Forest Sister

Friend? No, Friend 's'

 *3rd person POV*

 Duelling helped each of them in a different way. It helped Eowyn to stop thinking about Aragorn. It had similar effects for Taurieth as well, as it let her mind off of things that happened on the past couple days. How Legolas had saved her life, how Aragorn was gone. She refused to believe that he was dead, but now, she wasn't so sure. 2 days after the small battle with the Wargs, and still, there was no sign of him.

They had found a nice little place for duelling. A quiet, isolated place Hama the guard showed them. Eowyn was very good with her sword, better than most men and elf Taurieth had seen in her lifetime. Which was not much, but still a considerable number. On the contrary, Taurieth herself didn't pride herself on her sword-fighting skills. Her forte was with bow and arrows, as many elves were. When she used swords or any kinds of blades for that matter, was only when she had run out of arrows. Still, she prefered daggers even then.

They made a deal. Taurieth would teach Eowyn some bow techniques if Eowyn would teach her some sword-fighting techniques. None of them had a problem with that, and the deal was made that easily.

"So, Eowyn, when did you first learn how to use a sword?" Taurieth asked. They were both sitting on the ground, their weapons beside them, in their little duelling place.

"Ever since my hands could hold them, I think. How about you? When did you first learn how to wield a bow?" Eowyn said.

"Ever since my hands could hold them, I suppose," Taurieth answered, mocking Eowyn's answer. They looked at each other shortly before bursting out into laughter. It has been over 500 years since Taurieth had laughed this hard with a friend. A friend.

"Well, we're not going to spend the rest of the day laughing. Let's go a few rounds," Taurieth said as she stood up.

They both took out their swords and started to circle around each other. It was Taurieth that made the first move. She attacked from the left, which Eowyn blocked with a flip of her wrist. Then Eowyn attacked Taurieth. It was a sudden move, so she was surprised. In fact, any men would have dropped their sword in surprise. Taurieth didn't attack back but just kept blocking Eowyn's, going backwards. When Eowyn gave her a powerful blast, she dodged to the right and with a strong hit, made Eowyn's sword fly into the air. Eowyn turned around, but she stumbled in her own foot and fell down to the ground. Taurieth laughed. The scene was quite hilarious, the fearless Shieldmaiden of Rohan, tripping over her own foot.

"Ha ha ha, very funny, Taurieth. Now help me get up," Eowyn demanded.

"After I finish laughing, Eowyn," Taurieth answered and laughed a bit more, making Eowyn roll her eyes. Taurieth reached her hands out to her friend on the ground, who took it gladly. Just then, Taurieth's elven years caught a sound of horse hooves and people murmuring 'he's alive!' Taurieth's face became pale, and Eowyn noticed this.

"What is it? What do you hear?" Eowyn asked, but her friend was already gone, running towards the voices. It couldn't be- but it could, couldn't it? as she made her way through the thick crowd of people, she heard the dwarf.

"You are the luckiest, the canniest, and the most reckless man I ever knew!" Gimli came into her view. But not just Gimli. "Bless ya, laddie!"

"Gimli, where is the King?" She heard the man say. A voice she heard for a short time but she would still recognize after a hundred years. The voice of the Dunedain, heir to the throne of Gondor, a man who thought of her as his friend.

"You will meet the King after you get through me, Dunedain." She stood in front of him, her arms crossed. Aragorn looked at her. Millions of emotions ran through her mind, but her face was blank. Aragorn came near her. Taurieth held out her finger as a sign for him to stop.

"You're lucky I don't have my bow with me. I would kill you if I could, and I can, but there are far too many people for that, aren't there?" Taurieth said in a low voice, almost threatening. "And I want you to apologize to Eowyn. She may not have said it, but she missed you these past two days, probably more than anyone."

The emotions she was feeling was nothing like she had ever felt before. It was complicated. She didn't know whether she should strangle Aragorn to death, or give her a hug. She couldn't choose between shouting furiously at him or breaking down to tears, be relieved that he was alive or smack him across the face for what he did.

"Of course," Aragorn replied, then attempted to walk past her. Attempted.

"I'm not done yet, Dunedain," Taurieth's voice stopped him. It was a small, quivering voice, like a thin thread on the brink of breaking. Aragorn was surprised to sense so much emtion coming from her. Sure, he had known her for a short time, but he had got the feeling that she wasn't the type to open up about her emotions.

"I-" she stopped. She couldn't continue. She was afraid of what would happen once she started talking. She took a deep breath.

"Am I your friend?" she asked quietly. Aragorn found himself feeling pity towards the girl.

"Of course we are," he answered.

"Then how could you do that to me?" she whispered, her voice breaking. Taurieth realized that she thought of Aragorn as her friend. She didn't know when or how that had happened, but she was sure of it. There was no possible explanation of what she was feeling aside from that.

Aragorn opened his arms and pulled her into a bone-crashing hug. Taurieth froze. It had been such a long time since she had been held like this by someone close to her. By anyone. She slowly hugged him back, not sure if she was doing it right, not sure if this was real and not just a dream.

She was doing it exactly right, and it was not a dream.

"I promise I'll never do that again, mellon nin," Aragorn whispered. Taurieth hugged him a bit more tight and let go. Aragorn saw the small smile on her face and gave her a wide one himself.

"You'd better keep that promise," she said. Aragorn smiled and gave her one last squeeze before going to the King and running into his long time friend elf friend. Taurieth watched them from afar. Gimli walked and stood beside her.

"A friend, huh? So that's when you start calling people by their name? When you're friends with them, lass?" he asked. Taurieth looked at the dwarf, surprised.

"That long-haired elf lad over there kept asking me why you called Aragorn 'son of Arathorn' back at the stables at Edoras. We had a bet on who's going to find the answer first. Ha! I win. He owes me a drink!" Gimli continued joyfully.

"I call people by their names when I trust them. Not when I'm friends with them, master dwarf," said Taurieth.

"Well, that's same as that! What's the difference, eh?" Gimli snorted. Taurieth thought for a moment. No, it wasn't different at all. The dwarf was more clever than she gave him credit for.

"Hey, do you think you can make that elf prince get me a drink as well?" She asked. It was Gimli's turn to be surprised.

"You drink?" he asked. Taurieth shrugged.

"I might as well give it a chance. I've earned one and a half mortal friends today," she said. Gimli laughed a low laugh and hugged her tight, even though he only reached her waist. Taurieth was surprised by the gesture but didn't pull back. It was nice, getting hugged.

Who would've thought she'd be friends with a dwarf? Well, only half-friends, but it was a start. It seemed queer, but she liked it nonetheless. She saw Legolas, who had been looking and listening to the whole scene. They locked eyes for a moment, and both smiled faintly. Perhaps he deserved another chance. Time would tell.