A/N: I don't think you'll have to worry about her training... that's going to be amusing, I've been itching to write this chapter since I got the idea for it. I won't say much, but I can't really have the Fellowship help her train because they'll see that she is an Elf. But you won't be disappointed. If I don't get to it in this chapter, you'll see it in the next one. I love secrecy! lol. ~MoI~

Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings is not mine, nor is anything else, other than Nicole. If you didn't know that... well. You should.

Home Sweet Home

Chapter Sixteen ~ Training Day

Breathe in. The bow lifted to point at the target. Breathe out. An arrow notched and the string was pulled tight. Breathe in. Aim. Breathe out. Re-adjust aim, and.... fire.

The arrow whistled through the air, hitting the target but a little to the left of the centre. Nicole lowered her aching arms, noticing with annoyance that her fingers were trembling slightly.

*Again,* Lathanir commanded.

Nicole sighed and picked another arrow off the table set up to the right of her position. She had been practicing archery for the better part of five hours now, with only a small break for some food (lembas: delicious, energetic, but not in any form a substitute for Chicken Teriyaki). Lathanir had launched her immediately into her training, after quickly explaining a few ground rules. No attacking other Elves, show respect, listen to your instructors, don't expect special treatment. Simple enough, but Nicole wasn't one for rules. The first time she picked up a bow, she had been surprised by how light it was and picked it up with too much force, hitting Lathanir in the head. Nicole still began conversations with all the other Elves around her by saying, "Hey, I'm Nicole. What's up? Who are you?" It was a habit she couldn't get rid of. Plus, her name was always a point of conflict among the Elves who tried to pronounce it or translate it into Elvish. She had finally succumbed to simply being called 'girl', 'young one', or 'hey you' (the last being her own suggestion). Thankfully, at least Lathanir said it correctly, even though he encouraged her to find an Elven name. Nicole, for her part, had no desire whatsoever to change her name. She wasn't getting any special treatment, that much was for sure, but she knew that there was no other way for her to learn, so she accepted the conditions. She listened to Lathanir, and had been shooting arrows, with advice from him on occasion. This latest arrow she shot with only half-hearted aim. She was tired, and wearing a dress (very inconvenient) because (a) she hadn't thought of going to her room and changing, and (b) she didn't have any pants in her wardrobe, except her jeans, which had mysteriously disappeared after the first day. The arrow struck the outer edge of the target and made her instructor sigh in frustration.

*No, you keep doing it wrong,* the older Elf scolded her. *Are you doing the steps like I told you to?*

*Yes, I am,* Nicole replied. I wonder how long it will take the Elf, part of the race of geniuses, to figure out what's wrong.

*You nearly had a perfect shot a while ago,* he said, thinking hard on the problem.

*Or as good as I'm going to get,* Nicole replied, looking in disdain at her clothing.

Lathanir still didn't get it and continued the lesson, stepping up behind Nicole. *I do not understand how you miss it,* he murmured, observing her closely. *Try again,* he commanded, and gave her an arrow.

Nicole sighed. This is obviously useless. I don't think these people have ever trained a girl before. Do they actually expect me to be able to move when I'm bogged down by this skirt? She shifted her position, turned slightly sideways, and notched the new arrow. Pulling her right arm backwards, she stretched the bowstring, aimed, and fired the shot, just as Lathanir had taught her to. But once again, it was off to the left side. Beside her, Lathanir let out a triumphant cry.

*THAT is your problem, THAT is why you always fire to the left!* he cried out happily, but at the same time angry at Nicole for doing it. He didn't bother to explain so she faced him with a blank stare.

*And THAT would be what, exactly?* she asked.

*You squint,* he explained matter-of-factly. *Do not squint. It hinders your aim.*

Nicole stared at him in indignation. *I don't squint!*

*Yes, you do.*

*Do not!*

*Listen to me, Lady Nicole, I will not get into this argument again,* Lathanir said impatiently. Earlier in the day, Lathanir had warned Nicole that she probably did not have the stamina required to train, and she had replied in the same manner. They protested against each other for about ten minutes before the older Elf commanded her to shut up, which lasted for all of five minutes. *You squint, end of story. When you aim, you close your right eye, making the centre seem to the left, and then every time, your aim is off. Do not squint. Try it again.*

Nicole glared at him. I do NOT squint. What's he on about? He just wants to kick me out of here. Yeah buddy, well, good luck. I'm going to stay, I'm going to train, and you're whole tough teacher routine isn't going to break me! Nicole took another arrow, notched it, aimed and... dammit, the Elves are right again. She noticed that she did, in fact, squint her right eye when she aimed. She paused for a second, kept both eyes open, and aimed again. This time when she fired, the shot was nearly true. The arrow was a bit below the centre.

