7 | Apple Turnovers to Naked Dwarves

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Location: Imladris, Middle Earth

Time: June 2941 T.A

She couldn't sleep.

Meditation was the first thing she was taught in Kamar-Taj ever since she began to even crawl and sit upright as a baby. You would think it would have been the Ancient One who had taught her the simplest forms of the mystic arts – but it was in fact Master Kaecilius.

Who was now trapped in the Dark Dimension, but we don't talk about that nowadays. [1]

Anyways, she had been meditating for about an hour in the astral plane until she was feeling rather irritated. No matter how she tried to lull herself to some calm, all she was remembering was the visions that she saw during the journey here. Seeing that jewel again haunt the back of every view of her cursed her to even look at the sun – just in case it would morph into a Silmaril and would burn her. Burn her so much that sunscreen won't stop it.

So instead, after she was done going through her own plans on what she's going to do during her stay here (which now she thought of it, might be longer than the two days the movies depicted), Illyria decided to wander about the house through her astral plane.

What she wasn't expecting were the two people just behind her door.

It was the blonde hair that caught her off guard, surprised that both he and Elrond were about to see her – presumably, check up on her. She still technically was healing, but she was perfectly fine and replenishing much of her energy thanks to food and drink (Lord Elrond wasn't wrong about that).

The two walked off down the hallway, a conversation forming between the two of them. As for her, she couldn't help but walk behind them and eavesdrop.

What they can't see won't hurt them all. Technically, she was asleep.

Her dad was going to have a go at her. More than Uncle Wong too, and that's not the usual agenda.

"Was she asleep?" Glorfindel asked Lord Elrond, keeping a low voice.

Lord Elrond hummed to confirm. "She was rather exhausted today." He asked the elf next to him, "What were you doing with her during the day?"

"Well, I found her at the stables. She was there to visit her friend when she caught me off guard asking where her horse was." Glorfindel explained, chuckling at the end as if he was reminiscing their first meeting.

Well Lord Elrond wasn't wrong, Glorfindel had tired out with his fast walking and the climb up to the cliffs where the waterfall was. She was hoping to take Bilbo there, but she might need to give the hobbit a warning about the steep incline.

Lord Elrond sharply gave him a look and said, "I do hope you didn't scare her."

The other elf scoffed, answering. "Of course not. I should thank you for telling me what Mithrandir told you." His tone of voice change, slightly croaky as he continued, "Though, I was surprised she didn't see me almost tear up at her sight."

Illyria paused in her tracks and creased her eyebrows. Did Glorfindel cry during the moment they were at the stables? But why?

She raced after them, still not used to their long strides until they made it to the crossroads which connected the other parts of the house. They stayed there for a while, staring out to the balcony that overlooked the entrance of the house. Illyria decided to step further back, placing herself several feet from them. Enough to see their faces under the moonlight.

"I...I am glad to see her face again." Glorfindel's voice was full of emotion, almost trying to control himself quick enough to continue. "You must have been shocked to find her fighting out there."

What came out of Lord Elrond's mouth made her even more confused. "She was alone; left to fend herself," There was anger entwined in his tone, not to mention how his fists clenched at his sides.

Shaking his head, Glorfindel told him: "Do not be blinded by Mithrandir's choice, friend." He suggested, "Perhaps she joined them because she's trying to search for something. Has she mentioned anything about her origins to you?"

A sigh left his lips and he looked out to the front entrance. "I have not been able to speak with her alone since her waking up in the healing halls." Lord Elrond continued, "She...whenever we are together, either someone else is there or I cannot speak of it."

'Speak of what?' Illyria thought, more questions filling her mind. 'What have you not told me, Lord Elrond?'

"You will find the moment, friend." Glorfindel reassured him, "Fate has brought her back here and if this is a sign that the Valar returned her to us, it must be for a reason."

Her eyes peered across to them. What did they mean her returning? She's never even been here since yesterday! And at the mention of the Valar, her confusion morphed into concern. The Valar was always mysterious in the books, always acting like gods in her opinion and only making matters to the rest of the people of this world if Melkor or Sauron was involved.

Did the Valar send her here then? If so, that was too far-fetched. She created the portal herself - nothing else did. She frowned at this, displeased that one: nothing seemed to make sense. And two: they somehow speculated she was meant to be here.

