Frerin- 16

Fien- 14

Gideon- 11.5

Fali- 10

Kien- 13.5

Tauris- 11

Orian- 11.8

Vesper- 9.5

Seriously, when did they grow up?

The day she was finally told she would be starting training was immensely happy. She hadn't expected it for one thing. She had been begging her mother to let her join the others in training. Mother had agreed to let her train with the sword, seeing as she liked it so much, but had been arguing for more private lessons.

"But Vesper trains with boys!" Fali reminded her.

"That is the South." Mother reminded her. "You'd be sure to be the only girl in the arena."

"I don't mind." Fali shook her head. "I wouldn't mind that at all!"

"I don't know Fali, the boys can be a bit rough…your uncles are a lot stronger than me. Uncle Dwalin can knock me right off my feet when we spar."

"That's alright." Fali insisted. "I don't mind that either."

Her mother sighed. "We'll see. I'll speak to your father about it."

Fali had nearly given up hope then, feeling sure her father would have the same opinion. Surprisingly though, he'd thought it a good idea.

"But Fili what if-" Mother started.

"She won't get hurt, and she's a pretty strong little thing herself." Father said. "I don't see why not." He shrugged.

"Oh, thank you!" Fali's arms were instantly around him and she was gripping him tightly.

"You made eye contact, I should have known…" Mother sighed.

"I'm not spoiling her, it's actually a smart idea. How's she going to practise if she's not with other's who are learning too?"

"But Gideon could-"

"Gideon's improving. The others have their training why not let her have her own? You were taught to fight."

"By my brothers, it was difficerent., it was my family, not some swordsmaster."

"All the same, she's dying to learn, just like you were."

"I'm not saying she can't learn." Mother shook her head. "I want her to learn, I'm just worried she won't fit in with the boys."

At this father stood, entered her room and started rummaging through her chest where she stored away her things. "A sword…another sword…another sword…an arrow…"

Mother laughed suddenly. "Alright, you've made your point, Fili."

"More arrowheads…what's this?" He held up her current embroidery hoop, that she worked on when she had tea with Grandmother. "I quite forgot you know how to sew." Father smiled at her.

Fali was laughing. "Enough! Enough!" She giggled, storing away the possesions and closing the lid of the chest before Father could find the old box she still kept that held her doll and stuffed bear.

Mother relented. "Very well, you'll be training with boys it seems."

It wasn't so much the fact that it was the boys she would be training with (she had sparred with her brothers for the most part, so that was nothing special) but she would be with others and not by herself and she'd finally be learning in a new envirmoment.

She was hardly able to contain herself in that intense excitement, nearly catching the flower chain that draped around her room, spanning all four walls, lining the mirror she had in one corner, and trailing down her bedposts now.

"Easy Fali, easy!" Mother reminded her. "You haven't even started yet."

Her mother's breath was shortened when Fali hugged her snugly around her middle. "Thank you." She said. She then ran off to alert Frerin, Fien, Gideon, her cousins, friends, and anyone else she found along the way of the news.

She thought it could not get any better.

And then Father made her a sword.

She had been so excited she completely forgot she would be getting one, and when he returned home a week later with it in hand, she all but burst into tears because she was too happy. There it was was, the perfect size for her, with a bear engraved upon it, and a lovely pattern along the hilt, not of anything really (leaves, if she had to say the pattern looked like anything at all, and maybe a few flowers). It was beautiful.

He left it in front of her, on the kitchen table, not saying a word but smiling. Fali stared at it for a long moment, drinking in the detail. "Is—is this for me?" She asked, quietly, dropping the quill she was doing her work from lessons with.

"You can't fight with a wooden blade forever." Father winked at her.

"Is it for me?" She repeated, staring from him to Mother, her eyes widening and pleading for a simple 'yes' or 'no'.

"Of course it is." Mother smiled, running hand through Fali's long blond hair and quickly setting it back rights.

