Chapter 2

The next morning Legolas awoke to the sound of clashing swords. He rose and walked over to the window facing the court yard, looking down to see what was afoot.

Éomer and two of his soldier friends were doing sword practice. He stood there for a while watching and could not help but notice the skill in which Éomer handled the blade. Legolas had nothing against the Rohirrim man, come to think of it, he even liked him. Except… the memory of the ice cold darkness that had grabbed a hold of his heart and mind whilst watching the Man dancing with Númi, made the Elven prince shiver with discomfort. What had possessed him to react in thus demeanour?

Though now only a memory, the feeling still bothered him in a profound way.

Soon a forth man joined the party of three in the court yard, only this one was very thin in comparison to the others, although not in height; and was wearing a helmet so Legolas could not make out who he was. Suddenly the playing got serious, and Legolas quickly realised that whom ever this fourth member was, the others had the utmost respect for him. He also understood that he was their trainer. The Elf watched in amazement as this tiny man brought them all down, one after the other, disarming them as if they were mere beginners or children. This he had to see from a closer view, so he put the rest of his clothes on and ran downstairs to the yard where he quietly sat down not to disturb anyone.

Soon Aragorn and Gimli joined him, staring in utter disbelief at the event taking place before them. None of the three friends could believe what they were witnessing, a person so meagre bringing down three experienced warriors seemingly without breaking a sweat.

"Who is this… this… tiny person?" Gimli wanted to know, peering at Aragorn as if he naturally would know the answer. But Aragorn only shook his head "I do not know, but whom ever he is I wish to try my luck with him"

"Ai" Legolas agreed, "As would I"

Éomer noticed the company staring at them, and decided he had, had enough practice for that morning, and walked over to them. He knew none of them knew who was behind the helmet, so with an innocent smile he asked "Anyone care to try their luck?"

The small man was now facing them and Legolas could almost swear he was smiling behind the metal helmet. "Who is he?" he wanted to know.

"Oh, he will properly introduce himself once practice is over" Éomer answered.

"I will go up against him" Aragorn said with a confident smile drawing his sword.

The little man raised his in polite acceptance.

Aragorn walked over to him and the game began. It was however a short fight, for very soon Aragorn made an insignificant mistake and his opponent sent his sword flying. Shortly after that Aragorn found himself lying on his back on the ground with the tip of meagre mans sword at his throat. The stranger stepped away and offered his hand to help Aragorn up.

"Anyone else? Or should we let the winner choose?" Éomer asked.

"Let the winner choose" said Aragorn whilst picking up his sword and walking back to the others. The stranger looked at them, then slowly raised his sword pointing it at Legolas.

"I fight with my two knifes or not at all" was the Elf's answer.

The stranger accepted with a gracious bow, and Legolas rose from the ground drawing his knifes. The fight began with the two competitors circling and seeking weaknesses in the other, or at least so it seemed, for the lean man was merely waiting for Legolas to make a move. It was a game of cat and mouse, and once the Elven prince made his move the fight got fast and intense as the weapons crashed into each other with a speed almost impossible for the viewers to follow. The sound of metal against metal filled the air, yet Legolas got the distinct feeling his opponent was merely toying with him, no matter how serious the fight seemed, as if to prove he was not a match for the lithe man. "You are playing with me…!" the Elf angrily hissed in a close encounter, and got the answer by one of his knifes flying up in to the air and landing in his opponents' free hand. The fight ceased for a second as the two fighters stared at each other, and Legolas eyes shot arrows of rage. Without taking his eyes of the Elf, the stranger handed the lost knife to Éomer, and the fight resumed. A minute later Legolas lost his remaining weapon and found himself standing with his back against the staircase stonewall with the tip of a sword at his throat, not sure how he had ended up there.

There was complete silence and one could almost touch the tension in the air, till the baffled Elf finally found his voice and asked "Who are you?!"

Without removing the sword from Legolas throat the stranger came up close to him and whispered through the helmet "Feel free to gainsay me anytime you wish, now that you know of what you speak, mellon nîn" then removed the helmet letting out a cascade of long deep red hair.

"Númi?!" the party of three called out simultaneously in surprise.

Her eyes locked his Elven blue's and she smiled at the genuine expression of surprise and perplexed disbelief written all over his beautiful face. She lowered her sword and smoothly placed it back in its sheath before making her way over to the others, leaving Legolas feeling weak and confound.

Aragorn grasped her shoulders "How… what… when…?!" his voice was thick with shock.

Númi looked deep into his eyes, and the expression in hers held a strength and determination he had seldom encountered in anyone "Dearest cousin… like you so rightly pointed out last night, you left when I was a mere child and when you returned I was no longer in Imladris. The truth of the matter is I left no more then six months after your departure, to begin my training."