"That is why I do not want to tell her." Lord Elrond's voice rose slightly, worry lingering in his tone. "If she has returned with memories of her past, I would be terrified for her. That would be that the Valar has given her the task to be released from the Halls of Mandos. But she is an entirely different person, not like how you were released from the Halls. She is of man now, with no memory of her."

She raised an eyebrow at this. At this point, she wasn't sure if they were talking about her or someone else. This person from what she heard seemed to be close with both of them, and she's only met the two once. Though with their interactions almost stark and yet so clearly driven by one purpose – it feared her on what truly was going on.

Did she want to know the truth?

"I think you might have to take a step back, Elrond." Glorfindel told him, "When I mentioned about the jewels, she...reacted in some way. That she was remembering something or has already remembered them."

An expression of horror scattered over Lord Elrond, "What in Arda made you mention them?"

Glorfindel answered, "Her phone. It's this small box which glows! It can do many things such as show a mirror which creates paintings of you and then collects them in this small box." He pointed out. "And it can send messages."

She couldn't help but laugh at his change of demeanour. He was almost giddy, intrigued and a little curious. She might have to introduce him to more technology again.

"How is that possible?" Lord Elrond furrowed his eyebrows, also beginning to have some curiosity over the device.

Glorfindel pursed his lips. "Not sure. I'll ask her tomorrow if I see her."

The Lord of Imladris gave Glorfindel a pointed look, "You have training." He said matter of fact. "You are Captain of the Guard."

"And yes, yes I know." The blonde elf waved his friend away and then quickly suggested, "Perhaps I will invite her with the twins tomorrow. Have they met her yet?"

He replied simply, "Not as of yet."

Oh shit, she forgot about the twins. Elladan and Elrohir, who were meant to actually appear similar to what Elrond and Elros would be - who had some features Celebrian had. By the conversation she had with their father, he spoke of them with a mix of pride and exasperation. It would seem the twins were much like Kili and Fili in that subject of controllable children.

"Do not lose hope, Elrond." Glorfindel insisted, "That small hope might be the thing that could bring her back."

Lord Elrond looked over to him and solemnly nodded his head. "Thank you, brother."

"Brother?"

The second she realised she spoke; she clamped her mouth shut with a gasp and floated backwards from where she stood.

Elrond immediately froze from his place, his eyes darting everywhere in the hallway with narrow eyes. "Did you hear that?" He asked, tensing with suspicion.

With shaking arms, she carefully walked over to them until she faced him.

Looking at the Lord of Imladris this close was rather different from the first meeting. There in her room, he had been kind but somehow faltering. It was as if he was dragging himself back before he could say something out of turn. There was also that familiar sense of hope in his eyes, which right now almost dulled into guilt and pain. Had she reminded him of someone he knew?

God, I hope she wasn't giving him some weird trauma after casting her freaky magic right in front of them.

"Hear what?" Glorfindel echoed next to him, placing an assuring hand on Elrond's shoulder.

Illyria then saw his eyes stare at her, and she held her breath suddenly. They were just inches from each other, and the only barrier between them was the thin plan of the Astral plane to the physical one.

Almost instinctively, she wanted to reach out – her fingers wanting to touch the carefully laid locks of hair. But as her fingers got to him; it easily went through.

At the same time, Elrond's body straightened when his hand went to touch the same part where she tried to touch his hair.

"I thought...I felt something." He murmured, letting his hand fall to his side and turned his entire body back to facing the hallway.

When the two left, Illyria stood where she was probably for a while. She wasn't sure what came over her to do that, but somewhere deep in her mind – it felt familiar.

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She got up a little bit later today, hoping to catch Miriel from last evening to tell her where she could get some breakfast.

So after carefully doing her routine (which in turn wasn't really her normal routine back on Earth as this place didn't seem to have anything such as Clinique to get her skin glowing here), Illyria wore her usual attire. She was up to the stage of getting her boots on that there was a knock on the door.

Illyria shouted that she was coming there in a moment, hopping on one leg as she yanked the top bit up and stomped the rest of her foot into the boot. By the time she made it to the door, she was ready to greet the elf servant.

"Morning...oh?"

Illyria then realised she was staring at someone's chest. When she glanced upwards, she found a new face looking down at her. She stated, "You're not Miriel."

