AN: Hi all! How's everyone doing? I'm doing well, getting ready for the GREs (a test to get into Graduate's School) and preparing for my Girl Scout Troop's Halloween Carnival. Since I'm a leader of a younger kid troop, I'm obligated to wear a costume. I'm going to dress up as a Matrixy-Cyberpunky type character loosely based on the character Trinity from The Matrix movies. About the only reason I'm dressing up as that is because I have a lot (and I really mean a lot) of black clothing from my dance classes since we're supposed to wear black dance gear (dance pants, body suits, and tights). That way I don't have to buy too much of my costume! I hope, if you're dressing up for Halloween, you're going as something cool! As I always say- and I don't care how cliché it sounds- thank you all for your reviews! They mean so much to me! I greatly appreciate them in every way, shape, and form!
sunni07: I'm glad you liked Niphredil's little spar with Fire. I'm pretty darn sure all Chemistry teachers are evil. I know the one I had in college was quite demonic. She played favorites in the worst ways! Don't feel bad; I don't talk all that much in class either. I tend to sit quietly, take my notes, and do what I'm told. Well, I hope the rest of my chapters are just as good as the last!
IrethAncalime3791: Fire might learn something from that spar or, just as easily, she may get just a bit grumpier. I hope I didn't make you too nervous while you read that chapter. I was just having a bit of fun while I was writing it. I've been looking for an excuse to write a fight scene someplace. I will try my best to keep my work up.
Ms. Unknown: Don't worry! Everything turned out well for Niphredil in the end. As for Ice, she's quite different from her very loud little sister and, despite the name; she may become Niphredil's friend.
Lindiel Eryn: Fire and Ice have their own story I'm working on. They are, indeed, part of my ever connecting little world of Lord of the Rings stories. Their entire history- including why Fire's so hostile- is in that story. I'm glad you liked that last line. It was really late when I finished that chapter and I wasn't sure if it sounded alright. I figured Niphredil just wants to earn the respect of those around her since she experienced a great deal of disrespect in the other world. If she makes friends in the process, well, she's alright with that too.
LJP: Her decision is coming up shortly. I figured she needed to vent whatever emotions she was feeling at the moment in something familiar. About all that exists in Middle Earth is sword fighting, though, not the type she's use to. Her need to make that fateful decision is still there, though, just on the backburner for the moment.
JC-Puzzler: Oh my! I, honestly, feel honored by what you wrote. I was convinced that no one would ever read/review anything I posted. It comes as a shock to me that people actually do. I'm glad you liked this chapter and I hope you continue to enjoy the ones I post for both stories (I'm going to try to update the other one sometime this week). Again, many thanks for your review! I really am awed by what you wrote.
elentir girl: I'm glad you liked the chapter and the song. The song is the entrance music used by one of my favorite WWE wrestlers: Rob Van Dam. He's so wicked fun to watch wrestle and the song's pretty cool too.
et-spiritus-sancti: Just keep an eye on those twins for me! Let's just say they're not going to know what to make of Niphredil since she's not exactly what they expect. As for the rest of her family, her…abilities…are going to come as a bit of a shock. Just because it's not something normally seen in Middle Earth.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a handful of made up characters. Tolkien thought up the concept and, as such, it belongs to him. I'm just playing in his world. I'm broke and in college. All I own are Pointe Shoes.
Much to her surprise, word of her little spar with Fire did not make it into the day-to-day, discussion of events throughout the citadel. Maybe it had and Niphredil hadn't noticed. She'd been very busy trying to decide what she wanted to do about her grandfather's offer. Now that she wasn't distracted by new family members and battles with the likes of Fire, that decision started to weigh heavily on her mind.
There hadn't been much, either way, for her to decide. How was she supposed to make this decision in the first place? Was she supposed to receive a sign or, perhaps, some kind of divine insight? Was there some sort of Oracle she was supposed to speak to in order to get an answer?
