Disclaimer: Don't own. Not making any money off of it. Gonna go cry now.
A/N: I am *SO* sorry this took forever to get up. You know how hectic the holidays can get. And then I had problems with my computer. Again. I am truly, terribly sorry. And a belated Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone.
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It was morning now. Valora still didn't have any answers about what was happening to her. Gandalf didn't understand it either. As far as he knew, seers usually saw either things that had yet to happen or things that had happened in the past. Occasionally, one who could see both appeared, but it was rare. She seemed to be seeing things as they happened. And nothing like this had ever happened to her before.
After speaking with Gandalf about it a second time last night, she had wandered off to explore a bit, since she been too worried about Frodo to explore in the past few days. Rivendell was very beautiful, both during the day and during the night. But she had a hard time enjoying it when her mind was so full of questions. So, she had retired early.
She was walking around on her own again. Frodo and the other Hobbits were visiting with Bilbo, who had been staying here since leaving Hobbiton. She wasn't sure where Strider and Arwen were, but had a sneaking suspicion that, if she went looking for them, she would find them together. Gandalf and Elrond were busy, so she had no one to talk to, since she really didn't know anyone else here. She would have joined the Hobbits, but felt that a break from Merry and Pippin was needed, or she might do something to them that she might regret.
As she walked, she heard a noise. She paused and listened. Wondering what it was, she followed the sounds. What she found was the Elf from yesterday firing arrows at some targets that had been set up. Her first impulse was to turn and walk in another direction, anywhere but towards that Elf, but somthing stopped her. She watched him for a minute or two, an idea forming in her mind.
Now, all she had to do was work up the nerve to go ahead with it.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Legolas fired another arrow, hitting the bullseye yet again. He was happy to have found a moment to practice, even though he didn't need to. He enjoyed it. He stopped every now and then to collect the arrows he had shot. Once he had retrieved them, he moved back to the place he had been standing to fire them from and began again.
"You're good with that."
Legolas turned from his target to see the human girl standing not too far away, watching him. He was surprised that he hadn't heard her approach. "Thank you."
She hesitated before moving closer. "Do you mind? That I was watching, I mean."
"No." He turned back to his targets. Swiftly he shot three arrows into them.
"Where did you learn to do this?" She gestured towards the bow and then the targets.
"I learned when I was very young. Most Elves are taught to battle at an early age. In case the skill is ever needed."
"I see." She hesitated and he gave her an appraising look, sensing that she wanted to ask another question. "Can you teach me?" she asked finally.
He stared at her.
"I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have-"
"Why does a human girl wish to learn such things?" he interrupted.
"I have my reasons."
He frowned.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Valora stood with her left leg forward, as Legolas had instructed her, and lifted an arrow to the bow string with her right hand. Legolas stood right behind her to make sure she was doing it right. She pulled the string back tight.
"You are not pulling correctly," he said, noticing that her arm was too high. He stepped closer and gently pushed her arm down a bit. "You might hurt your arm that way."
Valora felt a shiver run through her body at the sensation of his voice speaking softly in her ear and stiffened slightly in an effort to control it. Why was he standing so close? Didn't he know she needed to concentrate? Didn't he realize how difficult his nearness made that?
"You are holding the bow wrong. Put your hand lower. Like this." He wrapped his hand over hers and pulled it an inch or two lower on the bow.
Valora could barely breath. Both of his arms were now around her. One held her hand on the bow and the other rested at her elbow as she held the arrow. Oh, get a grip, she thought to herself. So, he's cute. So what? *He* was cute, too, and you remember how that turned out. He doesn't mean anything by this. He's only teaching you how to shoot an arrow. It's nothing else.
She let go of the string. The arrow hit it's intended target, but only at the very edge. Hardly impressive. She nearly groaned out loud.
"It was only your first try. Try again." He handed her another arrow. "And concentrate on the target."
She took a deep breath and loaded the arrow. She pulled the string back a bit more gently this time. She closed one eye and aimed.
"Keep both of your eyes open," he told her, resuming the same position they had been in before. "You will see twice as well. And you are not pulling back hard enough now. A shot like that would never penetrate." He wrapped his fingers around hers and pulled her hand and the string back slightly. He stayed like that for a moment, letting her get used to the feel of the right amount of tension being applied to the string. "Focus on the target."
She stared at the target and tried to focus on the middle. It was very difficult to do. Especially with him breathing the words into her ear like that. She took a deep breath and blinked to try to clear her head. Then she focused on the target again.
