Ettelëamë stood there staring at the target,she couldn't believe it,her first bull's-eye. She could do it,she could finally do it.

She wasn't completely hopeless....oh the others would be so proud. She would probably even do a performance later to celebrate.

It was all thanks to Legolas to be honest,he had been training her with such commitment. And you know what they say,you learn from the best....etc.

She took a deep breath and hugged her bow for a moment. "Oh,I love this thing" she mused and lightly kissed it before knocking another arrow.

It was time to try again.

She had left earlier than usual today,decided to get some extra practice. She moved into the correct shooting position and took a breath,closing her soft browns and feeling the wind blow. This must be what it felt like to be completely in tune,everything was so peaceful. But still nothing could replace her sword.

She remembered when the blonde had first taught her the position for shooting,the way he guided her,made remarks about how she wasn't that awful. She used to be the worst at this,arrow falling right to the ground.
And now,she unleashed the arrow and "Ah! Whoo!" she cheered,it hit right in the middle again!

This was amazing

Legolas was spying on his pupil. Of course, had someone asked him if that was what he was doing he would have denied it but, as no one was there to question his actions other than Gwindir who was certainly not in a position to comment on his actions, he was willing to admit that “spying” was exactly what he was doing. His reasons for spying were not in any way malicious, it was more out of simple curiosity than anything else. He had been training Etteleame for some time and was interested in seeing how she was progressing and the best way to do that, in his opinion, was to watch her train without her being aware of her teacher’s presence. Legolas knew that sometimes the presence of a teacher, whilst helpful in terms of the advice they could give, was more unnerving than anything else; the teacher’s constant critique and the pupil’s need to impress often resulted in a slightly worse performances than when the pupil was practicing alone. He was snapped from his thoughts when his companion, who up until that moment had remained silent, bent his head and said in a whisper:

“You’ve certainly trained her well, Legolas. She’s doing quite passably for someone whose training started but a while ago. Perhaps you should consider taking up a permanent position as a trainer, teach the rest of the guard how to shoot straight maybe they will actually be able to hit their targets the next time they go out on patrol.”

Legolas laughed, shaking his head at Gwindir’s comments and throwing him an affectionate glance.


“Come, my friend! I have not even finished training her yet so there is no telling how well I have taught her! I may yet turn out to have been a terrible tutor and she will end up shooting herself in the foot every time she picks up a bow! And why should I want to be a trainer? I would be bored within minutes if the only thing I did, day in and day out, was teach others to shoot. I have no issue spending a little of my free time helping others but I would much rather spend the majority of my time in the woods.” He turned once more to face his friend, a sly grin on his face. “And I shall pass on your compliments to your fellow guardsmen, I am sure they will be very interested in what you have to say about them.”

Perhaps the two would have continued the exchange (Gwindir was not the type to allow someone the last word) had it not been for the gleeful shout which came from the training ground. Wondering what could have caused such glee, Legolas turned back to where the young elleth stood.

An arrow quivered slightly in the centre of the target.

Etteleame had managed to hit the target before (Legolas would have had to review his teaching methods had she not) but those hits had always been on the edge of the target rather than on the target proper. This was the first time the young elleth had managed to hit it dead centre. Despite it being Etteleame who had shot the arrow Legolas felt a sense of accomplishment. Pride swelled in his breast; it was pleasing to see the fruits of his labour, to watch as his protégé succeed.

Another arrow hit the bulls eye.

She was doing very well indeed.

It was time to make his presence known.

Rising from his crouch, Legolas walked forward in to the training ground, Gwindir at his heels.

“Well done, Etteleame. Well done indeed.”

Ettelëamë laughed happily and began running around, talking excitedly to the lizard on her shoulder "Did you see that, Dragon? ! I did it,how awesome am I, I should show our caretaker some time, he would be very proud of me." She was basking in her own glory as many children did. Running and skipping, and spinning and jumping. That is until she heard the sudden voice of Legolas. At first she thought she was hearing things but as he appeared she turned to face his presence mid-run,her eyes widening in surprise, and she began to trip.

As she did the sudden jolt flung dragon into the air, the poor red lizard in danger of falling to its doom, it probably wouldn't kill the lizard to fall but to Ettelëamë this was a drastic situation. It was as if this whole moment went in slow motion for her, she leapt into the air to grab her lizard, using her awkward footing from the stumble to give her more push. When she caught him she cradled him protectively in her arms, the moment then came when she began falling, her browns widening as the ground approached. Instinctively she landed into a barrel roll,she could have stood up from there and have been incredibly graceful and dashing, but alas fate (and the person typing ) was not so good to her and she continued to roll. As she tried to stop her small body it turned into a rather ungraceful fumble, her roll taking on a shaky end. She blinked multiple times during this process, even closed her eyes at moments, but when it ended she was sitting on her bottom with her lizard in her arm,perfectly fine.

