Hope ↠ LOTR

IV. Moon

The next few days were difficult for the members of the Fellowship that had stayed in Rohan, but more than anybody else the absence of Pippin took a toll on Merry. Though Athena was heavily saddened at his departure she had not spent most of her life glued to his side, but Merry had and it was hard for him to come to terms with not having Pippin by his side constantly. But it was times like these that the worries would leave him and joy would fill his heart and leave him through laughter. Times where he and Éowyn were tackling Athena to the floor.

"That is not fair!" Athena cried out from underneath them, her laughter matching theirs.

"You said that we should take advantage of our numbers!" Merry retaliated through his own chuckles.

"Well, yes but you can't tackle an Orc to the ground and hope for the best!"

The two of them got off her and Éowyn extended a hand which she took and used to pull herself back onto her feet. In secret she had been teaching the both of them how to fight effectively, refining the skills that they already knew. Their training sessions happened every night since Pippin had left and it was always when the moon was high in the sky and everybody else was asleep so to keep them away from prying eyes. Oftentimes it was serious but there were always moments where they'd need a break from the fighting and usually those times would consist of Merry and Éowyn banding together to take down Athena before they'd sit together and unwind before retreating to their rooms.

"Where did you learn how to fight?" Éowyn asked her when she was handed a mug of water by Athena after she had filled it up by using the pitcher that lay on a table, now almost empty.

"My father first taught me. I've mentioned that with the Dúnedain it isn't unheard of for women to fight and when I was younger he saw me waving around a wooden sword, he found it rather amusing and decided that he'd show me how to properly use it, then when I got older who showed me with a real sword. My bowmanship was taught to me by Elladan and Elrohir, Lord Elrond's sons. They've always been good friends with the Dúnedain and with my family in particular. But, when I was staying in Rivendell it was Glorfindel who refined my skills. Of course, I'll never be as good as the Elves seeing as they have centuries to practice their crafts but I think I did pretty well," she explained as she took a seat on the wooden floor beneath her, crossing her legs under her.

They didn't use the actual training grounds for the Rohirrim due to the guards that would be watching over them so they had opted for finding a spare room in the Golden Hall and moving the furniture out of the way, Athena making makeshift targets for them to use and then hiding them underneath Éowyn's bed so they wouldn't be found.

"Lord Elrond has sons?" Merry asked her, acting as if the biggest secret in the history of Middle-earth had just been revealed to him.

"Yes. It's a shame they weren't at Rivendell when you visited—I'm sure you would have liked them."

"Athena?" Éowyn asked after a moment, looking down at the swirls of water in her mug. "Do you think you could convince my uncle to let me fight?"

Merry and Athena both looked over at her at her question, unreadable expressions on their faces but both of them understood her want to fight, to want to defend everything that she held dear.

"He would not listen to me. We have not agreed on a lot of things, and I fear in asking him to allow you to fight it will only drive a further wedge between us."

"I'm sorry. It was foolish of me to ask," Éowyn hurried to apologise to her.

"It was not foolish," Athena quickly said, looking at her with an empathetic smile, "I'm sorry that I cannot be of assistance in that regard."