*I swear, I didn't squint this time!* she exclaimed, but both her hands up, including the bow. Lathanir looked ready to accuse her again, but she continued before he could say anything. *It's harder to aim when I don't squint because everything gets wonky and whoa, and then it's like there's two of them!* Her explanation may have made sense to her, but Lathanir was lost.

Eventually, the captain just sighed, and gave in. *Fine, squint, if you must do so, you stubborn child,* he said. *Just remember to move your aim to the right of the centre.*

Nicole took yet another arrow from the table and tried it again, squinting but moving her aim to the right. The arrow finally hit the centre, and Nicole felt proud but annoyed at the same time. The Elf was right again. In retaliation, and because she always had to have the last word, Nicole muttered back, *Woman, thank you very much.*

The Elves watching this newcomer being trained smirked along with Lathanir. To them, she was no more than a newborn.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nicole threw herself onto her bed, glad to finally have a break. Outside, she could see that it was way past nightfall, and most of the Elves were already resting for the night. Lathanir had forced her to keep going even when most of the other Elves had gone to do other things, like rest and eat food. He insisted that if she wanted to be trained, and trained well, by the time the Fellowship left, she was going to have to push a lot harder than anybody else. Needless to say, this did not sit well with Nicole. Her body ached all over and she was beginning to think that when she became an Elf she didn't inherit their resistance to pain. Before her instructor had finally allowed her to leave, he told her that since he still had to spend some time performing his duties, other Elves would be training her as well. So tomorrow, at first light, Haldir was going to be waiting for her at the training grounds.

"Evil Elves... train train train... stupid me... should've just stayed happy...* before she could complain anymore, or even notice that she had switched to Elvish mid-sentence, she was asleep on top of her covers.

When the girl woke the next morning, the aching muscles of yesterday had gone away to be replaced by an immense hunger. Oh yeah, I didn't eat last night... gee, I wonder why. Nicole was still unhappy with Lathanir for not even allowing her a dinner break. She looked around the room, and in the light of early morning, spotted a tray of food sitting on the little table by the chairs. She lunged at it, thankful that someone (probably Ella) had brought her food, even though it was cold now, and obviously meant to have been yesterday's dinner. She munched happily, and looked out the window at the sunlight filtering through the leafy canopy. The sunlight... something about light... her eyes widened as she remembered, I was supposed to be at the training grounds at first light! I'm late! Hastily shoving another piece of bread into her mouth, she clambered over the bed to get to the wardrobe. Furiously shoving aside dress after dress, Nicole made a note to ask Ella about getting normal shirts and pants. In the end, she just grabbed the least-fancy dress she could find (a dark green dress made of a stiff shiny fabric) and choose to wear it.

Sprinting through the high halls of Lothlorien, she wondered how on earth she would get there without appearing to be too late. Nicole started on the downward stairs, but soon grew frustrated with how long it was taking her. Once she reached one of the lowest platforms, she glanced over the edge to see how far down it was. By now, first light was far gone, and the sun was getting higher in the sky. Alright, that doesn't look too bad, Nicole thought, judging the distance to be four or five stories. Ok, let's do this. She hoisted herself onto the banister, checked to see that no Elves would come to reproach her for acting so foolishly, and stood on the edge. Umm... on second thought... it is kind of high. Second thoughts kicked in, and Nicole's rational mind (it's really small and hardly ever says anything, but trust me, it's there) was arguing that it was a ridiculous idea. Before she could let herself think about it too much, she stepped forward, off the edge and into the air.

For the split second that she was falling through the air, Nicole was sure she would have a heart attack. The air tore through her hair, whipping fabric into a frenzy, and twisting the dress around her legs so that she couldn't move. It stole the breath from her lungs, and did not even let her scream. She fell earth-ward, and landed in a heap of hair, limbs, and dress at the bottom of the huge mallorn. Hesitantly, Nicole took a breath into her lungs. The girl flopped backwards and stared up into the tree tops from which she had dropped. Several Elves gave her strange looks and some looked as though they considered calling for help. A drop like that couldn't have been very comfortable. That was terrifying... Nicole was still breathing fast. A smile tugged at her lips. She bit her lip, but resistance worked for only a second. The girl burst out laughing, looking absolutely ridiculous, with messy hair, lying in a tangled heap amongst the tree roots. That was so much fun!!!!! Somebody should've made Elves with wings instead... that would be amazing. But then Elves would look like angels... her train of thought brought back a distant memory of a very confused and snowy hobbit calling her an angel, and brought further laughter from the young Elf.

