I am, in every way, equal to my brother.
My hearing, like his, is sharper than even the most exceptional elves, and my eyesight even manages to surpass his. When we still trained in the forest before dawn came, and further still, before he left, I always had an advantage in that I could see every detail he could not.
Even more, because of that training, I can use a sword as well as any of my kind, and my aim with a bow and arrow is near perfect. There are some who would even envy my skills, and so I believed I could hold my own in a battle.
Admittedly, I am not the best at tracking, and will never rise up to his standards. He is the best I know, and I am content to let things rest at that. I believe he could even track a fellow elf running across a ground composed nearly entirely of stone. However, I make up for this lack of talent in my abilities in running. No other in Mirkwood is, or ever was, able to run with more speed, agility, and most importantly, stealth. In the morning before we would train, he practiced tracking me. On occasion, my weaponry training would be cancelled because it took his so long to follow my trail. Still, all of this was. no good.
All of my talents and skills were nothing to the elders. The king cared little about my arguments, for, as he said, the battlefield was no place for a woman. If you were to ask him now, it should never have become my world. I disagree. Even knowing the events of that final, great battle, my heart will always be present in the wars and skirmishes of others. But I disgress. Where was I? Yes, my father's view.
My father's world was a world where women and war did not mix. He believed that should war ever approach Mirkwood, as it did then, I would be sent to a safe haven, where I would never see what he called the 'horrors of war'. My protests that I could be of help in spotting enemy movements were waved away even after mentions that my speed would allow me to escape before I was ever seen. I was young, Father said. I could not be expected to remain alert enough to realize the danger I could be in until I was dead. The discussion came to an abrupt end when I proclaimed that being young would sharpen my senses and wit, and that the older one was, the less able they were for battle. I did not even bother to bring up my mastery of certain weapons. Had I done so, I would have ruined both myself and my brother. He would have to be banished and I would be eternally confined within the gates of our home. Weapons were forbidden to women, with an exception for a bow along with a few arrows. Even these were to be used for protection in the most severe circumstances. My brother was my only link to that which was forbidden, and I could not allow myself to destroy that connection.
So I sat. I waited. The normal order of life continued, and my training sessions continued without notice. Then it happened. Our leaders heard of powers rising in the south. Armies of orcs and other foul creatures were on the move, occasionally passing through the borders of our forest. Of course, we sent out small bands of our best hunters. Every few weeks they would return and allow a fresh set to resume the hunt. This was my savior and destroyer. Their movements are what determined my fate.
The number of orcs was increasing daily, and the usual fiends of the forest were becoming restless and steadily more aggressive. The spiders, which normally would flee from our arrows, had gone so far as to begin making attacks, one managing to wound one of our best men.
My father would never be considered an idiot, but his words that day of the first attack could quite possibly be the cause of the losses we would sustain in the next two years. His opinions throughout my entire life were what caused him to lose me to the battle and war.
The day of that first attack, Father held a council. Our leaders argued back and forth about trivial ideas until the hunting party returned with the news and the wounded. Then the real debate began. Some believed the best action would be to gather together and destroy any dark creatures that lingered in our forest. Others, like my father, thought to raise our defenses against these attacks. They could not imagine any waging war against us. Even those on the opposite side admitted that no one could have the power to bring us down. My brother knew better though. He tried to reason with the council. For weeks now he had been reporting the happenings to me and reading what I'd managed to research. He attempted to use this knowledge to sway Father to his side, for whichever side Father was on was sure to win. Unfortunately, he lost his temper He cried out that we would all die because of Father's pig-headedness.
Needless to say, he lost the argument. The council never even heard what I'd learned. They did not realize the danger until it was too late.
My hearing, like his, is sharper than even the most exceptional elves, and my eyesight even manages to surpass his. When we still trained in the forest before dawn came, and further still, before he left, I always had an advantage in that I could see every detail he could not.
Even more, because of that training, I can use a sword as well as any of my kind, and my aim with a bow and arrow is near perfect. There are some who would even envy my skills, and so I believed I could hold my own in a battle.
Admittedly, I am not the best at tracking, and will never rise up to his standards. He is the best I know, and I am content to let things rest at that. I believe he could even track a fellow elf running across a ground composed nearly entirely of stone. However, I make up for this lack of talent in my abilities in running. No other in Mirkwood is, or ever was, able to run with more speed, agility, and most importantly, stealth. In the morning before we would train, he practiced tracking me. On occasion, my weaponry training would be cancelled because it took his so long to follow my trail. Still, all of this was. no good.
All of my talents and skills were nothing to the elders. The king cared little about my arguments, for, as he said, the battlefield was no place for a woman. If you were to ask him now, it should never have become my world. I disagree. Even knowing the events of that final, great battle, my heart will always be present in the wars and skirmishes of others. But I disgress. Where was I? Yes, my father's view.
My father's world was a world where women and war did not mix. He believed that should war ever approach Mirkwood, as it did then, I would be sent to a safe haven, where I would never see what he called the 'horrors of war'. My protests that I could be of help in spotting enemy movements were waved away even after mentions that my speed would allow me to escape before I was ever seen. I was young, Father said. I could not be expected to remain alert enough to realize the danger I could be in until I was dead. The discussion came to an abrupt end when I proclaimed that being young would sharpen my senses and wit, and that the older one was, the less able they were for battle. I did not even bother to bring up my mastery of certain weapons. Had I done so, I would have ruined both myself and my brother. He would have to be banished and I would be eternally confined within the gates of our home. Weapons were forbidden to women, with an exception for a bow along with a few arrows. Even these were to be used for protection in the most severe circumstances. My brother was my only link to that which was forbidden, and I could not allow myself to destroy that connection.
So I sat. I waited. The normal order of life continued, and my training sessions continued without notice. Then it happened. Our leaders heard of powers rising in the south. Armies of orcs and other foul creatures were on the move, occasionally passing through the borders of our forest. Of course, we sent out small bands of our best hunters. Every few weeks they would return and allow a fresh set to resume the hunt. This was my savior and destroyer. Their movements are what determined my fate.
The number of orcs was increasing daily, and the usual fiends of the forest were becoming restless and steadily more aggressive. The spiders, which normally would flee from our arrows, had gone so far as to begin making attacks, one managing to wound one of our best men.
My father would never be considered an idiot, but his words that day of the first attack could quite possibly be the cause of the losses we would sustain in the next two years. His opinions throughout my entire life were what caused him to lose me to the battle and war.
The day of that first attack, Father held a council. Our leaders argued back and forth about trivial ideas until the hunting party returned with the news and the wounded. Then the real debate began. Some believed the best action would be to gather together and destroy any dark creatures that lingered in our forest. Others, like my father, thought to raise our defenses against these attacks. They could not imagine any waging war against us. Even those on the opposite side admitted that no one could have the power to bring us down. My brother knew better though. He tried to reason with the council. For weeks now he had been reporting the happenings to me and reading what I'd managed to research. He attempted to use this knowledge to sway Father to his side, for whichever side Father was on was sure to win. Unfortunately, he lost his temper He cried out that we would all die because of Father's pig-headedness.
Needless to say, he lost the argument. The council never even heard what I'd learned. They did not realize the danger until it was too late.