It had been almost an hour since the beginning of my training with these two, and I was already one sore, tired puppy. You try swords fighting or, oh, excuse me, I meant sparring, and tell me that you don't get tired damn fast. Especially if you have never done it any time before. Yeah, right.

After about half an hour, Elrond had decided I would do better with someone . . . less experienced, so now Aragorn was sparring with me playfully. I was all sweat and short of breath. I moved aside from the slicing move he made, and nearly tripped. I used my other foot to balance, and brought my sword across, slicing Aragorn's lower left shirtsleeve. He stopped for a moment, and looked down at his cut arm. I took the time to rebalance, and steady my breathing slightly. He looked back up and grinned.

"Getting better."

"Bull, that was just luck. I suck at this."

He suddenly moved, standing taller, and striking out, testing me again. I squeaked, but parried it, holding the blades together, and couldn't help but be pleased that I was doing better. But I shook my head.

"I need to rest."

He unlocked the blades swiftly, and turned rapidly in a circle. What the hell? And then, quite suddenly, his sword went right at me, I dodged down, it just barely missing me, and brought my own sword up so fast I was surprised by both my strength, and how quickly that I'd done it.

"Soon enough."

I half laughed in a choked, surprised voice. The voice of surprised, or disappointed, laughter. Part of my brain whined, 'Aww, c'mon . . . how much longer?'

I pushed back as fiercely as I could muster, just barely managing to get him off balance. He stumbled and came back, swinging it straight at me again. I was suddenly very tired. I'd had enough. I needed a break. I parried it, pushed again, and swept his feet as he struggled for balance.

He landed with a satisfying plumph sound. The only other sound I found wanting was that there was no music by Queen in the background singing We Are The Champions. Aragorn looked to me in a surprised kind of way.

"Very good, Jessica, especially for a beginner," Aragorn replied, standing back up. For now, he left his blade on the ground. I lowered mine and smiled, feeling rewarded. I heard giggling behind a bush, but ignored it.

"Thanks, but I don't deserve it. I knocked you down because I needed a break. And . . . I think that I need some more wine. Or something."

"Wine?" Aragorn looked at me like I was being vaguely foolish. "Milady, you should drink water. The wine will only make you thirstier than you already are." He admonished. I had the grace to smile only softly.

I nodded quietly in agreement. Though, I wondered why I hadn't thought of that before hand. Maybe I just liked being all giddy. Hey, it had sure helped with the sword fight! I smiled, remembering talking to Pippin earlier.

"Who gave you wine before? An Elf, perhaps? Or one of those dastardly Hobbits?"

I shrugged, sheathing my new sword into its gorgeous Elven Scabbard. I sighed mentally. This thing was heavier than I cared for. After several hours of trying to use one, Ugh, I thought my arms were ready to crumple up, die, and fall off.

"I needed something to drink, and my arms hurt, now. Aragorn, you're ruthless," I scolded him teasingly. "But anyways, at home, I was pretty lazy a lot of the time, to be honest. There isn't a lot to do in that world, really. At least, there wasn't for me, and I was never running around playing with swords, so it's both new, and exhausting for me." I admitted. I looked down, at Aragorn's sword, which looked a whole lot smaller when it wasn't threatening to take off my head. I looked over to Elrond, Who smiled at me, an eyebrow raised elegantly as well.

"Most women do not do so well as you do, on their first try. There may be a sword fighter waiting to be set free, yet, Lady Jessica," Lord Elrond replied, smiling and nodding.

"Please stop calling me Lady. Just . . . Stop. I don't know what it is about being called Lady, but it's driving me crackers, but thank you, both of you, for letting me try."

I looked up, and saw a treeful of two Elves up there, watching. The next tree held Legolas. And yet another Elf I did not yet know.

"And thank you guys for watching, I hope that I was entertaining."

I smiled, and was greeted with their soft laughter.

What a day this was turning out to be, eh?

I gulped down the water the second I got it. I was on my third glass. And these glasses were, like, huge. A lot like one of those bottles of water in sixteen ounce cups. Maybe twenty or twenty-two, but I wasn't sure.

