Celebrían's manner was not out of character in any way the next morning, as we took breakfast together in our open chamber, and so I brushed the strange discussion of the previous night aside. As Celebrían devoured a bowl of grapes and cranberries and apple drenched in cream, I breakfasted contentedly upon honey cakes and strawberries.

"Did you see the head of Thranduil's guard?" Celebrían asked amidst conversation, picking grapes delicately from their stems.

I shook my head. "No, I did not notice, why?"

"Do you remember that young elf maiden we met before? The daughter of the captain?"

"Tauríel?" I frowned, then stared in surprise. "Tauríel is the new head of the guard? She's here?!"

"Unless my eyes were cheated," Celebrían nodded.

I was stunned. She had achieved as much I had, it seemed… And yet I distinctly remembered how unsure of her I had been. I had wanted to like the elfling when we had first met, but, like Legolas, I had found my liking much diminished as our acquaintance was made.

"Do you think she has matured? Like her young prince?" Celebrían asked, with a wicked grin.

"And like you?" I added, and Celebrían's grin faded as she raised an eyebrow at me. I smiled. "I am sure we will find out for ourselves before too long. They are warriors, both of them, it is only a matter of time before they find the training grounds."

"As you should be at this moment, dear sister?" Celebrían asked.

I frowned, and then my eyes widened again as I noticed how high the sun had risen. Indeed, she was right, I was due at the grounds imminently.

I heard nought but ringing bell-like laughter as I almost fell over my own skirts as I hurried to my dressing chamber to change. I laced a thin blue gown up over my cream shift and swiftly donned boots.

"You may laugh," I called back, "but I seem to remember Haldir telling me that you yourself are due for your tests this day!"

The laughter stopped instantly, and I grinned to myself as I heard the rustling and grumbling as Celebrían dragged herself to her own chamber to change. Celebrían's abilities to shoot an arrow were as good as any other elf's but Rían's unwillingness to be a warrior resulted in her training very little. Haldir and our father appeased the situation by deciding that Celebrían be exempt from all training with the exception of once every three months when she be required to undertake tests to ensure her skills were still satisfactory.

Barely minutes later, Celebrían was dressed and, after snatching a few last berries from the table, followed my from our chambers. "Three months always passes far too quickly, are you sure it is today…"

"Absolutely," I smiled.

In the end, and after much complaint and overshot arrows, Haldir put Celebrían out of her misery and informed her that she had scraped through her tests. I had finished assisting Daugion in the training of a few elflings, posing as Daugion's opponent, and so I persuaded Rían to stay and watch the sparring that was no occurring; the elder or more experienced warriors challenging each other to duals.

"I still believe they moved the target back between those last two shots, that's the only reason I overfired," Celebrían grumbled to me, leaning forward upon the fence as we watched Haldir take on Mellion.

I laughed. "I can absolutely vouch for Haldir that he did not."

"My lady Arnuríel," a voice suddenly greeted politely, and a little, I recognised, tentatively. "My lady Celebrían."

We both turned our heads.

The prince Legolas had arrived and was standing on my other side, two friends behind him. I recognised one, the lady Tauríel, captain of the Greenwood guard. Tauríel, now that I noticed her truly, had grown up like the rest of us. Tall and elegant, she was undeniably beautiful. Her long auburn hair was swept back with intricate braids with oberservant, calculating eyes.

I smiled and nodded a greeting. "My lord."

"Your highness," Celebrían replied brightly, with an open grin, her grumbles forgotten. "How are you on this morning? Well rested, I hope?"

"Well rested, yes, I thank you," Legolas replied, with an extra smile at me. I shyly looked back to where Haldir was making yet another assault upon Mellion and tucked a loose strand of hair back.

Celebrían also looked back to the training ring. "Oh, that was a well fought backhand, Mellion surely has the fight now!"

I smiled knowingly. "Not necessarily."

Celebrían looked at me, with a raised eyebrow. "Oh come on, Ríel!"