A polite smile was on his lips, answering. "Indeed not." He then nodded his head curtly, introducing himself. "Na-My lady, my name is Elladan. My father has invited you to break your fast with us and I offered to escort you."

Her first train of thought brought her what occurred last night, and her heartbeat increased tenfold. She grew tensed slightly, her fingers curling over the ridges of the sling ring on her hand until she controlled her breath once more. Did Lord Elrond know what happened last night? But Illyria was 87% sure that neither Glorfindel nor the Lord of Imladris realised she was following them.

Why did he invite her then?

She did her best to compose herself, her usual character asking out loud, "Oh? Not that I'm complaining but, I wanted to go and have some time with the Company." Illyria gave a small grin and shrugged her shoulders. "But I can't say no to food."

Grabbing her gloves, she gave a glance at the room to make sure she hadn't just left any random modern device out for the elves to curiously have a tester with it and shut the door before her. Bless Elladan for actually taking his time to walk slower for her; kindly taking her own pace as they went down the corridor towards the family quarters.

Yet again, it was a beautiful spring day. She could swear that every day must be like this here in the valley, or else she wondered how everything could be dry and blooming with life and light. Though one thing she did notice the short time they've been here was this magical barrier surrounding the city itself. It was subtle, nothing like the barriers of the New York Sanctum or Kamar-Taj. (Those were probably the strongest magical barriers she saw back on Earth. Though, Illyria had to point out that one of the Avengers did crash land through the attic several years ago.)

Whilst her mind was elsewhere, the elf by her side began to speak.

"So, Lady Illyria. How has your stay been?" Elladan wondered, a genuine curiosity towards her waiting answer.

Illyria didn't hold back, expressing with total glee. "It's only been three days, but it's been like swimming in a dream." She grinned back up to him. "Gandalf was right when they said it's the last homely house."

There was no lie there for her. If Middle Earth had its own version of TripAdvisor, she would rate this place five stars in a heartbeat. [2]

"I am glad you're enjoying your stay." Elladan held an amused expression before he then added, "Also, Glorfindel has asked if you'd like to come and watch our training today. We heard so I thought to mention it now."

Illyria raised an eyebrow at that. She did remember him speaking to Lord Elrond about it last, so she guessed that he already talked to the twins about it beforehand.

Pointing out, she said nonchalantly. "Rather nosy of you." She continued, "But I don't exactly fight like how you guys do."

Or more specifically: she didn't fight at all. Not in the way the elves or the dwarves did, as they waved their swords about and carried bows behind their backs. No way was she going to embarrass herself in front of more people. Illyria could fight when her actual neck was on the line, but fighting for fun?

Even if it were training, she would prefer to train without an audience. The sparring back in Kamar-Taj has always been with consent and with those that she knew around the temples. These elves were hundreds – or even thousands – older than her, with experience in defeating creatures of the dark.

Illyria frowned at this. Gods, in one part she wanted to: but the other spoke otherwise.

"Perhaps it'll be a good challenge." Elladan suggested, trying to clear her troubled look as they then arrived at two double doors.

Glancing back up to him, she gave him a wry smile as an answer. She would confirm later. Now it was food time.

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What seemed to be the dining room was much like the smaller version of the large hall during the first evening. Finding already the two elder elves seated by each other at the table, Illyria quickly shut the panic down and held her chin high.

And then goddamn Lord Elrond had to be the one to look at their direction first.

"My son, Lady Illyria." He polite called out, greeting them as they headed to the table.

Illyria took notice of the elf, feeling the nerves crawl back into the back of her mind as she met his eyes. She then did what she usually did for her own comfort, joking back: "El Lord Elrond."

Lord Elrond's eye's flickered slightly, spotting him tense. Though, after that: he somehow relaxed, almost giving a sense of amusement...and awkwardness.

As she pulled out the chair in front of her, she grinned at them before nodding, "I meant Lord Elrond. Glorfindel."

She sat down at her place, hearing Lord Elrond clear his throat. "Thank you for escorting Lady Illyria, Elladan." He changed the subject and asked his son, "Where are your brothers?"

The table before her could probably match a month's worth of food for her and Darcy. There was about a variety of different fruits and pastries, locally grown around the city when she noticed the types of vineyards and farms they had here. At her spot laid a small plate along with some cutlery.