"Your training?!" Aragorn was staggered.

"Yes my training, of which you have just witnessed a small part."

Aragorn opened his mouth to say something, but the tone in Númi's voice would not stand for any objections "I promise to tell you all you wish to know… later! Now you must forgive me, for I have duties to attend to and I do not whish to be late." And with that said she smiled at him, turned around passing Legolas a smile and a one eyed blink on her way towards the stables. She did however notice the almost distraught look in the Elf's eyes, and got the feeling that this mornings fight and discovery had taken its toll on his self-esteem… This was not what she had intended… at all. She had how ever tried to warn him of placing her on a pedestal because of the way she had looked last night. Maybe this rude awakening was exactly what he needed then? The last thing she wished for was to be treated or thought of as a Lady, she was nothing of the kind!

Aragorn turned his gaze at Éomer, and the look in his eyes was a mixture of angered disbelief and a demand for answers. Èomer however looked nothing but amused, smiling his utmost disarming smile.

"How long… have you known this about Númi?!" Aragorn demanded in a berated tone.

"As long as I have known her Aragorn"

"And just how long might that be?"

"About ten years now… I got to know her through Gandalf years before the war of the One Ring began"

"Gandalf?! How…?" Aragorn was so baffled he lost the words he was meaning to speak.

"Yes the wizard believed she would be of great assistance to our army, and he was right"

When Aragorn spoke no further, Gimli took upon himself to fill in what he believed his friend wished to know.

"In what way exactly? Although I believe I have guessed the answer already" he mumbled.

"In the same way she is assisting us at this very moment…" Éomer paused looking towards the sables where Númi was mounting her horse. A huge, wild tempered black stallion that allowed none other then Númi to handle and ride him.

The others followed his gaze and Éomer continued "She is our weapons and battle techniques trainer, and it is thanks to her that Rohans army is as skilled as we are. Believe it or not Aragorn," Éomer turned and faced him, and the expression on his face was dead serious "but we would be long dead if it had not been for her skills in combat."

The two men stared at each other for a while, then the features in Aragorn's face mitigated a little "Thank you for what little you whished to tell me Éomer, I shall ask Númi to fill in the rest"

Éomer bowed and left them to their thoughts.

It was just then that Aragorn realised that Legolas was no longer standing in the same spot where Númi had left him, and his eyes began searching for the Elf whom was nowhere to be seen. Gimli however had paid a bit more attention and had noticed Legolas heavy steps as he had slowly walked away and disappeared outside the gates of Edoras. The Dwarfs eyes had followed his friend until he was passed the gate, and there was something profoundly different in the Elf's posture. There was something about the way he had carried himself that Gimli could not really interpret… it was almost as if Legolas had drawn into himself.

"Gimli, have you seen/"

"He just walked through the gates…" Gimli cut of in a grim voice, and when turning to look at his friend Aragorn noticed that the Dwarf was staring at the gates as if they were a pack of foul beings devouring everyone passing through them.

Legolas was walking aimlessly, almost as if in an unconscious state of mind.

The Elven prince was however all but unconscious, this morning's events had caught him completely by surprise and had given him quit a rude awakening. For the first time in his life he was feeling totally lost emotionally… as if he had lost his footing and the ground around him was spinning faster then he could handle. He was not sure when he had left Edoras; all he knew for certain was that he needed to get away from everyone in an effort to sort out all of the conflicting thoughts and emotions at war inside his body and mind. And as much as he loved and cherished Aragorn's help and advice, this was a battle he intended to fight alone.

When the downhearted Elf finally stopped to see where he was at, to his surprise he found himself not to far away from Edoras, although he believed he had walked for hours. He was however outside of their eyesight, which had been his goal. Against better judgment he looked around for a tree to climb, knowing fully well he would find none no matter how hard he whished otherwise.

Letting out a long and heavy sigh he sat down in the grass looking at the beautiful scenery surrounding him… and found that it gave him no solace. Instead his mind wandered back to the past few hours that so brutally had shaken his foundations. What was it that bothered him so?