He deftly, but slowly, removed his hands from hers. "Let it go," he whispered.
The arrow flew swiftly through the air. It hit the target very near the center. Valora made a small sound of delight.
"Try it on your own now." Legolas handed her another arrow.
Valora quickly armed the bow and aimed. When she let the arrow fly, it once again hit very near to the center of the target. She couldn't believe it. She turned around, smiling brightly. She hadn't realized he was still standing so close. The corners of his lips were quirked up slightly in an almost invisible smile, but Valora didn't notice it. She didn't need to. There was a smile in his eyes, if not on his face.
"You are a fast learner," he commented.
"In most things, I always have been." Then there's my emotions and ridiculous reactions, she thought. Her heart rate had gone up as soon as she had turned and looked at him. And the smile in his eyes only made it worse. This is stupid. He's an Elf! And he's not even real in my world! Yes, he's hot, but the fact remains that I have to go home someday and where my home is, there *is* no Legolas except for in story books. And for heaven's sake, stop reacting as if you'd ever have a chance, even if he *was* real!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
They had been practicing for nearly an hour. Valora's fingers were becoming raw from pulling back and releasing the bow string. And her arm muscles were beginning to protest. It would only get worse if she continued to practice, but she was seemed to have a gift for it and didn't want to stop. She wasn't as good as Legolas, who was more skilled than she had pictured even Robin Hood to be. Not yet, anyway. When she got home she was buying an archery set, she decided.
Oddly enough, she had lost nearly all of her nervousness around him. She still wasn't about to start spouting off her life story to him or anything, but she didn't feel so awkward now. It must have been something about Elves, she decided. She felt comfortable around Lord Elrond and Arwen as well. Then again, she hadn't really spoken to many other Elves. And she definately didn't feel very comfortable around Elrond's twin sons. But that was a whole other issue. After all the horror stories she'd heard about them... But she did feel more comfortable than she would have expected to around Legolas.
Not that he didn't have his irritating qualities. The thing about him that irritated her the most was how fast he could grab an arrow, string it and fire, hitting the bullseye every time. Just to prove her point, he fired a succession of five arrows, every one hitting it's mark. One of his arrows even split another one down the middle. And he was putting hardly any effort into what he was doing at all!
"Okay, now you're just showing off," she said dryly, but with a teasing look in her eyes. For her, this kind of behavior counted as light flirting. What was she doing?
He smiled slightly. "Is there any reason I should not?" he asked, handing her the bow and an arrow.
"Valora." She had just realized that they had never been properly introduced.
"What?"
"It's my name. Valora. Yours is Legolas, right?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
She fought the urge to blush and concentrated on firing her shot. "Gandalf told me."
He smirked. "And why would he tell you that?"
"I wanted to know who all the people who were arriving are." The arrow she fired hit the edge of the bullseye.
Legolas knew very well that she had asked about him specifically. He had heard her. Wondering how she would try to get out of telling him the truth, he asked, "What were the names of the others, then?"
Oh, that he should ask her such a question. She was caught and she knew it. She didn't know a single one of the others' names. She was thankfully spared from answering by the arrival of one of the Elves that she had seen with him earlier.
"Your Highness," said the Elf, bowing.
Your Highness? thought Valora, bewildered. She was so surprised that she missed whatever message the Elf had delivered, not that she could have understood it anyway. She didn't even realize she had done it until Legolas dismissed him. The Elf bowed again. "My prince," he said. He left.
When Legolas turned back to Valora, she was staring at him with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open. "Is something wrong?"
"You're a prince?"
"Yes. My father is the King of Mirkwood."
Oh, man. "Um, I-I should go." She handed the bow back quickly. "Thank you for teaching me how to shoot." Then she walked away at a brisk pace, leaving a rather confused Legolas behind. She didn't stop walking until she reached a large garden. Sighing, she sat down on a stone bench next to a tree. A *prince.* He was a *prince!* She had been talking with a prince. *Flirting* with him! Ugh! She felt absolutely mortified. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she mumbled to herself. "As if it wasn't bad enough to be attracted to him in the first place, he's got to be a handsome, warrior, Elven prince. Your chances weren't even slim to none, they were less than zero. Wait," she mumbled, frowning, "what's the problem? This just gives you extra incentive to stay away from him. Yeah, this is a good thing. Except for the flirting part!" She dropped her head into her hands. "What is wrong with me?"
