Lost Wanderers (Halbrand / Rings of Powers)

1 - The Language of Swords

The streets of Pelargir were crowded and a bittersweet tension lingered in the air.
The little fleet from Numenor just landed and the people didn't know how to feel about that.

"How do you feel when you know a storm is coming?" she said softly.
"What?" the old man accompanying her asked.
Lou took her eyes off of the crowd and focused again on her studies with her mentor.
"Do you think we have any chance to win this war, Master Ben?".
"There's always a chance to win. Why are you so upset?".
"If even Numenor cared to come... then this war must be very bad, even if I don't fully understand what kind of enemy we are about to fight".
"Leave the future problems to the future, child. Enough politics for you today" he announced closing the large tome he was holding "Go down there. Live the moment".

Lou welcomed the offer and after thanking him, she wore her poor cloak and left the palace.
She wanted to see the new guests from the sea, but being a tiny girl made the trip very unpleasant.
Finally she struggled out of the gathering of bodies and found a quieter spot where she could see closely the main road where the new soldiers were marching.
Men of any age walked in front of her in shining white armors.
Someone around her mentioned some elf woman leading the group and Lou regretted missing it.
Then she crossed the eyes of a young soldier who didn't wear the white armor. He turned his head and was watching the crowd around him. For an istant his eyes lingered on hers and she felt like time stopped.
It happened so fast and when the soldier proceded, she already forgot about it.

Two large hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her backwards.
She kicked and struggled, hearing the familiar laughs from the two young men towering her.
"What are you doing, little sister? Hoping to find Beren amongst our new guests?" Rhys teased blocking her arms.
Her other brother, Griff, brushed a hand on her already messy hair.
"Mother always told that you won't find any suitor if you keep playing the naughty boy, instead of learning to be a nice girl, wearing proper dresses, instead of rags...".
Suitors, suitors... she wished to marry a common farmer. Or better, a trader, so she could finally travel and see the world.
She shoved his hand away from her hair "Why don't you play the nice girl, since you already look like one?" she scoffed at his flawless look "What is it? Did you use perfume to attract some bees?".
Rhys cackled and wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulders "There are pretty girls who are waiting for us. Let's go hunting. Can you find the way home on your own, little squirrel?".
"Of course" she showed them her tongue "I'm looking forward to kick your asses in battle".
They laughed and mocked her, but when they disappeared in the crowd, Lou was smiling.
She loved her older brothers, no matter what.

Later she helped to offer refreshments to the guests, gathered in the palace's gardens.
The leaders of the army were meeting the Stewart into the great hall.
She spotted the young soldier she had noticed into the crowd and he crossed her eyes again.
Did he sense when someone looked at him?
She shook her head to shove her silly ideas away and left the gardens to move to the training camp.
Practicing with her sword was the best remedy after a stressful day.
She wanted her blade to become one with her arm. But she was never satisfied. She wanted to learn more and more. Because she never felt ready enough to face the enemy in battle.

After a while she felt a presence at her back and she spun, expecting another young trainee to engage her.
Instead her sword almost cut the neck of a guest.
The young soldier she had spotted in the crowd and then in the gardens was now standing in front of her, staring at her.
And she almost cut his neck.
He didn't look bothered. He touched the blade with his fingers.
She watched in dismay how his fingers caressed the iron.
"Nice sword. I wonder where you got that" he said.
She looked up at his smirking face.
Was he alluding that she stole it?
The sword was clearly too fine for the poor girl she pretended to be.
She stepped back, lowering her arm "I'm not a thief. You can find better weapons in the armory. Do you want me to show you?".
He looked surprised by her offer "Yes. That's very kind of you".
She guided him there and checked his reaction at the view of the weapons stored in there.
"Come on, pick one" she challenged him, pointing at the line of swords.
He chose the best one.
"I don't want to hurt you" he said guessing her intentions.
"Maybe it's you who will get hurt" she bent her knees and teased him with her sword.
He needed a little encouraging to start sparring for real and he proved to be a valid opponent.
In her opinion, duelling was better than listening to someone talking. Words were used for deceiving and lying. While fighting needed more honesty.
And with him, it felt like dancing.
He was a good fighter, but she spotted some darkness in the fluidity of his movements, in the light in his eyes.
Yet, none of his blows ever scratched her.
One clash of swords sent her crushing against his chest. She froze when she felt his hand pressing on her hip to steady her. If it was armed with a dagger he would have won the duel.
She disengaged their swords and stepped away from him, resuming the fight, until she was so tired and grew clumsy that her legs betrayed her and she fell sitting on the ground.
He dropped his sword without a second thought and offered her a hand to help her up.
"I'm Halbrand" he said swiping the hair from his sweating face.
She grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her up on her feet.
She was too breathless to speak. She felt that their duel spoke enough words.
"What's your name?" he inquired leaning closer to see her better, an amused grin slightly curling his lips.
She swallowed hard, trying to think of what to say when...

"Lou!".
A voice called at her back.
Lou startled and jumped away from the soldier.
She turned, seeing Livi waving at her.
"We are needed in the kitchens".
Lou recalled all the things that happened in that day and felt surprised by how that duel just made her forgot about everything.
"Sure" she breathed out, shooting an apologizing look to Halbrand.
She really didn't know what to say to him, so she grabbed Livi's arm walked away.

A/N

Saturday 24th September 2022

It's soo nice to be back to the Middle Earth 😍

I've never published my works about this fandom, but years ago I wrote several fanfics on Faramir and Legolas, who were my crushes 💕

And now I'm happy to write something about The Rings of Power and specially Halbrand, although the unknown scares me a little. Because I believe that soon my story will become nonsense once the new episodes will be out 😅

Anyway, we saw few smiles of Halbrand, but Charlie Vickers is such a cutie when he smiles 😍
Here's when he was filming here in Italy few years ago 💕