She just didn't know and, as such, wasn't too thrilled with the choices set before her. It was like being asking to pick the lesser of two evils but without the evil part.
Being human had its good and bad points. If she was human, she would be more like her parents and more readily accepted, she supposed, into the fabric the city was woven out of. Of course, there was always the negative aspects of getting sick and, eventually, dying. Though she would have a longer lifespan which had its own set of positives and negatives. That was something she wasn't keen on considering at the moment. For now, the broad category would have to suffice.
As for being an elf- a mythical creature that she had disregarded as pure fantasy in the Muggle World- with its immortality and seemingly immunity to all ills, save sorrow, was her other option. That was a can of worms, so to speak, that she wasn't quite sure she could deal with. One thing she did know, however, was that if she were to choose the immortal life of an elf, it would make her different from her parents and the city's population.
She'd been different from those around her for most of her life and Niphredil was quite aware what sort of reaction that brought upon her.
Of course, she wanted to take into account her parent's feelings. Her heart and gut said they wouldn't care what decision she had made. They would accept her no matter what, as they had since she came to Middle Earth.
Her head, though, was being quite contrary and telling her otherwise. It kept forcing her to recall memories of her time in the Muggle World. It wanted her to think that, if she were to make herself different from her family, they would no longer want her to live with them. She figured it wouldn't be so bad if they shipped her off to live with her grandfather or this mysterious great-grandmother they spoke about. That was not her preference, though, as she liked living with her blood parents.
At the moment, though, Niphredil was outside of the citadel in a smallish side courtyard she had discovered during one of her travels through the castle. Alone she stood, dressed in a loose fitting tunic and pants belted around the waist. It was the best she could do to approximate her old karate uniform. Resting on the ground, sheathed in the near by shade, was the sword Doc had given her what seemed like a lifetime ago.
She was trying to clear her mind by doing something familiar. That is, by doing forms, slowly, outside in nature. Doc had always said that was the best form of mental relaxation he could think of. Niphredil, for the longest time, had been disinclined to agree with her instructor- one of the few times she did.
Now, though, she saw what he meant. She stood, loose and ready like a cat about to spring. Cats never looked tense until they were just about to pounce and that was how she was feeling at the moment. Her mind was clear, free from the constraints placed on it by the decision she was being asked to make or by anything else in Middle Earth.
It was just her and nature around her, giving her energy in many ways other than by virtue of the oxygen they provided, doing motions that were so practiced and familiar that she didn't really need to spare a thought to do them. An ideal situation given what was wreaking havoc with her mind.
Little did Niphredil know that her practice spot was easily visible from a council chamber within the citadel. What's more, she couldn't have known that the room had been purposefully chosen for the day's meetings by her father.
"You tell me that Fire's complaint is not as valid as she claims?" Aragorn inquired, speaking to his twin "brothers."
"Over look Fire's complaints, Estel, they are not of importance now. You should have been there to see Niphredil," Elladan answered, coming over to stand with Aragorn at the window.
Though he was speaking directly to Elrond's twin sons, he was staring out the window. Whatever his daughter was doing, the actions she was taking, he found them to be very interesting. She was lost in her own little world, totally apart from the bustling city around her.
"I am not sure what you mean, my brother," Aragon admitted, sounding sheepish.
Fire, naught but a few hours after her fight with Niphredil, had stormed into Aragorn's study demanding a few words with him. He complied, really only to get Fire to leave him along. The last thing he needed, compounding everything else he had in front of him at the moment, was an angry Fire stewing in his office.
She informed him of what had taken place, of the verbal "attack" Elrond's sons had used against her and of the physical one his daughter had perpetrated against her. Fire demanded- of a king no less- something be done in order to repair her family's honor.
Ice, who had tailed her younger sister to Aragorn's study trying to prevent her from doing any more damage, simply told the Aragorn that Fire had issued the challenge and, admirably, Niphredil had risen to the challenge. Wearing a dress and with a borrowed blade, she soundly defeated Fire. There was no dishonor in that action. As a matter of fact, it showed that the very young half-elven maiden had a great deal of character.