"I don't know. What *is* wrong with you?"
Valora, startled, looked up to find Strider standing a few feet away. "How long have you been standing there?" she demanded. Her face grew hot and she knew she was blushing. It seemed that ever since she had arrived in Middle-Earth, blood was either draining from her face or rushing to it.
He smiled. "Not long."
"How long is not long?" she asked warily.
"Just long enough to hear something about having incentive to stay away from someone. And just who might this someone that you were flirting with be?"
"Nevermind." She had a feeling that she was in for some serious teasing if she told him what had happened. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked hopefully.
"Not for a while," he said. He sat down next to her. He looked at her fingers and frowned slightly. "Have you been using a bow?"
"Why do you ask?"
He nodded towards her hands. "Your fingers look a bit raw. I remember that mine looked the same way when I first learned to use a bow."
Reluctantly, she nodded. "I asked one of the Elves to teach me."
"Why didn't you ask me?" Oddly, he felt a little insulted.
"I didn't know where you were." She gave him a sly smile. "And I figured you might want some private time with Arwen."
Strider looked at her, surprised. "How did-"
"How did I know?" she asked. "Simple. She told me. And I had my suspicions before then. You think I don't see the way you look at each other? I may be a weakling, but I'm not a blithering idiot."
"Well, why didn't you tell me you wanted to learn how to use a bow?" he asked, changing the subject. "I would have taught you."
"I know. No offence was meant by it. It was just easier to ask someone else than look for you."
He nodded. "You have looked troubled since Amon Sul. Would you care to tell me what is bothering you?"
"Honestly? A lot of things. The top of the list being that I should have done something more to protect Frodo."
He frowned. "You did what you could."
"It wasn't enough." She sighed. "Strider, where I'm from, I really have no need for weapons. All my life, I've always relied on my brains to keep me out of trouble. I can't do that here. That night at Amon Sul. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. My friends were in danger and I couldn't do a damn thing to protect them. I was so scared, I couldn't even call for help. If I had, maybe Frodo wouldn't have gotten hurt. That wound will never fully heal, did you know that? Arwen told me. He's going to have it for the rest of his life. And it's because of me. It was my fault."
Strider listened silently. So that was the problem. She was feeling guilty. He understood completely. He had been feeling the bite of guilt himself for having left them alone for too long. "It was not your fault. You tried to protect him. The others told me so."
"Yeah. I tried," she said bitterly. "I tried and I failed. I don't want that to happen ever again. I need to learn how to fight."
"If you wish it, I will teach you how to use the blade I gave you," he said carefully.
"Really?" she asked hopefully.
He nodded. "You may need to know how to use a sword in the coming times."
"That sounds cheerful," she said sarcastically. "When do you think we can start?"
He looked at the sky. He had a couple of hours before the Council was to take place. "I can spare some time now. Where is the blade I gave you?"
"In the room I'm staying in."
"Go and get it."
She nodded and hurried off.
Strider had to smile slightly at her eagerness to learn. Still, this wasn't going to be easy. He went to retrieve his own sword.
When she returned, Strider was waiting for her, sword in hand.
"Before we begin," he said, "you must know that there is a chance you may get hurt while learning to fight. In order to learn, you are going to have to trust me. Do you trust me, Valora?"
She gave him an appraising look and hesitated. Did she trust him? She still wasn't sure. "I've trusted you with my life so far," she said carefully. "So, yes. I guess I do trust you. With this, at least."
"But...?" he asked.
"I still don't know if I can trust you completely. Don't get me wrong, you haven't done anything to make me *not* trust you," she assured. "It's just that I don't trust many people. And I don't trust very easily."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," he said sarcastically.
She looked at him, smirking in amusment. "I think I'm having a bad influence on you, Strider."
He smirked back at her. Then, it faded. "Why do you find it hard to trust?"
She was silent for a moment and a sad look came into her eyes. "It's a lesson I learned. Long ago. When you trust the wrong person, it always ends in pain," she said softly.
Sensing that this was a sensitive subject, he decided it would be best to start the lesson. "Hold the sword like this," he said, demonstrating. "Good. For now, I want you to block my sword. Are you ready?" She nodded. And the lesson began.
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I know, I know. I told you it wouldn't be a romance. I still hold to that. I was just trying to give her a normal reaction. I mean, come on. How would you react to having a really hot person standing that close to you? With his arms around you. And keep in mind, she's a teenager. Hormones are a bitch. And with the way people think of her in her world, how often do you think she interacts with the opposite sex?
