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━━━━»•» act one. age of ruins

04. swords and pencils  «•« ━━━━

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ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ third age ━━ year 2949

𓇻 eriador; imladris {rivendell}

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THE GROUND CAME RUSHING TOWARDS HER, AS SHE STUMBLED OVER HER FEET ONCE AGAIN. She gritted her teeth as her body met the solid pavement floor of the training grounds. At least this time she hadn't dropped her sword...

"You still forget to plant your feet," Gyda spoke, sounding slightly annoyed. "When will you remember, Aranel?" The title wasn't spoken with as much respect as usually.

Elgarain glared at her from her position on the ground, green eyes narrowing in slits as she coughed.

"Stand back up." Gyda demanded fiercely, twirling her practise sword between her fingers with an ease that made Elgarain jealous.

A groan left her lips as she pushed herself back up, chest heaving and hair a wild mess. Even after all these years, Elgarain still hadn't mastered appearing as the royal symbol she was supposed to represent. In the beginning of her time under Lord Elrond's watchful eyes, it had frustrated her whenever she couldn't manage to meet expectations. Now, she'd learned to swallow her frustrations and keep her head held high. Because while she'd learned a lot in the decades they'd been here, she still never felt as regal as her mother, or as capable as her father had been. It was hard to accept that she might never be that person, but she'd been forced to do so in order to be proud of the things she was good at.

Like her healing lessons. Getting to know the many herbs and their medical quality was one of her favourite lessons. She'd gone from treating minor wounds to learning how to safely treat arrow wounds and deep cuts. If only she could have been a mere healer. But the Valar had given her a different path to tread. One that, unfortunately, included sword fighting lessons from her personal guard...

A small and irritated battle cry escaped her lips as she stood back up and stormed towards Gyda. But the Elf simply stepped aside, stuck out her leg and tripped Elgarain, making her fall to the ground once again. She cursed her younger self for ever requesting learning how to fight because Gyda had been true to her word, she had been very hard on her.

"Don't fight with anger." Gyda said and as she helped Elgarain back on her feet. "Keep your balance."

"Come on, Aranel!" Galion shouted from where he was seated above on the ledge of his balcony and a frustrated heat rose to her cheeks. She'd moved on from her childish crush on the older Elf long ago but he still liked to act like he was the only man in her life that mattered. "Knock her on her arse!"

Noticing her distraction, Gyda lifted her sword and hit Elgarain's shoulder. A hiss of pain escaped her lips and she lifted her hand to rub the sore spot.

"Don't get distracted during battle," Gyda said with a stern frown.

"It's practise!" Elgarain exclaimed, fatigue clinging to her bones like it always did after a training session with her guard.

Galion's voice came drifting down from the balcony once again, "It is never not a battle with our dear Gyda, Aranel."

"Come on, get back in position." Gyda spoke as she wiped the back of her wrist across her sweaty forehead. "we're not done yet."

"We never are," Elgarain mumbled beneath her breath, trying her hardest to ignore Galion's laughter in the distance. She got back into position, placing her feet in the way she was taught.

"Now, focus." Gyda instructed as she raised her own sword in her right hand.

She inhaled deeply, trying to empty her mind and focus but Gyda is already moving again. She ran forward, raised her arm to strike and Elgarain only managed to block her at the last second, the blades met with a loud bang.

The two of them moved in a blur, as Gyda relentlessly attacked Elgarain, who tried to step aside, duck and lift her sword to defy the attacks. Even after many years of training together, Elgarain still couldn't seem to beat the older Elf, despite having studied her movements relentlessly. It simply seemed like Gyda was born to hold a sword and Elgarain wasn't.

Her back met one of the pillars forming a circle around the training grounds. She was cornered. In one last hopeless attempt to fight her way through, she jumped forward but Gyda lifted her sword, blunt point aimed at Elgarain's neck. "You're dead again." Gyda breathed.

Frustration clawed around inside of her and she pushed the blunt blade aside. Though Gyda, balanced as ever, remained firmly in place. "It's not a real battle!" She said, louder than she intended to, letting her own sword fall to the ground. "I have had enough for today."

Gyda nodded, a small smirk tugging at her lips. "You held out longer than normal." She shrugged, "progress, I guess."

But Elgarain wasn't listening anymore, her eyes focused on the blade on the ground. She'd spend so many years trying to learn how to master a sword, to learn to fight like Gyda but it wasn't working. She knew the essentials but no matter how hard she tried, it never seemed to grow beyond that. She was stuck in the early stages of her training and no matter how hard she seemed to try, the sword simply didn't seem to fit in her hand.

