((This is some makeshift RP between two characters of mine ^^ However, it's only happened once, and I don't think it will happen ever again. Also, I didn't get the chance to actually tell about that woman in chapter 18, so here she is! xD))
I sighed as I followed the course of the Bruinen, seeing Minyelaírë head off into the distance, when I heard a rustle of leaves and saw a measure of movement beneath the bushes; I was not alone, and something else was here.
Alertedly peering around, I focused myself on hearing for any signs of movement; And there it was, footsteps behind me. Quickly, I drew my sword and it brought it over my head and to my back, and satisfied, I heard the clang of one (two?) dagger striking against my blade. With some measure of effort I brought it over my head and smiled once I saw the hilt of a dagger fly up and drop to the ground before me, but I groaned at the elbow-contact to my spine, and fell to the floor with my blade underneath me. Forming a sort of push-up manouvre I brought the blade out of it's inconvenient position, twisted myself so that I was lying face up, and, as with Minyelaírë, drove it into the ground before me, hoisting myself up by the hilt, and jump-kicked the mysterious person before me in the abdomen. The figure yelled as my boots made contact with her stomach, and she fell on her back. I stood over her, curious.
"Who are you?" I asked. A snarl I got as a response, before I realized that she had crossed her legs and entwined them into mine, before straightening them, to make me trip. However, I simply grinned as she stood up, and swept my legs through hers, causing her to fall over again. At the sides this time, I looked at her once more.
"Who are you?!" I repeated. I took a handful of her hauberk and dragged her close to me.
"A woman." The mysterious figure said, laughing. She shook her head in such a way that the hood came off, and I gasped.
Was she really just a woman? An Elf who was plainer than all others? Or a woman who was more beautiful in comparison? Two icy, crystalline-green eyes peered at me with curiosity, fierceness, and reluctancy. She had a pale complexion, rosy cheeks, and her lips were full and healthy. She had wafts of chocolate brown hair that came down to her shoulders, shining in the moonlight. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.
"What is your name?" I said ferociously. Something in my face seemed to drive fear in this woman's heart, as she recoiled and attempted to loosen my grip on her clothes.
"W-what are you? " She snapped back at me. Bewildered, I looked at her in disbelief, before I realized something.
"My eyes..." I trailed off, "They are black, are they not?"
The woman nodded. I loosened my grip on the Mortal's hands, and relaxed, letting this odd woman see how my eyes softened from black to sea-blue, and back again, once she jumped up with a dagger in her hands. I scoffed.
"I mean you no harm." I said, calmly watching her as she took a careful, precise aim at my chest. Chuckling, I simply unstrapped my shield and threw it at the flying dagger, and with a dull clang the dagger and shield rebounded upon their sources. I caught my shield with one hand, while the other woman snarled as her dagger limply fell short of her feet.
"Who are you, and what is your purpose here?" I asked again, absent-mindedly scratching the spot where I had been poisoned a few days ago. The woman pointed at me with her dagger.
"Practice." She grinned. I narrowed my eyes, "I saw you battling those men a few days ago. I was impressed."
I snorted. Of course she would be impressed, I was an Elf, after all. "Could you do any better?"
"Well.... no..." She admitted, "I thought I could strike you with my dagger, but when you brought that blade over your head and disarmed me... I knew that your skills were beyond me."
Good. I thought to myself seethingly. Or I could have slain you if you did not stop.
"You are very beautiful." She said to me, after a moment of silence, and I almost stopped my ears; I had only been complimented by people who did not interest me.
"Thank you." I said akwardly.
The Woman smiled, "I am Kelly, but my real name is Baranes."
"Daerundros." I nodded curtly.
"How long did you wield a blade?" She asked me curiously, I waved my hands almost dismissively.
"Some five-thousand years." I said. She did not look particularly surprised, but nonetheless, she was impressed.
"I am also proficient in wielding knives and daggers." I smirked, drawing two daggers from beneath my hauberk. Baranes... Kelly... whatever... narrowed her eyes.
"Show me." She said in a commanding tone. Grinning, I briefly clashed with her own daggers before I dived underneath her, a trick I learned from Minyelaírë, and grabbed her by the ankle. I was satisfied, because I knew that a dagger was too short to be used as a balance regainer. I let go of her ankle and attempted to stab her, falling to the ground and grabbing a bit of loose soil. She rolled over and attempted to stab me, but I was quicker, and a flash of brown saw her yelling in pain as the dirt made contact with her face.
"Argh!" She yelled. I steered her towards the water, and she gratefully thanked me as I let her wash her face.
"Your loss..." I trailed off, giggling as she indignantly and blindly drew her dagger again. I quickly knocked it out of her grip with a simple slap.
"No ambushes." I growled, before I threw her a piece of cloth to dry herself with. I sat by the cliff and she approached me warily.
"Here." She caught the piece of Lembas that I threw at her, and she took a slow bite, watching me suspiciously.
"You're... to rough to be one of the Noldor." She said slowly. I burst out laughing.
"Yet strangely, I am!" I laughed. Baranes' eyes widened, and she sat next to me with admiration in her face. I found her an odd persona, as she talked and talked, without me listening, for one so fierce... She was easy to manipulate if you gained her trust, I could tell that. And she was similar to Vardarianna... except that she was more war-hardened and serious than Vardarianna.
Growing bored, I played with a bit of my hair, before I stood up, and abruptly left her at the campsite. I saw her face look at me with disbelief, yet still impressed, and I ran off into the night, to shake her off - for she became more irritating as the time went by . I could hear shouting in the wilds, but I ignored it as I moved back to Delossad light of step, content that I had finally lost the annoying mortal.
((OOC: This is a small quirk in Baranes; She becomes something short of a fan-girl if she's really impressed by something. And she's impressed by Daer's skills in sword and dagger combat. So yeah... she's probably trying to follow Daer now ^_^))