Was it the fact that he had lost his first battle since childhood? Or was it that Númi had been speaking the truth when saying that she was not what she seemed to be? Her words haunted him "Legolas… do not let my appearance trick you into believing I am something that I am not. Not all things are what they seem… and I am no exception." Her eyes had been almost lament, as if she had known how he would react to the truth, yet he had not understood the sudden change in them. He had wanted to let her know that he was not very easily fooled, and that what ever it was that gave her that sad expression could not be as bad as she believed. He had wanted to comfort her… yet she had silenced him with the power behind her forthcoming words "Please do not gainsay me lest you know of what you speak… and you do not." Had he only known how right she had been "Ai by the grace of Valar… I truly did not…" Legolas closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, understanding even less now than to begin with. Before his closed eyes he saw her green ones and how bewitching she had been last night, and a smile graced his lips. He felt all of the emotions he had then, still not sure what they meant, other then making him feel like he had never before. The image changed into this mornings revealing and the smile faded away… How could he have misjudged Númi so completely? Although… had he really? For the signs had been there all along, he had seen them, felt that something was not right with the image she was displaying. Yet he had chosen not to follow up on them, had he not?

And then this morning… what a fool he had been and now felt like one as well. "I knew perfectly well that I was practically chanceless when Aragorn was so easily disarmed… and yet like the "invincible" fool I am I was going to show my bravado… well done Legolas!" And then it dawned on him, he was feeling not only foolish but ashamed… ashamed that he had lost to Númi! He realised that he would probably not have felt quit as idiotic if the stranger had been someone else. This made him even more angered with himself, for he was not a man whom made differences between male and female warriors. He looked upon them as equal, in every aspect. So why then was he so angry at himself for the fact that she had beaten him? And why this shamefulness? "Maybe because my superior turned out to be a woman I do not whish to shame myself to…" His eyes sprang open at that thought… what had he just admitted to himself?! "Since when do I care if I shame myself, or to whom???" He shook his head in bewilderment, and yet the thought seemed to feel as natural as breathing. The proud Elf prince suddenly did not wish to let a woman see him as other then invincible? Why on earth for?! He leaped to his feet and started running for the life of him, as if to try and run away from the one thought he knew was true, a thought that frightened him.

Before long he found himself not far from where Rohans army was doing their daily practice with Númi. He came to an immediate halt hoping he would not be noticed so he could sneak away , even though he was standing quite far from them. The feeling of shire panic however was as blown away when he saw the beautiful woman on her black stallion, and he found himself staring in amazement at the skill in which she commanded the soldiers. There was this grace of calm and self-confidence in the way she gave the orders… and though Legolas could not hear her, he could bet his life on the fact that she hardly had to raise her voice for the troops to do her bidding.

He could not help but admire the sight, not to mention her, nor could he tear his eyes from it… it was no less then fascinating. The Elf found himself stranded on the spot, no longer caring if they spotted him or not, as long as he could keep watching. Númi halted the battle practice, and apparently gave the order to instead practice close combat, by first doing a demonstration that nearly gave Legolas a heart attack. She stripped herself of all weapons, and ordered four soldiers to attack her with everything they had. As they did so she began by tripping one of them and at the same time stripping him of his sword so that she could parry the blows from the other three. Next she knocked another of the soldiers to the ground with her free fist, and took his shield, using it to knock another man almost unconscious. Now there were two left, one unarmed and one with a spear. They circled her and simultaneously attacked her from two different directions, she focused on the spear and dogged it with an ease that made Legolas wonder of his own litheness, twisted it out of the soldiers hands and drove the flat end of the shaft into the stomach of the soldier coming at her from behind. In less then a minute she had neutralized all four foes. And all Legolas could do was gape… The other soldiers gave her a round of applause, which she thanked for with a gracious bow, then ordered the company to start practicing. Soon the sun stood high in the sky announcing it to be time for lunch, so the company came to a halt and Númi released them from duty. She mounted her horse and came to a gallop towards the staring Elf whom still had not moved, and was not sure he wished to either, knowing she would eventually spot him where he was standing. Which she naturally did, steering the horse his way and coming to a halt right beside him.

"Mae Govannen Legolas" she said with a dazzling smile.

"Mae Govannen…" he answered shyly.

She dismounted and came to stand in front of him, looking into his eyes that were filled with conflicting emotions. He knew she was reading him and felt quite relived when she did not ask anything other then "Care to walk with me back to Edoras?"

He produced a shy smile and nodded once in agreement, and they started walking side by side in silence once again. Only this time the silence was not as pressuring as before, and Númi knew she had done right by not asking her slender friend any questions he was apparently not ready to answer. "I wonder how much of today's practice he has witnessed… he seems almost cautious around my presence… in an even more watchful matter then earlier…oh Legolas… did I not warn you... why did you choose not to listen? Ah well, the higher the horse the harder the fall…"

In all the way back to Edoras they said nothing to each other, but both felt at ease in the other ones presence. Even though Númi was sure that the Elf was on his guard all the time, almost as if he suddenly feared her. This was something she sadly was used to in the men she had encountered in her life… and she had by no means given up the idea of asking him about that, and other matters… once the time was right.

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