Hello and welcome to yet another chapter of 'At The Tip Of A Sword!
Now be patient people, i know this chapter is a little slow, but this is necessary to the plot.
Okay... on with the tale!
"What?" this was it, Nicola decided. Her friend had finally cracked.
Seyona looked at Nicola and shrugged. "Do you have any other explanation as to how Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Gandalf are giving us funny looks right now?" Seyona looked at them again, and froze when she realized that Legolas was frowning at them. "Damn that elven hearing," she muttered under her breath.
Aragorn nudged his horse forward, and Legolas reluctantly followed suit giving suspicious glances back at them all the while. Seyona looked up at the man on the tower and he smiled back.
"You know," he said conversationally, as though an elf and a dwarf were a regular occurrence at these gates, "I have a feeling refusing you entry would be fruitless, considering that you'll just be admitted in a few moments time. I have a feeling that Wormtongue will get his due." He smiled wickedly and Seyona got the feeling that the man knew precisely what he was doing.
"You have our sincerest thanks." Said Nicola truthfully.
"Ah, 'twas nothing milady. Although I must say I am curious as to how two elven ladies got lost."
"So are we. Believe you me. So are we."
"Hmm…" the man looked thoughtful, "ah well. When you have time, you must tell it to me. Go though."
"Thank you again."
Nicola and Seyona had just stepped through the gates when a man came running at them.
"Get out of my way!" he shouted, still running as though the devil himself was after him. They just had time to move out of the way as he flew through, running straight for the gate.
"I think that may have been Wormtongue," Nicola looked at Seyona, who shrugged.
"I don't know. He was moving too fast for me to see," Seyona laughed, " I forget, but doesn't he take a horse?"
They watched as Wormtongue continued running out across the plains at a breakneck pace.
"Well, I guess not." They watched for a while longer, bursting into wild giggles when he tripped over a rock and fell face first into the river.
"He deserved that." said Seyona after she had regained her breath only to dissolve into a fit of giggles at the sight of him covered in reeds. After a few minutes of manic giggling they managed to compose themselves enough to stop laughing, although every so often one would have to close her eyes and concentrate.
"So, what do we do now?"
"We have to find an inn," Seyona replied, glancing over at Legolas and frowning at the look he threw back at her, "Somehow, I don't think they would find out tent too amusing. It's millennia ahead of-" she stopped at the look Nicola was giving her and realized that Legolas was listening in, "rien" Seyona switched to French. She new quite bit of French, but she generally spoke it a little more colourfully. She found that she could really confuse the English population if she did that.
Nicola gave Seyona a look which said 'yeah, I think he was listening all along,'
Seyona narrowed her eyes at Legolas, a look which Nicola recognised as 'that better be the last time…'
"Well, they don't know who you are. I guess it's only natural that they would be suspicious." Nicola whispered by way of explanation, and then," so, how's about that inn?"
a half hour later, they finally found an inn, in the outskirts of the city.
"You know, I never realized a small town could be so big! And to think I managed to cross Toronto in 10 minutes flat."
"With 13 speeding tickets." Seyona pointed out.
"Yeah, you know, I'm pretty sure I could have made it in 6 if they hadn't kept on pulling me over." Said Nicola, the beginning of a frown starting to cross her delicate features.
Seyona rolled her eyes, "You would think so, wouldn't you?" she said, suddenly fighting a mad urge to laugh.
They trudged up to the door in companionable silence and bargained with the inn keeper. Once again, Seyona let Nicola handle it, being the history expert, and wondered vaguely if middle earth had a currency.
A few minutes later they had a room on the second floor. It wouldn't be very luxurious, even by middle earth standards, but it was fine to them. They didn't mind what room they got, as long as it was clean.
"Do you think that they would have an archery range here?" Seyona asked suddenly, taking Nicola by surprise.
"Yes, they might. I mean, if they have archers, they have to a an archery range," she said.
"Yep, logic was always your strong point. Funny, because you didn't like math." Seyona looked at Nicola and smiled.
Nicola's eyes widened when she saw the look in Seyona's eyes. It was a look that she had seen many times in the past. "You're not going to fight, are you?" she asked, looking as though if it were in her power, Seyona would have been duck-taped to a chair a while ago. "You've made up your mind already? You've only been here five minutes!"
Seyona tried to meet Nicolas gaze, but found she couldn't and turned her eyes to the floor instead.
"I was considering it. I can fight! If I could prove that to them, if I could prove I could fight, then I could help. They need every able-bodied person out there, you know, and I can fight pretty well."
Nicola blinked, "When you fenced, though, people didn't try to kill you. That was one rather important aspect of battle that they left out, no?"
Seyona grinned at Nicola's expression, "Yes, well, usually in most sports people don't try to kill one another either. Odd thing that."
Nicola grinned too.
"And besides," Seyona went on, "This isn't our world, or our time. And yet, we still found refuge in it and it didn't turn us away, if you can see what I'm saying. If we are to remain here, then I want to make sure that we can live here in peace. If the scales need that little extra weight to tip the way they should, then I can provide that weight. I'm going to fight." Seyona finished speaking, her jaw set and her mind made up. Nicola nodded, knowing that there was no way that she could alter her friends mind.