Illyria eyed the other three who were sat down and noticed that they were already tucking into the food. 'Well, fuck it.' She said to herself and reached forward to grab some grapes and some odd pastry thing that looked similar to an apple turnover.

It took all her sheer will not to groan in pleasure when tasting it.

These were even better than the ones they got back in New York.

So, whilst she busied herself, Illyria heard Elladan answer his father. "Taking out twigs from Estel's hair." He explained further, "Estel tried to climb a tree last night to plant some bags of goose feathers by the pathway where most of the visitors pass through. Sadly, it didn't work."

A small grin was hidden behind the slice of pastry in front of her lips, letting her eyes wander to Elladan – simply eating away without giving any guilty glance back at his father.

Illyria knew that look, and it something Tony liked to point out at both her and Harley whenever they accidentally mucked something up in the garage. They had been tinkering with some new parts of the armour they have designed, finding out that the Stark elder himself left out some blueprints to create his latest suit.

An hour later, Tony came into the garage to find it decorated with streamers and patterned designs that floated across the ceiling: all made from the paper copy version of his ironman suit.

Let us just say he wasn't happy with them using his blueprints, but he didn't comment anything bad about the new decorations. Illyria and Harley just decided that it was a good thing.

But Lord Elrond seemed to portray the same disappointed expression. He grimly spoke, "Yes, I know. Lindir told me."

She creased her eyebrows and asked, "How didn't I see this."

Expecting Elladan to answer her, it had been Lord Elrond who confronted her, "You are lucky, my lady. You were asleep throughout the whole ordeal."

"How would you know?" She muttered and froze.

She really needed to shut up.

Her eyes darted slowly to the dark-haired elf, who was now rather interested at the bowl of cherries down at their end. Right next to him, Glorfindel had the audacity to just be chill – hiding the smug face behind his teacup.

Thank Elladan again for stopping the tension, making Illyria turn her face down to her plate. He spoke, "Well...my brothers will be here soon. Don't worry, father."

Illyria mentally sighed to herself. 'You just have to get through breakfast, and then you can go out and just enjoy the peace.' It wasn't a moment later that the double doors opened behind them. Two figures strolled in, with one mirroring the appearance of the elf in front of her whilst the other tailed along – who was shorter in stature.

The other twin, Elrohir, finally arrived. A small smile and a nod to her as he spoke, "Good morning. Glad that my brother did his job to find your room."

Elladan rolled his eye's nudging his brother's shoulder once the other twin sat down. "It's not difficult. Just find the empty ones which the dwarves neglected who instead destroyed the furniture in the east wing."

Whilst the twins seemed to bicker to themselves Illyria's curiosity was focused on the shorter figure that sat across her. If she wasn't sitting with a bunch of elves, she was perhaps dancing to herself in her mind.

This was Aragorn!

The Aragorn the Second, who practically gave the best of his best for the free peoples of Middle Earth.

The boy in front of her would be the same one that Lord Elrond would reveal his true identity as the heir to Gondor and the Chieftain of the Dunedain. He would then venture out into Middle Earth, exploring the world as Thorongil, get chummy with some Rohan and Gondor royals and then meet the love of life in the very same place as he was revealed of his lineage. They would then pledge their love in Lorien several years later, with Arwen giving her immortality to spend one lifetime with the man she loved. [3]

She mentally sighed at the heart-warming tale. Man, she wished her love life were like that. Unfortunately, it was a little bit non-existing at the moment.

Forgetting about the love arc of Aragorn's life, she knew already by his own mind that this boy would become a great leader someday. All because of the people in this room that gave him the lessons to become one. She had to thank them all at some point for that.

She gave him a dear smile, speaking warmly to the young boy, "You must be Estel. My name's Illyria."

She was met with similar warmth, a small smile gracing Estel's lips. "Well met, Lady Illyria. I hope you're liking your stay here."

"It's been really good." She stated, popping a slice of apple turnover in her mouth. "Your father has been a good host."

The boy's eyes could have popped out of its sockets hadn't he desperately asked her, "How was it like? Travelling with dwarves?"

"Estel." Lord Elrond carefully pulled the young boy's pleading look back.

Estel leaned back, looking down at his plate guiltily. In turn, she hurried to change the boy's mood and waved her hand.

