Whooo! Fighting and stuff!
Alright, I'm not as uncoordinated as people usually think I am but when you start handing me weapons of any kind I kind of just forget how to do anything and I wave my arms around like limp noodles. Fili had noticed this and was constantly battling my urge to just drop the wooden pole down and clamber away from his jousting. He'd already shown me how to hold the thing and block and parry properly but once he said "lets practice" all my previous training went out the window and I ran around like a chicken.
Fili was getting frustrated and as I ran away for the umpteenth time I huffed an "I told you so" to his almost irate figure.
"You're not even trying!" He whined, clearly fed up with my severe hesitancy.
"That's not it!" I gasped, still catching my breath, "I just… when violence comes into the picture it's a big NO!" I sighed, "I just can't be violent, especially toward someone I know wouldn't hurt me." I explained, hoping he'd see my dilemma. He didn't.
"How else do you think people train? We don't just go out and take on an orc pack every time we want to learn!" He rationalized. I sighed again. I knew that was how it worked and I knew that I could be violent toward someone bringing harm to me or others, I'd proved that with Azog, but I just couldn't bring myself to try it out on Fili.
"Fili!" I whined, "I just can't!" I finished, crossing my arms. Fili threw his hands in the air, tossing his sparring stick in the process. "Thorin's not going to be happy, He's the one who said this was necessary." He pointed. I paled slightly. I did not want to get on Thorin's bad side. I paced quickly then growled in frustration, "Keep teaching me the basics. I'm not going to start sparring but you can at least teach me more." I compromised. Fili shook his head mumbling that it was better than nothing and we began our lesson again.
This type of training went on a few more days before Thorin became interested in my progress. All the others had been busy finding appropriate weapons and training elsewhere. I was gaining the right muscles for the job and I'd drilled over and over the many moves Fili had been teaching me. I wasn't bad at any of it. Matter of fact the reason Fili was really frustrated with me was because I could fight if I wanted and I'd actually get somewhere doing it but I just simply wouldn't. When I heard Thorin was coming in to see my progress a small little knot formed in my stomach and I hoped beyond all hope that he wasn't going to freak out. Fili and I had already started going through our usual drill when Thorin walked in, eyes relatively expectant. I grit my teeth slightly as we continued drilling. After quite a while of this Thorin shouted out at us.
"Show me some sparring." I stopped cold in my tracks and Fili turned unhappily toward his uncle.
"We've not done any sparring," He said casually, "Sharae doesn't seem to have the drive to go about it." Oh Fili, you little… Thorin walked out to where we were and snagged the sparring stick from Fili. Crap.
"Well then, we will just have to find her drive," He smiled, almost evilly, and thoroughly annoyed. I took a few steps WAY WAY back from him. NOPE. Such a huge NOPE. I tried to slink away to the exit. Thorin, naturally, noticed but instead of yelling at me he charged. I froze as his menacing figure flashed in front of me. He pushed his sparring stick forward and I just knew if it hit it was going to hurt like no other. I dived to the side standing back up with the stick. He ran toward me again and again but there was NO WAY I was letting him whack me with that stick. Dodge after dodge we leapt and bound across the area. Finally we both stood apart panting heavily. I was surprised even Thorin was panting. He paused a second, which I was grateful for, then motioned toward Fili. I looked at the two in confusion before Fili went to the side grabbing himself a stick and stood ready to attack next to his uncle.
"Uh, uh. That's not even fai…" Fili charged toward me. I gasped and slunk out of the way only to see Thorin above me ready to strike. By this time I'd dropped my own stick and yanked myself out of the way purposefully snagging Thorin's boot with my own, tripping him. I glanced toward Fili who was ready to strike again. I jumped off the ground and kicked the butt of his stick with all my might. It flew from his hand landing safely far away. He grinned, getting into a stance for hand-to-hand. I grunted, when were they just going to give up on this? Fili lunged forward but since I wasn't just dodging some stick I wasn't expecting his arm to follow my movement and he latched onto my wrist, pulling me toward him.
Now, I'm not super strong or anything, and Fili had way more muscle that I did, but I knew how to use momentum so I used that pull to bring myself to his side and transfer that power into yanking Fili forward. He stumbled, letting me go to catch himself before he face planted. Before I could smile at my small victory two arms snatched my waist and I was lifted from the ground. I gasped in surprise before kicking and struggling to get free. When those attempts failed I decided to use my weight against him and went limp aiming my weight behind him. He grunted as the surprise shift in weight pulled both of us over backward. Thorin groaned as my body fell full force on his chest. I struggled out of his now loosened grasp and stood brushing myself off. Both dwarves remained breathless. I huffed in relief when I realized the craziness was over. Thorin slowly got himself up from the floor. He coughed.
"Well, I suppose you're well enough off defending yourself for now. Perhaps instead of hand-to-hand weapons you can try something long distance. We will hand you to Kili next." He brushed himself off and walked away with a slight limp. I tried not grin.
Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what your thinking in a review! My favorite parts of the story are coming up soon!