Sorry it has been so long since my last posting. I had a very bad case of writer's block, and I only got over it after being inspired watching the Hobbit production videos and seeing Orlando Bloom returning to reprise his role as Legolas. It's a good long chapter, though most of it is dialogue. Enjoy!
"Relax, Tinwe, you'll be fine!" Icaria said, holding her friends shaking hands in her own. Tinwe was about to go address Tincore about her desire to be on the Guard. She had never been so nervous. And she did not know why she was so agitated at the moment.
"I am alright," Tinwe said after taking a deep breath. She just needed to focus on what she was going to say, and forget about the consequences if she messed up. It was a long shot for her to be let on the guard in the first place. If she didn't, she would just have to find some other way to satisfy her thirst for adventure.
"Good. Now go prove yourself. Good luck!" Tinwe wasn't sure she could speak, so she just nodded and knocked on Tincore's study door as Icaria disappeared down the hall. She heard a muffled "enter" and pushed the door open slowly.
"So? How did it go?"
"Not sure," Tinwe said with a frown. "He was hard to read."
"He didn't give you any indication at all?" Icaria asked as the two sat in Tinwe's parent's sitting room. Tinwe shook her head.
"No. He just sat there with his elbows on his desk and his hands folded in front of his face, watching me over his fingers. When I left he simply said thank you and he would think about it and let me know."
"Well that isn't very helpful is it?" Icaria said, sticking her bottom lip out in a half pout. Tinwe smirked at the look on her friend's face, but her mind was deep in thought. She sincerely had no idea if Tincore had even been listening. He had been watching her closely enough, but his mannerisms gave no indication that anything she said made an impact on him. She worried a great deal about what the King had told him as well, and if he had his mind made up before she had even set foot in the office.
"There's no use worrying about it now, right?" Icaria said, her face brightening. "Want to go for a ride and a picnic? I don't care if you are suppose to be spending time with Prince Legolas, I claim you for today."
Tinwe laughed. "Alright, I will spend the day with you. I'm sure Legolas is busy anyway and needs a day to himself. Go change and I'll meet you at the stables."
Tinwe found comfort riding with Icaria through the warm afternoon sunshine. She had brought her sword and bow along, figuring she should get some practice in as well to keep her mind occupied. Icaria, as usual, was doing most of the talking.
"Now I know your brother Angsul is a healer like your mother and your brother Glorothond is a blacksmith like your father, but why don't you start considering taking up one of those careers, just in case this doesn't work out? I'm sure they would be happy to work with you, especially Glorothond. You know he adores you."
"He wasn't too thrilled with me when he heard I had returned with Legolas," Tinwe said pensively, a frown upon her face as she remembered. "I have no idea why he was upset about it. I thought the two of them were friends."
"Maybe he just doesn't think anyone is good enough for his little sister and wants to protect her," Icaria said, riding close enough to punch Tinwe's shoulder playfully. This made Tinwe smile.
"His little sister was able to beat him at hand-to-hand combat when she was little more than three centuries old," she responded with a small laugh. "He should know that I can take care of myself."
"Yeah but this is the Prince. He leaves a trail of broken hearts behind him everywhere he goes."
"Not by choice. He can't help it that elleths like you fawn over him."
"I no longer will fawn over him out of respect for you," Icaria said, eyes shining with mirth. "However, I'd be careful of those fawning elleths if I were you. They can be quite cruel if they wish."
"Like I already said, Icaria, I can take care of myself. What can they do to me? Gouge my eyes out with their perfectly manicured nails?"
"I wouldn't put it past some of them," Icaria said seriously. "The rumors I've heard already…" She trailed off, leaving Tinwe very curious with this new direction of conversation.
"What have you heard?" she asked Icaria when her friend did not elaborate.
"It is quite a variety of stories, I can assure you. Some involving you discovering evil magic to enchant the Prince, others say it was an exotic elixir, while others say you actually cut out his heart and have it hidden away somewhere."
"That's ridiculous," Tinwe said with a snort. She thought that the gossips of the court were losing their touch. "Who would actually believe any of that?"
"No one with sense, but the point is they are working very hard to try and discredit you. Sooner or later they'll come up with something more plausible."
"They can try, but really, I don't think I have much to worry about."
"All the same, I worry for you Tinwe."
"I appreciate the concern, Icaria, but let us think about something happier. I don't want my day with you to be marred by such sour discussions."
"Very well," said Icaria, her seriousness leaving as quickly as it had come. "When do you think the Prince will propose?" This actually made Tinwe laugh.
"Not anytime soon I am certain. His father does not like me and I am currently trying to adopt a career where I could easily lose an eye, or a limb, or my life."
"Come now, you don't know his father doesn't like you for sure, and he obviously loves you. I'm sure it will be any day now."
"I don't see marriage in the near future," Tinwe said with an air of finality. "So," she said, changing the subject. "What about your love life? Anything I should know about?"
