Check out my free verse poem" drowned "

BalinPOV

Once we were out of ear shot of Lord Elrond and Bilbo had excused himself to explore, Thorin asked the question I thought he would never ask."Why do I feel that Caldeon was brought into our path by something you have planed."

Gandalf replied with a chuckle,"Because, you have some how have been able to figure out that part of me in the small amount of time you know me."

The three of us continued down the corridor to the room given to the company. I asked,"But why?"

"Well, as you all have found out, I will pop in and out of this quest," Gandalf explained," she has been from here to Mirkwood more than you all will probably ever in your lifetimes, combined."

Thorin stopped and thought this over. "And you expect me to accept her with just that," he said after a moment.

"That is the last thing I expect you to do. Even I say you should test her. Send Dwalin, or Fili, or Kili, in fact I say send them all and yourself to judge her skills."

Thorin responded with a nod,"That is what I will do," then he started to walk again.

When we finally reached the door, I pushed it open and let Gandalf and Thorin enter before me. When I walked in I saw a small fire tended by Bofur in the center of the room, fed by elvish furniture. Everybody was either smoking, or eating, or talking, or singing.

But everyone went silent and stiffened when Thorin called their attention. "Dwalin, Fili, Kili. Come. And bring your weapons." Dwalin stood immediately, while Fili and Kili shared an apprehensive look to each other, but still they both stood and obeyed.

While they were picking up their last scraps of whatever, Thorin turned to me and Gandalf and said,"I respect both of your opinions, but," he gestured to the company,"they need a guiding hand." When he finished Dwalin, Fili, and Kili all loaded up with various hammers, knives, and axes were standing behind him waiting for more orders.

When Thorin turned to leave they followed, leaving me with a silent audience. Gandalf, standing stiffly said in a false cheery voice,"Well, Lord Elrond wishes to speak with me." I gave him an annoyed look,"Shouldn't be late." With that he turned to depart.

"Mister Balin," came a shy weak voice. Turning around I saw it was Ori, sitting criss-cross on his bedroll,"What's going on?"

"Well," I started,"We might be adding a member to the company." Many hesitant and confused looks crossed the eyes of the group.

Gloin asked,"Whom? It better not be an elf."

"No, it is that girl, Caldeon," I answered. "Apparently she takes the journey to Mirkwood often, and knows the way like the back of her hand. They have gone down to test her skills in battle."

I decided to change to subject, so I said ,"Well now, pass me a sausage." I went to sit next to Bofur who handed me a skewer stick with a sausage at the end.

The talking resumed.

DwalinPOV

After Thorin briefed us on what we were called to do we made our way down various stairs to the training area.

"Thorin," said Kili,"Is there anything specific you want us to do?"

"I want you and Dwalin to test her without weapons. Fili I want you to test her with your knives."

We continued out way down, soon we heard grunts of exertion and the sound of metal colliding on metal.

We reached the bottom of the steps there was a great archway that opened to a large domed pavilion. The floor was tile that made a mosaic which seemed to set boundaries to various areas in the pavilion. Outside were assorted archery ranges and track fields.

In the center though is where my eyes eventually were trained on. Two girls, one blond and one brown-haired, dressed in short smoky blue dresses made for movement. Each were armed with two knives, which clanged together often. The blond shouted in elvish here and there to the brunette. Commands it seemed.

We observed these two for the next five minutes. Over these minutes I saw that the brunette would make a wrong move or get tripped up, and the blond would shout another command and the brown would fix it.

The sparing ended with the brunette loosing her grip on one knife, which banged against the floor in a painful way.

The pair paused, bent over hands on knees and gasping for breath. Now that the two had stopped I could see the blond was slightly older. Confirming my guess that she must have been teaching the brown.

The blond lifted her head showing that she was the girl we came to see.

Standing of straight she gasped out,"Can we help you?" Thorin took this as an invitation to walk up to her.

"I am Thorin, son of Thrain," he said,"this is Dwalin, son of Fundin. And Fili and Kili, sons of Tali."

She responded likewise,"This is my student Melda daughter of Caunion. And I am Caldeon daughter of no one." There was a stale silence after this comment.

Melda was the one it break the silence,"Now that we had an exchange of names. May we help you?"

Thorin said,"Caldeon, have you heard that Gandalf wants you to journey with us?"

"Yes, I was notified an hour ago."

"We are here to test you to see if you can keep up with us," he continued a little smugly.

"Well," she said,"I hope I don't disappoint you." She turned to young Melda,"You can stay if you want, as long as you stay out of the way." As Melda walked over to put her weapons away, I shot Caldeon a look that clearly said 'no', but she returned with a glare that said 'yes, if I say so'.

"Who's first?" Caldeon asked. At this Kili took off his weapons then stepped forward.

"We're going to spare without weapons," he said.

She showed him over to the designated sparing area. Before we started to follow Melda addressed Fili,"He's your brother?" She asked.

"Yes"

Smirking and shaking her head, she said,"He's dead."

I dismissed the comment and all of us walked to the crimson line that marked the boundary.

Inside, Caldeon and Kili went into ready stances, which were surprisingly similar. Hands in fists near the face, wide stance, and grounded feet.

Both were waiting for Thorin's mark to start. "What are we fighting to?" asked Kili.

"To the first to yield or until I say so," Thorin paused,"Begin."

The two stood four feet away from each other, still as statues. Kili shuffled forward, starting early on the offense, Caldeon only stepped back a half step. Kili tried to throw himself toward to deliver a punch, but Caldeon ducked twisted behind him and kicked in the back of the knee. He yelped in surprise as he crumpled forward onto one knee.

She took the chance and jumped onto his back. With his weakened knee and Caldeon's weight, he was brought to the ground. His face to the floor, Kili struggled trying to throw her off. She straddled his back and delivered a hit to the junction of Kili's neck and shoulder.

She must have hit a pressure point because he yelled in pain, and his back muscles tensed. Still straddling his back, Caldeon grabbed his wrists and pinned them to the tile.

"I yield," Kili choked out. That didn't take long. Caldeon jumped from his back, and went to his face offered a hand to which he took. A pained looked crossed his face as his back became straight and popped loudly, to which I even cringed at.

"Good spare," she commented, it was a polite lie. She then looked to Melda, who was sitting on the steps,"Melda, can you get something for Kili here." Caldeon sat him down and Melda gave him a leaf and told him to just chew it. The leaf broke in his teeth with a juicy chunch

"Next?" Caldeon asked.

"Take five minutes. Dwalin is next," Thorin said gesturing to me.

For once, I was not looking forward to this.

I need some inspiration on how Caldeon is going to beat Dwalin, Remember he can't fight weapons. The poll is on my profile

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