Gimli, of course, was laughing brashly at the amount that I was drinking. But I had finally had it. The Dwarf was excellent on getting on my nerves. I clapped my hand over his mouth and held it there. He pushed it away with a smile and humor still dancing gleefully in his eyes.

"Lass, do not do that again. It shant keep me from laughing again, and 'that' I can almost promise. And where did you get so many cuts from, I wonder?" He asked, seizing hold of my arm and looking at all of the little cuts on it. I grimaced as he did, fighting the urge to smack him. I took my arm back slowly, and a bit uncomfortably.

"Were you sword training?" He asked, looking even more curious now.

"Yeah, I was. I'm not so terribly sure I'm up to keel with it though. I mean, I'm just glad it wasn't . . . oh, say an axe, or a chakram. I'd be dead by now." I went back to sipping my water, but I didn't miss that raised eyebrow of Gimli's. He had a look of 'Oh, you think so?'

I paused; looking to him, before I suddenly realized what this meant. Ooh . . . no, No! I was 'not' playing 'that' game again! Besides, if he somehow lost, like Aragorn had, I was close enough to the ground that he'd just bite my feet off. Or just try to gnaw off my ankles.

I giggled; the imagery was too much for me to not laugh at.

"No. I'm not going to, Gims. It's not happening. Ask the Hobbits to spar with you. I'm all tired out anyway." I protested, taking a sip of water again.

"Even too tired to see my bow that you wanted to see?" A smooth voice asked me. I looked behind me a bit to see Legolas, bowless and arrowless. "No, but if you want me to shoot, then I need to rest for . . . half an hour longer, maybe?" I shrugged. I just needed to rest a little. Besides, it was string and wood. How hard could that possibly be? I mean, c'mon! Pull the little string, aim the bit of wood, and let go . . . right?

He nodded and sat down opposite me, ignoring Gimli completely. I looked at Gimli, who was grumbling again.

"Gimli, just deal with it. Besides, he's not here to hurt you."

Gimli huffed, but he stayed put. "How fair is it, Lady, that you should shoot his bow and ignore my axe?"

I looked to Legolas, who looked amused. Oh, Great . . . The happy little elf had come to torment the Dwarf. Just how unfair was that? I grinned suddenly.

"I'll bet you two get to be great friends later. You act like me and my best friend did before we were friends. And Gimli, if you really want me to practice with your Axe . . . Then I will. But . . . even if it's the right size for you, I think it's a little small for me. I'll have to poke around and find my own to fool around with . . . not to mention finding one that's lighter."

Gimli brightened considerably, and even followed (grudgingly, at that,) when Legolas and I finally left the dining hall for his room to fetch his bow and arrows. I looked in his room, curious. I had always been a curious person, but not to the extent of going so far as to go and root around or anything. Legolas invited us in, and I looked around the room with sudden awe. It wasn't all that different from my own, but it was dimmer, somehow. The echo of a forest of trees was painted artfully in the background to give the room a roomier look than I'd expected, with talentedly painted shafts of soft light hitting the forest ground, highlighting the leaf litter on the forest floor.

After that, I looked towards Legolas, to a chair near him, which held a long dagger-like blade. I went over to the large throwing blade, not touching, but wishing, instead, that I had enough talent in me to make something so artfully crafted. I sighed inwardly.

I was here for real. I knew I was.

I wanted to stop. To think, to wonder, but I'd be damned if I traded that in for my want to try Legolas' bow out. I looked at Gimli and grinned.

"What?" He asked, looking taken aback. "Hey," I said, looking to Legolas, "do you think he could try too? I think it would be a riot." The Elf smirked, but shook his head. "I'm not sure that we have the right kind of bow for him. Indeed, I think it would be humorous."

Gimli grunted, and meandered around the room, as though he hadn't heard a word about it. I though about it. What did the Dwarves do? What did they like? Elves liked . . . well, stuff like this. We left the room, and headed for the Archery Grounds. When we got there, I was alarmed to see that Aragorn was there with his own long bow. He was also very, very good at it.

