Chapter 29
"What shall we do today?" Elladan asked at the breakfast table. Elrond's absence hadn't even been questioned as it was not the first time the Elf Lord had business elsewhere and always left before dawn.
"I expect you on the practice range in a few hours" Glorfindel sternly said. "On time!"
"You can't still be angry with us for that!" Elrohir exclaimed.
"I'm sorry I made them be late" Lorwen softly replied.
"Can she practice her Archery with us today?" Elladan asked.
"No archery today" Glorfindel quickly replied, not wanting to have to crash her hopes in joining his lessons again. "There is too much wind, we'll be sword fighting today" he added and noticed Lorwen's gaze went to the windows.
Lorwen saw the leaves of the nearby trees hung perfectly still and sighed slightly as she turned her attention back to her plate, figuring the answer to her question out without him having to tell her.
"We still have time" Elrohir mused, missing the conversation underneath completely.
"Let's go fishing!" Elladan exclaimed.
"I don't have a fishing pole" Lorwen sighed, fearing she'd be left out again.
"I don't think that will be a problem" Celebrian smiled.
"You have one of mine" Elrohir smiled and softly patted her hand. "I have three!" he added as he saw a smile appear on her face.
"I really do think we should tell her" Erestor sighed as the three youngsters had rushed back up their rooms to fetch their gear to go fishing.
"What good would it do her?" Celebrian asked. "Ruin her stay in Rivendell? She can't go home. She can't go to see him."
"She already hates me for not teaching her" Glorfindel sighed.
"Neither would I teach her" Erestor replied, "you know it's dangerous!"
"Elrond will send news of Rumil's condition when he arrives" Celebrian said. "Then we'll see if we tell her or not. For all we know he might be completely healed by the time she goes home!"
"I still think she should be told" Erestor grumbled.
***
For several hours they had been fishing now. Not used to the strange fishing pole, Lorwen had missed most of the fish that took the bait. Pulling it back to soon, or to late, resulting in an empty hook instead. But at least she was participating.
When it was time for their fighting lessons, Elladan had caught the most fish by far, much to Elrohir's dislike, who had only caught half of what his brother had. Lorwen had ended up with just one small one, but she couldn't care less.
Gloating as she handed it over to the cook, who promised to clean and prepare the fish for tonight's dinner, she hopped along with Elladan and Elrohir who seemed to argue about the number of fish caught.
"It wasn't a competition was it?" Lorwen asked as Elladan had gone to the cabin to get their wooden swords.
"Everything is a competition" Elrohir grumbled.
"Then I lost" she smirked. "Big time!"
"And I didn't win" he sighed.
"To me, participating is the most fun" she replied. "I hate having to sit on the side having to watch others and not be able to join them" she sighed.
"You really want to learn how to fight?" Elrohir asked, looking at her as she bit her lip and nodded.
"Then I'll teach you" he whispered in her ear and pressed a peck on her cheek, trying to cheer her up and it did.
"I'd like that" she smiled as he smiled at her. "Promise me?"
"I promise" he smiled and shook her hand as if to seal the deal.
"Promise me you won't be mad at me when I win?" she then asked.
"Of course not" he smirked, thinking she'd never win while fighting him.
Having promised her to teach her how to fight and with the results of the fishing competition still fresh in his mind Elrohir decided to go full out during practice. He absolutely had to win this time! Else she might ask Elladan to teach her instead and he would have lost. Again! Even though neither of them had even spoken about it, to them everything was a competition.
"Slow down Elrohir" Glorfindel sternly said as the younger twin nearly butchered his brother with the wooden sword. But still he didn't yield and continued to push his brother back who needed all his effort to defend himself. "This is not a game!" Glorfindel suddenly intervened as he pulled Elrohir back, breaking up the practice. "If you can't take it serious, maybe I should let you practice without this" he added and pulled the wooden sword from his hand.
"But I'm wining!" he exclaimed.
"This is not a competition!" Glorfindel silenced him. "You are to practice blocking and parrying, not butchering your brother!"