A/N: I am *SO* sorry this took forever to get up. You know how hectic the holidays can get. And then I had problems with my computer. Again. I am truly, terribly sorry. And a belated Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone.
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It was morning now. Valora still didn't have any answers about what was happening to her. Gandalf didn't understand it either. As far as he knew, seers usually saw either things that had yet to happen or things that had happened in the past. Occasionally, one who could see both appeared, but it was rare. She seemed to be seeing things as they happened. And nothing like this had ever happened to her before.
After speaking with Gandalf about it a second time last night, she had wandered off to explore a bit, since she been too worried about Frodo to explore in the past few days. Rivendell was very beautiful, both during the day and during the night. But she had a hard time enjoying it when her mind was so full of questions. So, she had retired early.
She was walking around on her own again. Frodo and the other Hobbits were visiting with Bilbo, who had been staying here since leaving Hobbiton. She wasn't sure where Strider and Arwen were, but had a sneaking suspicion that, if she went looking for them, she would find them together. Gandalf and Elrond were busy, so she had no one to talk to, since she really didn't know anyone else here. She would have joined the Hobbits, but felt that a break from Merry and Pippin was needed, or she might do something to them that she might regret.
As she walked, she heard a noise. She paused and listened. Wondering what it was, she followed the sounds. What she found was the Elf from yesterday firing arrows at some targets that had been set up. Her first impulse was to turn and walk in another direction, anywhere but towards that Elf, but somthing stopped her. She watched him for a minute or two, an idea forming in her mind.
Now, all she had to do was work up the nerve to go ahead with it.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Legolas fired another arrow, hitting the bullseye yet again. He was happy to have found a moment to practice, even though he didn't need to. He enjoyed it. He stopped every now and then to collect the arrows he had shot. Once he had retrieved them, he moved back to the place he had been standing to fire them from and began again.
"You're good with that."
Legolas turned from his target to see the human girl standing not too far away, watching him. He was surprised that he hadn't heard her approach. "Thank you."
She hesitated before moving closer. "Do you mind? That I was watching, I mean."
"No." He turned back to his targets. Swiftly he shot three arrows into them.
"Where did you learn to do this?" She gestured towards the bow and then the targets.
"I learned when I was very young. Most Elves are taught to battle at an early age. In case the skill is ever needed."
"I see." She hesitated and he gave her an appraising look, sensing that she wanted to ask another question. "Can you teach me?" she asked finally.
He stared at her.
"I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have-"
"Why does a human girl wish to learn such things?" he interrupted.
"I have my reasons."
He frowned.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Valora stood with her left leg forward, as Legolas had instructed her, and lifted an arrow to the bow string with her right hand. Legolas stood right behind her to make sure she was doing it right. She pulled the string back tight.
"You are not pulling correctly," he said, noticing that her arm was too high. He stepped closer and gently pushed her arm down a bit. "You might hurt your arm that way."
Valora felt a shiver run through her body at the sensation of his voice speaking softly in her ear and stiffened slightly in an effort to control it. Why was he standing so close? Didn't he know she needed to concentrate? Didn't he realize how difficult his nearness made that?
"You are holding the bow wrong. Put your hand lower. Like this." He wrapped his hand over hers and pulled it an inch or two lower on the bow.
Valora could barely breath. Both of his arms were now around her. One held her hand on the bow and the other rested at her elbow as she held the arrow. Oh, get a grip, she thought to herself. So, he's cute. So what? *He* was cute, too, and you remember how that turned out. He doesn't mean anything by this. He's only teaching you how to shoot an arrow. It's nothing else.
She let go of the string. The arrow hit it's intended target, but only at the very edge. Hardly impressive. She nearly groaned out loud.
"It was only your first try. Try again." He handed her another arrow. "And concentrate on the target."
She took a deep breath and loaded the arrow. She pulled the string back a bit more gently this time. She closed one eye and aimed.
"Keep both of your eyes open," he told her, resuming the same position they had been in before. "You will see twice as well. And you are not pulling back hard enough now. A shot like that would never penetrate." He wrapped his fingers around hers and pulled her hand and the string back slightly. He stayed like that for a moment, letting her get used to the feel of the right amount of tension being applied to the string. "Focus on the target."
She stared at the target and tried to focus on the middle. It was very difficult to do. Especially with him breathing the words into her ear like that. She took a deep breath and blinked to try to clear her head. Then she focused on the target again.