"I mean it!" I replied with a laugh. "Mellion has good balance, but he is not an attacker, he is a defender. He specialises in blocking and parrying. Haldir is an attacker, and he is patient. Against most enemies, that is a winning combination. If Haldir can hold up a good level of attack, and he manages to catch Mellion off guard, just a wrong foot placed too far back? Haldir will have the victory."

Rían was still watching me, one arched eyebrow curving far higher than the other. "Alright. If Mellion takes the fight, I have your wardrobe for a moon's cycle. And if Haldir has the win-"

I grinned. "You take swordplay lessons for a moon's cycle. From Haldir!"

Celebrían narrowed her eyes at me. "Done!"

My grin widened and I turned back to watch Haldir, my warrior's eye looking even closer for the hints of the way the battle was turning. Celebrían knew not what she was looking for, and instead just watched in pure hope. I suddenly noticed Legolas watching me from the corner of my eye, his expression of perplexed amusement.

"I shall assume this to be… not unusual behaviour between you?" he asked me.

I bit my lip as I smiled back ruthfully.

"Call it sisterly affection!" Celebrían near shouted as Mellion suddenly made an attack upon Haldir, and the captain brought his blade up just in time to block it.

"Sisterly affection, I see," Legolas did not seem to quite believe us and I laughed.

"Something like that," I nodded.

"Ríel, you still have the plum gown, do you not?" Rían suddenly asked me, her eyes still trained upon Haldir and Mellion, gleefully lit up. "With the silver threading?"

"I do," I nodded.

"I look forward to wearing that one," Celebrían laughed.

"You do not seem to mind," Legolas commented to me.

"I do not when I know she will not be wearing it," I agreed.

"But your agreement-" Legolas frowned.

I nodded again, this time towards Haldir and Mellion. "Watch."

Legolas' frown deepened and he looked towards the training ring.

Haldir was undergoing a volley of blows from Mellion who seemed suddenly exhilarated in this surprising turn of events in which he had the upper hand. The whole crowd were beginning to become excited; we could all sense the end of the exercise was nigh. Most appeared to be rooting for Mellion; they had seen Haldir win too many times.

I was grinning quietly to myself. This was new territory for Mellion and it would only be a matter of time before his footing became uncertain, and then Haldir would take instant advantage of his situation.

And there it was. Mellion's right foot was twisted behind his left and Haldir saw it. Within a second, he had knocked Mellion flat to the ground with the smooth of his blade, and the point was at his throat.

I looked at my sister, among the cheering and applause. "I shall inform Haldir of your interest in blade work, shall I?"

Celebrían drew herself up and shook back her hair with a disdainful sniff. "If you must."

Legolas laughed out loud and gave me a curious smile. "I am curious, Lady Arnuríel, how did you know how the fight would turn?"

Celebrían made a noise beside me. "Oh, she always knows. That is what earned her title, after all."

Legolas frowned. "Title?"

"The Warrior?" Celebrían asked. "Surely you have heard of the two sisters of Lorien? The Warrior and the Healer?"

The expression in Legolas' eyes suddenly changed. He appeared utterly taken aback as he eyes moved from Celebrían to me. I exchanged a glance with Celebrían as there was suddenly a shout across the field.

"Lady Arnuríel!"

I glanced across to see Mellion striding over, Haldir on his tail. "My lady, you are the only one here to ever put Haldir in his place, I believe it is your turn!"

"Mellion, I am hardly dressed for-"

"It has never stopped you before, my lady," Haldir said with a wicked grin.

I sighed with a smile. They knew I was always far too tempted by a training fight to say no.

"Show off a little, for once in your life, Ríel, we have guests after all!" Celebrían laughed.

"Rían, you know I don't fight to show off," I shoved my sister lightly.

"No but you do to prove you're the best!"

"It's just training," I laughed lightly.

"I… I had heard of the two sisters of Lorien," Legolas suddenly said, with a glance at his companions. "But I… I believed Lady Arnuríel to be the healer?!"

"I also have heard of the warrior sister of Lorien," Tauríel nodded with a suspicious frown. "But I took her to be the lady Celebrían, being the fiercer of the pair."

