Hello!

I should probably not be publishing a new story right now, when I have two other Hobbit-stories going on, but inspiration struck me and I just had to write this! Will be a rather short story - about 3 chapters - and it should be finished before The Battle of the Five Armies is released. I'm so excited! It's going to be epic, awesome and other positive adjectives :D

*the cover picture is taken by a friend of mine and she has also edited it*

I do not own any characters or places; J.R.R Tolkien or Peter Jackson and Co do.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

"We found her in a tree, my King", said the Captain and gently pushed the young elf forwards.

She stopped in front of the throne and while she did not spare him a glance, Legolas was watching her. She was awfully young, not yet grown into the grace the elves were known for. Leaves and twigs were stuck in her red hair, which was unkempt and untamed. Her clothes were so dirty that he could not make out their original color and she had dark smudges of earth in her face, contrasting strongly to her pale skin. She looked like a wild little beast.

His father looked down at the girl from his position high up on the throne. His cold eyes held a gleam of interest in them that surprised Legolas.

"Did you now?" said Thranduil softly, though his voice echoed around the halls of the underground palace. "And pray tell what you were doing up there?"

He addressed the girl who had to strain her neck so she could proper look at him. Her stance was tense, but defiant.

"Looking."

"Looking?" the King repeated and leaned forwards, resting his chin upon his clasped hands. He looked far more comfortable, less intimidating than usual and Legolas noticed that he was not alone of finding it surprising. The guards exchanged quizzical looks as well. "What were you looking for?"

"Something good", she replied with a solemn expression that did not suit her young face.

Legolas wanted to ask what she meant by that, but his father only hummed, a shadow falling over his brows, and thus the subject was dropped. The girl's eyes flickered as Thranduil gazed at her with such calculating intensity that she did not seem to be able to look at him. Her eyes met Legolas's for a brief second and he felt pity for her. She was so small and dirty compared to everyone else, alone. He tried to keep his face expressionless, but some emotion must have been showing for the young girl frowned, a storm brewing in her eyes, before she turned away and inspected the vast hall instead. She seemed mildly impressed by the palace.

The King suddenly stood up and the guards immediately bowed their heads. Legolas drew his dark brows together, a small flare of wonder stirring inside his stomach as his father descended the stairs from his throne, the place where no one could reach him. His long, silver robe trailed behind him and as he stopped in front of the girl, he looked twice as tall and mighty. The girl bit her lip – a sign of nervousness, Legolas wondered – and slowly raised her eyes to meet the King's.

"What is your name?"

"Tauriel", the girl replied and added as an afterthought: "My Lord."

Tauriel.

"Your parents?" Thranduil continued his questioning.

There was a brief moment of silence when Tauriel pondered over the question. It made Legolas pity her even more, as it was surely a sign that she had no mother and father. What kind of people would have let their daughter live on her own should they have been alive? Tauriel answered eventually. Her voice was strong and rang clear in the hall with a similar power to his father's.

"Tauriel."

Legolas didn't understand the odd answer and he frowned. His father must have understood, for the King smiled, something that softened his features immensely.

"Ah, Tauriel", he said with a note of amusement in his voice. "Daughter of the Forest."

Tauriel rewarded him with a crooked smile, an understanding passing between them. Legolas felt strangely left out at their exchange. His father was a difficult person to reach out to, as ill-tempered as he was kind, as fickle as he was unyielding and as wise as he was foolish. Legolas had often trouble with understanding his father, unsure of whether he was making him proud or not. Therefore, he could not help the sting of envy at seeing his father and Tauriel interacting with an ease he wished he could have been a part of.

Thranduil fixed the Captain with his chilly blue eyes and said, now with a colder voice that demanded his request to be obeyed:

"Captain, if you could be so kind to take Tauriel to Lady Merenwen for new clothes and a bath." He looked at Tauriel again and ran a pale, slender finger across her dirty cheek. His lips were pursed. "We cannot have a ward of the Realm looking like a barbaric little beast."

Tauriel eyes flashed at that, but she had not managed to open her mouth before the Captain was there next to her. Legolas wondered what she would have said to his father.

"Yes, my Lord."

"Good." Thranduil turned his back towards them all and waved carelessly with a ring-clad hand. "You are all dismissed."

The guards all bowed perfectly before leaving the hall in a line, walking down the stairs with a surety to their steps. The Captain and Tauriel were the last to leave, but Tauriel did not bow nor did she speak her thanks. She just stared with a rather morose look upon her face. It seemed as if she wanted to be somewhere else and Legolas felt a tug of something on his heart, an unfamiliar feeling.

As soon as they had disappeared and was out of earshot, Legolas turned to his father.