It was for that reason; Aragorn had not mentioned his judgment on her actions to Niphredil yet. He needed more information and the only two who could provide it were his elder twin "brothers." Only after this could he say anything about what his daughter had done.
"She fights in a style very much unknown here but that style seems to have been adapted, somehow, to fit her elvish form," Elrohir added, getting up to join the pair.
Aragorn had heard, from several sources with Emma being oddly the most knowledgeable of them that his daughter possessed certain skills that would never be found in Middle Earth. According to the Mirkwood princess, his daughter trained in something called Martial Arts, specifically a branch of it known as Tae Kwan Do and that Niphredil held a high rank in that activity.
It all sounded very strange and foreign to Aragorn but it seemed to make perfect sense to Emma. By proxy, it must have made sense to Niphredil as well. It was her activity of choice- much in the same way dancing was Emma's activity of choice- and, as such, it would have to make sense to her.
Talking in turn and filling in each other's sentences as they enjoyed doing, the twins proceeded to give Aragorn a complete description of what had taken place in the fight. They were able to capture all the senses of their mortal "brother" using storytelling skills they appeared to have inherited from their father. Every small motion they told Niphredil's father about, every blow, thrust, and block was given full attention.
After expressing what their niece had gone through, Elladan and Elrohir could see how she had complained about being tired. It all seemed very exhausting to the elven twins.
"I wish I could have seen it. She is quite unlike anything I could ever fathom as being my child," Aragorn stated, plainly amazed, "I can not think of words to even properly describe her personality. I think that suits her in a way, though, since there is still so much we don't know about her. There is still much mystery surrounding her."
"You know what ada always said about that," Elladan commented, dry humor in his voice.
Niphredil had abandoned her forms and had picked up her sword. She returned to her slow, almost syrup like motions, this time with weapon in hand. The same far away expression was on her face as she moved, her mind separated from her body in a way only she understood clearly.
"Ada said a great many things, my brothers, please refresh my memory on his words," Aragorn retorted, eyes glancing through the window, watching whatever his daughter was doing.
The twins shared a common glance, the look in their eyes belaying the information they were about to share.
"He always said, 'You do not truly know someone until you fight them.' If you want to get to know more about your daughter, Estel," Elrohir started his vice slightly joking.
"I suggest you pay her a visit down in that courtyard and challenge her," Elladan finished, the same sort of tone in his voice and a matching smile on his face.
"But I haven't the time," Aragorn stammered, wanting more than anything else to go down there and learn about Niphredil in a way they shared.
The commonality the two of them had. The something special they shared that no one else could truly understand. Their warrior nature.
"Make time, Estel, make time," Elrohir stated.
"There is no time like the present, my brother. Forget what you have to do and go down there. Unless the title of king takes presence over the title of father or ada or any other name she chooses for you," Elladan challenged, giving his brother a knowing wink.
That did it for Aragorn. It was the straw that broke the preverbal camel's back.
Challenge his authority as High King of Gondor and he would react with vehement claims to the throne. He could claim ancient bloodlines and quote verbatim what he had been taught as a child under the care of Lord Elrond. If it was a physical challenge, sure as the sun rose, he would face it.
Challenge his place as Niphredil's father and he could only do what was asked of him. There was no other way for him to prove what was important.
Plus, truth be told, he knew he would have much rather spend time with his wife and daughter than with the grating members of the council.
"I think I shall pay Niphredil a visit," he commented, starting to stride away from the window, "It is high time she and I get to know one another properly."
(AN: I borrowed the like "You do not truly know someone until you fight them" from the movie The Matrix Reloaded. One of my very favorite characters- a male character named Seraph- says it to Neo just after they spar in Seraph's Tea House. It's just one of my favorite lines said by one of my favorite characters, after one of my favorite scenes.)