Chapter 6
`Ranger training! Why on earth do you want to do that?' a very surprised elf lord said
`I have thought this through very carefully, it is unusual for a woman to be a ranger but not unknown. It was something I wanted to do before my marriage, and if I am going to do it now is as good a time as any,' Gilman replied.
`This is not a thing to undertake on a whim or fancy, Lady. Rangers face great hardship, even death in the course of their lives,' said Elrond looking worried, as he knew he really could not forbid Gilraen to become a Ranger if she wished. She asked his permission out of courtesy only.
`Respectfully, Lord Elrond', Gilraen answered him with great dignity, `Please do not talk about risking hardship or death to any woman who has borne a child'.
Elrond smiled suddenly. `Very well, then. I grant permission for you to undertake training, and we will see how you shape up.'
`Thank you my Lord', said Gilraen.
`Do not thank me yet, you do not know who I am going to assign as your teachers', Elrond responded smiling wickedly.
Gilraen looked expectantly at Elrond. `I don't think you will make things easy for me. Perhaps to teach me a lesson?' she said.
`A lesson, what lesson', said Elrond now looking innocent.
`That I am only a woman, and should concern myself with things other than being a Ranger', Gilraen replied.
`You will teach yourself many lessons in life; including whether or not you are up to this challenge or not. I will not make things easy for you because you need to tested to the utmost before being this lifestyle in earnest. I have therefore decided that those who teach you shall be the same as those who teach your son', Elrond said to her, all humour now gone from his face and voice.
So that how my mother, Lady Gilraen, came to take Ranger training with the best. Weapons she learned from Elrond, and Glorfindel, and to some extent Elrond's twin sons Elladan and Elrohir. The twins also taught her tracking, and surviving in the Wild, and Glorfindel, acknowledged as a fine horseman, how to handle and ride horses, and how to fight mounted, as a Cavalry commander he had no peer. All these elves made sure Mother knew all they teach her before she was permitted to ride into the Wild as a protector of the innocent.
I too, had these same teachers 23 years when at 15 I insisted on following in my mother's and brother's footsteps, and I know to well of the final test imposed by Elrond. I carry a scar down the left side of my face that I will take to my grave from that. Some call Elrond cruel for this test, but a lone woman had better know how to protect herself, better a failure in Rivendell than on the Road or in the Wild.
Aww readers don't you love how Elrond is so great at getting people to open up?
But in the next few chapters we will find out what skeletons he keeps in his cupboards. I think, that is, if he will let me.
`Ranger training! Why on earth do you want to do that?' a very surprised elf lord said
`I have thought this through very carefully, it is unusual for a woman to be a ranger but not unknown. It was something I wanted to do before my marriage, and if I am going to do it now is as good a time as any,' Gilman replied.
`This is not a thing to undertake on a whim or fancy, Lady. Rangers face great hardship, even death in the course of their lives,' said Elrond looking worried, as he knew he really could not forbid Gilraen to become a Ranger if she wished. She asked his permission out of courtesy only.
`Respectfully, Lord Elrond', Gilraen answered him with great dignity, `Please do not talk about risking hardship or death to any woman who has borne a child'.
Elrond smiled suddenly. `Very well, then. I grant permission for you to undertake training, and we will see how you shape up.'
`Thank you my Lord', said Gilraen.
`Do not thank me yet, you do not know who I am going to assign as your teachers', Elrond responded smiling wickedly.
Gilraen looked expectantly at Elrond. `I don't think you will make things easy for me. Perhaps to teach me a lesson?' she said.
`A lesson, what lesson', said Elrond now looking innocent.
`That I am only a woman, and should concern myself with things other than being a Ranger', Gilraen replied.
`You will teach yourself many lessons in life; including whether or not you are up to this challenge or not. I will not make things easy for you because you need to tested to the utmost before being this lifestyle in earnest. I have therefore decided that those who teach you shall be the same as those who teach your son', Elrond said to her, all humour now gone from his face and voice.
So that how my mother, Lady Gilraen, came to take Ranger training with the best. Weapons she learned from Elrond, and Glorfindel, and to some extent Elrond's twin sons Elladan and Elrohir. The twins also taught her tracking, and surviving in the Wild, and Glorfindel, acknowledged as a fine horseman, how to handle and ride horses, and how to fight mounted, as a Cavalry commander he had no peer. All these elves made sure Mother knew all they teach her before she was permitted to ride into the Wild as a protector of the innocent.
I too, had these same teachers 23 years when at 15 I insisted on following in my mother's and brother's footsteps, and I know to well of the final test imposed by Elrond. I carry a scar down the left side of my face that I will take to my grave from that. Some call Elrond cruel for this test, but a lone woman had better know how to protect herself, better a failure in Rivendell than on the Road or in the Wild.
Aww readers don't you love how Elrond is so great at getting people to open up?
But in the next few chapters we will find out what skeletons he keeps in his cupboards. I think, that is, if he will let me.