Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with LOTR or with Tolkien's work.......The characters of Findecáno Súrion, Enelya Cúthalion , Tathar Míriel, and Curufinwë Tinehtelë are my property however. ( I am aware of these names may have been used in one form or another by Tolkien - what I mean is that my characters may have borrowed/altered names - anything beyond that is pure coincidence in regards to character's personalities). In other words, it is the character's personality combined with (as far as I know) a unique name that I am laying claim on.... WARNING This may turn out to be very Mary Sue-ish and I have taken liberties with the original plot and story line.
From now on, I'm going to try to update once a week, my schedule allowing. Thanks to those who reviewed - they helped me get past my writer's block.Chapter 4: Fights, Sneezes, and Him
The next day, Enelya woke up feeling relaxed and fresh. Looking out her balcony doors, she could see the bright sun shining through the trees and she could hear the twittering of a myriad of birds. Perfect day for proving my skills, she thought to herself. Smiling wryly to herself, she leapt out of bed and quickly changed into a set of emerald green breeches and a brown shirt. In her excitement, Enelya nearly forgot to bring her weapons with her, in fact, she was down the hall before realizing that she was defenseless.
"Oops," she giggled to herself, her high spirits returned to her after her emotional cleansing the night before.
Like the night before, Enelya swung by the kitchens to grab a quick bite to eat before heading out to their prearranged meeting place. When Enelya reached the clearing, it was deserted except for a sweet little bird's singing. Sighing to herself, Enelya sat down on a nearby rock and waited. And waited. After quite a bit of time had passed, Enelya began to get quite annoyed with Aragorn. "What sort of king is he going to make if he can't keep appointments?" She thought to herself with a little snort.
Suddenly, Enelya heard some nearby bushes ruffling and knew that someone was sitting there watching her. "It's about time he stopped watching me and showed himself," she thought. However, Aragorn still remained crouched in place, but that didn't bother Enelya one bit - she never let on that she knew of his presence or that she was aware that her patience was being tested. After time seemed to drag endlessly on, Enelya finally broke the silence.
"How much longer can you stay frozen in that position?" Enelya asked curiously. "I don't know how long I would be able to stay like that - especially considering that your adrenaline would be what would enable you to stay in one place. Also, you've been there for a while haven't you? Well, let's see, you were there before I came and I've been sitting here for quite a long time. You have trained yourself magnificently well, Aragorn,"
"Apparently, not good enough," responded Aragorn from the bush. "How long did you know that I was there?" He asked as he stood up and got out of the bush.
"Ever since I got here.....still..." Enelya trailed off as she struggled not to laugh at Aragorn who was sporting leaves and dirt the same way you would jewelry.
"Well....now that you are here and I am here, and we both acknowledge each other's presence, what shall we do first?" Aragorn replied, still unaware that he wore a coat of leaves and mud.
"If it's all the same to you, I'd like to start with archery, as I've already proven both my patience, tolerance, and punctuality." Enelya replied with a small smile. Aragorn nodded while smiling bashfully, and pointed to a multitude of targets prearranged for them.
"I want you to shoot all your arrows at the different targets, the first time really quickly, then the next time we'll slow it down and you can take ..... A-a-a-c-c-h-h-o-o-o-o," Aragorn sneezed loudly before he could finish. Enelya smiled evilly to herself but nevertheless, got into position to begin shooting arrows. Aragorn continued to sneeze as Enelya shot off arrows at all 12 targets.
"Are you okay, Aragorn?" Asked Enelya innocently.
"I am fine..... Aaachooo!..........wow that was pretty good Enelya - not bad at all," he remarked as he looked at the targets with the arrows situated, more or less at the center of each. "Let's try taking it slowly, however, if you're that good at shooting arrows rapidly, I'm guessing you'd be just as good when you can take a moment and aim properly." Aragorn sneezed again and sent dirt flying everywhere but he didn't notice.