A shadow fell across her vision, and she looked up and to the side to see an upside-down familiar face staring at her. Nicole managed to stop laughing, but the trace of a smile was still on her face.

*Hiya Haldir!* she said cheerfully, and accepting a hand up. She pulled herself upright, straightened out the skirts of the dress, and ran a hand through her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders freely.

The older Elf raised an eyebrow and regarded the girl. His expression clearly implied that he questioned her sanity. *You are late.*

Nicole grinned at the words. Without knowing it, Haldir had just quoted a phrase used in the future between a rather rumpled ranger and his Elven friend. She happily pulled Haldir's arm and dragged him in the direction where she thought the training grounds were. *I'm fine, thanks for asking. C'mon let's go!*

Her task proved difficult and Haldir refused to budge. *And where exactly are you going?*

*Duh, training, do try to keep up, Haldir,* she replied.

The Captain of the Galadhrim resisted the urge to laugh at this bizarre child. *The training grounds are that way,* he replied, and pointed to the opposite direction. The girl accepted this information and dragged him off in the new heading.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*Is this absolutely necessary?* Nicole questioned quietly, tottering slightly.

*Oh yes,* Haldir assured her. *Balance is the key to an Elf's fighting abilities.* He was smiling broadly, and glaring at two Elves nearby who were almost, but not quite, succeeding at keeping their laughter silent. The Elf was having a lot of fun at the expense of the young girl, and was fairly confident that training her wasn't quite the chore that Lathanir had made it out to be.

Nicole was having trouble with her current task, and the suppressed chuckling was not helping her concentration in any way. The day had started out well enough. After Haldir had scolded her about being late and warned her to be on time tomorrow, he began to explain the methods of using the two long knives that were another popular weapon amongst Elves. But instead of showing her how to use them afterwards, he gave her a different assignment. Standing.

Now, standing on it's own isn't a hard duty. It's quite easy, even when you are Nicole, an impatient girl that doesn't like doing something if she doesn't know why she has to do it. But Haldir added a twist. Or several twists, in reality. Nicole had to stand on a balance beam. A balance beam located five feet above the ground, and being made of a piece of wood that was only the width of two fingers. Again, not very hard, but that's not all. She was also blindfolded, and had a knife delicately balanced on two fingers of each hand, with her arms stretched out to the sides. That type of standing is difficult.

Let's not forget that she wore a dress, a fact that still ticked her off, and none of the other Elves seemed to think it would hinder her fighting in any way. *Balance is also something that I do NOT excel at,* she pointed out to Haldir, wobbling on her perch. This is ridiculous, I feel like a bird or something. Or like I'm doing that weird thing that the Karate Kid did when he broke his leg. But hey, if the Elves are amused, at least I'm good for something, she thought sarcastically. The dress was becoming a serious problem for her. If a breeze stirred the fabric, the balance would shift and Nicole had to fight to keep her feet on the beam.

The fragile wood creaked as somebody else mounted the beam.

*Haldir?* Nicole asked worriedly. She was going to fall off for sure now. *This isn't part of the plan, amigo!*

His answer was a lot closer than she thought. He had climbed up onto the beam as well and stood by her right side. *Your posture is horrible,* he explained, and began to rearrange her limbs accordingly. Allowing her elbows to bend a bit more, and moving her feet so that they were at an outward angle and she supported most of her weight on the balls of her feet. The Elf also forced her to straighten her back, an action that was a literal "straw that broke the camel's back". His light push between her shoulder blades caused her already fragile balance to be tipped. She toppled off the beam with a yelp and landed hard on her hands, the knives stabbing into the ground dangerously close to her fingers, although she was still blindfolded and hadn't noticed. Not for long... she jerked off the blindfold in anger and glared at the Elves that looked on.

