Bloodbeat

The forming of a friendship

Maria wandered through the gardens outside the king's hall of Minas Thirith, she was only six and bored out of her mind. She stopped before the white tree, her long red gown almost tripping her in her steps. Her eyes studied the tree for some time, but eventually, she continued to walk around. Maria looked at her feet, mesmerized at the way her dress flowed around her, and as such, she did not notice the boy standing in front of her before she bumped into him.

"Hey, you okay there?" the boy asked as he held out his hand to Maria, who had fallen to the ground after bumping into him. "Yes, sorry I bumped into you" she answered, feeling embarrassed at herself, as she took his hand and let him help her to her feet again. The boy was her age with light brown hair, blue eyes, and a kind smile. The boy assured her there was nothing to be sorry about, then with a small smile, he asked if she wanted to play together. Maria, who was relieved she didn't have to wait out her father's long meeting with the steward alone, answered "Yeah, I'd love to. Dad's meeting always drags on for so long,".

"I'm Maria, and you are?" she asked, as she took the wooden sword he handed her. "Faramir." the boy answered and tried to strike her with his fake sword. They played together, chasing each other around the front of the palace, laughing each time one of them got hit. As they played their fathers got out of the palace door, chuckling to each other. "I see my daughter has found a friend in your youngest. Maybe our families will be tied in the future." Maria's father said, and the steward answered "Let them be for the time, they look happy.".

4 years later

"Hey, that's cheating!" Maria yelled as she tried to get her scarf back from Faramir, but he was taller than her and was holding it just out of her reach. "It's not cheating, you are only jealous that I'm taller than you" he chuckled. "Faramir!" they both stopped as they heard the a happy yell from behind, they turned and a boy with many similarities to Faramir came up the steps to the front doors of the palace. "Boromir, you're back!" Faramir answered and ran forward to hug the boy, who Maria now recognized as his brother. Maria awkwardly shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she watched the brothers reunion, feeling rather out of place. She knew that the steward had taken Boromir with him to Rohan on a meeting about a week ago, and that Faramir had missed him dearly. Eventually Faramir seemed to remember he had yet to introduce Maria to his brother properly, mostly due to their father seeming to want to keep Faramir away from Boromir most of the time.

"I just realized I haven't intruduzed you to my friend yet. This is Maria Mayflower she is Caiden's daughter, you know the captain of the guard." Faramir said as he walked over to Maria and gave her a slight nudge as if to tell her to say hi, which she did. "Nice to meet you Maria" Boromir greeted her. The next hours was spent with the tree wandering the forests outside Minas Thirith and talking, and at the end of it all awkwardness that was between Maria and Boromir was completely gone. But the trio's happiness was short-lived the moment they came back to the palace doors as the voice of the steward called his sons inside and Maria was left to walk home alone. At the doors of her house she was greeted by her neighbor Sylvaine, she was cheerful as ever and they decided to spend the evening together. It was a fun night and they discussed everything from fighting to cooking, and almost set the kitchen on fire trying to bake cookies.

6 years later

Faramir laid on the ground laughing with Maria holding him down, she was also laughing. "Beat you again" she chuckled, "Rematch, one of these times you're going to lose" he answered. They got back up and picked up their wooden swords again. They had not gotten real ones yet but these had the same weight and build as real ones. "Still can't beat her I see? It's kinda embarrassing isn't it?" they heard a familiar voice say, and they saw Boromir leaning against a tree at the edge of the clearing. He chuckled as Faramir said that it wasn't that big of a deal.  "Finally got your father to leave you alone for a minute I see? Wanna see if I can beat you this time Boromir?" Maria smiled, she was glad he finally had some free time from everything his father put on him, both she and Faramir missed him when he was busy. "Sure, but you are not going to beat me Maria, and we both know that" he smirked and took Faramir's sword, reading for her first move.

Boromir quickly realized she had improved greatly since the last time they had fought. He managed to block her first and second approach with his sword but she got hers free easily and struck him. He managed to block her but when tried to strike her the fourth time he was caught off guard by a move he had not taught she knew. Her father's signature "block and disarm" move, means trapping the opponent's sword on your handle between the bowed part and holding part, then spinning your own sword so you force your opponent to let go of the sword. It was a move that was very hard to pull off, and very few knew how to do it. After Maira picked up his sword she pointed hers at his throat and smirked, "Beat you" she said.

"Well you sure have improved Maria, has your father been training you?" Boromir asked, he was quite out of breath and his voice was full of amazement. "Yep, he has been taking time to train me and Sylvaine all year. It sure has paid off" she answered with a confident smile. Both boys agreed that her father's training sure had paid off, and Maria seemed very proud of herself the entire time.