I sighed, with a faint smile. "An honest mistake, and one often made, I can assure you."

"But the lady Celebrían does not have the heart to swing a blade nor take life," Haldir explained.

"It's true," Celebrían nodded next to me. "I can shoot an arrow as passably as the next elf but only self defence. Arnuríel on the other hand…" She shot me a knowing smile.

"Forgive me, I just still cannot quite believe it," Legolas bowed his head apologetically.

"Well then," Haldir announced. "Perhaps her ladyship would allow me a rest, and his highness would like to take my place. Give the Greenwood prince a true demonstration of our lady's skill. In person."

Tauríel's eyebrows raised. "A wonderful idea. The skill of our elves has yet to be proven in this tame wood."

All the elves in hearing distance had begun to smile, some knowingly, some smugly, and whispers began to spread, through both the elves of Lorien and Greenwood. Legolas noticed but ignored them for the moment, as he and I began to protest simultaneously.

"Haldir, I don't think that's a good idea-"

"My lord, I agree with the lady, perhaps not-"

"Oh, Legolas, you are the best we have, show them what we can do!" Tauríel begged.

Legolas shook his head. "Tauríel, I cannot even possibly consider harming the lady Arnuríel!"

I faltered. Stopped mid sentence and turned to look up at the prince.

"Harming me?"

Legolas glances at me. "Well of course. We are here for a peace treaty, and even if that were not enough, simply the thought of you being hurt by my blade and by my hand is unthinkable. I would never forgive myself."

I could almost feel Celebrían and Haldir's grins beside me. Celebrían openly grinning in knowing anticipation. Haldir smiling a more hidden sly smile.

"You are sure then, of making a hit," I asked, my face passive.

"Well, of being able to, of course," Legolas nodded, with a slight frown.

I nodded. "And of a win?"

"Why not a win?" Tauríel replied, if a little coldly.

I swallowed, and took a long breath. I was not a show off, nor one to boast of my abilities. But I was fiercely competitive about certain abilities I possessed, and my skill at swordplay was one. I was used to people doubting that I was as good as I was, but I did not like it when those who did doubt me also assumed their superiority in skill over me.

I had begun my training in swordplay as an elfling, not long after I had begun working with a bow. Like all young elves, the bow was my primary weapon. Until I had first been handed a blade. It was then that I had come alive. My training programme was shifted, the swordmaster taking me on as almost a personal apprentice. He had built my skills up, until that day I remembered so well. The day when the swordmaster handed me my greatest gift. A pair of long elven blades, elegantly and lovingly created to suit my own height, weight, balance, ability and style. My blades and no one else's, and with them I was nigh invincible to common man, dwarf and even elf. It was my experience in combat that told me that; the number of wins I had to the number of losses. And it was one of my few skills. I did not excel in the geography of our land, nor the history, and neither was I skilled in literature or embroidery. Music and arts, weaponry and horses. My skills lay in those areas. And they were deep set.

"Haldir, do my blades still hang in the armoury tent after our practise yesterday?" I asked the captain, as Celebrían's smile, if possible, widened.

Haldir nodded, his eyes still grinning wickedly. "They do, my lady."

"Thank you," I replied, and with a last glace at the prince, I strode straight across the training ring and ducked into the armoury tent.

It was a swift change that I made. I unlaced the threading down the front of my pale blue gown, and laid it aside, leaving me standing in just the thin cream silk shift dress I wore beneath it. I swiftly laced a leather bodice about my chest and waist, and leather arm braces around my lower arms, before slipping off my thin slippers to replace them with practical knee length boots. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail with a thin length of twine and was just about to reach for my blades when I reconsidered. I was not rebel enough to cut the skirt off at the knees, it wasn't a thing done by elven ladies, and I was certainly not about to. But it took just two quick slices of a knife to slit the skirt twice, up the front of my left leg and of my right, from hem to thigh.