Fali picked the blade up and held it closer, examining it more. "Thank you." She remembered to say, almost shouting out the phrase.

Her brothers had noticed her new blade as well, and were peering over her shoulders now to have a better glimpse of it.

"Well done." Frerin congradulated her, touseling her hair up again. Mother sighed, seeing it once more out of sorts, but shrugged. Sometimes it was better to just let her hair fall where it may, there was nothing that could keep it in order, not even a braid.

"You have the bear on it and everything." Fien closely inspected the metal, trying to pick it up himself.

"Fien, don't touch it, it's not yours." Fali quickly reminded him.

"Wait, I'm only looking."

"You have your own blade."

"Fali, be patient."

"Fien!" She snapped.

She accidently swung her sword up a small degree while trying to pull it away from his close gaze, hitting Fien in the nose.

"Careful!" Gideon cried out.

"Fali…" Fien hissed.

"Oops." Fali said. "But your face was awfully close."

"Well, good thing I did not sharpen it yet." Father said of the accident.

"Is his nose bleeding?" Gideon asked, glancing at Fien's face and then away. The sight of blood still made him go pale.

"I don't think so…oh wait, nevermind, it is." Frerin answered for him.

"Why do you have to be so rough?" Fien asked his sister.

"Why do you have to be such a baby? It's only a little bit of blood, it's hardly anything." Fali scoffed. She went an got a cloth to clean up his face herself. "You're fine."

Fien rolled his eyes at her.

"Oh!" She turned back to her parents. "When do I start my training?"

/

Mother had been right, she was the only girl, surrounded by the other boys.

They were surprised to see her there.

The swordsman who was training them was even more surprised.

"Your highness," He dipped his head. "To what do we owe the visit?"

"I'm here for training too." She nodded, enthusiastically.

"Excuse me?"

"Training." She repeated.

"Excuse me?" The swordsman repeated again.

At this point Fali thought he might be somewhat deaf, like her Uncle Oin, and so repeated herself again at an increased volume. "I said: I'M HERE FOR TRAINING!"

The boys laughed at her, but she didn't know why. There was nothing really funny about it, because they were all there for the same reason, and she thought her shouting of her reply quite valid.

When the swordsman frowned at her loudness she became more aware that he was not deaf at all, and was in fact quite puzzled. "Sorry." She mumbled, hoping to not start with a bad impression. "I thought you hadn't heard me."

The swordsmaster looked unsure of what to do with her. He'd never taught a girl before. There were others that had, but in more private circumstances. He must have felt horribly unqualified, especially since this was the young princess of Erebor, and it was expected that she would receive good lessons. Fali had no idea of his thinking, but he worried that she might be too weak compared to the boys, or too easily now he was faced with something of a dilemma that he could not really avoid. Refusing to teach her was out of the question. Passing her off to someone else would be shirking his own duties. He sighed, but accepted the fact that he would now be training a girl.

Luckily, this impression did not last long. Fali could sense the swordsman had an uneasy feeling about her. She was rather used to it by now, quite a few people were not used to her and her fighting. She was determinded to prove she was a very good pupil.

She was one of the most enthusiastic students the swordsmaster ever had, that was was for certain. She knew her basics well, and she was a fast learner. The first few lessons were theory of course. Stand this way, move this way, block this way and so on. Fali found this a little dull, admittedly. Her family had taught her these things long ago. Of course, they had to be taught though, because some of the boys didn't know as much as the others. They came from all different backgrounds. Some were the sons of soliders and others those of bakers. But soon they had learned enough for a few spars to take place.

This was her moment, and she was paired up with one of the young boys and told to spar with him, whilst the swordsmaster observed them all, correcting anything that needed to be improved.

She leapt at him, only to be pushed back down, into the sand.

A rather rude awakening to the fact that she wasn't quite as strong as they were becoming.

The boy in question (she would later figure out his name was Kegan), stared down at her for a moment as she stared back up at him. He eventually held out a hand to lift her back up, seeing as she had not stood again.