*Take a picture, it lasts longer!* she snapped at them, not caring that they didn't have cameras so they couldn't take a picture. Stupid dress, stupid Haldir, stupid beam, stupid knives... hmm. That's an idea. In the middle of her rant an idea popped into her head and she quickly pulled one of the knives out from the springy earth. Nicole eagerly brought it to the hem of her dress but as she flipped the knife into a better position a sharp pain went through her wrist. She dropped the knife and cradled her wrist, turning to glare at Haldir. *Thanks, buddy. So much for balancing the Force,* she told him.

The Elf dropped lightly from the height and took her arm to try to see what had bothered the girl. She angrily jerked away.

*I'm not a complete idiot,* she informed him, and then her voice took on a hint of pride. *I know First Aid... it's a sprain, see the swelling? All I need to do is stabilize it,* Nicole told him, again forgetting that First Aid was not common amongst the people of Middle Earth. The Elves, however, were getting used to the occasional not understandable comment from the girl. Picking the knife up again, this time in her uninjured left hand, she awkwardly cut away a long strip of cloth from the dress. Haldir raised his eyebrows. Most She-Elves probably didn't go around ripping up their skirts, Nicole guessed, but she didn't mind. In fact, I wouldn't mind getting some normal clothes. She held one end of the fine fabric in her teeth while wrapping the other around her wrist several times, making the bandage tight but not so tight that her circulation was cut off. When she finished she inspected her work with satisfaction and gingerly picked up the knives. It still hurt, but it was a lot better now, and considering her Elf healing skills, it would be completely healed by tomorrow.

*Where did you learn that?* Haldir asked. *I was under the impression that you had not sustained many previous injuries.*

*I haven't had anything serious,* she admitted. *But it's just common knowledge to me. Like if you have a fever, use cold compresses to bring it down. Or how to treat somebody who isn't breathing and doesn't have a heartbeat.*

Haldir smirked, believing that the young girl was wrong once again. *If the person has neither heartbeat nor breath, then they are dead.*

Nicole shook her head. I thought that Elves were healers... they don't even know these basics? *It depends on how long it's been since they've stopped breathing,* she explained. *If it's within a few minutes, you can still save their life. Even if the heart stops beating.* Haldir and the surrounding Elves looked curious and allowed her to continue. At least I'm not getting trained without contributing, she thought as she began to explain the procedures for restoring breathing and heartbeats. This just proves that even Elves don't know everything... and I'm smart after all! WHOO HOO!

For the next several days, Nicole taught the Elves what she could remember from her First Aid knowledge and was continually trained in fighting and the finer healing arts. The hours remained horrible, Nicole remained in a dress, and she remained late as well. But she was decidedly progressing and came to every lesson without fail, her various teachers finding her an apt student. Lathanir, Tarcalen, and Celeborn were concerned: their plan had been ruined because the girl was not at all discouraged by the harder than usual training program, and kept going to train every day. And even more incredible was that she was becoming skilled at it.

She was on her way to another day of tough training, late again, but this time eager to reach the grounds earlier than she usually did. Lathanir had mentioned something about a surprise the last time she had been learning with him. Nicole had been waiting for three days to see what it was, and Haldir had said that he wasn't going to teach her today, so she concluded that Lathanir was to teach her, and hopefully tell her what the surprise was.

If it isn't a set of normal clothes, I am going to attack him. Stupid Elves have been making me train in a dress for... she paused her train of thought for a second, realizing that she had already been in Lothlorien nearly three weeks. Two and a half weeks of training in a dress? That's unacceptable! I hope they aren't really horrible pants... something in a sturdy denim would be good, but all they have here is silk and satin, from what I've seen in my wardrobe. And a normal shirt wouldn't be so bad. I think I look pretty good in dark green, or maybe a beige/yellow with gold accents. The girl continued lining up her next wardrobe, mentally modeling everything and deciding which would be the best, most comfortable, and least-constricting for when she was fighting. Combining her present state of mind with her usual inattentiveness, this caused her to keep running without paying much notice to what was happening around her. Nicole was nearing the grounds, when she rounded one of the last trees in her way, dashing madly with excitement, and... ran into a person she had least expected to meet on this morning...

A/N: What a cliffie.... I tried my best.... I haven't left you guys a cliffie in a while, so I hope all the people out in Reviewer-land are happy! Who could it be? Germaine, the forgotten Magetrix worker.... Gandalf, alive and kicking?.... Ella, revealing herself to be a mighty She-Elf about to over-run Lothlorien? You'll never know! MUWAHAHAHA!!!!!!

*clears throat* I'm ok now... please review! ~MoI~

P.S.~ How's this chapter length? Too short? Too long? Tell me!