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Disclaimer: I don't own the Hobbit or it's characters. I do however own my own characters and the art work I do for the series.
Chapter Ten: Learning Your Weaknesses
Lian took a deep breath, steadying herself as she tried to concentrate on the task before her, eyebrows furrowed deeply over her narrowed pupils. Quickly she let her arrow fly, the object wobbling through the air until it flopped to the ground pathetically; causing her to let out a frustrated growl.
"This is useless; just let me use my normal weapons." She complained, turning her head towards Thorin's calculating stare as he watched her utter failure at using a bow.
"Your stance is too far apart, you're just trying to steady yourself; not tackle a bear." He stated, coming over to correct her mistake.
"Well excuse me-." She began but she was cut off by Thorin abruptly turning her back to the target, grabbing her hands and making her pull another arrow back. His rough hands slid up her arms, pulling her shoulders back and then sliding back down to turn her hips level with the bow. Lian felt her cheeks flare up at the amount of contact they were sharing, her arms attempting to shake as his breathed right next to her ear.
"Shoot."
She let her arrow fly, this time embedding burying it's head into the ground a few feet in front to her before she quickly jumped away from the dwarf.
"Yer too close!" She snapped, hearing the waver in her voice as she rubbed her ear furiously trying to get rid of the tingling sensation he had left. Thorin only scoffed, rolling his eyes at her childish behavior.
She had awoken prepared for various jabs from the dwarves but they stayed silent, she knew they knew from the sideways glances and hushed snickers. More than anything she had expected Thorin to ignore her and act as if nothing had happened, not drag her out for training at the crack of dawn.
"Proximity is the least of your worries. You can't always rely on close range weapons; you need to learn other forms of defense." He chided, reminding her of her nagging chambermaid.
"Well it's easier said than done." She grumbled; pulling another arrow from her quiver and drawing it back tensely. Her muscles coiled tightly in her arms, back and abdomen; holes burning into the target from the intensity of her glare.
"Relax." Thorin soothed her and Lian slowly loosened her shoulders, attempting to stretch her whole arm span out with the feathered end of the arrow set tersely in between her fingers.
She breathed in deeply, nostrils expanding as she set her chin stubbornly; releasing the arrow with a loud exhale. The arrow propelled forward with a whoosh, wind stinging against her cheek as the arrow snapped forth. It embedded itself in a tree, the tip completely hidden in the trunk and this would have been a great success if it had been the tree that was meant to be the target; not the one beside it.
"Your form is still too far spread out but it's acceptable enough, now you just have to work on your aim." Lian sighed; she could work with his halfhearted attempt at a compliment.
She stomped forward, boots loud against the earth as she gathered the arrows that were scattered along the ground; sliding them once more back into Kili's quiver she had borrowed for target practice. She reached for her last arrow, grabbing it by the neck as she pulled; grunting when her tugging was met with resistance.
Letting out a sound of frustration she placed her foot against the tree trunk for leverage, grunting once more as she pulled and pulled but to no avail. Soon enough she had both of her feet against the tree, using both her arms and her legs to attempt to pull the stubborn arrow out of the tree.
"What are you doing? You're going to break the arro-."
Snap
Lian let out a yelp as her ass met the ground, tipping backwards to land on her back; legs sprawled over tree roots in a very unappealing manner. Thorin walked over, stopping right above her fallen form to stare down at her ridiculous face and she began to laugh.
"Sorry, sorry," She breathed, calming down from her sudden bellow of laughter, grabbing the extended hand Thorin offered her and hopping back to her feet.
"I think Kili's gonna be mad that I broke one of his arrows." She chuckled sheepishly, holding out the snapped arrow for display. Thorin took the arrow, gingerly examining it before throwing it to the side.
"Let's move on to swords." He pulled out his sword, twirling it until he was offering her the handle. She took it, surprised by how light it was compared to the previous ones she'd held.
"When handling a sword you must be think of it as an extension of yourself. Don't just swing it around like you would an axe; aim for vital areas such as the neck, chest or stomach. Make sure you take in your opponents' attire; look for weaknesses in their armor like underneath the armpit."
Lian digested the information Thorin was giving her, jitters raking through her as she gripped the hilt of the blade tightly.
"Also be aware of the way your opponent fights, everyone has weaknesses in their defense so you have to be mindful of your own as well as theirs." He picked up a fallen branch, about the same length as a sword would be.
