|| Frost bite ||

❄️Shadows❄️

A/n : I know literally nothing about swordplay, and I don't even pretend to. So, if you spot mistakes or highly impossible moves, please correct me.

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“Darkness is but the absence of light.”

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The morning dawned warmer, but pale, with an occasional breeze that stirred the leaves. Spring was a little way off.

The first thing Elanor noticed upon waking up, was that she had a very, very sore throat. The next thing was that the sun was higher up in the sky than she had ever seen it upon waking up. And lastly, she acknowledged the hand laying upon hers, followed by the deep breathing of her brother.

The events of the last night came rushing back, and instinctively she moved closer to the only other source of warmth. She almost didn't want to leave her place, but the sun told that she'd better do.

She nudged him in the ribs. He muttered something and turned over. She poked him harder.

"Stop poking," he muttered, cracking open one eye briefly.

"It's late, idiot," she hissed, straightaway shoving him to the side.

That jolted him awake, and he looked with bleary eyes towards her. "What late?" he grumbled.

She heaved an exasperated sigh. "We're gonna be late for Eglan's, dummy."

He bolted up so quickly that she inched backwards. "Holy-"

"Curse later," she interrupted, sitting up just as quickly and nearly leapt down from the bed. She was surprised that no one had knocked.

Suddenly, Eäron seemed to realise something, and turned towards her. "Why didn't you get going after waking up?" he asked suspiciously.

"I don't want to be the only one to get the burn of his anger," she said, pulling a tunic over her head and rushing out.

Breakfast was already over, but someone seemed to have left just enough for the two of them. Swallowing it down as fast as possible, they bolted out of the door and ran down to their training fields.

Their trouble, however, did not decrease, and within minutes they found themselves under the stern, piercing gaze of Eglan.

He did not speak for a long time, simply regarding them with an unmoved expression. They tried not to squirm under his gaze, which was quite a fit.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked away. "Underwater diving, both of you," he said, before addressing Elanor in particular, "and you will duel with me, until you win." Not giving them a chance to answer, he walked away.

Eäron sighed in relief. "That's rather well," he said. A cuff upside the head answered him.

"You don't have to duel with him," Elanor grumbled, "of course it's so good."

"That's not such a hard feat-"

"You have any idea how hard that is?"

Eäron shut up. "Fine," he mumbled.

"Do you want anything more on your list?" Eglan's voice called over, and they hurried forward.

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Half an hour later, two sodden, cold and tired Niendúin heaved themselves up from the stream, panting. The other trainees wisely held their laughter, with the exception of Naim. He laughed out aloud.