Satisfied, I reached for the two blades that sat, one above the other, in brackets upon the tent wall. They were twins, utterly alike in every way; balance, length, weight, design. The blades were the full length of my arm, the hilt an added length. The blades were slim and elegant, as any elven blade is, and curved slightly as it rose from the hilt. There was a hook on the long edge of the blade, and all the silver metal was inlaid with twisting patterns of gold leaf vines and leaves. Lhang blades. My longest serving dance partners, as I liked to think of them.

When I stepped from the tent, I paused in sudden surprise. Prior to my entrance the number of those at the grounds numbered perhaps 50. All of them warriors, training or watching those training.

Now that number had, I judged, tripled, every elf of the Greenwood party, with the exception of Thranduil himself, and many of my own were gathering at the fence lines, murmuring to each other. The murmurs quieted as I stepped into their midst, the fencing ground cleared of those training.

The young prince Legolas stood just inside the fence line and, bless him, looked utterly bewildered. As though he did not quite understand how it was that he had come to be here.

I sighed and drew a long breath as I strode across the grounds, stopping in the centre of the grounds, watching Legolas intently. He was staring back at me, still with wide, unsure eyes; it felt like he were trying to work out what it was that I was thinking, like he was looking through my eyes and into my soul. I had never felt subject to such a gaze before, not even my mother.

Then he suddenly straightened his back, his unsurity replaced by a determination and he marched to meet me.

"You are sure of this, my lady?" he asked me, the flicker of another frown crossing his forehead.

"I am, my lord," I nodded. "My worry is, are you?"

Legolas looked a little taken aback, and then he took up his stance, his own lhang blades in his hand, prepared, the determination reappeared with such ferocity that suddenly I saw the young Legolas elfling I had first met. The Legolas I had wanted to throw to the ground upon his mockery of my people.

And now, here was that opportunity I had never had in my childhood!

I grinned and took up my own stance. One blade out in front of me, held parallel to the ground, my other arm above my head and holding the blade down the length of my back.

And then I waited. It had been one of my first lessons as an elfling. Always wait for your opponent to make the first move.

And we waited. For several long moments, barely blinking, not a hair moving, not a breath taken.

And then, without any trace of a hint of movement, Legolas leapt toward me, one sword swinging about his head, the other coming ringing down to clash against one of my own.

And so it began, a ducking weaving dance of singing metal.

I found that I had to use every trick in all my books. I remembered what I had said to the kitchen maids; Legolas' footwork would have had to deeply improve and it had improved. I swallowed as I flung myself into a back flip to avoid a barrage of blows, falling to a crouch and powering forward into an attack. I found fighting a new opponent was like riding a new horse; you had to work out how they ticked, what their habits were. I quickly established that Legolas was quick and he was an attacker. Just as I was. So I had to be better.

My advantage, I decided, was that Legolas was an archer. He found it easier to fight in one spot. He had good footwork, but he barely moved from one spot if he could, turning in one place.

And so I went to work, rolling, flipping, doing everything I could to keep him turning, trying to find where I had moved to next.

I parried yet another blow, and found our four blades caught in an elegant twist, the only barrier between our faces, which were suddenly inches from each other. For a moment we stared into each other's blue eyes, a powerful look of determination and surprise, before I twisted away, throwing his blades back and pushing him away. He stumbled ever so slightly and we suddenly paused, both of us panting ever so slightly. Weighing up our next options.

I suddenly saw two figures out of the corner of my eye, and looked across. Legolas followed my gaze.

Our fathers had arrived.

I swallowed. I knew my father, once he knew the full story, would not approve. Indeed, he already looked stern. Thranduil on the other hand looked curious.

Legolas seemed to take a sudden new determination from the appearance of his father, a determination to do him proud, and he suddenly undertook a new attack that took all my speed to dodge.

Just as he was now adamant to prove his worth to his father, I was not determined to prove my worth to him. And I could.

Gritting my teeth, I duck another swing, parried another few shots, and then, with a flick of my wrist, disarmed one of his blades. It went flying, and thudded into the earth, point first.