"Here," Gyda's voice broke her out of her thoughts.

She looked up, eyes lingering on the water the Elf was offering her.

"Don't worry it isn't poisoned," Galion called out again, "I filled them myself."

"And that should make me feel better?" Elgarain shouted back.

"I'm not in the business for regicide Galion." Gyda weighed in.

Elgarain took a sip from her water, her eyes wandering back to the sword once again. She'd learned how to do things her own way long ago. Maybe the same applied this time. She turned her gaze to Gyda. "Maybe the sword is the problem."

The Elf frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

She took a deep breath, sudden nerves for her guard's reaction gathering inside of her. "I want to try a spear," she finally managed to say. "I used to watch my father train with his, maybe I could try it as well." Images of days spent in the sun watching her father practice on the training grounds in Lindon worked their way to the front of her mind, but she pushed them away. Thinking of her father still made her heart ache, even after all these years.

Gyda smiled solemnly. "It is the weapon of our ancestors." She nodded. "But you must finish the training with the sword first. The spear acquires more balance, more patience and precision. You haven't mastered those. They are the easiest to master with a sword."

Disappointment flared up in her chest, but her determination burned brighter. "Alright," she said before walking over to where she left her sword on the ground. "Then I demand a rematch."

A cheer came from Galion on the side lines. "This should be good!"

Gyda smirked as her eyes flickered to a smug Galion sitting crossed legged on the balcony. "As you wish, Aranel." She took her sword in her hand, twirling it around between her fingers before they started circling around each other. "Watch your feet." Gyda noted and Elgarain listened.

She watched her guard closely, measuring her. This was her chance to show she had most definitely learned something. If she could manage that, maybe she could move on to using a spear, just like father once did...With that thought burning in the back of her mind, Elgarain moved to attack.

Gyda blocked her strike with ease, as expected but instead of backing down Elgarain immediately went in for another attack, her fighting style more aggressive than before. But again the blow was blocked by Gyda.

But she refused to back down and kept coming, blow after blow, waiting and watching. She remembered the movements from that day in Lindon as though she'd seen them yesterday, attack until your enemy gets tired and makes a mistake...It wasn't a style she had ever used before because she knew she was more likely to make a mistake before Gyda would, but this time she had the element of surprise on her side. And the will power to finally show she was worth something...

Gyda tried to twirl out of range to avoid her steady storm of strikes but Elgarain anticipated this and quickly moved after her. She aimed for Gyda's briefly unprotected back but Gyda managed to catch the blow by moving the dull sword over her shoulder, as though she could hear the blade coming. Gyda then let herself fall to the ground, threw out her leg and kicked Elgarain to the ground. Her body met the pavement for the third time that day, but just before she went down completely, Elgarain managed to knock her blunt blade against Gyda's thigh.

"That won't kill me, Aranel," Gyda breathed, standing over her with her sword aimed her throat.

"No," Elgarain replied, unable to stop smiling. "But it would definitely wound you and I'll count that as a win."

"It won't help you to count those when your enemy decides to go for the kill instead." Gyda scolded.

"Alright," Elgarain said, finally seeing the opening she'd been waiting for. She moved faster than Gyda could anticipate and kicked the guard's legs from beneath her, watching as she fell down for the first time since their training sessions started. "You also taught me to never be distracted."

Galion's laugh echoed over the training grounds but Elgarain's eyes remained focused on her teacher.

"I never am." Gyda grinned and it took Elgarain a second to realize there was something sharp pricking her side. She looked down and saw a dagger glittering in the sunlight.

Gyda retracted the weapon and got back to her feet, holding out her hand to help Elgarain stand as well. She might've lost, again, but at least she finally managed to kick Gyda down.

"I didn't expect this to be so entertaining." Galion called out once more.

"Do you want to try your own luck down here?" Gyda called up to him.

"I rather keep all my fighting long distance, if you don't mind." The honey haired elf stated, twirling one of his arrows in his hand. "Less of a hassle."

"Chicken," Elgarain mumbled, flashing a smile at Gyda while taking a sip of her water. Her entire body was aching and every bone longed for a warm bath. She had no more lessons this evening, which meant if she hurried she might just be able to paint the sun set. "I'm going to take a rest from all your teaching." She said and with one last look at Gyda she disappeared from the training grounds.