He deftly, but slowly, removed his hands from hers. "Let it go," he whispered.
The arrow flew swiftly through the air. It hit the target very near the center. Valora made a small sound of delight.
"Try it on your own now." Legolas handed her another arrow.
Valora quickly armed the bow and aimed. When she let the arrow fly, it once again hit very near to the center of the target. She couldn't believe it. She turned around, smiling brightly. She hadn't realized he was still standing so close. The corners of his lips were quirked up slightly in an almost invisible smile, but Valora didn't notice it. She didn't need to. There was a smile in his eyes, if not on his face.
"You are a fast learner," he commented.
"In most things, I always have been." Then there's my emotions and ridiculous reactions, she thought. Her heart rate had gone up as soon as she had turned and looked at him. And the smile in his eyes only made it worse. This is stupid. He's an Elf! And he's not even real in my world! Yes, he's hot, but the fact remains that I have to go home someday and where my home is, there *is* no Legolas except for in story books. And for heaven's sake, stop reacting as if you'd ever have a chance, even if he *was* real!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
They had been practicing for nearly an hour. Valora's fingers were becoming raw from pulling back and releasing the bow string. And her arm muscles were beginning to protest. It would only get worse if she continued to practice, but she was seemed to have a gift for it and didn't want to stop. She wasn't as good as Legolas, who was more skilled than she had pictured even Robin Hood to be. Not yet, anyway. When she got home she was buying an archery set, she decided.
Oddly enough, she had lost nearly all of her nervousness around him. She still wasn't about to start spouting off her life story to him or anything, but she didn't feel so awkward now. It must have been something about Elves, she decided. She felt comfortable around Lord Elrond and Arwen as well. Then again, she hadn't really spoken to many other Elves. And she definately didn't feel very comfortable around Elrond's twin sons. But that was a whole other issue. After all the horror stories she'd heard about them... But she did feel more comfortable than she would have expected to around Legolas.
Not that he didn't have his irritating qualities. The thing about him that irritated her the most was how fast he could grab an arrow, string it and fire, hitting the bullseye every time. Just to prove her point, he fired a succession of five arrows, every one hitting it's mark. One of his arrows even split another one down the middle. And he was putting hardly any effort into what he was doing at all!
"Okay, now you're just showing off," she said dryly, but with a teasing look in her eyes. For her, this kind of behavior counted as light flirting. What was she doing?
He smiled slightly. "Is there any reason I should not?" he asked, handing her the bow and an arrow.
"Valora." She had just realized that they had never been properly introduced.
"What?"
"It's my name. Valora. Yours is Legolas, right?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
She fought the urge to blush and concentrated on firing her shot. "Gandalf told me."
He smirked. "And why would he tell you that?"
"I wanted to know who all the people who were arriving are." The arrow she fired hit the edge of the bullseye.
Legolas knew very well that she had asked about him specifically. He had heard her. Wondering how she would try to get out of telling him the truth, he asked, "What were the names of the others, then?"
Oh, that he should ask her such a question. She was caught and she knew it. She didn't know a single one of the others' names. She was thankfully spared from answering by the arrival of one of the Elves that she had seen with him earlier.
"Your Highness," said the Elf, bowing.
Your Highness? thought Valora, bewildered. She was so surprised that she missed whatever message the Elf had delivered, not that she could have understood it anyway. She didn't even realize she had done it until Legolas dismissed him. The Elf bowed again. "My prince," he said. He left.
When Legolas turned back to Valora, she was staring at him with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open. "Is something wrong?"
"You're a prince?"
"Yes. My father is the King of Mirkwood."
Oh, man. "Um, I-I should go." She handed the bow back quickly. "Thank you for teaching me how to shoot." Then she walked away at a brisk pace, leaving a rather confused Legolas behind. She didn't stop walking until she reached a large garden. Sighing, she sat down on a stone bench next to a tree. A *prince.* He was a *prince!* She had been talking with a prince. *Flirting* with him! Ugh! She felt absolutely mortified. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she mumbled to herself. "As if it wasn't bad enough to be attracted to him in the first place, he's got to be a handsome, warrior, Elven prince. Your chances weren't even slim to none, they were less than zero. Wait," she mumbled, frowning, "what's the problem? This just gives you extra incentive to stay away from him. Yeah, this is a good thing. Except for the flirting part!" She dropped her head into her hands. "What is wrong with me?"
"I don't know. What *is* wrong with you?"
