Written for the Tolkien_weekly "River" Challenge.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice,” their father said as Faramir dipped a wary foot in the water then waded into the shallows.

“Why not?” Boromir looked up from digging a hole in the sand.

“The river is always changing—and so is the man.”

“But it’s still the Anduin, isn’t it? And I will never change.”

“I daresay you will not, my son,” Denethor said with the faintest glint of a smile.

Squinting against the sun’s reflected glare, Faramir watched the dreamlike sway and the flickering gleam and shadow as the river flowed over his feet.