"Nah, it's fine. I can tell you everything that I know about them, which isn't as much as I hoped to have been." Illyria continued, happy to find Estel's cheerfulness to return. "But three of them are my friends; they might like to meet you if we're here to stay a little bit longer. Depends on how long Gandalf wishes Thorin to stay."

The young boy's face turned to his father with a pleading look. From her side of the table, he might as well be at the edge of his seat by how he leaned in. "Can I, Father? Can I meet the dwarves with Lady Illyria?" Estel begged.

"If you complete your work with Erestor." Lord Elrond reminded his youngest son, and Estel nodded his head profusely which earned a small chuckle from Glorfindel.

The next fifteen minutes was rather quiet, allowing Illyria to just savour the food and the serenity to herself. Estel asked her some questions, mostly about the dwarves and Bilbo and she answered as much as she could sometimes going off the track that she had to stop herself (or had Glorfindel be her saviour and give her look).

So it wasn't that bad. Or so Illyria thought.

After she had answered Estel's question: she noticed several murmurs lurking. At first, she thought it had been the twins speaking to each other in front of her. But when she looked over to them, they were just eating fruit.

It was then she realised where those voices were coming from.

'Did you hear that?' One voice spoke through her mind. Was it Elladan or Elrohir? She wasn't sure.

'Indeed. Dwarves bathing in the Fountains of Vana must have scarred father's brain.' Okay, that was definitely Elladan's voice, with the same raising tone that reflected amusement.

Elrohir, in turn, laughed and replied, 'You don't see naked dwarves every day, brother.'

By then, she had squished the grape in her hand.

"They did what?" She questioned in a dead tone.

All eyes were at her, but the ones she was focused on were the two twins that almost stared at her with shock – and slight fear. They now realised what they had done.

"Illyria?" Glorfindel called to her.

She shook her head and said, "I'm sorry for the mind-reading but-" Illyria paused and pointed out, "Wait, you can do it-ugh never mind. Where are they?"

Lord Elrond was the next to speak, a worried tone as he began to connect the dots. A little too slow for her opinion. "Illyria..."

However, she had cleared all external voices around her and stared deadly at the two twins. 'Where are they.' She demanded.

'They're in the east courtyard still.' Elladan said to her through her head.

Whipping his head to him, Elrohir exclaimed. 'Brother, don't tell her!'

The other twin shrugged, continuing to eat his breakfast like it was some typical day in Imladris. 'What? It's not going to harm her or anything.'

She mentally cursed in her head, her ears about to blow off if she hadn't begun slowly counting to ten. But that was not enough for Illyria Strange. No. When she was angry, she meant it.

So, she stood up as gracefully as she could, putting her cutlery down neatly before taking her sling ring and gloves. Illyria began, "Those blasted sons of..." But her eyes moved to Estel and she hurriedly added with a sharp inhale of breath, "Sorry. I am going to throttle them when I find them. They have no right."

She left the dining room swiftly, ignoring the shuffling of seats and the twins' pleads in her mind as she headed to where Thorin and the Company were last found.

So goes her lovely plan to spend the day in peace.

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After confronting the company of dwarves (who were still camping in one of the courtyards and using the nearby gardens as their training grounds), Illyria Strange stomped out of the sight and tried to navigate herself back to her room. But anger and a poor sense of direction weren't a good mix for the sorceress. Instead, she strode briskly to what seemed to be another empty courtyard and paced about.

She was pissed. Who did the dwarves think they were! They were invited freely into the lord of Imladris' home; given food and shelter. And they repaid them by bathing naked in some sacred fountain that now the elves might have to disinfect about ten times. Not only that, Thorin Oakenshield (the smug bastard) didn't think it was wrong and just went with it.

Argh! Why did she even agree to go? At this point in the story, she might just bail out and try portalling back home.

Illyria was so consumed by her own mind that she didn't notice the small figure rush into the courtyard. Bilbo Baggins exclaimed, "You didn't have to do that!" He then questioned in shock, "And how in Yavanna's garden did you know?"

Pausing her pacing, she faced her hobbit friend and took a deep breath. She was not in the mood to tell Bilbo how she even knew about it. That's going to be another conversation at a later time.

