Dance Of Darkness And Light

Chapter 4: Trixy Business

A/N: Same as always - disclaimer in Chap 1, muchas gracias to NixNox for beta-ing :)

Chapter 4: Trixy Business

They had been on the road a few days now. The dwarves trudged on, Bilbo hated a lot of it despite not really showing it. Gandalf seemed perpetually amused. Linshara on the other hand enjoyed the trip so far. The Lonelands moreso than Breeland were brimming with history and the sage, knowledge oriented part of her was always interested in it. Often when she would ride up front with Gandalf he would relate a story or two.

Other times she would chat with Ori and Balin who were both extremely nice and kind to her. Ori being the Company scribe related to her a lot about dwarven history while Balin told her of dwarf customs. Kili and Fili would entertain her other times when they weren't busy executing Thorin's instructions. She'd come to find Kili endearing while Fili remained somewhat of a mystery in his reserved yet mischievous manner, especially when Kili was around.

One night after they had dinner and made camp at the edge of the Lonelands near Trollshaws, it came to pass what Fili had predicted.

"I believe we should test your skill with a blade finally, lass." Dwalin announced at one point and stood up some of the older dwarves grunting in agreement.

Linshara looked up from where she sat with Ori who had asked her thoughts on some of his texts. Dwalin was more interested in proving to her, Gandalf and Thorin that she had no business being in the Company, she could feel it.

The problem was she hadn't practiced much of late with a real blade, for one. The other problem was that she was rather restricted in her options, not being able to rely on her primary form, Niman and force based attacks too much, if at all. She would have to mostly rely on Soresu for the time being.

"Alright. It is only fair I suppose." She stood up as well and retrieved the sword that Fili had lent her, he had more than enough left.

There was keen interest from all of them for this display. Some wanted her to prove herself, some to fail, the others merely curious.

Linshara stepped after Dwalin over to a nearby clearing, spinning the blade in her right hand to warm her wrist up. It felt distinctly heavier than her lightsaber, which she'd need to compensate for.

He bowed to her and set his blade at the ready and she followed suit. Dwalin lunged at her without much preamble. Were she anyone else she would be distinctly afraid of the large intimidating dwarf. She blocked his opening attack with difficulty and stepped out of his reach. He was a strength based swordsman and while disciplined he seemed to be fuelled largely by rage. For each of his rather brutal attacks she found herself blocking, parrying and dodging at least four or five before finding an opening for an attack of her own which he usually deftly did away with.

She shed her coat at some point as she became overheated. The spectators seemed surprised that she lasted well twenty minutes into the spar session. It lasted long because she spent nearly all of that time on defense.

Gandalf could feel the immense self control and effort she exerted not to unleash the full arsenal of her abilities on the unsuspecting dwarf, which she feared would kill him. Indeed Dwalin seemed to believe he was winning the exercise despite her leading him around the small clearing. However he was tiring slowly and exposing his left calf.

Rolling to the side and spinning quickly she tripped Dwalin up. Even falling the tall dwarf swung at her and growled. She quickly clambered onto her feet and made to disarm him. He took the opportunity however to do the same only he used his momentum and superior mass to roll on top of her as she fell and twisted the blade out of her hand.