Enelya just shrugged at the compliments, he's just saying that because he has no control over whether I come or not - he's trying to convince himself that everything will be all right, she said to herself. However, Enelya knew that her aim was very good when it mattered - and now it mattered. Slowly she stood in place and started discharging her arrows into the targets. Thud. Thud. Thud. The first eleven arrows all went close to the center of the bull's eye, then, just as she was about to shoot her last projectile, something caught her eye. Sudden movement from nearby trees caused her to release her arrow prematurely, sending it wildly off course into the trees somewhere. Angrily, Enelya whirled around to confront whomever had distracted her and caused her to miss completely. She turned around and stopped dead in her tracks. It was HIM. Oh no, I've made a total fool out of myself in front of him, she moaned to herself. Enelya was frozen as Legolas exited the trees and walked towards her. Time seemed to stand still as Legolas walked forward, a sheepish look on his elven face.
"I am very sorry for interrupting your shot," he apologized.
" I - ah- umm - that's okay Your Royal Highness," she struggled as all her anger melted away when she looked into his eyes. The two elves stood in silence when another sneeze erupted from Aragorn. Suddenly, the two stepped apart to look at Aragorn who was still sneezing.
" You were doing really good until I distracted you, I am really very sorry," Legolas said softly. "You must have had a very good archery teacher."
" I did," said Enelya sadly, thinking of Tathar.
"I do have one question though." Legolas said loud enough for the human to hear, " Why is Aragorn covered in leaves?" As this, Enelya burst into giggles, as Aragorn finally noticed that he was covered in soil and leaves. Shooting the two elves dirty looks, Aragorn began to wipe off all of the dirt. Still giggling, Enelya looked up to see Legolas looking at her curiously.
"What are you looking at?" Asked Enelya crossly.
"Nothing. I just got the impression that you don't laugh very often. You should though, you are very beautiful when you laugh." Legolas replied. Enelya couldn't help but blush at his compliment. Then another thought came into her head and she stopped blushing right away. He was probably just saying it because he always says sweet things to females, she though.
" I don't need your compliments elf, they will get you no where." Enelya replied frostily. Legolas looked taken aback at this and Enelya's heart melted a little, but just a little.
"Well despite not telling me about the leaves, I am very impressed," interrupted Aragorn. "However, let's see how good you are in hand-to-hand combat."
"All right," replied Enelya as she put down her quiver and bow on the ground and took out her weapons. Twin curved blue elven blades shone brightly in the sunlight. Elvish script ran down both the blades and they seemed to glow with a life of their own. Desire leapt into Aragorn's eyes as he gazed at the beautiful blades.
" I hope you are good with those - it would be a waste of beautiful weapons," Aragorn commented. Enelya smiled as she twirled them around her body. If he thought my archery was good, wait until he sees me with swords, she thought to herself.
Aragorn took out his sword and the fight began. The clanks of metal against metal rang out from the clearing. Aragorn was easy on her at first until it soon became apparent to him that swords were her forte. An unholy light shone from Enelya eyes as she sparred with the human, he's not bad at all, she thought to herself. Suddenly, Aragorn sneezed and Enelya stopped to let him recoup himself. Looking up, Enelya noticed that the pair had drawn a crowd - elves and all the fellowship stood watching them. Although Enelya couldn't see Legolas anymore, she could still feel his gaze on her. Suppressing a shiver, Enelya engaged Aragorn in battle again.
For hours, the two continued to spar without stop. Finally, after sneezing another dozen times, Aragorn proposed a draw. A little winded and tired, Enelya agreed to it. The crowd had slowly dispersed during the hours as the two were obviously well matched and there was no end in sight.
"Well fought Enelya, you are worthy of your weapons," said Aragorn as he fought another sneeze.
" Thank you, you are a very skilled fighter also," she replied, confident that she had passed all his tests.
" I am honored to have you join our fellowship," Aragorn replied, "but for the life of me, I don't understand why I am sneezing like this."
Enelya burst out laughing again. " I am very sorry milord - have you never seen a mikil bush before?" She said as she pointed to the bush that Aragorn had previously been sitting. "Their leaves are notorious for inducing sneezing and rashes." Aragorn quickly walked over to the shrub and realized that when he had hid there, he misidentified the plant. Aragorn quickly ran off sneezing to get some medicine to stop his sneezing and lessen the inevitable rashes. Smiling to herself, Enelya turned around and froze in shock.
-------------------------------------------------Author's Note: I realize that it is unlikely that Aragorn would make such a mistake but I thought that it would be pretty funny. Also, mikil bushes come from my little brain. More Legolas in the next chapter, I promise. Please review! Thanks