Illyria revealed, "The twins were chatting about it during breakfast." She exhaled, folding her arms over her chest. "Heard it from their father, which I still do not understand how. The only person that can connect through my mind is Gandalf here."

Bilbo inhaled sharply, fidgeting the buttons on his jacket as he spoke, "Goodness, I should really speak of it to them." He turned to look at her. "And perhaps mediate for you to Thorin."

The offer was too tempting for her but being her goody self: Illyria waved her hand and said, "Don't worry, I'll go to Balin at some point and apologise." She huffed, "I could do it now but Glorfindel and the twins invited me to their training. I'm a little bit scared."

Bilbo's jaw dropped. "Why? You fought a bunch of orcs and wargs!" He cried out.

She gaped at him in disbelief, "Have you seen me with a sword? Fili almost chopped my hand off let alone almost my head! I can become Captain Hook, but I don't really want to rein act the French Revolution." Illyria argued, "Also, I've only fought in one big battle, and half of the time I was staring up at Captain Marvel." [4] [5]

That might have been an overstatement.

But why think of a time when a flying woman punches an alien spaceship with her fist? Not gonna lie, it was a very reasonable girl crush.

"Your world has very odd titles." Bilbo shook his head, though his grin never left his lips.

Illyria defended, "I think they're cute."

He gave her a blank look and asked, "You think the name Ant-Man is cute?"

Okay, maybe the hobbit had a point.

She rolled her eyes and replied, "Okay, not all of them."

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Soon after Bilbo went off to perhaps search for one of the members of the company, Illyria sneaked back into the house and tried to search for the particular blonde elf. After what happened this morning, the best she could reciprocate her own emotions was probably to go and hit something with her staff.

Therapy could work, perhaps. But Illyria didn't think Middle Earth had the medical knowledge yet to distinguish mental illnesses. From her own inspection, many of the people she encountered had some sort of PTSD from fighting wars or dark creatures. Evil in this world seemed to be in the physical form, amongst the underlining of racism and misogyny that varied between races and cultures as well. If someone did establish a clinic here that focused on psychological therapy, they would have a cut at their job.

Thankfully, the one way Illyria could let out some steam was accepting the Balrog Slayer's invitation to his training.

That was why she was standing at the edge of what seemed to be training grounds. With Elladan and Elrond standing by her right, with one sharpening their sword with a whetstone whilst the other was testing various daggers.

In front of her was (what she assumed to be her partner) Glorfindel, who held his own elven-made sword in his right hand before passing a similar one to her. She held it within her right hand and felt its grip. The sword did not feel right within her hand, sensing no connection with the weapon, unlike her own staff that was still hidden.

She turned to him and admitted, "Glorfindel, you know I can't fight. Especially with a sword."

As she approached him, she held the sword with both her hands. Everything was wrong. The weight, the texture of the handle, the physical metal blade. How was she supposed to fight this ancient elf with this?

"Better to start from somewhere." Glorfindel pointed out, explaining the details of the weapon. "Elven weapons are much lighter, better for you in comparison to the height weight of dwarven swords."

From the corner of her mind, Illyria could hear the twins tell each other disadvantages of dwarven weaponry. How short they were to even their designs. Illyria wanted to facepalm.

"Can we not compare men's swords please and stick to this." She flicked her head around to them, and they quickly shut up.

Well, after her outburst at them this morning: Illyria could understand why they easily followed her demand.

Glorfindel twirled his sword in his hand, his feet already in a stance. He assured her with a small smile, "Don't worry, Illyria. I'll start off lightly."

Illyria gave a deadpanned look. "Right." She called out, "Boys. If he kills me, you better go tell your father than I'm coming back to his house and bleeding all over the floor."

"Oh, he'll know quick enough," Elrohir said, and her eyes peered at the two.

Again, twins. Why does she seem like she's seen this before?

Returning her eyes at her male doppelganger, she shifted her position to her usual position and muttered. "Okay, Golden Flower."

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Illyria didn't think the human body was supposed to feel this much pain in places that shouldn't be in pain.

It was only three minutes in which Glorfindel had her disarmed, afterwards taking another go. And another...and another. By the sixth time, Illyria was more than pleased that she could last six minutes before hearing her sword clatter onto the dirt ground and his sword right next to her neck.

