The dúnedain ranger (a Lotr Fanfic)

Chapter 6

Arnwen POV

     As I came to the doors, there was a few people gathered, waiting for someone to invite them in. I saw Elfwine and a few other men talking amongst themselves. Elfwine looked to see who came, smiled and turned back to his conversation. I was about to join them when Éomer came and let us into the hall.

     We all walked toward the table and sat down at the seats we were assigned to according to their rank. I sat across from Elfwine and Lothíriel and beside Éomer. a moment later, a few chefs came out with the food, already on plates. They set the plates of food in front of every guest and left. Éomer stood up from his seat. holding his chalice and gave a speech. after he was done, kept standing and said "Now allow me to introduce Arnwen, heir to Arnor." Everyone was talking to each other. I could even hear one person comment "Where is she, how do you know she is really here." Éomer silenced the hall and motioned for me to stand up. I stood up and spoke to all of them "I am Arnwen." Éomer and I sat down and he began to say prayers to the Valar. After, we began to eat our food I looked on my plate and saw a bowl of soup in the corner, a salad and a piece of meat. While I ate, I answered the questions the guests asked me about how I escaped and my life since. I was introduced to everyone at the banquet and it seemed a lot of people here were either friends with Éomer or has noble blood. During my meal, I felt like someone was watching me, but I guess when you're in public someone is always watching. When everyone finished, Éomer escorted everyone out. I walked back to my room and prepared to go to sleep.

Elfwine POV

     During the banquet, I couldn't help but glance at Arnwen once in awhile. I've never felt this way before. My mom has been trying to find me a suitor for a few years but the suitors she brings me are all boring. Arnwen seems more mysterious and dangerous to her foes. I could feel my cheeks redden just by thinking of her. My mom told me of this feeling and said to come to her when I felt this way to a suitor. But Arnwen is not a suitor she brang to me. The problem is I've heard she isn't interested in finding a partner and she is leaving to go to Minas Tirith with my father. "Wait. That's it!" I thought as an idea came into my mind. I had to go talk to my father!

Arnwen POV

     I woke up the next morning and had a nice breakfast. After, I went to various shops to resupply so my company would be ready to leave by tomorrow morning. Once I finished, I went back to the hall and told Éomer that my company will leave tomorrow.

     In the afternoon, I visited the archery range to make sure my skills were still sharp. As I arrived, I saw Legolas, Cúnir, Pengwen and Cúves warming up and stringing their bows. "Hello Arnwen. Would you care to join us?" Legolas offered. "Sure. Are you doing a friendly archery competition?"I asked. "Yes. We are." He replied, walking to the buttresses and placing a target on them. I placed my bow on the bow rack like them and put my arrows into my hip quiver. We grabbed our bows and stepped onto the firing line. I shot my first arrow and it landed in the center of the target. I knocked my second arrow and shot it right beside on the left of my first arrow. I shot my third arrow and it went to the right of my first arrow. I looked at my friends and they obviously were shocked. Once we finished the ten ends we content up our totals. Pengwen and Cúves both got 190 out of 300, while Cunir got 220 out of 300. Also, Legolas got 270 out of 300 and I got 299 out of 300. "Well I guess your skills aren't as good as they used to be." I joked to Legolas. "Very funny. Maybe your skills have just improved." He replied. "I should get going, are you going to be ready to leave by tomorrow morning?" I asked. Legolas looked at my archers and they nodded. "We will be ready Arnwen." Legolas replied as We walked back to the great hall to get some sleep.

     The next morning, I woke up and quickly dressed into my blue tunic. I sheathed Aradhael and hooked my hip quiver on my belt. I stepped outside of the hall and joined my company. Éomer was not in sight. "Let's head to the stables and get our horses. He might join us by then." I told them. So we went to the stables to tack up the horses.

     Shadowfax does not like to have a saddle on his back so I waited as everyone else came out. As they walked out of the stables, I heard footsteps behind me. 'Oh good, Éomer is here' I thought. But when I turned around I saw his son Elfwine instead of him with a smile on his face. When he saw me looking, it quickly disappeared. My company watched him as he approached. "My Lady Arnwen, my father cannot come so he sent me to be part of your company." he said. When he saw Shadowfax, he bowed his head at the horse. "Alright Elfwine, quickly go get your horse ready. We leave as soon as you are ready." I told him. He nodded and went into the stables to get his horse.

A/n: In this chapter, I have used some archery terms that may be unfamiliar to you because I like to do archery at the OCCS. Here are the definitions for those terms.

End(s): One round of archery (3 arrows)

Knocked: placing an arrow onto the bow string

Buttress:the foam of a target. A target is a piece of paper that is attached to the buttress.

If I missed any words that you don't recognize or know, please share the word in the comments box and I would be happy to tell you what it means.