"Be aware of your surroundings or you can easily be taken by surprise, I imagine you've always dealt with heavy damage weapons that require more force than precision. I can also tell you've never taken on large masses like you would in ambushes from the way you leave your sides open."
Lian set her chin, a bit miffed that he was pointing out all of the flaws in her fighting but she pushed the flare of annoyance back when he pointed the stick at her.
"Now lets us begin." With that she raised the sword awkwardly, not used to the lightness of the weapon along with the length but regardless she swung the sword with force. Thorin simply side stepped and pressed the tip of his stick to her quickening pulse as she blinked away surprise.
"No."
Again she brought the sword back, going in for a jab but he once again pivoted out of the way and tapped her jugular.
"No."
Again and again she swung but he easily deflected, one time he simply stepped on the flat of the blade, jerking her forward and into the ground as he pressed the stick once more against the back of her neck.
"No." He clicked his tongue in disapproval as she growled in frustration; never has sword fighting ever been in her best interest and she usually did everything she could to get out of the lesson. In her father's mind if she was to learn to use weapons she might as well learn how to use them all; how she wished she'd taken his advice now.
"You're putting too much force into one attack instead of defending your sides, only strike hard when your enemy is weak or defenseless." Lian huffed, haphazardly brushing her hair aside; she was not enjoying this sudden need to educate her in fighting that Thorin had suddenly adopted. She was thankful for it though; it kept her mind from wandering back to yesterday's events and so on, almost made things seem normal.
"Take a quick break." He told her upon seeing Ori come out with two bowls of soup in each hand and a shy expression on his face.
"I came to give you some food, Bombur made some potato soup." He said, handing them both their bowls.
"Thank ya, Ori." Lian managed a smile taking a seat on a log before hungrily slurping the soup with glee as it filled the empty recesses of her stomach. Thorin thanked Ori before the young dwarf hurried back inside, never one to dwell to long.
Thorin took a seat beside her, eating his soup far more modestly than she did and she felt somewhat self-conscious, slowing her eating to a slow slurp.
"What are the Blue Mountains like?" She suddenly asked, finally thinking of something to fill the silence as they ate.
"Like every other mountain." He replied blandly, causing her to scowl in annoyance at his complete evasion.
"I mean what is it like living there, I've never been on any other mountains aside from the ones we've traveled on our journey. It's sort of hard to imagine a whole kingdom inside one." She hummed, bringing her legs up to cross as she gulped back the rest of her soup.
"It takes many years and numbers to accomplish it, thankfully we learned many tricks from our ancestors to make it easier. We're very proud of the work we do." He explained.
"Sounds pretty amazing, I can't say we have that many things like that. All we do is make clothes from animal hides or hunt. No mountains to climb or masses of forest to roam."
"Sounds dull." He stated dryly and she laughed.
"Everyone thinks that but if ya look for it then there are plenty of things to do. The caves that the animals burrow into the ground are perfect stake outs or hiding places. Can't even spot them unless yer looking for it and the few trees we do have are really tall. One time I climbed up there and threw cubes of ice down around the patrolling guards. I got in trouble with Stevvin but it was worth the look on his face when my father decided to join me."
She hadn't realized it but she was rambling, eyes sparkling with glee as she recalled the various times her father would cause mischief with her. And he wondered where she got it from. Lian quickly caught herself though, pursing her lips when she noticed that Thorin had been watching her as she prattled away.
"It was a long time ago though, when I was always stirred up trouble." She quickly backtracked, not wanting to come off as a child to him.
"Don't you still stir up trouble?" Thorin raised a brow, lips curling into a faint smile as mirth danced faintly in his pale eyes.
"I'll have ya know that I can be very mature when I want to be." She huffed, throwing the dwarf a nasty look.
"Don't be." He stated; causing her heart to flutter and do crazy things they wouldn't normally do and she silently cursed herself. She was supposed to not get carried away with these feelings.
"You sound like you miss it; your home that is." He observed, oddly enough keeping the conversation going as if he was genuinely curious about her.
"I do, it's not as colorful and may be a bit boring but it's quite peaceful, ya can always find a place to think. I would often 'run away' from home ya could say, constantly scared my father but I wasn't exactly the most obedient child. Never got along with others either; I'd just go out and keep to myself." She paused; frowning.