She followed the path leading back to the living quarters and made her way to her room. Through the many years spent here, drawings had gathered all over the walls. Paintings of stories Lord Elrond had insisted she'd read, as High Queen she was supposed to know her history after all. Drawings of different herbs, sketches of objects that simply caught her eye. Her art littered around her room, marking it as her own little paradise, where she could withdraw and simply be. Not the Aranel, not an Apprentice, but simply herself.

She filled the basin with fresh water and washed herself. Then she chose a clean, blue dress, grabbed her sketchbook and a few pencils and made her way out of the room. She hurried her way down the stairs and towards the gardens where she'd have the best view of the slowly setting sun. On her way she passed the stables and smiled at her fellow Lindon Elves, Cirdan and Daros, who just arrived from their patrol along the border. Together with Lord Elrond's twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir.

"In a hurry, Aranel?" Elladan shouted after her as she continued with a quick pace towards the gardens.

"Always," she smiled at the older Elf, already turning around again, but not before catching the amused look he threw his brother. She adored the two twins, having spent many evenings with them before. The stories of their ventures always managed to cheer her up whenever she felt down. But tonight she longed for nothing more than the company of herself and her sketchbook.

The gardens of Imladris smelled like flowers and a summer breeze. The soft sound of a calm stream lingered in the distance and the soft grass beneath her feet felt like a blessing after spending most of the afternoon on the training grounds.

She settled down on a bench beneath an oak tree, leaning against the wood with her knees drawn up to her chest, her sketchbook leaning on her legs. A small smile played on her lips as she watched the orange and pink hues of the setting sun starting to appear in the sky. She'd never managed to capture the beauty of the Hidden Valley, but she kept trying, as often as she could.

She put the pencil down and got to work, lines and shapes slowly forming as she went. The world blurred into nothingness, as it always did, and the only thing her mind focused on was the paper before her. Her skilled hands connected lines and drew new ones as though it came as easy to her as breathing. She'd always felt more at home with a pencil between her fingers than a sword...One day she'd like to challenge Gyda for a drawing duel and see who would win then.

Soft footsteps on the grass broke her out of her thoughts. She lifted her green eyes from the parchment in her lap to look up at the approaching figure. She couldn't help but frown when she saw that instead of an Elf, as she had expected, it was a human man. The first thing she noticed were his eyes, grey like a storm cloud. The lines of his face were sharp in a way that made her fingers itch to reach for a pencil and put every detail on paper.

She'd heard of two humans, a mother and a son having been given shelter in Rivendell, but the mother had passed away before she had the chance to be introduced to her and the man she'd never met, always too busy with her lessons to make time for anything else.

For a moment the two of them simply held each other's gaze before footsteps on her left made her turn away from him.

From beneath the shadows of the trees approached the most beautiful Elleth in all of Rivendell. Arwen Undómiel, daughter of Lord Elrond and said to be as breathtaking as the Lady Lúthien herself once had been. Her long black hair shone in the last lingering rays of sunlight. Her grey eyes always filled with warmth. And on top of that was the kindness of her heart, a heart so big it wouldn't fit the whole of Middle-Earth. Proven once again by the fact that she was holding a plate filled with food in her hands as she seated herself next to Elgarain, with a grace the princess of the Ñoldor could only dream of.

"You often forget to eat when you're out painting," Arwen spoke, a smile on her lips as she handed Elgarain the plate.

"Thank you," Elgarain said, taking the food with a grateful smile. Her eyes wandered back to where she'd seen the human standing before, but the garden was abandoned, leaving just her with Arwen beneath the evening glow of the sun.

"Now, I heard my brother say you put Gyda down in training today?" Arwen said, taking Elgarain's attention, her eyes studying the young Elf curiously.

A grin appeared on Elgarain's features as she nodded and started telling the tale of how she put her mentor down, never mentioning the fact that Gyda had actually won by pulling out her dagger of course.

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𝕬𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝕹𝐎𝐓𝐄 . . .

Me when outlining this chapter: "Ah yes, the classic growing up through a training montage!" Honestly that's how I pictured it in my head, lol.

Also a human boy in Rivendell...Who could that possibly be? *Wink wink*

But we got more familiar faces! Those who read the books might have recognised the brief mention of Elladan and Elrohir. I enjoyed adding them to this story. And of course I added Arwen, how could I not? I love her character so much and so I had to give her a very cute friendship with Elgarain.

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter because even though Elgarain is a lot older now, she still has a lot to learn. But then again, everyone pales in comparison to Gyda, who is simply awesome with a blade! I also fell in love with Galion a lot more than I first thought I would haha. I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as well! Please let me know your thoughts if you did!

xx Nelly