She checked him over anyway, as anyone would, before smiling and kissing his head,receiving a affectionate hiss in return. She then stood up as if none of that happened and dusted herself off, moving any grass and leaves,before placing dragon in his rightful place upon her shoulder. She readjusted her clothes as needed before, as if she forgot, almost suddenly remembering that Legolas was there.

A bright smile filled her face and she ran towards him, throwing her arms around the other elf in a affectionate embrace. Sweetly hugging him without thought, this was all his work that allowed her to shoot so accurately, so Ettelëamë had every right to share the happiness of success with him.

She normally wouldn't have hugged someone with such eagerness and pure fondness,but she had not even realized her own actions yet, she just nuzzled against him, allowing herself to take in his scent,selfishly enjoying his warm.  Her eyes were closed peacefully as she clung to the other, lost in the feeling of a hug, of such affection, what she always secretly craved for. 


Man,was she going to be embarrassed when she noticed what she was doing. 

Legolas watched as his pupil, whose celebrations he had interrupted, spun round to face him and promptly tripped over her own feet. The lizard, which had been perched peacefully on Etteleame’s shoulder the whole time, was jolted by the sudden violent movement and flung from its perch. It found, Legolas supposed was to its surprise, that it was flying through the air and Legolas grinned at the thought that, despite having been given the unfortunate name of “Dragon”, this was the first time the lizard had flown. It was to be a very short first flight, one with a painful landing. Legolas doubted it would ever want to fly again. None the less, no matter how painful the fall was, lizard was in no immediate danger and Legolas was content to allow the lizard to complete its trajectory toward the ground.

Etteleame, it seemed, was not.

He watched as she leapt mid-fall, a rather impressive feat considering the awkward angle, and caught the flying “Dragon”. It would have been more impressive still had it not been for the landing. Etteleame, attempting what looked like it should have been a barrel-roll, rolled along the ground before gently coming to a stop. It was all rather funny and Legolas had to supress a snicker as he quickly scanned her body as she hugged the lizard to her chest, checking for injuries which might prove troublesome later on. She seemed unharmed.

Legolas was just about to make a witty quip, some comment about the unparalleled grace and balance of the elves, when the air was knocked out of him.

He looked down at the elleth who had wrapped him up in an enthusiastic hug.

He stared at her, unsure of what to do, such wild shows of affection were extremely uncommon amongst elves and Legolas was unsure of what to do.

He thought about extracting himself from her arms, politely making an excuse and putting some distance between them. But… But apart from one instance roughly half a year ago it had been so long since anyone had hugged him. He had hugged his parents when he had been a child but after his mother died those instances had become few and far between until they had stopped all together. After that no one had hugged him; he had barely seen his sisters after their mother died, and Gwindir and Tauriel, whilst both close to him, were not family. The only person who had hugged him, properly hugged him, had been Estel. Estel who, whilst having been raised amongst elves and well aware of their customs, was also a Man and, having lived amongst them for a few years, had also picked up some of their habits.

Gingerly Legolas moved his arm to pat the young elleth on the back.

Ettelëamë had been brought out of her affectionate trance when she felt a pat on her back. On her back? Quickly she looked up, only to see the face of Legolas, at first she was confused but as soon as she realized what she was doing she flinched. She frowned a little bit and unwrapped her arms from his torso and hesitantly backed away. She felt rather stupid and akward at this moment and wasn't sure what to do.

In the silence she just pet her lizard, refusing to look at the other. Pouting like a child was not exactly the best thing to do in such a situation but it was all she could manage, her emotions getting the best of her.
"Sorry" she barely mumbled out, still petting her lizard who seemed to be falling asleep on her shoulders. Ettelëamë should have thought about what she did, hugging was not a common feat among elves and frankly she was not even sure when she picked up on the habit.  Was it from Ellie?  She remembered that they hugged each other quite a bit, though she wasn't sure where she had gotten it from either. 

She would be lying to say she didn't like the hug,for Legolas was strong and sturdy, yet gentle.  It made her feel safe. He also had a nice smell, like nature,  pine needles and wet grass. But she had failed to think about how he would think about it, and so she apologized again  "I'm sorry, I. ....... ,I wasn't behaving properly.  I shouldn't have done that"