Help Me Get Back

By Elerrina

Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of the Rings. It all belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien, the master of fantasy writing, at least in my mind.

Chapter 7: A Different Kind of Lesson

Rachel stayed in her room until lunch. She skipped breakfast—she just wasn't very hungry. She hoped she'd be able to sleep that night, but she wasn't too sure. At noon she left to the dining hall and ate lunch with her friends; Linwë, Legolas, Amras, and Itarildë. The others were dining somewhere else, Rachel didn't understand where. Her four friends were speaking in elvish, trying to get her accustomed to hearing it spoken as it normally would be.

"I will be out at the archery courts. I have not had much practice since the attack," Legolas informed everyone. "This way, no one will be there to see me do horribly."

"Have you ever been bad at archery, Legolas?" Rachel asked, disbelievingly.

"When I was very little, I was not at all good. I practiced a lot to improve."

"He improved very quickly, though," Amras said. "I remember very well. I was training to become a soldier when he came out to practice for the first time. No one told him how to do it yet soon he was firing off arrows as well as most of the trainees. He is a natural."

Legolas turned a light pink. "I'm sure you did also," he said modestly.

"Would you... would you teach me archery?" Rachel questioned quietly. "I'd really like to try..."

"Of course. I would recommend changing clothes. I have never tried but I am almost certain that it would be difficult to do archery in a dress, do you not think so, Linwë?"

"Yes, I do believe that it would be," Linwë laughed.

"I will wait for you outside of your room while you change. Come."

Legolas led the way to her room, telling her about the fundamentals of archery. It had never seemed as complicated as it actually was...

"We will start at the easiest target," Legolas informed her. Leading her to the far side of the court.

"That's probably for the best. I won't be any good at this."

"We will see that once you start," Legolas said. "Now, here's a bow and an arrow," he pulled an arrow out of the quiver on his back. He handed Rachel the bow and before handing her the arrow he adjusted her grip. "Always hold it there," he instructed, "or you will not be able to aim correctly and you will not hit your target."

"Alright..." Rachel fitted the arrow to the bow, remembering how she'd seen others do it.

"You did that correctly. Draw the string back to your cheek, aim down you hand, and release..."

Rachel did what Legolas told her and still the arrow only made it a few feet away from her.

Legolas laughed, a very melodic sound, which made it impossible for Rachel to contain her own laughter. She smiled.

"See, I knew I wouldn't be very good at this."

"You did fine. Was that your first time shooting an arrow?"

"Yes."

"You have nothing to be ashamed of then. Now, you must remember to keep your arm raised and keep your elbow up. If you do that you have a much better chance of firing farther."

Rachel tried again, and again, and again, she advanced slowly, but didn't succeed in hitting the target.

When she strung the bow again and aimed Legolas took a hold of her arms and held them up at the right angles. "Now try," he told her.

She aimed and let the arrow fly and hit the outside ring on the target.

"Now you know what it feels like. Keep your arms like that. Aim a bit higher."

Their lesson continued until supper. Rachel hit the bull's-eye twice and missed the target completely a few times too, but most of the time she hit the second or third ring on the target. When the bell rang they collected all of the arrows and headed back inside.

"I'm sorry. You wanted to practice archery and you didn't get to."

"No, it is alright. I wanted to remember how to do it and teaching you helped me with that. I am sure that I will have plenty of time to practice some other time. I would be honored if you would join me once in a while. You seem to enjoy archery. And you improve fairly quickly."

"Maybe I will. It depends on my lessons with Linwë. I would really like to become fluent in elvish. That I think will be my top priority. At least for a while."

"That is fine, but if you do not practice with me you should practice by yourself. Archery is not something that you are as good at after you take a break. It takes muscle memory. If you want to become better you need to keep practicing."

"I will. I'll promise you that. I really do like archery. I'd like to get better at it. I would also like to be able to fight. If I'm going to stay here and there are spiders around, I might go out into the forest and I want to be able to protect myself."

"Whenever you wish to learn something. Ask. I will be happy to teach you as long as I am not busy."

Rachel returned to her room to chance back into her dress while Legolas made his way to the dining hall to his place at the head of the room with his father. It was the first time since the attack that he had been seated there. He was planning on making a speech about the attack.

a/n: Well, I am so very sorry that this is such a short chapter. I was kicked off of the computer for a few weeks and now I have school and work, and play practice and a ton of homework and I have very little time to write... But, I did post. And I plan on posting again very soon to make up for all the time that I have lost. Okay... on with the review responses:

Emiliana Keladry: You are very hyper. Are you sad now? Rachel... well, I'm not going to say if she'll be okay or not... Thanks much for the review!

Heather Martin: I'm glad you got your own name. Sorry that it took me so long to post... my reasons are above... Don't put yourself down about your writing. I never think my writing is that good but other people think it is. I always think every chapter I write is horrible. But I am glad that you like reading! Otherwise, I'd have one less loyal reviewer! Thanks for sticking with this, even though it took so long.

Faerlain: Yes, YOUYOUYOUYOUYOU! Strawberry jam is very yummy, but I haven't had any in a long time... You don't have to worry about getting many flames anymore. That's always good. Yes, I did recommend you. You are a very good author, why wouldn't I recommend you? Thanks. Talk to you later... or sooner hopefully...

Rayame: I'm glad you're wondering about her family. I meant it to be that way. It's supposed to get your mind wondering like it's getting Rachel's mind going. What do you think is going on? Nope, she won't meet Gandalf. He's already left to the Grey Havens because this is set after LotR. Thanks for the review!

Ilenya the fair: You like changing your name, don't you? I'll try to update more regularly. Maybe you write crap, maybe you don't. But if you don't want me to read your stories I won't. Thanks for reviewing!

Thanks all! As long as I don't get kicked off again anytime soon you should have another chapter by... lets see, next Sunday at the latest? I hope that's all right. With school and birthdays and stuff... October if full of stuff. I hate it! Well... until next week!