose to wear no beard or was that decision more significant than even he himself realized?

With a sigh, Aragorn sheathed his knife and tucked away the mirror. Very well, he would not shave today. If it helped to keep Boromir happy, all the better. The man had been in a strange mood for days – ever since they had failed to cross the pass of the Caradhras and had turned back to head for Moria. But, Aragorn promised himself, if that stubble should start to itch it would come off. He got up and went back to the others.

- End -