"Sadly, no," Icaria said with a sigh. "I've had elves who have shown interest in me since you've left, but nothing serious. I just have a feeling when I meet him, I will know."
"You are such a romantic, Icaria," Tinwe said smiling. "I know very few elves who had love at first sight."
"Still, I have a feeling." Icaria said wistful. Tinwe was just glad they had gotten off the subject of her and Legolas. Talk of marriage had unnerved her, though she would never admit it. She scolded herself for not thinking about it before, but she had never even considered the possibility of a proposal. She loved Legolas, but she genuinely did not know how she would react to a proposal. The idea scared her. She had always thought that with a marriage came settling down and children. She'd lived through a lot, but that idea frightened her far more than anything had since she was a thousand years younger. As Legolas's wife, she would be expected to act as a princess should. She was not sure she could live up to those expectations.
"Are you alright Tinwe? Your eyes glazed over there for a second."
"Sorry, Icaria, I was just thinking."
"About your darling prince?" Icaria asked with a grin on her face. Tinwe, glared at her, but with humor in her eyes.
"Maybe," she retorted. "Not that it's any of your business."
"I am genuinely hurt," Icaria said in mock indignation. "I thought I was your oldest and closest friend."
"That you are," Tinwe replied. "But that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you when we go to practice archery when we get back."
Icaria groaned loudly. She hated archery. And sword fighting. But she was always the one who had to humor Tinwe when she was home, since no one else would go out of their way to help Tinwe in her "unnatural" pursuit of masculine sports.
"Stop your whining. Just help me for an hour or so and we can go and get cleaned up for dinner. You of course will be eating with us." She stated it as a fact, not a question. Icaria smiled, nodding in acknowledgement.
When the pair reached the practice fields, they found them already occupied by several members of the Home Guard who were training. Tincore was not with them, which upset Tinwe slightly. Having him see her skills might have helped her case. She rode forward confidently, Icaria riding nervously to her left, glancing around at the elves now watching them. Unperturbed, Tinwe dismounted gracefully and let Alagos trot away to entertain herself. Tinwe nodded at the nearest archer and walked several paces down from him to a free target. Icaria followed nervously, holding her practice bow Tinwe had made her bring like it was a lifeline. She had not expected to have to shoot in front of members of the Home Guard. She usually liked attention from male elves, but not in this situation where she was sure to make a fool of herself. She admired the way Tinwe barely gave them a second thought as she took her bow off her back and strung it neatly, making it look effortless.
"Come on, Icaria," Tinwe said, leaning closer to her friend as the Home Guard returned to what they were doing, eyes occasionally flicking back to the elleths. "String your bow. You can act timid for the Home Guard later." Icaria gave her a nasty look and did as she was instructed, successfully stringing her bow, though she took a longer time to do it than Tinwe.
"I have to warn you, Tinwe," Icaria said, hoping the sounds of arrows and swords clashing would keep anyone apart from her friend from hearing. "I haven't shot at all since you were last here."
"Not to worry. Give it a few shots to warm up and I'll correct your form if anything is off. It should come back fairly easy once you've tried it a few times."
"Okay," Icaria said slowly, pulling an arrow from her quiver and notching it to her bow. "But when I miss and make a fool of myself I will blame you." She let the arrow fly, and hit the target, though she was a good foot off of center.
"Not bad," Tinwe said with a smile, noticing Icaria's eyes light up when she hit the target. "You just have to remember how the arrows fly again. Give it a few more shots. If they cluster you'll know how to adjust your aim."
Tinwe turned from Icaria as the latter reached for another arrow. Tinwe herself took a deep breath, looking at her target. It was a short range, about 30 yards, and there was a slight breeze blowing west, which would throw off her aim if not accounted for. She let out a quick breath and pulled her first arrow out, firing it off, rapidly followed by three others.
Looking at her target, she noticed they were clustered a little right of center. She pulled another arrow and shot it off, taking her time on this one, and hit barely a fraction off of center. Satisfied, she fired off another rapid sequence of arrows, which all clustered around the one in the middle. Not perfect, but pretty close.
She glanced over to see how Icaria was doing. Three arrows stuck out of her target, all in different spots. As Icaria sent another one flying, it hit several inches to the upper right of center.
"You're hitting the target at least," Tinwe said good-naturedly, watching another arrow fly and hit close to the first one.
"I missed on the second one. That's somewhere in the grass behind it. At least I'm not doing as bad as I thought I would."
"Come on, let's go find that one arrow before you lose it," Tinwe said, walking off towards the targets. She pulled hers out and went to look for the one Icaria lost while Icaria tried to pull out a stubborn arrow.
"Did you find it?" Icaria asked, coming around the target, before stopping and looking at something behind Tinwe. Tinwe didn't notice the change, and kept looking down at the ground.