Fighting the famous Balrog Slayer was suicide. She was drenched through her clothes, her hands clammy because of the grip of the swords. Loose strands of her hair fell out of her braid whilst she might as well be a tomato in comparison to him.

"Well, you need some improvement." He told her.

She panted, "You think?" Illyria waved her noodle arms up and exasperated, "I was practically just hitting air!"

Glorfindel pointed out as he walked closer to her. "That is because you are used to your staff." He added, "Which you can now use, as I'd like to see how you fair against me."

Illyria sighed in relief after hearing that. At least now she had some chance of hitting the blonde elf now. With that, she took a moment to catch her breath and straightened her posture. As she held her hand out, Illyria decided to do something cheeky.

When her staff materialised in her hand from thin air – she watched Glorfindel's eyes flash in surprise before a small smirk rested on his face.

She gripped the staff with both her hands and twisted its handle – the two golden blades forming at each end. "Well, it's better than the sword so thanks," Illyria spoke.

Glorfindel chuckled, "I won't go easy now."

This time, Illyria felt much more attune – using her own fighting techniques she learnt as she dodged and parried Glorfindel's calculated swings. This gave her some chance to plan at least a second before how to strike, ducking at a swing before blocking another swing.

He didn't lie to her that he wouldn't go easy. This time, he was quick and ferocious – bring more power to his strikes whilst she parried and defended herself. When she had landed her first strike, Illyria hoped it was enough to catch him off-guard. That was not the case as he took this chance and lunged back at her.

Ten minutes in, she was gasping every breath before her staff flew away and the tip of his blade returned to her neck.

"I yield." Illyria breathed, looking at him with confidence.

Glorfindel lowered his sword and smiled at her with pride. He spoke to her, "You were hindering your left; someone should be there."

When Illyria looked back at him, he was already holding her staff back her, the blades now retracted back as he passed it to her. "Maybe you'll be my left wing-elf then," She said wryly, and the blonde elf simply raised an eyebrow.

However, his attention seemed to flicker behind her which made her turn around curiously who had come to watch.

To her shock: it was him.

Whilst she and Glorfindel walked over to the twins, who were now joined not only Estel but Lord Elrond himself. Much like his older sons, he appeared to have worn something less regal to what he dressed in, removing the velvet robes and circlet for once since her stay here.

To her surprised, she kind of liked him in this attire.

Wait, what was she saying?

Illyria's voice tightened, "Lord Elrond, I didn't know you would come and watch."

The elf in question took a second to answer and gestured over to the human child that sat with his brothers. "Estel insisted."

"Father says he would like to spar with you," Estel said loudly.

Lord Elrond gave a pointed look at the boy, but to her amusement: Estel didn't seem ashamed for saying that. Well, as much as she a little intimidated by the elf lord in front of her: Illyria felt her chest tighten. Whilst feeling honoured, she felt conflicted and confused as to why he was here in the first place. Had he been watching her spar Glorfindel this whole time?

God, she must have looked like a dying seagull by the end of it.

"Did he now?" She gave the Lord of Imladris a careful gesture to the empty space in front of them. "Well, care to join me to dance?" Not waiting for his answer, she strode over to the centre of the sparring ground, noticing that several soldiers were stopping from their own training to watch their lord spar.

She raised an eyebrow at that. It would seem that Lord Elrond didn't usually come out here often. Well, who would when you can easily just train in privacy?

As she pulled back a strand of her hair and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand, she eyed the dark-haired elf unsheathed his own weapon. A long silver blade that perhaps was about half his height.

His eyes caught her own as he called out, "Is this what you call dancing where you are from?"

Illyria was thrown back in surprise. Did he just openly joke back at her?

With a bigger grin, she answered – staff now ready. "In a way. I like to call it dancing."

And so, they danced.

They didn't pull back, constantly assessing each of their moves and strikes as they covered the entire training area with their fight. Lord Elrond was a different fighter to Glorfindel, that what Illyria immediately caught on to. He didn't possess the strength or power the taller blonde elf had, so it resulted in quicker and sharp strikes that almost drew her to almost getting caught.

When he clashed his sword with one of her blade's she heard the silvery clang as the sparks of light flew across them and she quickly retracted back the blade. The disappearing weight caught him off guard, stumbling to the side. However, he rushed back to his own stance and lunged towards her.

