"Legolas! You cheated! You were closer to the target than I was!" Kari shouted at her friend as she leapt down from a branch.
"Your eyes falter, Kari," Legolas said mischievously as he hung by his legs from another tree.
The game was to climb a tree and shoot an arrow at a target in the distance. Kari's arrow on the bull's-eye was pierced by Legolas' arrow. This infuriated the young lady because she could never quite beat Legolas. She could execute an exercise perfectly, but Legolas would do it just a bit more perfectly. But this time, she knew the branch Legolas stood on was closer than the one she had used on a neighboring tree.
"Do not insult my eyes, they are just as good as yours and you know you cheated. You probably could not have won any other way," she retorted as she marched up to the hanging elf.
"That is an awfully strong accusation coming from a fifteen year old," Legolas taunted, although he wasn't acting much older than she. He resumed an upright sitting position on the tree before standing on it and flipping off to land on the grass soundlessly.
Kari rolled her eyes. She knew Legolas was just trying to intimidate her by showing off, but she could flip off a tree as well. Granted, she made a small thud when she landed. "Yes, well, this fifteen year old says you are a cheat!" Kari replied.
"How will we settle the matter?"
"Rematch," Kari declared.
"And your apprenticeship?"
"Not today."
Legolas gave her a mischievous look before climbing up the tree again.
Kari sighed loudly with annoyance at Legolas' head start. "Cheat!" she said as she ran over to her tree.
"There will be an archery competition here in a month's time," Lord Elrond said during dinner that night as he ate with Arwen, Legolas and Kari.
"How wonderful!" Arwen exclaimed.
"Yes, elves from Lothlorien and Mirkwood will be joining participants of Rivendell. It shall be exciting," Lord Elrond said.
"Who can participate?" Kari asked.
"Any archer can enter. There will be rounds in which approximately half the competitors are eliminated each round and the tasks get harder. Stationary targets, moving targets, agility, tumbling and shooting - everything is tested. The competition would eventually narrow to two participants and those two will have to follow each other's lead in whatever type of archery skills they want to do until one or the other falters," Lord Elrond explained.
"Sounds challenging," Legolas said.
"Yes, I'm going to participate," Kari said before eating some more of her dinner.
Legolas coughed. "What?" he asked surprised.
"I said I'm going to participate," Kari repeated.
"No, you are not," Legolas said firmly.
"What? Why not?"
"You are not ready," Legolas replied with an air of finality.
But Kari did not see it as such. "I came close to beating you today, and you only won because you cheated. You told me before that I am a strong archer and I know how to do all those things Lord Elrond was describing. Furthermore, Lord Elrond said any archer can participate, so I do not understand why I cannot try," Kari said.
"Although any archer can participate, the archers that do train for centuries and still they cannot win. The level of skill is immense. This sort of thing is taken very seriously by the archers and seeing a fifteen year old girl there who has been training for nine years will probably be insulting," Legolas explained. Though Kari was intelligent, she knew very little of what lay outside Rivendell, including the social mores. The only outside exposure she had were the occasional excursions with Aragorn.
"Perhaps it would be insulting if the little mortal girl actually did well at the competition," Kari said angrily. "Please excuse me, Lord Elrond, I am suddenly not hungry anymore," she added before she gathered her skirts awkwardly, gave Legolas one final glare, and walked out of the dining hall.
Legolas sighed. "Sometimes I forget that she is just a child," he said quietly.
"No, Legolas, sometimes you forget that she is not a child at all," Arwen corrected him.
Legolas looked at her quizzically.
"She does not have the luxury of taking centuries to learn an art. Instead she has managed to become an apprentice in healing and a fine archer in less than ten years through hard work and dedication. She is constantly reminded that she does not have the kind of time we have, and you just belittled all her accomplishments by saying that it would be insulting for her to participate in an event that she has worked hard to earn at least an opportunity in," Arwen explained.
Legolas sighed and looked at Lord Elrond who nodded in agreement with Arwen. "I have made a mistake," he said quietly.
"You should fix it…now," Lord Elrond suggested.
Legolas got up and made his way over to Kari's room. He knocked on her door lightly and heard her say, "Come in."
"Hello," Legolas said.
Kari had already changed from her dress to a pair of casual brown pants and a white tunic. Her long black hair was out of its customary single braid and its ripples fell down her back. She was sitting on her bed with a book in her lap, staring quietly at Legolas.
They stared at each other in silence for a while until she finally said, "Do you want something?" Her tone of voice made it evident that she was still upset at him.
"I apologize for what I said, it…it was very rude of me," Legolas stumbled, holding his breath as he waited for her response. His speech was usually very smooth in front of females, and the females of Rivendell adored his mannerisms. But when it came to the girl in front of him, he always worried about what she would say because her words mattered so much more to him than he ever imagined someone's words would. How had she managed to make him care after he had sworn off caring about someone when he left Mirkwood?
Kari shrugged. "Okay," she replied, returning to her book.
Legolas sighed and sat on her bed. "You are still upset."
"Do not waste your time over such a trivial matter. I am simply acting as fifteen year old girl would," she replied sarcastically.
"Kari, I am sorry. I did not mean to insult you, you must know that. I never intend to hurt you, but I said those things because at the time, I imagined how one of those other archers would feel. But they do not know what I know," Legolas said.
"Which is what?"
"You have worked very hard. You deserve a chance to participate. I should not have passed such harsh judgment on you. It was not fair of me."
"I understand what you meant, but it hurt that you had forgotten all the effort I've put into archery and my physical agility as well. I do not have as much time as others," she said.
"I know, I am sorry."
"I forgive you. I am sorry for acting foolishly," Kari said softly.
Legolas smiled and his blue eyes locked with her brown ones.
Her heart quickened. It had become a normal occurrence every time he looked directly at her for the past couple of months. She couldn't remember the exact day she began having these feelings for her friend, but it had happened and she cursed herself for being so stupid. Not only was Legolas a handsome, desirable elf, he was the prince of Mirkwood who would probably be leaving her soon after he taught her all that he could in archery. The point being that he would leave her eventually and she would perish while he remained just as handsome as he was just then as he looked at her. She broke the eye contact and sighed quietly. She was such a fool for falling for him.
"Is something wrong?" Legolas asked concerned. Kari looked restless and he could not understand why. Perhaps it was because she was now nervous about entering the competition.
"No. Just tired," she lied.
Legolas smirked. "Reading too much, your eyes are probably exhausted from the small text," he said.
Kari smiled. "Most likely."
"Get some sleep, tomorrow we shall start training for the competition." He got off her bed and quietly left the room, leaving Kari to stare at the light imprint his weight made into her bed as she wished he had stayed longer.
Author's Note: Thanks so very much for all the reviews. Every time I see that I have a new one, I get so excited. I'm so happy that people are responding so positively to the story and to Kari. It is always a challenge to introduce a new character into an established story and have people like her. Thanks!