Paths That Lead Home (LotR F.F.)

Chapter 8: I Have an Affair with the Ground

Abby's POV:

The next morning, Legolas came knocking on my door.

"I'm going to be one of your teachers," he explained with a smile. "Along with Aragorn and Boromir."

"Great," I muttered. I threw on a pair of brown pants and my grey shirt and boots. I contemplate on taking my gun, but decided against it. I need to save the bullets for emergencies and I don't want to raise questions about it.

Legolas took me to an open courtyard where Aragorn, Boromir, and Cathy waited. Cathy looked to be having a decent conversation with Aragorn. Hopefully, she'll find out more about Aragorn being the 'heir' of Gondor. Like what in the actual hell did that come from? If Aragorn is the heir to Gondor, then why isn't he there? Cathy is right about him, the man is full of mysteries.

Legolas each gave Cathy and I a bow and a quiver of arrows, as Aragorn and Boromir set out targets on the other side of the courtyard. Looking down at the bow, I regret not taking that archery gym class that my high school provided. Beside me, Cathy threw the quiver over her back and tested the string. She struggled a little bit, but then was able to pull it fully back.

"You know how to use one?" I asked.

She shrugged, "kind of. I took an archery gym class in high school and Lauren hunts with a bow. She showed me a few times and let me actually use it whenever she practiced."

Lucky. Legolas spent a minute with her, just to help notch the arrow. Cathy pulled back the string and sent the arrow flying. It landed with a thud in the edge of the circular target. Legolas looked impressed.

"Not bad," he commented.

"But not good," Cathy muttered. Then she entered the zone. She fixed her gaze on the targets and began shooting arrow after arrow. She won't stop until she's satisfied with her newly attained skill.

Legolas began helping me, and I knew I was a lost cause when I couldn't pull the string all the way back. The string was so tight that if felt like I was pulling a car. It took many minutes, but I finally got the string to pull back, but Legolas didn't give me an arrow.

"You should practice drawing the bow," he explained. "Once you are good with that, then you can practice with an arrow."

I groaned, but did as he said. Cathy sent arrow after arrow into the target. She missed a few times, but whenever she did hit the target, it edged closer and closer to the center.

After what felt like hours, Legolas took the bows. I was beginning to sweat, but Cathy was almost covered in sweat. I wanted to protest that I had the pulling the string down, and wanted to practice with an arrow, but saw that it was useless. Aragorn stepped forward.

"Cathy, you seem to have a lot of strength." He looked a little surprised.

Cathy blushed slightly. "Well, I do caters on the weekends and that requires a lot of heavy lifting, and I do most of the heavy lifting at home." She was right about that. She was used to doing heavy lifting when living with her parents since her sister was too small, her mom had back problems, and her dad was always working. Then when we moved in together, she continued doing the heavy lifting chores.

"Boromir is going to help you, while I help Abby."

Great. One-on-one training with Aragorn. He's going to squish me like a bug.

Boromir took Cathy to the other side of the courtyard and began showing her how to hold a sword and how to swing using a wooden sword.

"Strength isn't one of your greater assets," Aragorn explained to me. "So what assets do you have that could be useful in battle?"