Valora, startled, looked up to find Strider standing a few feet away. "How long have you been standing there?" she demanded. Her face grew hot and she knew she was blushing. It seemed that ever since she had arrived in Middle-Earth, blood was either draining from her face or rushing to it.
He smiled. "Not long."
"How long is not long?" she asked warily.
"Just long enough to hear something about having incentive to stay away from someone. And just who might this someone that you were flirting with be?"
"Nevermind." She had a feeling that she was in for some serious teasing if she told him what had happened. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked hopefully.
"Not for a while," he said. He sat down next to her. He looked at her fingers and frowned slightly. "Have you been using a bow?"
"Why do you ask?"
He nodded towards her hands. "Your fingers look a bit raw. I remember that mine looked the same way when I first learned to use a bow."
Reluctantly, she nodded. "I asked one of the Elves to teach me."
"Why didn't you ask me?" Oddly, he felt a little insulted.
"I didn't know where you were." She gave him a sly smile. "And I figured you might want some private time with Arwen."
Strider looked at her, surprised. "How did-"
"How did I know?" she asked. "Simple. She told me. And I had my suspicions before then. You think I don't see the way you look at each other? I may be a weakling, but I'm not a blithering idiot."
"Well, why didn't you tell me you wanted to learn how to use a bow?" he asked, changing the subject. "I would have taught you."
"I know. No offence was meant by it. It was just easier to ask someone else than look for you."
He nodded. "You have looked troubled since Amon Sul. Would you care to tell me what is bothering you?"
"Honestly? A lot of things. The top of the list being that I should have done something more to protect Frodo."
He frowned. "You did what you could."
"It wasn't enough." She sighed. "Strider, where I'm from, I really have no need for weapons. All my life, I've always relied on my brains to keep me out of trouble. I can't do that here. That night at Amon Sul. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. My friends were in danger and I couldn't do a damn thing to protect them. I was so scared, I couldn't even call for help. If I had, maybe Frodo wouldn't have gotten hurt. That wound will never fully heal, did you know that? Arwen told me. He's going to have it for the rest of his life. And it's because of me. It was my fault."
Strider listened silently. So that was the problem. She was feeling guilty. He understood completely. He had been feeling the bite of guilt himself for having left them alone for too long. "It was not your fault. You tried to protect him. The others told me so."
"Yeah. I tried," she said bitterly. "I tried and I failed. I don't want that to happen ever again. I need to learn how to fight."
"If you wish it, I will teach you how to use the blade I gave you," he said carefully.
"Really?" she asked hopefully.
He nodded. "You may need to know how to use a sword in the coming times."
"That sounds cheerful," she said sarcastically. "When do you think we can start?"
He looked at the sky. He had a couple of hours before the Council was to take place. "I can spare some time now. Where is the blade I gave you?"
"In the room I'm staying in."
"Go and get it."
She nodded and hurried off.
Strider had to smile slightly at her eagerness to learn. Still, this wasn't going to be easy. He went to retrieve his own sword.
When she returned, Strider was waiting for her, sword in hand.
"Before we begin," he said, "you must know that there is a chance you may get hurt while learning to fight. In order to learn, you are going to have to trust me. Do you trust me, Valora?"
She gave him an appraising look and hesitated. Did she trust him? She still wasn't sure. "I've trusted you with my life so far," she said carefully. "So, yes. I guess I do trust you. With this, at least."
"But...?" he asked.
"I still don't know if I can trust you completely. Don't get me wrong, you haven't done anything to make me *not* trust you," she assured. "It's just that I don't trust many people. And I don't trust very easily."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," he said sarcastically.
She looked at him, smirking in amusment. "I think I'm having a bad influence on you, Strider."
He smirked back at her. Then, it faded. "Why do you find it hard to trust?"
She was silent for a moment and a sad look came into her eyes. "It's a lesson I learned. Long ago. When you trust the wrong person, it always ends in pain," she said softly.
Sensing that this was a sensitive subject, he decided it would be best to start the lesson. "Hold the sword like this," he said, demonstrating. "Good. For now, I want you to block my sword. Are you ready?" She nodded. And the lesson began.
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I know, I know. I told you it wouldn't be a romance. I still hold to that. I was just trying to give her a normal reaction. I mean, come on. How would you react to having a really hot person standing that close to you? With his arms around you. And keep in mind, she's a teenager. Hormones are a bitch. And with the way people think of her in her world, how often do you think she interacts with the opposite sex?