When Arwen started to fight Luminarie , she initially thought it would be a fun and happy experience, but after just two exchanges, she knew she was wrong. Her opponent wasn't looking at her like anyone she knew. In the eyes of Luminarie, she was prey , not an enemy, and she was to be hunted with something that she saw in the gaze of the older woman: pleasure from her suffering. That smile when she saw Arwen get hit and yelp from pain wasn't normal in any way. The worst part wasn't even that, but the ease with which she was beaten, which brought the most humiliation for the young princess of Imladris. After just one minute of pain, she had tears in her eyes, but Luminarie looked at her with a smile and increased her pace. Both training swords were mere afterimages, and her speed was far too much for the girl. After another minute of beating , Luminarie stopped near Arwen and kicked her with such strength that she flew toward the trees, which were about 30 meters away. She hit one of them and spat out a mouthful of blood.
" Arwen!!!" came two voices from the shadows. In seconds, her brothers appeared near her and started to check if she was badly injured. Elrond came as well, but he went toward Luminarie with a dark expression .
" You didn't have to be so hard on her, Lady Luminarie of the Crimson Star," he said in a low voice, but when his sons heard her title, they went rigid.
" Crimson Star? She is the one who destroyed the armies of darkness that wanted to, after the fall of Gondolin, come after the rest of the elves? And was presumed dead after the last known Balrog on the surface ?" When Elrohir said this, his brother was still looking at Luminarie in shock, and Arwen, upon hearing it, looked at her with fear and admiration.
" I don't need to be called that, and Lord Elrond, you asked me to show her what she might encounter on her travels with me. So I was just showing her what she could meet in the worst case , and I was lenient with my strikes, believe me. If you don't want to, I can just do what you all are doing : treat her like a vase, and when she encounters an enemy in the future, I would pray to Eru that she has a swift death without being defiled" said Luminarie, and she went to leave the training swords where they were. Elrond stood where she had been standing before, with a frown on his face, and after she started to walk away, he sighed.
" Wait, Luminarie, please , " he said in a tired voice. He looked at her back, and then he looked at his children. " Arwen, do you want to learn under her? As you felt , it won't be a light exercise, and it will be really painful for you. We here tried to train you, but what she will do would be like hell for you. However, if you prevail, you will be one of the best elves in the world , " he said to Arwen with a pained expression. " I don't want you to be in any harm, but if it will prevent you from dying, then it will be even better."
Arwen, with tears of pain in her eyes, looked at her father and then at her brothers. They all had the same expression. They wanted her to make a choice for herself, but they knew if she took it , then she would probably face very painful years in the near future. After looking at them, she turned to Luminarie, who had an expressionless face without any emotion, as though her choice , even slightly, wasn't her concern. When she saw that look , something ignited in her. She wanted to prove to the woman before her that she was worthy of acknowledgment . With almost visible fire in her eyes, she stood up, ignoring the pain, and, with difficulty, she neared Luminarie. When she was about an arm's length away, she stopped and looked her in the eyes. Then she kneeled on one knee.
" Please take me as your apprentice, " said Arwen with determination in her voice, though it was clear she had a hard time speaking due to the injuries Luminarie had inflicted on her.
Luminarie looked at the raven-haired elf before her and gave a tired sigh.
" And all of this for nothing," she said, which earned another frown from Elrond.
" What are you speaking of?" he asked, but he guessed the answer. When he heard it, he almost laughed.
" I didn't want to teach her because it would be a pain in the ass, you know? Now I will need to behave myself like a lady should, you piece of crap of a friend. Why did you have to throw your daughter on me ? I know that I am one of the best when it comes to fighting, but I am not teaching material , okay? And I can't really reject it when she looks at me like that , and you knew that because you are my oldest friend and know my character , " Luminarie said with a sigh and scratched her head with annoyance in her voice. When she said that , she added to herself, but didn't notice that Arwen heard her, and when she did, she had a little spark in her eyes. " And she is too cute to reject. Fuck, why do I have to be into women now?"
" I knew I could rely on you, my friend," said Elrond to her with an oblivious expression, which she murmured to herself, and that was heard by his daughter. " How long do you think her training would take?"
" If we take a steady approach, it would take about 100 human years. If we take hellish training, then about 50 , " said Luminarie. " Of course, I can make hellish training last throughout those 100 years, and she would be really good then ."
"Let's go with a steady course, but she has to come home to spend winter. Is that okay?" asked Erlond, who didn't want to be away from his daughter for that long.
" Well, if we do it like this , we are looking at about 20 years more because she probably wouldn 't have the same training as she would on my lands. There are special places I made for training , so it would be a loss of time, but I can make it so it wouldn't take even longer. Normally, such breaks would make it 140 years, but I can make it less because I created those facilities and understand them the best."
" Can't you make them elsewhere?" asked Elladan, as he didn't want to be away from his sister for such a long time.
" I could, but it would take about 200 years. Those I made took about 300 years, but I can do it faster now , " Luminarie said, her annoyance and contempt evident . " Those are not normal places to train, young man. They are complex rooms to increase gravity and are used by my own soldiers to train themselves. I would need to use my own room for her, so don't irritate me now. She would have the best place to train in the world, so shut your mouth and don't talk to me, or I will treat you even worse than your sister, but I would use my own hands to do this." She cracked her hands as she said this .
" Easy now. Luminarie, it is not wise to always use your fists to resolve problems, and you, Elladan, show some respect. I know that you are just feeling reluctant to let your sister go for such a long time, but we can visit, right?" Erlond said to Elladan and then asked Luminarie.
" Well, for the first few years, no, but after about 10 years, yeah," she said, indifferent .
" 10 years? Why would it take so much time?" asked Erlond with a frown.
" I need to adjust the barrier to let you in, so I will need time for that, and it will take time from me. But because I will be occupied with her training, I will have only winters to do that," said Luminarie.
" Oh, so the barrier that is around your land is so complex?"
" It is rather complex and big, you know? After the fall of Arnor, I increased it to enclose the whole lake and the valley, so you could say the entire place is inside . I could have about a hundred thousand people there without any problem , " she said with a smile.
" WHAT?!" Erlond looked at her in shock. " How powerful is it ?"
" Well, it could probably take Sauron a few days to break it with his full power, hehe," Luminarie said with a smug face, proud of what she had made.
" It is so strong? How much time would you need to make it again, but here in Imladris?" asked Erlond.
" Well, about 700 years? I need to create everything I would need to make it with my own hands, and I am not talking about doing other things. With training Arwen and managing everything with my own barrier, and then this? We are talking about another 900 at minimum, so don't get your hopes up, at least for a millennium ." She said while calculating. "Besides, I don't know if I have enough materials for the whole place here."
" Why are you not sure about materials?" asked Elrohir.
" Because the primary thing I would need for this would be mithril," Luminarie said, and that silenced them all .