"It's nice a lot of times but…eventfully I realized how lonely it is. I did get better though in a way, became the Secondary Captain to our army but that might be more cause no one wanted to fight me. Half of them I beat up on as a kid." She couldn't help but smile at this.
"What was yer childhood like?" She asked, turning with pure curiosity alight in her eyes, she knew he must have grown up in Erebor and just the thought make her abuzz with wonder.
"It was…stressful in a way, I had a brother and sister to play with but they were busy too considering we were royalty. Constant lessons, places to be and people to talk to; you grew up fast in that sort of lifestyle. I do have many fond memories though and I miss even the stressful ones." Thorin looked almost yearning and she tried to imagine herself in his sort of situation; she couldn't fathom the amount of pain it must have caused him and still does.
"Maybe one day after all this we can form new memories in our homelands together, I'd hate if we never saw each other again after all this." She offered rather shyly, almost regretting it immediately after she said it. He might think she meant it as in just her and him and not everyone else.
"I'd... like that." Thorin hummed and she felt her heart squeeze when she saw the soft smile cross his face. Lord help her; she was losing her functionality around the dwarf day by day.
"Ya know that might mean ya'll have to climb up a tree with me." She lightly teased, trying to distract herself from her hammering heartbeat.
"I've already been in a tree with you, if you've already forgotten." He snorted.
"That doesn't count cause ya decided to jump off and I was dangling off Dori's smelly feet." She explained, letting out a rather loud and unladylike yawn as the afternoon sun warms her skin through the trees.
"Ya scared us all when ya didn't wake up." She mumbled, rubbing traces of drowsiness out of her eyes. Thorin only sighed, not seeming to have an answer for his sudden burst of anger and rage on the cliff side; she could understand his reasoning without him saying anything though.
They sat in silence for a while and Lian's thoughts began to wander back to yesterday evening, there had been something. She found that she'd wished more than anything that something had happened, just so she'd not have to live which the constant wonder. She felt embarrassed when her imagination tried to conjure up what might have happened if Kili hadn't shown up; usually something far too inappropriate for her taste.
"Ah!" She suddenly busted out, causing Thorin to flinch.
"What is it?" He grumbled, annoyed by her sudden burst of volume.
She simply shook her head, how could she be thinking about such things when he was sitting right beside her. He constantly plagued her mind, daring it to wander in places they shouldn't be with the dwarf in mind.
"Well I think we should be getting back to everyone, I'm sure we can continue our little lessons another time." She let out a nervous laugh, quickly jerking to her feet and patting off her pants.
"Wait." Thorin stopped her from her hasty escape, forcing her to look at him; her heart pounding a mile a minute as she scolded her over excited mind. The illogical side of her brain was basically screaming 'take me' and this disturbed her more sensible side.
Suddenly she inhaled sharply, not expecting for the dwarf to come so close to stroke her cheek; her cheeks burst into flames at the gentle gesture. Surely she'd burn in hell with how sinfully pleasant his touch was to her, almost addictive and his smell was no better.
Her breathing felt shallow to her as she felt the dwarf lean in, his touch scorching her flesh as it creeped into her hair. That was when déjà vu struck her, his hands were so familiar that she can't believe she didn't notice before.
"Don't." She breathed, voice trembling as his lips hover mere inches away from hers; she felt conflicted on whether to lean away or lean in.
He frOZE, almost like her comment had been an ice cold bucket of water to his face; quickly removing his hands from her and leaning back.
She saw conflict cross his features, anger, hurt, guilt and among other emotions mixing together until he settled into a cold mask. He doesn't say anything, only leaving her to head back into the house.
Lian let out a shaky breath, the urge to hit herself strong; she had thought it was a dream before but she suddenly realized that it had been Thorin in real life stroking her hair, not Falian in her dreams. She didn't know what to think, she'd basically blabbered on to Thorin while half asleep and actually cried openly in front of him. Her pride was beyond damaged and she wished she could crawl into a hole right about now.
She placed her face into her hands, groaning at the amount of complication her feelings were giving her, usually her thoughts and feelings were agreeable but not in this case. Her feelings were telling her to throw caution to the wind and just mount him already; while her head was constantly trying to fight with her feelings, telling her to get a grip and ignore whatever she felt for Thorin.
"Damn it." She cursed.
How Lian's feeling right now:
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