Aragorn gave her a short sword to practice with, but she still wasn't very good at it. She was fast, but not fast enough to dodge the attacks that Aragorn threw at her. Despite her trouble she didn't start breathing hard or even break a sweat. "How do you do it?" Pippin asked once they had gotten a break,

Kali looked down at him curiously, "Do what?"

Pippin shrugged, "You look so perfect when you're fighting, no sweat, no hard breathing, and you block very well," he blushed and looked down,

Kali laughed and lifted her sword again, "Thanks! You're pretty good at taking people down!"

Aragorn called her over, "I think that's enough for the sword today, next you will train with Legolas on the bow, because Gimli doesn't have a spare axe, or so he claims…" Kali giggled at his skepticism and went over to where Legolas stood. He held his bow in one hand and his quiver in the other.

"Here, put this over your shoulder like this," he demonstrated on himself and handed her the quiver, it hung a little loose on her, but it was alright. "Next take the bow from me," Kali reached out and gently took it from his as if the bow was made of china. "It is not as delicate as it looks; it is a powerful weapon that can save your life in combat."

Kali frowned, "But I don't have a life…"

"No arguing. Now, you hold the bow like this," he picked her arm up and adjusted it till he got it where he wanted. "Does that feel natural?"

Kali snorted and looked at him, "Well it's facing forward; of course it does!"

Legolas looked amused, "That is almost exactly what I said to my first Archery teacher."

Kali grinned and pointed the bow backwards, "No, it goes like this!"

Aragorn watched them from his spot under the tree, he chuckled, "Looks like they are warming to each other already. Maybe they will get along,"

Galadriel drifted up next to him, "Even I don't know; there is still doubt in his heart. The betrayal that he went through might never go away; he may always hold a grudge. She is the only person who can help him move on,"

Aragorn continued to watch the two, "Is that the reason you put her in the Fellowship?"

"One of the many reasons, yes. You will be surprised by what this girl can do," and then her presence faded as she left. Aragorn thought about what she meant in peace until Gimli yelled something about finding an arrow in his behind. Aragorn chuckled, sounds like this girl still needs a lot of work.

On the fifth day of practice Kali managed to beat Aragorn at swordplay, well, she used her own style… she had distracted him with her sword and then knocked his leg out from under him, sending his sword flying. And in archery she finally hit the middle of the target. "Do it again," Legolas said, Kali drew the string back and fired, she hit near the center. "Again." So she kept firing and reloading as quickly as she could. Then she spilt her arrow in half in the center of the target. Legolas went over to pull them out, "You can do this, you are ready for the next step." Oh shiz… this is hard enough! She must have groaned a little because Legolas chuckled, "Yes, there is more." Then he heard a thumping noise, curious he turned around.

Kali was banging her head on a tree and apologizing every time she hit the tree, "Sorry tree, sorry, sorry again, and again…"

Legolas was at a complete loss for words, but when they finally came to him he said, "Don't injure yourself!" she stopped and looked over at him, slightly dizzy,

"Whhaaaaaaat?" She groggily fell over onto the ground, he sighed. Then thought; she made me laugh, I get frustrated whenever she does something stupid, being around her is… relaxing. No! I can't think like that, remember… you have got to remember… Kali watched him curiously as he went strangely quiet, looking down at the ground. "Are you alright?" suddenly she was standing in front of him, one hand almost, but not quite, touching his face. He staggered backwards in surprise, "Are you sick? Are you feeling well?" She asked, concern in every part of her voice and written into her features. He almost believed that she was worried about him, he turned away,

"I am fine, let's continue with moving targets…"

Later that day Gimli was stressing about how little meat this place had, "Let us go hunting! There is plenty of fresh game in the woods, and we haven't gone hunting before." Aragorn was about to say that it was a bad idea when he saw the guilty look on Kali's face. She had snuck out two days ago to satisfy her hunger, she had found an orc who had lost his way.

Aragorn chuckled, "Looks like one of us has,"

Gimli glared at her, "And you didn't take me along?" She grinned sheepishly, "I can only go for so long without food," Gimli grunted and waved his axe, "There is plenty of food here, and I've been doing my best to stomach it. You could try too!"

Pippin frowned in confusion, "I think the food here is quite good!"

Merry nodded, "I'll second (breakfast) that."

Legolas sighed, "No, she drinks blood"

Boramir paled, "Why?" Aragorn was about to say something when Kali interrupted,

"I have a theory that might be plausible; you might have noticed that I do not sweat, that is because all the water in my body is not moving, and I can't digest solids because the fluid in my stomach is not there. And so when I drink blood it goes straight into my bloodstream, like alcohol, and because my heart isn't pumping the blood to places, I need a constant flow of the stuff. So there."

They all stared at her in silence until Aragorn nodded, "That makes sense, most of it."

Legolas was the one to change the subject, "Well, I think this will be a wonderful opportunity for her to use a bow to practice."

Aragorn nodded and smiled, "Yes, let's find a bow for you to use Kali."

"No, she can use mine." Legolas said, taking his bow off his shoulder and handing it to her. She took it carefully as she always did, and then she smiled at him. A shiver went down his spine, but not a bad one, the warmth that he felt when around her… he hated it… he loved it. It contradicted everything he ever thought about her kind.

Boramir too, saw that this girl was not quite as evil as he first thought; he still thought it silly that she was coming with them on the quest, but he would protect her.

Aragorn grinned, "But Legolas, what will you use?"

"Nothing, I will watch."

Aragorn tracked in the front, Boramir and Gimli followed closely behind, and Legolas and Kali brought up the rear. The party moved through the woods silently, almost. Gimli kept talking and Legolas and Aragorn wished that he would just shut up for once. Then a crash sounded through the woods, and orcs sprung out from all directions, Kali was the first ready, she had strung her bow and aimed at one, then fired. Her aim was true thanks to Legolas' training and it pierced the orc's neck. It fell to the ground with a terrible gurgling noise as blood spurted from his wound.

Aragorn and Boramir pulled their swords out and Gimli raised his axe. Legolas ducked as an Orc swung at him with a club, now of all times there had to be an orc attack?! Aragorn stabbed, Boramir slashed, and Gimli hacked through the orcs till none were left but one.

"Legolas!" Kali called as she shot straight at him, he ducked just in the nick of time. At first he was enraged at her attack then he saw the orc fall backward behind him, gushing black blood, its heart pierced by her arrow. She came running towards him, "Are you alright?" he let her put her hand on his cheek and check him for any wounds, when she found none she breathed a sigh of relief. Gimli chuckled and Legolas shot him a dark look, "It wasn't his fault Gimli, and you know it. He lent me his weapon and that left him…" she didn't want to say defenseless or venerable so she just went silent.

Boramir examined the arrow imbedded in the orc's chest, "You have a good arm."

Kali smiled, "Thank you, but I owe that to him," she motioned towards Legolas.

Than Gimli grunted, "We can't eat orc, com'on, let's go find some other food."