Chapter 3: Why can't we be friends?

"Forgive us my lady, but...", Aragorn was trying to apologize, but was almost immediately interrupted by Gimli.

"I do not ask for forgiveness, for she surly is some kind of evil demon!", the dwarf exclaimed and reached for his weapon.

"Gimli!", Legolas and Aragorn shouted in unison.

"Do you truly believe she would stand here in Rivendell, the shelter of the elves, if she was a demon, Master Dwarf?", the elf asked, trying to reason with his friend.

"Well look at her! She must be! Those piercing eyes and the little trick she just performed! I stand firm in this - I'm not going to apologize!", Gimli said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Selina rolled her eyes. She was beginning to get impatient and the stupid words of the dwarf annoyed her a great deal.

"I suppose you never saw any of my kind before! I could say the same about dwarves, but nevertheless I'm not jumping to any rash accusations as you do, though you truly give me any reason to!", she shot at him, pointedly looking him square in the eye.

"Please, pardon the bad behaviour of our friend Gimli, Lady Selina!", Aragorn said and threw an admonishing glance at the dwarf, "He is very suspicious when it comes to strangers and his tongue is often quicker than his head!"

She nodded and could have sworn she saw the elf's mouth twitch to grin for a split second at Aragorn comment.

"My name is Aragorn, King of Gondor and heir of Isildur!", the human introduced himself, smiling at her friendly. Selina bowed her head in respect to his title

The dwarf would have been next in line, but decided instead on glaring at her menacingly.

The elf shook his head at his friend's childish stubbornness. "I am Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood, son of Thranduil! Please forgive us our rudeness, Lady Selina!"

She smiled warmly in response, unconsciously baring her fangs in the process, at which Gimli gasped loudly.

Selina head whipped around. Now she had had it with this insolent little dwarf! A menacing growl escaped her throat and her eyes sparkled dangerously. With all the effort she could muster she tried to keep her temper in check which was almost about to get the better of her.

"Okay, I get that you don't like me!", she spat at him angrily, keeping herself from ripping his throat out.

"Out of no apparent reason, at least not to me, Gandalf said that we would need your help, Gimli! Either you behave civilized or we have this one out! So pick one!"

"I will not back down! Especially not in front of a demoness like you! Lets fight then!", he answered her proudly.

"Gimli! That's enough! Do you really want to engage in a senseless fight over this!", Aragorn shot at the dwarf.

"What I do is my own concern, Aragorn! If I remember correctly I'm still my own master!", Gimli answered sourly.

Aragorn shrugged shoulders and rolled his eyes in disapproval. There was absolutely no reasoning with this dwarf! He looked over to his elvish friend. Legolas's brow was furrowed and he was silently cursing in elvish.

Selina approached the elf and handed him her weapons. He looked at her in surprise.

"I don't want to kill him, well actually I kind of have the desire to do so right now, but I fear I would regret it later.", she explained.

"Believe me I know how you feel!", he muttered under his breath, so that nobody would have picked it up except another elf or somebody whose hearing was equally keen, as was Selina's.

"Yes, I bet you do!", she added in the same hushed voice. Legolas's eyebrows shot up in astonishment, but he didn't say anything.

Selina walked up to Gimli and positioned herself in front of him. Let the games begin!

"Take your best shot!", she spread her arms and motioned him to hit her with his weapon

"As you wish, demoness!", he exclaimed.

The fight was over within seconds.

Gimli raised his ax to strike a blow at her, which never hit, because she swiftly evaded it with a roll, her movements quick and fluent. Before Gimli could even think of striking again, she delivered a kick to his legs, which effectively knocked him to the ground. She fastly wrenched the weapon out of his hands and stood over him triumphantly.

"Will you apologize know or do you want to humiliate yourself any further in front of your friends? Besides you should take a bath, your odour is an abomination to my sensitive nose!"

"I know when it's time to admit one's defeat....", he answered in an emotionless voice.

She suddenly realized that this would never be settled, unless she backed down herself. If she didn't want to face the enemy alone, she would have to put up with this fellow.

Though his bad qualities did prevail, Selina had to admit that there were also two or three sides to Gimli that were quite honorable and likable. He seemed to be overly protective of his friends and had a strong sense of honour, from what she could tell.

So she finally extended her hand to him, in order to help him up. "Come now, lets call this even! It's not in my nature anyway to hold grudges for long!"

When she had helped Gimli to his feet, Gandalf entered the court.

"Why didn't you intervene? You could see everything from the terrace, couldn't you?", Selina exclaimed accusingly.

"I figured it would be the best way for you to get acquainted with each other. Besides it didn't seem like you were in any trouble.", the wizard answered calmly with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Now can we go inside? Lord Elrond is waiting for us and I suppose there are many questions to be answered."