"One of us has to attack to practice that Glorfindel" Elladan took his brother's side.
"He can at least be more gentle."
"I can hardly asked whoever I'll be fighting later to be more gentle" Elladan smirked as Glorfindel handed Elrohir his wooden sword back.
"Alright" the blonde elf sighed. "But be careful, don't come whining when you've hurt yourself" he added as he moved to sit besides Lorwen who seemed completely indifferent to practice. "And you want to learn this?" he then asked the elleth.
"Elladan should keep his arms higher and Elrohir's feet are not in line" she sighed as they tried it again.
While Glorfindel looked at them and noticed she was right, Elrohir pushed his brother back again until Elladan suddenly tripped over the rack with real weaponry just as Elrohir swung at his unprotected side.
"Elladan!" Lorwen shouted as she saw how the rack with sharp weapons emptied on top of her friend.
Elrohir pulled back, he neither his brother had seen they had gotten that close to the rack and he stared in shock as Glorfindel rushed passed him to check on Elladan.
"I'm alright" he sighed while Glorfindel checked him for injuries. "Just my ribs and my ankle" he moaned.
"I think it's sprained" the blonde elf sighed after removing his boot and felt his ankle with his fingers. "I told you to be careful!" he then shouted at Elrohir who still stood several feet back, afraid he'd be in trouble now. Glorfindel sighed deeply while feeling Elladan's ankle again and noticed Lorwen silently moved to stand besides Elrohir and squeezed his hand. "To Erestor with you, practice is over, you brother can't even stand anymore."
"No, please!" Elrohir exclaimed, taking a step forward, releasing Lorwen's hand. "I can still practice!"
"With who?" Glorfindel shouted and lifted Elladan from the ground. "I'm not about to get myself butchered like you did your brother" he growled.
"Let me try" Lorwen replied and walked towards Elladan's sword where he'd dropped it.
"Lorwen…" Glorfindel sighed and turned to face her while still carrying Elladan. With a fluent move she kicked the sword, making it fly up and caught the hilt easily. Baffled Glorfindel stared at her for several moments following her movements as she took up a defensive pose which he recognized to be of Lorien style.
"I won't get hurt" she smiled as Elrohir hesitantly fidgeted with his own wooden sword, looking from her to Glorfindel and back.
"Elrohir, back down" Glorfindel sternly said as he prepared to attack after she urged him on.
"I promise you" Lorwen then pleaded with Glorfindel, who still held Elladan, "that we will yield if you find it to dangerous. Please let me try? I've been watching for two days now… Please?"
"I'll be calm" Elrohir added. "As you asked me."
"If you hurt her…" Glorfindel threatened.
"Lorwen, are you sure you want to do this?" Elladan asked as Glorfindel put him down on the grass, still not sure about the fight that was about to happen. "You've seen what he did to me."
"I'll be gentle" Elrohir promised.
"No need" she smirked and easily dodged his attack.
"Lorwen!" Glorfindel exclaimed. "Elrohir stop this instance!" he shouted as the younger twin moved faster and tried to rectify his mistake.
Again Lorwen dodged his attack and with a fluent flick she whirled around Elrohir until she stood behind him with her wooden sword on his throat and her hand on his shoulder.
Elrohir immediately dropped his sword and raised his hands, indicating he gave up.
"See, nobody got hurt" she smirked as she stepped back and with the same fluent move kicked his sword towards him, which he missed by miles.
"Where…? You didn't learn all that from just sitting and watching for two days" Glorfindel then remarked with a frown. "Does your adar know?"
"Yes" she smiled. "I told you he wouldn't object. I'm starting my fifth year next fall" she added. "With real weapons" she gloated as Elrohir came to stand besides her with his own wooden replica in his hands.
"Why on earth?" Glorfindel muttered.
"She's even more advanced as we are!" Elrohir exclaimed. "Real weapons? We're still ages away from those!"
"And for good reason!" Glorfindel sternly replied. "You'd make minced meat of your brother with real weapons. Not to mention what you'd do to yourself!"