They spun and they twirled, never staying in the same position. At the moment she could have taken a blow had taken her to her worst mistake. The elf removed her staff from her hand, letting it fly out of her reach as she stumbled back. Illyria thought she was done for, but in the back of her mind - a wilful push urged her to continue.

Illyria summoned two Eldritch mandala shields in her hands, spotting the elf pause whilst she heard several surprised breaths. She allowed her feet to position back to her defensive stance and inhaled sharply. They stared at each other for a second, before the elf took the next blow. She blocked it easily with both, leaning back to duck before aiming to kick him at the side.

She mentally cringed when she heard him grunt. Illyria hoped she didn't get kicked out of Imladris because of this.

The next seconds was her closing in towards her staff, allowing her shields to block every tackle he tried on her. They were both exhausted, her muscles aching and crying at her to stop as she jabbed another punch at his sword arm. When she saw the opening, Illyria immediately took it and swiped her staff up with the tip of her shoes.

At that moment she forgot to keep her eyes on him - she saw the thin metal blade aimed at her. Her free drew upwards, blocking it with her shield and held the sword in place. She then spotted the opening, a clear side she didn't favour and jabbed the un-bladed end of her staff at his stomach.

Lord Elrond staggered back, pulling his sword back into his body. Despite regaining his defence in his upper body, Illyria managed to swipe his legs with the end of her staff.

With a thud and the ring of metal onto the floor, Illyria's bladed staff met Elrond Peredhel face.

"I yield." He called out with gasps.

Suddenly, she could feel her head throb with pain. Her hand faltered, the grip of her staff loosened as she heard a laugh ring in her ears. She could have sworn she was having a sense of deja-vu. Seeing those grey eyes look up to her as swirls of muffled voices clouded her mind. They were getting louder and louder, and yet so untangible that it eventually moulded into a white scratching noise.

"Illyria?"

She blinked herself out of her thoughts, and just as she looked down to the floor – she had forgotten who had just met the end of her staff. "Sorry, just blanked out." Illyria cursed to herself and pulled back her staff. "Oh god, I'm sorry. Where are my manners."

When she held her hand up to him, Lord Elrond hesitated but quickly regained a moment of realisation and took it. At that point, Illyria wasn't sure if she was already hot or sensing someone else's body heat through their hand was a thing.

Also, she hadn't noticed she had been staring at him for about thirty seconds until he snapped her back again to reality.

Boy, she hoped this wasn't going to be a recurring thing for her.

"I am not familiar with the fighting style you use." Lord Elrond admitted with a tone of humbleness in his voice.

Illyria let go of his hand, bringing her hand to her staff as she answered, "I've been taught various fighting styles since I was a child." She paused before taking one breath. "But your swordsmanship is incredible, especially Glorfindel's."

The dark-haired elf stared down at her, and softly spoke, "I have to admit, seeing your magic...it is wondrous."

Hearing those words from his mouth caught Illyria by surprise. She wasn't going deaf, was she?

He was still looking at her, waiting for her own answer.

With a prepared answer, she leaned against her staff and gave the elf a wide smile, "You're not too bad yourself, Lord Elrond."

"Elrond." He corrected.

She paused where she had stood next to him and raised an eyebrow.

Lord Elrond – well now Elrond – explained, "I think after that we have come to know each other, and almost having my head off my shoulders, we do not need to address such formal titles."

"Alright then." She said, before clarifying one thing. "If you call me Illyria."

She was met by Lord El- Elrond's nod before a smile rested on his lips that deep down: Illyria's heart fluttered at the sight.

Oh fuc-

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[1] - The Dark Dimension: A dimension in the multiverse ruled by Dormammu.
[2] - TripAdvisor: An American online travel company.
[3] - The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen: a story within the Appendices of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings narrating the love of a mortal Aragorn and an immortal Arwen.
[4] - Captain Hook: A fictional character and the main antagonist in JM Barrie's play Peter Pan.
[5] - French Revolution: Began in 1789 when the Ancien Regime was abolished in favour of a constitutional monarchy. Leading to the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. A lot of heads chopped off and a lot of starving people wanting bread and not cake.

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A/N: Writing action scenes are always so difficult. I want to do a lot but I know that I tend to brush through the scenes. Hopefully, that was exciting enough. :)

Thank you for reading. <3

Edited: 24/06/2021