I woke up in a haze. Memories of the night before flickered behind my eyes. I remembered the fire but it was different. It held less influence over me. But I felt the aftershock of fear nonetheless. Shaking the tension off, I faced the day.

I decided to get dressed and then wander the gardens before disturbing Lord Elrond. I had no idea what the morning customs were so I thought that it would be best if I waited until later.

After the momentous effort of putting on a suitable gown without catching it on my wound, I quickly brushed through my hair. Thanks to the healers, my injury was healing up nicely and I felt confident to start training without worry of it reopening. My hair had grown noticeably darker recently, less of a dark brown and more acquainted with ebony tones. I quickly braided the sides to keep it away from my face and stepped out of my chambers to explore my new temporary home.

The gardens were breathtaking. Butterflies flitted to and fro along the flower beds, occasionally landing to sip at the delicious nectar that they hid inside. Bees buzzed around happily too, ensuring that there was never a moment without their soothing hum. The babble of a nearby stream faded in and out of hearing. I looked across to the small trees to see a few birds perched on the lower, thicker branches. It was as if no evil had touched the scene. The garden had never seen sadness or destruction. I felt a swell of sorrow for it. soon, if the evil at Dol Guldur was allowed to spread, the garden would never see light again and the same applied to the whole of Rivendell.

Caught up in my own emotions, I failed to hear the approaching person until they spoke out to me, making me twitch in shock. It seemed that I was still unnerved from the events that were occurring in my head over the last two weeks or so.

"Ikotane lle caela utue er en' i' calen sinome e' Rivendell"

{"So you have found one of the gardens here in Rivendell,"

I turned around to see Lord Elrond stood before me. I realised that now was the time to ask him about training.

"Lord Elrond, amin nae thinkien tanya yassen lle weera amin-aya istima e' order vor- no' amin lema. Manke-aya amin uma ikotane?"

{"Lord Elrond, I was thinking that with your permission I could train in order to continue my journey. Where could I do so?"

I waited patiently as he deliberated. And after a short while, he answered me with the same warmness as before.

"Amin will elea a' ta tanya lle istima tuulo' er en' lye vara. lle-aya caela desiel e' coiasira ten' lle lema"

{"I will see to it that you learn from one of our guards. You should be ready in time for your journey."

I felt grateful for Lord Elrond's support.

"Diola lle"

{"Thank you"

I quickly strode back to my chambers to dress into more appropriate clothes for training. I was beginning to get used to changing carefully and I was ready in no time. I picked up the few, simple weapons I had left and walked back to the gardens with a bounce in my step.

I arrived at the garden and next to Lord Elrond was stood next to their greatest protector.

"sina naa Maenor" Elrond introduced us "ro nauva istima lle sut dagor- ar' osta lle."

{"This is Maenor, he will be teaching you how to fight and defend yourself."

Maenor met my gaze with kind yet wistful eyes and a warm smile. He had perceptively intelligent blue eyes and long, brown hair which was braided back neatly. He stood quietly but looked like he was perfectly capable of striking out any second. I already held some respect for him and I hoped he was as good at training as he was supposedly at fighting.

Lord Elrond had left us to begin training in a nearby clearing. First, Meanor wanted to observe what I currently knew through sparring. He allowed me to spar with my daggers.

They had been gifted to me by an old friend Esteldor who had briefly showed me how to use them. He had disappeared soon after and I hadn't heard from him since although I had heard a rumor that he had sailed to the undying lands.

I had never had the chance to use them in a fighting situation but the skills taught to me were transferrable enough.

Maenor spoke simply to me, allowing his words to fill the surroundings in a light and gentle voice.

"Take your stance,"

I readied myself, standing slightly side on with one dagger across my body and the other above my head pointed towards Maenor.

He noted my stance with a quick hum and instructed me.

"lle naa n'ataya," he began "nan' tanya naa tereva"

{your stance is different, but that is fine with me"

He pondered for a moment, pulled his sword out of its sheath and then called out a final instruction.

"faarea talkien, lava lye yesta!"

{"Enough talking, let us begin!"

And with that, I began to circle; keeping my distance. My stance was both defensive and offensive so I decided that the best course to take would be to let my opponent attack first.and sure enough, Maenor charged forward with the sharpness of a snake and raised his sword to strike down at me. I lifted my defensive dagger to meet his blade. A sharp twang of metal echoed off of the trees around us. I felt the force of his swing jar through my arm but I managed to hold it off. I quickly noted that my wound had remained closed and I felt confidence wash through me.

Suddenly, in my lapse of concentration, his blade disappeared from in front of my face. I saw a flash of silver from the corner of my eye and whipped my head around to see it swing round to my side. There was no time to maneuver my defensive dagger so I swiftly brought down my second dagger, deflecting Maenor's attack. At the same time my defensive dagger pushed forward towards Maenor's throat but he predicted my move instantly and leaned backwards to dodge my attack.

I was impressed; he was easily holding his own despite the fact that I had two daggers against his one sword. He also seemed to be quite impressed with my skill level and acknowledged it with a small nod of approval. But it was clear that the fight wasn't over. One of us had to win and I didn't fancy my chances.now it was time to attack first.

I lunged forward slashing with one blade. Maenor caught i with his sword but this was my plan; he had left himself open to attack. While his guard was down, I pushed my second dagger forwards toward his stomach. I heard the clash of metal sound once again. In disbelief, Maenor's sword was at my throat and my offensive dagger was out of my hand. I looked up to his face and was met with the smug eyes of my opponent with an equally as smug smile to match. I stepped back stared at him in confusion.

"How?" I let my thoughts leave my mouth.

"Amin lave lle now- tanya lle waane. Lle lave lle tira ndu ar' amin sane tanya openien a' ona i' killien bela" He explained simply.

{"I allowed you to think that you won. You let your guard down and I took that opening to inflict the killing move"

We continued to spar for most of the day until the sun could be seen dipping behind the trees. I had already begun improving. Hopefully, soon I would be able to rejoin the dwarves on their quest even if i only meant shadowing them as Gandalf had instructed.

"Tanya naa faarea ten' a're, auta ar' esta. Lye will kola no' sinome tul're. lle caela deanam a' be y' quel Ohtar." He politely wished me farewell.

{"That is enough for today, go and rest. We will carry on here tomorrow. You have to potential to be a great warrior"

Maenor began to stride back to what I assumed would be his quarters but I called out to him to stop him.

"Maenor, Diola lle."

{"Maenor, Thank you"

He sent me a swift nod and continued. I decide to enjoy the last of the sunshine for the day and then return to my quarters to bathe and then change into more suitable attire for the evening meal.

~*~

So what do you think? I wrote my first fight scene!

So a few updates

I have a tremendous writers block. -_-

I'm still working on a chapter image :|

I'm super busy at the moment to the point where I haven't actually written anything in over a week. Luckily for you, I like to write 1 chapter in advance. However I'm now out of chapters and I don't know if I'll be able to write another for next Sunday so I'll apologize in advance for that.

Sorry for that but still, be sure to vote, comment and share and make sure you have read all of the chapters cos my reader count and completed reads has dramatically dipped.

Bye for now!