"If she can, why can't we?" Elladan joined the conversation.
"Because" Glorfindel started, snatched Elrohir's weapon from his hand and pointed it at Lorwen who quickly parried the strike and back away, "you see everything as a competition, no matter what I'm trying to teach you" he added and followed Lorwen on to the practice area. "Let me show you how a real training goes" he then smirked as she took the defensive pose again.
Slowly he started throwing attacking blows at her, which she parried, blocked or dodged easily. When she tried the same move she had defeated Elrohir with, Glorfindel had seen her coming ages ago and quickly retaliated.
"That move doesn't work on me pen neth" he smirked as he pushed the tip op his wooden sword against her throat. "Never forget, I fought a Balrog already" he added with a smile.
"I fought Orcs" she replied, then quickly whirled around and managed to get away from Glorfindel's sword pushing her own sword into his side, much to his surprise.
"Orcs?" he asked, more surprised about what she had said than what she had done. "When?" he asked again as she lowered her sword and moved in front of him again. Glancing at the twins that sat on the side of the field she lowered her gaze briefly.
"Five years ago" she softly admitted. "We were out on a pick nick… they attacked us and…they killed everybody…" she sighed, remembering how afraid she had been that her adar would have died that day. "I had to fight them!" she then exclaimed. "They would have killed ada…"
"You fought them after Haldir…" Glorfindel asked and stopped before he had finished his sentence. "You fought them before you started classes" he then remarked. "Where did you learn?"
"I watched ada train… Then I tried it myself. He gave me lessons after that, then I went to Rymir's classes."
"You're no novice at Archery either, are you?" he then asked.
"No" she admitted. "But they still beat me at that" she added, looking at the twins who were more interested in the bruise on Elladan's ribs than they were in them.
"No surprise there" Glorfindel smirked. "Hard to kill one another when they're standing next to each other and the target is several yards away."
"Stop babbling and show us how you want us to fight!" Elladan then mingled into their conversation from the sideline.
Before replying Glorfindel attacked and smiled as Lorwen blocked his attack, then broke and jumped back just like she had been doing it for ages.
"Are you sure you need a lessons from me?" Glorfindel laughed and parried her attack.
"I still can't win from ada" she smirked. "Or you" she added when she found the tip of his sword pressing against her throat again.
"You're much better than those two" he added and continued switching between attacks and blocking hers. Moving faster and faster they both lost track of time and Elrohir and Elladan stared at them from the sideline.
"Glorfindel!!" suddenly Erestor's voice ran through the clearing, startling all four elves. "By the stars, what are you doing? Have you gone mad?" Erestor added angrily as he rushed towards the two blonde elves and grabbed the swords from their hands.
"Erestor" Glorfindel sighed.
"I wanted him to show me" Lorwen stepped in between the two larger elves, grabbing hold of Erestor's wrist and quickly released it when she realized he might not liked to be touched, her hand hovering slightly over his wrist. Still remembering how he had reacted to her hug. "Please don't be angry" she whispered, looking up at the dark haired elf and let her hand fall to her side.
"She's more advanced than Elladan or Elrohir are" Glorfindel added. "She already fought an orc."
"Orcs" Elladan shouted from the grass. "More than one!"
"I don't believe it" Erestor sighed. "Lorwen?"
"They wanted to kill ada" she whispered. "I couldn't let them!" she then added louder.
"No, of course not" Erestor sighed and looked up at Glorfindel. "I thought you didn't wanted to teach her?"
"That was before I knew what she's capable off" Glorfindel smiled, taking the wooden swords back from the dark haired elf. "She's starting her fifth year of training soon, real weapons" he added. "There's little harm in sparring with these compared to that" he smirked as he tossed the wooden ones slightly up in his hand.
"Is there no end to your surprises?" Erestor asked Lorwen.
"Ada says I'm not old enough to learn about healing" she smiled. "And for love" she smirked.
"I can imagine" Erestor sighed. "What happened to you then?" he then asked, seeing Elladan sitting on the ground with only one boot on.
