DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but my OCs I make no money off of this literary work.

.oOo.

Chapter IX

Questions and More Lessons

Education is what remains

after one has forgotten

what one has learned in school.

~Albert Einstein

.oOo.

When I returned to the house I got a few suspicious looks from Cardia but they quickly faded when she saw the berries that I had picked. (On my way out of the forest I picked as many berries as I could as fast as I could to limit confrontation about my whereabouts.)

By the time I had put up them up in the shed Cardia called me in to help with supper. She soon went out to get some herbs from the garden and Darcy leaned over to me, "Was he there?"

I nodded, "Yes. Why?"

She shrugged, a gesture she learned from me, "I don't know. I suppose-" Cardia came back in then and we set back to our jobs.

After supper was over Darcy and I retreated into the loft where we bid each other a good night and quickly fell into the arms of sleep.

The next day was very much like the day before. I rose in the early twilight and trained down near the herb shed. This time however was far more difficult than yesterday. My muscles were sore but I pushed through. The only thing the pain did was strengthen my resolve. I needed to be strong in this war.

After I finished I went back inside the house grabbed a quick breakfast then traveled with Darcy back down to the market where we stayed until noon. We packed up and went back home dropping off the wares for that day and rearranging the herbs back in the shed.

I said goodbye to Darcy with a promise that I would begin her lessons in self defense that afternoon and continued on my way to the ruins.

As I ascended the steps into the hall I was surprised to see that Silvius was waiting for me. He smiled when he saw me and motioned for me to come to him.

He sat down on the stone floor and I sat beside him at his request before he pulled a scroll from his pack. He unfurled it onto the floor and weighted down the corners with a few rocks.

The map itself didn't cover a lot of area but it gave enough information for me to know that I was somewhere around the Sea of Rhun. Not the best place to be but far enough away from the fighting that I could probably relax in my exercise a bit.

Silvius pointed to the sea and confirmed my suspicions in Braric, "This is the Sea of Rhun." he then pointed to the East side of the sea to a little alcove then into the forest a ways and said, "This is where we are."

I nodded as I studied the map further. I noted that there was a fairly large island in the south west region of the sea. I pointed to it, "What is this?"

He grimaced, "I have heard that it is an island for prisoners of war. I know not the name."

"I see." Then noticing the great city on the mainland south west to the island I pointed to it, "What is the name of this place?"

"That is the city of Rhun. The Dark One's puppet Jaakobah, rules over the Easterlings there. I have heard that he is a terrible and evil ruler. Even his people speak things behind his back, and if they are caught, they are severely punished for their words."

I shook my head, "How could a ruler be like that? Doesn't he have any loyalty or love toward his subjects?"

"No." Silvius frowned, "He has been corrupted by darkness and his lust for power."

I frowned and nodded as I looked back at the map, my inner dialog typing away, 'Nothing. Nothing whatsoever that points home! The sea doesn't even have an outlet to the ocean!' I sighed, 'Well, at least I know where I am now. Now the question is how the heck did I get here?'

"Do you see anywhere that looks familiar?" I heard Silvius ask politely.

I sighed again, "No. I didn't live anywhere near an inland sea. In fact I lived right next to a... bigger... sea." Yeah we'll go with that because I have no idea what the word for ocean is in Braric.

He nodded solemnly, "Do you think you were brought here by someone?"

I shook my head, "Not to my knowledge. I was fished out of the sea... here." I pointed to the little isthmus that led to town.

"Well, this is confusing."

I sat back, "You got that right, Sherlock."

He looked at me confused and I waved him off, "Don't worry about it."

"Ava sorya."

"What?"

he smiled, "Ava sorya. It is Quenya for don't worry."

I nodded and repeated the phrase, "Avah soriah"

He smiled, "Anwa." then laughed at my confused face, "Right."

"Ah." I nodded with a smile of my own and we then delved into the language of Quenya.

After he thought my pronunciation was good enough, he consented to letting me teach him English. I was immediately surprised at how much of yesterday's lesson he remembered. I commented on it and he gave a half-baked excuse that Elves were better learners and what not. I shrugged it off and continued the lesson which only went on for about thirty minutes before he knew practically all the words I could think of along with some slang terms.