"Not yet, but it can't have gone too far, unless you decide to shoot straight up," she said with a smile. When she didn't get a rude reply, she looked up in time to see one of the Home Guard handing Icaria her lost arrow. Icaria was staring at him with wide eyes, and Tinwe heard a mumbled "thank you" as she came closer. Smiling, Tinwe, came up beside them.
"You'll have to forgive my friend here. It has been many decades since I've had her out here to shoot with me. She is a little nervous being out here again after so long."
"That is quite alright. I'm fascinated that the two of you are out here. I am Thorontur. And you are Lady Tinwe are you not?"
"Just Tinwe please. I have no title."
"The Prince called you Lady Tinwe though."
"I believe he was just being polite. Even if I had a title, I would simply prefer Tinwe. And this is my good friend Lady Icaria. She, however, is of noble blood, so you shall have to ask her if she wants to have her title maintained."
"Icaria is fine," the elleth next to her managed to breathe out quickly. Thorontur gave her a dazzling smile, taking her hand and kissing it.
"Enchanted," he said, his brown eyes meeting her blue ones. Tinwe thought about just walking away, but she wasn't sure Icaria would be able to have a conversation right now on her own.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Icaria and I were just shooting a few rounds and going to practice swordplay. If you don't mind, I am sure Icaria would appreciate you expert pointers. As I said, she is out of practice."
"I'd be delighted," said Thorontur, following as Tinwe led a still slightly dazed Icaria back to the opposite end of the range. Tinwe noticed that in the short time they had been gone, several more Home Guard elves had shown up, some of which were standing awfully close to the spot she had recently been shooting from. She raised her eyebrow at the closest one, who was watching her walk back to her position.
"Can I help you?" she said, letting go of Icaria and picking up her bow again. Thorontur had drifted over toward Icaria and was now talking to her in a low voice.
"We were just watching you shooting earlier and were impressed. You are Lady Tinwe, correct?"
"Just Tinwe please," she said for the second time.
"You are very skilled with a bow, Tinwe," said another of the Guard. He looked young, probably a new recruit, less than a millennium old she was sure.
"Thank you," she said with a smile. "I worked hard for it."
"Did you really petition Captain Tincore to join the Guard?" asked another, all thoughts of practice gone.
"I did," she said, not remotely surprised this piece of information had reached them. "I have fought many battles over the years and thought my skills would be put to good use."
"Well you've proven yourself with a bow," said a tall elf with dark eyes, a smile on his face. "But I notice you have a sword. Care to spar?"
"Certainly," Tinwe said, unstrapping her quiver and scabbard. "You don't mind if I spar with someone else, do you Icaria?"
"Pardon?" Icaria said, looking up. Thorontur was standing particularly close to her, making Tinwe smile.
"Nevermind. Now, what is your name?" she said, addressing her challenger.
"Faelon, my lady," he said, unsheathing his sword and twirling as he turned to face her. All the guards that had still been practicing came over as they noticed the crowd forming a circle around Tinwe and Faelon. Tinwe removed her sword slowly, tossing aside the scabbard as she kept her eyes on Faelon.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Faelon. Shall we?" He gave a slight nod of his head and then came at her swiftly, striking down on her. She neatly brought up her sword to defend before slicing towards him, making him leap away from her. He had the advantage with strength and reach, but she had developed an impressive speed over the years that would make the match interesting.
The two circled each other, occasionally coming together in a serious of quick strikes before backing away. Some of the spectators were rooting for Faelon, some for Tinwe. They goaded the opponents on, watching every move closely.
Tinwe felt the sweat beading on her forehead as she kept her eyes locked on Faelon, circling slowly. She noticed he would twitch his finger right before striking. She used this to her advantage, waiting for him to give her the tell and then dodging expertly, throwing a few strikes in herself to keep him back. Half the battle was endurance, as they were fairly evenly matched, striking quickly and then retreating. She didn't know how long it took, but she was starting to feel the strain when she heard Icaria calling her name.
"I'm a bit busy, Icaria," Tinwe said, not taking her eyes off of Faelon. He chose this point to rush towards her, delivering several blows that narrowly missed her as she parried and dodged away. She moved low, sending several strikes towards his legs to try and upset his balance. He blocked her easily and pushed her back several feet.
"Tinwe! Dinner at your parents is in ten minutes!" Tinwe growled softly, still not taking her eyes off of Faelon.
"Would you be kind enough to call this one a draw?" she said grudgingly. "I am afraid I have a prior appointment and should not be late."
"If you must," Faelon said with a smile. "Until next time?" He stood upright, leaving his fighting stance and allowing her an honorable exit.
"Most definitely," Tinwe said with a smile, saluting him and then wiping the sweat off her brow. "Thank you for the practice."
"My pleasure," he said, bowing his head as she rushed off, grabbing her bow, quiver and scabbard, whistling for Alagos. The mare dutifully galloped over, allowing her mistress to climb up. Icaria was already galloping away towards the stables. Tinwe turned Alagos around, waving one last farewell to the gathered soldiers, and then galloped off after her friend.