"Well, that's one reason I want to go to the archery range. That, and I want to see what being an elf has done for my archery skills."
Nicola grinned, "You and that bow…" she muttered, shaking her head.
Another half hour later, Seyona had found the archery range, and Nicola had tagged along with her notebook, on the lines that back home, there were no drawings of middle earth that had been drawn from life.
Well, that and the fact that she wanted to sketch Legolas, who also happened to be there. Looking at Seyona, Nicola could see that she had defiantly improved with archery since the last time she had watched. Of course, that may have just been because of her heightened senses, but either way, she hit the bull's-eye nine times out of eleven arrows, and she managed to hit dead center three times.
Nicola noticed that Seyona still looked disappointed with herself. Seyona was a perfectionist, she knew, and so she viewed everything less than perfect as a complete an utter failure. Nicola grinned. Some things never change, no matter what species you happen to be.
Glancing up, she began to gently outline Seyona on her sketch pad, Legolas in the background, their stance almost mimicking one another. Deftly she began to sketch the rest of the archers around them, but somehow managed to make Legolas and Seyona stand out, even though they were almost indistinguishable from the other archers. She managed to capture a motion and passion in the two of them that was not present in the other archers, making them look like they were moving or were about to. As she began to delicately sketch some detail into their faces, a shadow fell over her sketchpad.
"Could you move please? Your blocking my sunlight." She mumbled, not looking up.
"Well, then allow me to move, milady." Said a familiar voice with a touch of sarcasm.
She looked up into a pair of smiling light brown eyes and grinned.
"You're the man who was guarding the gate an hour ago, right?" he nodded and she smiled sincerely, "thank you for letting us through."
He blinked. For a few moments there was almost the suggestion of listening to a choir.
"You're welcome, milady." He sat down next to her. She looked him up and down. He had light auburn hair which reached down to his shoulders and he appeared to be well built, but rather lithe as well as light-footed. She also saw a small glint of green under his cloak as he sat down.
"Please, call me Nicola. I see no reason for you to call me 'milady'"
He nodded, "Okay. But only if you call me by my name."
"Which is…?"
He grinned again, pausing for a moment before he said, "Ro."
"Well then, Ro, now the introductions are over with, what brings you to this little corner of the world."
"Well," he said mischievously, "I was going to come for archery practice, but then I saw a very beautiful elf, and decided to say hello. What brings you here?"
She smiled shyly and looked down at her drawing.
"I wanted to do some sketches of the archery range."
He peered at the sketchbook in her lap. "I can see that. May I look?" he gestured towards the sketchpad.
She handed him the sketch pad, watching his face to see his expression. It was a few moments before he spoke up.
"These are very good. I don't know how you've done it, but with a few strokes you managed to convey motion. And not just that! You've also managed to put their passion into it and their emotions without even having begun to sketch their faces," he looked admiringly at her and then continued, "I could never draw like this if I wanted to! You truly have a gift." He said as he handed it back.
She smiled. "Thank you."
And once again, he noticed the echoes of a delicate melody behind her voice.
"Milady, 'tis true." he said honestly, struggling to get his brain on the right track.
She looked into his golden brown eyes once more, trying in vain to find a response. How could three little words make her smile so easily? Finally, she settled on whispering, "Thank you," smiling once more when she saw his eyes light up with laughter.
"Your welcome, milady."
"I told you to call me Nicola!" she chided playfully.
"Aye. And I told you to call me Ro, but you have only done that once so far."
"Aye, that I have." She looked over at him, "So… Ro." She rolled his name over her tongue, "Is that a nickname?"
For a very brief moment, a peculiar look crossed his face, but it happened so fast that Nicola wasn't sure if she had seen it.
"Yes," he said simply and Nicola dropped it, telling by the flat tone of his voice that the subject should be left alone.
She sighed and flipped a page in her sketch book, beginning to aimlessly draw. Most artists when drawing a face will draw the outline first and then fill in the details but Nicola did not. She tended to draw the eyes first on close-ups and then fill in the face around them.
"Anyhow," his voice made her look up, and he continued, "I must be off, for I think I am needed at the gate."
She nodded. "well, Ro, it was nice to meet you again."
"Yes. it was. I hope we can meet again in the future, Nicola," he said warmly, his eyes glinting in the sunlight as he stood up and walked slowly away.
So how did you like that chapter, people? I won't say anything else, but there is more to Ro than meets the eye...
Shoutouts!
enchantedwriter72 - Thank you! I'm glad you think so.
FebruarySong - Thank you for your offer! Yeah, i swear, this site had this habit of eating reviews, just when you least expect it...
ElvishKiwi - i love your name! Yes, i have to agree it did take them a rather long time to figure it out. I have to say though, that some times Seyona will think up something and follow it through regarless of the consequences. She is rather reckless that way.
EchoingSilence - Thank you! I'm sorry that i didn't update sooner though.
Silverrain13 - thank you! i'm glad you like it so far. i hope you enjoyed this chapter!
ILoveMooney - lol. you know that's probably the shortest review i've ever recieved?
Gothic-Fire-Wolf - I'm happy you think so. I took a little while t update this though, I have to admit...
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
Okay people...
Please review!