For a moment Legolas was stunned, then he put all his effort into two more swings of his remaining sword before I knocked him to the ground, sharply placed my foot over his blade while it was flat to the floor, my other foot on the other side of him, so that I was almost straddling him to keep him grounded, one blade lying against his throat, the other pointing straight down at him from behind my head.

And so it was suddenly over.

Applause suddenly erupted in my ears but all I could so was stare down into Legolas' eyes, still crouched over him. He was staring up at me with a mix of emotions I could hardly fathom… surprise, respect, dismay…

I swallowed, and glanced up, my eyes finding the two men I was searching for. My father looked even sterner, if that was at all possible. And Thranduil… Thranduil I could not decide…

The competitive emotion I had first felt has disapitated in my victory and in the look of Legolas' eyes.

I rose slowly, sheathing both my blades, stepping away and holding a hand out to pull Legolas up. He leapt up swiftly, and held my hand for a quick moment before I bit my lip and stepped away. I did not look back as I walked through the arena, leapt the fence and strode away through the parted crowd…

After my triumph in the arena, I retired to my chambers to change before hiding myself away in the depths of the stables, grooming horses and cleaning tack. I was quiet at dinner with my parents and Celebrían, and then I stole myself away once again to my chambers with a book. The truth was, I felt dreadful. I had embarrassed a prince in front of his father no less, and taken great pleasure in it. And the further truth was that I was not particularly good at apologising. For small things, sorry was easy; but when I truly wanted to apologise, I never seemed able to get out the right words. And so I hid all day; hiding from those congratulating me, from Legolas…

But it seemed I could not escape my father.

I glanced up from my book, to see him standing in my doorway, the imposing man that he was. He said not a word throughout dinner, and I had avoided his eyes at all costs.

"Ada," I asked tentatively, rising.

"Arnuríel," my father said, his voice stern, his hands clasped behind his back. "I saw your training session with the prince earlier today. You fought very well."

"Thank you, my lord," I nodded, looking to the floor. My father seemed so stern, that I decided formality to be my best defence for the moment.

"However," Celeborn continued. "I do not wish it to become a habit of yours to embarrass our guests. You may not have seen his face as you walked away from your victory, but I did. We are here to create a peace treaty, not start a war."

"And for that I am sorry, my lord, truly," I broke in honestly, dropping a deep submissive curtsey before stepping to my father, my hands clasping his hands. "I wished no such feelings upon the prince. It will not happen again, I promise it. In truth, I also saw his face as I departed and it left a heavy feeling upon my heart."

Celeborn regarded me for a moment, then clasped my fingers in his. "Come, tinu," he said softly, leading me to my window seat. "What was it that he said to you? I know you, you would not have undertaken that fight so ferociously without a strong incentive. A very strong incentive."

"He… he judged his skills to b clearly superior to mine," I explained and suddenly the whole fiasco felt petty and childish. "A silly thing to fight over."

"No, tinu," Celeborn shook his head. "We are none of us perfect, no matter how so we may seem. The prince might underestimate others, or perhaps overestimate himself. And you, you are too readily eager to defend your pride when the right words are said. This is not a fault to try to change; it is a part of what makes you who you are. Simply be mindful of it."

"Yes, ada," I nodded with a ruthful smile and he pressed a light kiss to my forehead.

"It seems we cannot meet with the Lord Legolas without one of my unruly daughters resorting to a fight," he smiled bemusedly. "But at least you went about it with a challenge and honour." I grinned at him. "In truth, you fought very well. You fought wonderfully. I doubt Thranduil and his son will be so quick in their scathing of our people in future!"

I laughed. "Should they do so, I am prepared to remind them for you, ada!"

My father laughed with me as rose. "I am sure. Now my daughter, take you rest, you have a long warden's duty come the morrow, do you not?"

I nodded. "There are rumours of an orc party to the west, I ride to see for myself what these rumours are."

"As long as you are returned for the great feast we have prepared," Celeborn agreed. "Sleep well, tinu."

I curtseyed before I stepped forward to plant a kiss upon his cheek. "Goodnight, ada."