There was nothing special about his appearance to many people in Erebor. He was of average size and build, his hair was a general brown, and practically every other trait about him was so typically seen in the kingdom that he just melted into the crowds.

Fali made him her opponent in that moment, when the swordsmaster switched their sparring partners to better suited individuals. One day she would spar with him again and she would be the one pushing him into the dust. She would make sure of it.

With that sort of energy in her body, she almost had to feel sympathetic for the poor lad who was her new sparring partner. The boy didn't stand a chance. There was the counting to three, and the two of them standing ready…and then Fali leapt forward again, wretching the sword from his hands in one clean move and pointing the tip of her blade to his nose.

That got everyone's attention. Some people were surprised, others looked impressed.

She looked over to the boy she had practised with before. His eyes were grey, but since he was smirking at the poor lad at the end of her sword, they were all lit up and appeared to be silver.

She didn't know why, but she felt the need to glare back.

Thus was born a very intense competitive spirit. Fali strove to win the affections of the swordsmaster, who was really starting to like her fierce little nature, and to out-perform the silver-eyed boy. She didn't need to be the top of the class, though that would be lovely, she just wanted to do better than him. It was a challenge, since it seemed he had likewise adopted the idea to out-perform her. This only gave her more reason to do become more skilled than he was, which in turn only gave him joy in doing better than her.

Together, while trying to crush their opponents, they soon become the two most notable students in the lessons.

Fali couldn't stand it, and everytime the boy would only lit up his grey eyes, turning them silver again and smirk at her. She'd always glare back. He would smirk more. Oh how her temper flared! Her pillow had become the unfortunate subject of these built up frustrations. Her brothers would sometimes look into her room if the door was left part of the way open and watch her. One time Frerin made to move inside and ask what had made her so irritable. Fien held him back. "Don't go in there." He whispered quickly. "You might get hurt."

The pillow was flung at the doorway, narrowly missing their heads. The door slammed closed from the force of it. "I heard that!" Fali shouted.

"My point." Fien must have motioned at the closed door.

Gideon was the smarter one who inquired quietly what was bothering her, doing so after letting her steam off from another competitive practise with a disappointing outcome.

"It's this one boy, he pushed me into the sand."

"On purpose?"

"Not exactly, we were sparring."

"Then the problem is…?"

"I don't like him being better than me!" Fali snapped.

"You can't be that competitive." Gideon replied reasonably. "There's going to be lots of people who are better at things than you."

"I don't mind not being the best at something." Fali said, trying to subdue her rising impatience for discussing the matter. "It's just…arghhh!...it's just him! I can't stand him being better!"

Gideon didn't really understand the reasons as to why, but Fali had opened up and was now ranting to him, and he was starting to regret having asked her in the first place.

"It's just that he's so good at swordfighting, and I can beat every other boy there if I try, but every time I fight him I lose and it's starting to be unbearable!"

"Like Mother and her eldest brother." Gideon nodded, starting to have an inkling about the situation. "Maybe it's good for you Fali, it will remind you you're not invincible. Really, you're probably going to need someone like that around you."

"Get out." The words were a lethal whisper.

"What?"

"Get out!" They were louder that time.

"But I didn't say anything offensive." Gideon protested.

Fali refused to listen, now that her temper had reached it's boiling point. If Gideon wasn't going to take her side, she didn't want to hear anything from him. He was banished from and chased out of her room.

The competitiveness continued and she ventured to spar with the silver-eyed boy twice more, both times unsuccessful. Furthermore, the most recent occasion had her landing in the sand again.

At this point, Frerin and Fien had grown used to her brooding, and had begun to tease her about it.

"If you keep scowling, you'll look like Great-uncle Thorin when you're older." Fien said warningly.

"I don't know how he does it." Fali sighed.

"There's not much you can do." Frerin shrugged. "He's bigger and stronger than you, so it's just one of those thigs that can't be helped."

