Nov 16: Lamentable Tidings III 

The knocks on his study door finally penetrated Faramir’s grief, and the Thain cleared his throat and called out, “Come in!” while he groped for his pocket handkerchief.

“Farry, I heard a messenger from Gondor came?”  The visiting Master of Buckland peered around the edge of the door. “Was there anything from Dad?”

Faramir looked down at the remaining letter, which had clearly been written by Merry--the address blurred as more tears welled up--and handed it to him, along with Pippin’s and the King’s missives.

When his cousin looked up from the last, devastated, Faramir  Took wept again.

A/N: Prompt:  "And so it was" by Grey Wizard from the ALEP2: TABA group on Facebook.  Although this drabble does not use the words of the prompt, it was directly inspired by it as the third part of the Lamentable Tidings triptych.  I realized that there would have been no reason for Merry's letter to his son to have been included in the dispatches meant for the Thain, unless the messenger arrived at Brandy Hall to discover that the Master was visiting family in The Great Smials.