Author's Note: I was super nervous about posting this chapter, because I'm a total amateur when it comes to all that swordfighting stuff. I kind of tried to skim over it a little, so I'm sorry this chapter is so horribly short.
Chapter 13-Unsuccessful Swordplay
Karra's shoulders slumped as Fili drew his sword away from her throat again.
"I'm never going to get this," she grumbled, letting her sword arm drop to her side.
"You've only just begun learning," Fili said encouragingly. "You shouldn't expect to master it in a couple of days."
"Was that meant to encourage me?" Karra asked with a sigh.
"Yes." Fili gripped his sword and raised it. "Shall we continue?"
Karra nodded. Fili held his sword at the ready. "Swing at me." Karra gave a weak little swing. "Put some assertiveness in it," he said with a laugh. "You're not going to hurt me." Karra backed up and tried to charge at Fili, her short sword clashing with his. He easily blocked her swing.
"You won't do anything that way," he advised. "Harder. Imagine I'm the actual enemy."
Karra gritted her teeth. "Right." Backing up a bit, she was stopped by Fili.
"Fix your stance." He gently corrected her. "If you stance is weak, you will be easily disarmed. Now. Swing at me again." Karra charged forward and their swords met. "Harder!" he cried. "I'm an orc, remember?" Gripping his sword, he said firmly, "Now. Block me." He swung his sword, and Karra raised her own clumsily to block him, and promptly got it knocked out of her hand.
"You swing hard," she gasped, bending down to pick it up.
"Exactly what I'm trying to get you to do. Now, block me again."
"Right." This time Karra kept a firmer grip on her own sword and was somewhat more successful.
And so it continued. They practiced for probably an hour, Fili gently correcting her, helping her, showing her various techniques. Back and forth, block and swing, fix your stance, hold our sword like this, swing harder, fix your stance, block and swing, and so on and so forth. Karra finally stopped for a moment, sweating and completely out of breath.
"I don't think you know how tiring this is," she gasped.
"Would you like to rest?" Fili asked.
Karra straightened. "NO!" she exclaimed. "I mean….I really need the practice. Sorry." With a firm grip on her sword, she tried to look determined. "Ready?"
Fili raised an eyebrow. "Who's training who?" he asked. "Are you ready?"
Karra took a deep breath. "Yeah."
They continued for a while longer, until Karra finally just plopped down on the ground, completely worn out. "I….think….I'm ready….to stop now," she gasped. "I am never going to be able to handle a battle, for goodness sakes!" She wiped the sweat off her forehead. "I never realized this was going to be this…exhausting."
Fili sat down beside her. "I remember when I was first learning," he said. "I felt the same way you do. That I would never get it." Slipping his sword back into its sheath, he smiled at her. "But I did."
"After, what, sixty years?" Karra retorted. "I don't have that long!"
"We'll practice every evening," Fili replied. "You'll begin to get it."
Karra sighed. "Begin."
"It took me years to master it, myself."
"And now you even know how to use two." Karra looked at him with a bit of admiration. "How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Use two swords."
"It took me a long time to master."
"I'm sure it did." Karra sighed. "I just hope this….quest…doesn't involve any huge major battles or anything like that. I'd probably get myself killed."
"I wouldn't let that happen," Fili said with a smile. "None of us would let that happen. You are one of us now. And none of us could stand on our honor if we let a lady get killed and didn't even try to protect her."
"So you'd protect because of your honor," she said quietly. "Is that all?"
"Not all." Fili looked at her seriously. "We would protect you because we value you. You are one of us."
Karra sighed. "One of you," she said. "I wonder what my mom would think if she saw me now. On a quest to reclaim a kingdom." She laughed. "She'd probably be proud. I mean, it's part of my heritage. I guess."
Fili gave her a probing look. "What do you mean by 'you guess'?"
"Well…." Karra stopped for a moment. Did she really want to tell him about her inner problems? "Well," she finally continued, "sometimes I feel like….like I only half belong anywhere. Like, my mom's heritage is in…." did she call it her world? "…..the...other world...and my dad's heritage is here. So where do I belong? Do I belong anywhere?"
"You belong wherever you want to," Fili said, and patted her on the shoulder. "You have a home with us, wherever we may travel, as long as you choose."
Karra sighed again. She knew quite well that Balin could show her how to use her key to get back to her world (or was it even her world?) but now…..she felt like she was a part of this quest, and she would never leave now. "Well," she said, trying to sound cheery, "right now I choose to continue practicing."
I want to apologize for this...I know it wasn't as good as the others, but like I said, I'm a total amateur at all this stuff. :P I hope it was okay.