"Almost everyone there is bigger and stronger than me, and I can win against them."

"Then he's just as quick as you are too." Frerin replied.

"Honestly Fali, will you stop going on and on about him?" Fien asked. "It's getting a little annoying."

Fali cast a look over to Gideon, one that read "Is it really?"

Gideon replied. "It is getting a bit tiresome. Maybe it wouldn't if we actually knew what his name was."

"I don't care what his name is." Fali groused, purposefully stabbing her needle through the fabric she was working on.

"I think you find out." Fien said. "All we get to hear about him is his 'silver eyes'."

"Because that's the only thing about him that stands out." Fali interjected.

"I don't think it's possible for someone to have silver eyes." Frerin mused.

"Vesper has violet colored eyes." Gideon added.

"Still, silver? It's unlikely."

Fali huffed. "They are silver, you'd believe me if you saw them."

Mother came striding in, with quite a few sheets of parchment, a pair of scrolls and a raven feather-quill balanced in her arms. "Hello." She called to them.

"Hello." They replied in unison, more or less.

"What has got Fali with such a sour look on her face?" Mother asked. "Another tough day at practise?"

"Not very tough." Fali answered immedialty, hoping Mother would not take her temporary scowls as a sigh that she was not enjoying the training. She was, she loved sparring with all the other boys and she liked the swordsmaster. It was just the silver eyed boy that got on her nerves. He was the challenge she was unable to succeed in, and it was bothering her to no end.

"She keeps going on about some boy with grey eyes." Gideon said.

"Some boy with silver eyes." Fien smirked, stressing the word in a teasing tone.

"Oh." Mother smiled. "What is his name?"

"We don't know, Fali hasn't asked him." Gideon added.

Mother walked by, dipping close to her ear. "Is he handsome?" She asked.

Fali practically jumped out of the chair, and made a face at the question. Fien heard the question and burst into laughter.

"Forget I asked." Mother smiled, noticing her face. "One day you'll have a different response."

Fien had fallen from his chair and was holding his sides on the floor, still laughing uncontrollably. He paused, practically gasping for breath. "Go on Fali, describe his silver eyes again." He wheezed.

Fali was incredibly tempted to poke at him with her sewing needle.

"Nevermind." She frowned, and retreated to the privacy of her bedroom.

"Boys." She rolled her eyes, and set aside the embroidery to pick up her blade and practise a few drills.

A few days later she had her training again. By now they were starting to learn slightly more interesting things. She listened to the swordsmaster well, repeating the movements carefully. He looked over her, and nodded that she was performing them correctly. She smiled to herself.

At last it was time to practise between each other. The other boys glanced at one another and paired off, leaving her and her dreaded opponent to one another.

Fali frowned, if only because the boy was smirking already, having turned his grey eyes silver again.

Let it never be said she wasn't one to go down without a fight. On the third count she held ready, blocking the first attack from him, then ducked out of the way, and tried to quickly get him from his side. This was unsuccessful. She blocked another attack and tried again. Unsuccessful. Once more, going for the center of him. Also unsuccessful.

Frerin was right, the boy was quick.

She proceeded to block and attack, trying to be faster. He made as if to shove her once, when she got too close, but she quickly backed away.

If she lost today, she wouldn't be ending up in the sand.

She hurried to defend herself, as the boy quickly tried to overcome her as she regained her balance.

She blocked his attacks a few more times. Finally, the moment presented itself, his right shoulder left temporarily unguarded. She tried her very best not to smile, or look too focused on the spot. She couldn't give herself away.

Her blade flew to his shoulder.

His own blade flew, smacking across hers and with such a force it was all she could do to hold onto it still. Her blade was half buried in the sand, and he had his blade pointed at her ribcage.

She looked up at him in surprise.

That had all been a trick!

He was smirking even more, it must have been.

"Well done, Kegan." The swordmaster passed them.

Kegan…

She hated him.