It was kind of intimidating, really. Was it wrong to have thought I'd be with him alone? I shrugged mentally.

Oh well.

"You should see him on his good days." Legolas said, smiling. He looked to me and nodded his head to the right, and demonstrated. It was so fast it rattled my brain. How on Middle earth did he do that? He laughed and repeated it. And, much slower, he instructed me to watch his hands, stance, and how he aimed, and also to stand close to him. I wasn't sure why he wanted me close, but I guessed it had something to do with watching how he moved or what not. I watched how he gripped the Arrow and the Bows string, and how much effort it took for him to pull the bows string back.

I watched how the wood bent, and as he released the arrow, I watched how he'd react. He hardly did, but his body relaxed, even if it was just a little.

Already his hand was holding another arrow. Together, he taught me some of the basics, and I learned from both watching and listening. Even Gimli seemed to be somewhat interested, but meandered away after awhile, claiming that he must look for Gandalf. Who he was, I didn't know. Some other Dwarf, I supposed. Finally, my turn came up.

He handed me the bow, and an arrow he'd pulled for me. I took the items, and he corrected me on how to hold them. Then he corrected my stance. I found myself fascinated. This was almost like an art, or dancing. It was delicate, if it wasn't done right, it wouldn't work as well. Or even at all.

It made me wonder what made them die out.

Finally, I pulled the Arrow back, with much effort. It was a lot harder than I'd imagined it to be. After this, I was going to start lifting weights, I promised myself. Mostly because if I was trading off between Aragorn, Elrond, Legolas, AND Gimli, I was going to need to. I released the arrow, and was highly pleased to see the arrow land on the next target. 'Hey, at least I hit one,' I thought, and smiled to myself. Legolas was busy chuckling. The 'neighbor' was looking annoyed. If things could have been better, I was always open to suggestions, no matter how strange.

The evening passed with a lot of laughter, and many more errors. At the end of my bow and arrow lessons, which wasn't too long, to me and my poor arms, relief, I sat watching Legolas practice. After that, we parted and I went to go find something else to do. Like that wonderful idea of soaking myself in the waterfall. What? It was hot!

After I was alone, I realized how much I missed home. Computers, friends, family, my god-forsaken cats . . . books in English . . . I sat on the outside halls hallway guard, leaning against one of the pillars. I sighed. It was one of those beautiful days. I held my hand out; and guessed that it was about seven-o-clock.

"Well, I guess it's not as late as I thought." I said to myself quietly.

"And how late did you expect it to be?"

I jumped, and almost fell off of the hall guard. Jesus, what was with these people and their silent feet?

"I dunno. I was guessing later than seven though."

I looked to who turned out to be a smallish man, another Hobbit, I guessed, though this one was quite older than Pippin was. I kept my tongue, not knowing what to say.

"Aye Lady Carrie, I'm Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins. It's a wonderful pleasure to see you. Pippin told me a lot of you. He claims you're almost as nice as I am, though I've heard that come both ways." He laughed lightly. He suddenly slipped into Elvish, leaving me lost.

"Saesa omentien lle."

"Uhm, what was that? You lapsed into Elvish or something." I explained.

"Ah, not to worry I just said 'a pleasure meeting you,' but I really must be going, though. I want to talk to Lord Elrond before the council is held. Tenna' telwan," he said, and wandered off, leaving me confused and wondering why he'd stopped if he were in such a hurry.

'Hobbits,' I thought, shaking my head in bemusement.

What was with these small, cute hobbits? I mean, they were everywhere, it seemed.

Little did I know just how many there really were.

((Okay guys, I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but I'm going to Collage soon, and my life has been WAY interesting, trying to reassert it again. Lol. Ok, ignore me, I'm weird. Yes, I already knew that. Thank you, EVERYONE for reviewing! I really am grateful for all of the insights, compliments, and ideas and such. Chapter nine may take a bit to get up. (About a week, I'd say…) But other than that, stay tuned! I'd like to thank my beta for giving me some truly wonderful ideas for chapter nine!

Meethrill.))