An Unlikely Pair

Chapter Three

After a day off, you resume your practice. After fighting Aragorn yet again, you collapse exhausted and watch the clouds. He just watches you for a moment, but then he surprises you by sitting down beside you. After a few minutes of an awkward silence, you decide to break it. "I'm not trying to pry when I say this, but Aslan told me you had a rough past." He takes a breath as if he's about to say something, but stops himself. He seems to be deep in thought before answering you.

"I did, and that's why I'm like this. People don't understand. That's why I don't have any friends or anything like that." He sighs and avoids eye contact with you. You decide to be careful with what you say to him because this is obviously a sensitive subject.

"I think everyone needs someone to talk to." He glances at you.

"So?"

You sit up and become level with him. "So you can tell me what happened, if you want to."

"I don't know about that. You're my-"

You interrupt him. "Student. Yes, I know I'm your student. But we can be friends, and you can talk to me. I think you know you need to talk to someone. Anyone."

He just looks at you, and it looks like he's thinking about something. Waiting for a response, you raise your eyebrows at him. He says, "Fine. About four years ago, there was a war. I lost everything to that damn war. My parents. My little sister. Our home. My girlfriend of three years." He keeps his gaze on the grass in front of him. There are tears forming in his eyes, and he's obviously kept this hidden and has born this burden alone for way too long. "Happy?" he asks.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too." He gets up quickly and leaves. Just as he opened himself up to you, though briefly, he shut himself up again. Now I know what made him this way, you think.

***

The next day, Aragorn fights you like his life is depending on it, like you're a threat. You're both sweating like crazy, and you're getting tired. Eventually, he knocks your sword out of your hand with his own. You drop to your knees, exhausted and breathing heavily. You can tell he's about to yell at you and demand that you get back on your feet, but you beat him to it. "What was that about?" you say, clearly annoyed.

"What was what about?" He tosses his own sword to the ground near yours.

"You've never been that hard on me. Does this have something to do with what happened yesterday? I thought we were on the same page, that you needed someone to talk to."

"This was just training. Don't make it personal."

"Fine. But you know it was good for you to talk to someone."

"We're done for today." He grabs his sword and leaves, again.

***

The next night, you go on a mission with Aragorn to a nearby enemy camp to rescue captured Narnians. You take two horses and gallop across an open plain, then through the woods. Coming to the camp lit by a large fire, you leave your horses tied to a tree far enough away so no enemies will find them. You creep up on the camp and see the Narnians tied up around the fire in the center. The whole camp is asleep except for two guards circling the Narnians and taunting them. Aragorn places his index finger on his lips, signaling for you to be silent. You follow him behind a tent and crouch down.

"Here's the plan," he whispers, "You go take out the guard to the left, and I'll take the right. Got it? From there we'll untie the hostages."

"Got it." You start to stand up, but he catches your arm.

"Be careful, okay?" He stares at you with ice blue eyes.

"I will. You too." He lets go of your arm and stands up. You both easily overpower the guards on opposite sides of the fire, but more are coming. You race to cut the bonds of the captured Narnians. There are only three of them, so you tell them to take one of your horses back to Cair Paravel. They nod and race off. You turn, scanning your surroundings for Aragorn, but all you see is guards zeroing in on you. You decide to head for the trees, but just as you're about to, Aragorn comes up on his horse and offers you his arm. You take it and he pulls you up onto the horse behind him. You slide your arms around his waist and he gallops off.

"You okay?" He shouts from in front of you.

"Yeah. We make a pretty good team, don't you think?" You grin as you shout back.

"Yes, I do." Maybe he smiled as he said this, but who knows?