Although I was delighted at finally being able to talk to someone in English, I was completely dumbfounded at his progress and asked him again what his secret was, but he just smirked and replied in a phrase he had just learned, "I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you." His words were hesitant because of his previous idea of the phrase's meaning but I laughed and joked with him anyway, "No! I'm too young to die!"

He laughed at my antics then sobered with a confused expression, "So your people really do throw insults and threats at each other like this all the time without meaning it?"

"Yup." I smiled. "Or maybe it's just my family." I thought aloud afterwards.

"I don't think I will ever understand Humans." he laughed nervously.

I lightly punched him in the arm, "Aw keep your spirits up. You'll get the hang of it some day!"

"I suppose I will." he smiled.

I then remembered my promise to Darcy and stood, "I have to go. I promised Darcy that I would be back early."

"Oh. Of course!" he rose with me, "Tomorrow then?"

I nodded, "Like always!" I hurried over to the stair case and yelled over my shoulder, "Numarie!" as I ran down the steps.

I heard his goodbye from the ruins before I vanished into the forest.

.oOo.

As I was walking through the fields I met Darcy and she handed me a basket, "Mother wants us to pick some Sokwappha." I took the basket and turned to walk along with her, "Alright."

I saw her frown out of the corner of my eye, "I suppose you won't be teaching me fighting today because of this."

"Of course I will!" I said shocked, "I made a promise didn't I? Besides, it'll be easier to teach you out in the fields than in front of the house anyway."

"Really?" she grinned.

I smiled back, "Yes."

She laughed, "Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet, Darcy! This will be the first time I've tried teaching anyone martial arts."

"Well I think you'll do a terrific job." she smiled at me.

I gave her a bemused look before turning my gaze back on the pathway. We were almost to the fruit trees now. I just need to figure out when to start teaching her. We can't do it before we pick Sokwappha because we might take too long and if we train afterwards we might not have enough time. I thought about it some more and decided that we had better at least have our baskets half full before beginning the lesson.

So we set about picking fruit until our baskets were half full apon which I stopped Darcy and our lesson began. The first thing I taught her was how to get out of a wrist hold.

"I'm going to grab hold of your wrist and I want you to get out of my grasp as quickly as possible." I explained.

She nodded and stuck her arm out for me to grab. I took hold of it and she tried jerking out but couldn't. I let her go then told her what she was doing wrong and how to correct it. The second time I took her wrist she was able to twist out of my hold. I praised her and moved on to a choke hold. I taught her the lawn mower move to elbow her attacker and then how to throw them off her back. When she did the latter to me, I immediately felt the soreness of my own training come back with a vengeance when my back made contact with the ground.

I gave out a painful laugh that sounded like a groan from where I was sprawled out on the ground. Darcy's worried face was soon seen hovering above me, "Oh no! Elanor, are you alright? I'm so sorry!"

I chuckled as I sat up and stood, "Rule number one in fighting, Darcy. Don't apologize to the enemy. You're not Canadian."

She grew wide eyed, "Who are Canadian? Are they bad?"

I laughed, "No. They're actually really nice people."

"Oh." she said still confused, "Then why-"

"Don't question it." I interrupted.

She nodded and I announced the lesson over. I didn't think my poor body could have taken much more abuse. We finished filling our baskets of fruit and journeyed back to the house where we stowed away our harvest and walked back inside the house to help Cardea with supper.

.oOo.

The next few days were practically the same. Thankfully the town gossip had died down to a minimum so I was left to my own devices without suspicion once again.

Every day it would be the same. Do my exercises, go to the market with Darcy, visit Silvius to learn more of Quenya and to tell him more of the West, teach Darcy self defense, do some random chores, and help with supper. It was becoming quite a nice routine until one day when Silvius didn't show up at the ruins.

That day was the start of a change in my future that no one could predict.

Everything is picking up speed like a snowball rolling down the mountainside! I am so excited for the next chapter!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving XD

~REM