"Why did you do that for?" he wanted to know.

Thranduil raised his eyebrows in what could only be described as mock surprise. Legolas was not amused.

"Did what?"

"Let her stay", Legolas clarified and looked imploringly at his father.

"Would you rather have me had her dragged outside into the forest again?" wondered Thranduil and one eyebrow arched at the question.

"No!" Legolas hurried to say and then said in a more collected tone: "She's young…."

"Exactly", interrupted Thranduil. "She is young and has managed to live on her own, out in the wild. That takes skill, luck and intelligence. Imagine what she could be in some years' time. She would be a great asset to the Realm." He paused and smiled slightly. "Besides, I found myself to be quite fond of her."

The King sounded amazed as if he could not believe it himself. Legolas certainly couldn't. He wanted to ask why. The question was at the tip of his tongue, burning, but he could not find it in himself to ask. The prince pursed his lips together and bowed stiffly towards his father, who merely looked at him with barely any indication of emotions.

"You may go", said Thranduil, but did not wave him away as carelessly as he had done with the guards.

"Father."

Legolas turned to leave and when he glanced over his shoulder before walking down the stairs and disappearing in the corridors, he saw that his father had climbed his throne again and was sitting safe and secure there. It was something lazy about him when he sat there, yet also an edge of something hard as steel. Legolas did not look forward to the day when that throne would be his to occupy.

He hurried after the other two elves. The corridors were deserted, only used by the flickering torches on the walls. They made ghost-like shadows dance across the golden brown walls. It held a rather gloomy atmosphere to it and when he caught up with Tauriel and the Captain, they walked in silence as if affected by the gloom of the castle. Both looked at him when he fell into step with them; the Captain with an expression that could have been carved out of stone while Tauriel's eyes were alight and her cheeks tinged with pink. Legolas tried to appear as if he had not rushed to see them.

"Captain, I'll escort her now", he said and tried to mimic the tone his father usually used. "You can return to your duties."

The Captain gave him a long look, his haunted eyes almost shining gold in the dim light. He looked as if he did not know if he should obey and Legolas straightened up, nearly glaring. The Captain's façade seemed to be on the verge of falling apart; it looked like he was close to smiling. At the end, he only bowed.

"As you say, my Lord."

Legolas nodded graciously and with one last look at the two younger elves, the Captain left them. His steps could barely be heard even in the silence. Legolas looked down at Tauriel and found that she was staring at him. She appeared to be seizing him up, judging him and he did not know whether to feel insulted or amused.

"Come", he said instead and started to walk. "Lady Merenwen's quarters are this way."

He walked at a slow pace so that she would keep up with him. Tauriel's eyes flashed – he noticed that they were very green – and moved faster as if to prove that she could. The smile that formed on her lips was almost smug. He suspected that they had gotten a troublemaker at their hands.

They walked down the winding corridors and then up a couple of narrow stairs that twisted themselves like spirals. They met a couple of members of the court and they greeted Legolas as were fit for a prince, but it was Tauriel that was the subject of their stares. Some watched her with curiosity; some shared questioning glances between each other, wise eyes communicating in a language Legolas had not yet learned to understand. Others had hints of sneers upon their fair faces as they took in the state of the young elf. Next to them in their elegant robes and with silky tresses in brown, gold and the rare black, Tauriel looked poor and wild, a lesser creature belonging beneath their feet. Tauriel kept her head held high and her eyes set ahead, but she looked so small and vulnerable compared to the others. She slouched a bit as if to retreat into herself and it made Legolas want to hold her and comfort her. It was not right that someone with such obvious spirit should be oppressed by some haughty looks of members of the court. If anyone noticed that his eyes became chillier, glaring daggers at them and hovering protectively around the mysterious newcomer, they did not show it. They just nodded politely and continued on their way.

As soon as the party of elves had disappeared around a corner, Tauriel relaxed and her steps got back some of their previous confidence. When they turned right and entered a long corridor with high windows looking out over a slowly darkening forest and big doors with patterns of old carved into them, handles of brass and gold, Tauriel spoke up:

"Who is Merenwen?"

"Lady Merenwen", Legolas corrected, ignoring the annoyed look she sent him. "The Court Healer. She will look after you."

Tauriel seemed to want to protest, but said instead, with all the bright hope of a child:

"If she's a healer, than maybe she could heal the forest."

Legolas frowned and glanced down at her.

"What do you mean?"

"It's starting to become ill." Tauriel's expression grew serious and she bit her lower lip. She looked up at him from beneath dark lashes and said in almost a whisper: "Something dark is growing further down south."

"How do you know this?" asked Legolas alarmed. "Why do you tell me and not my father?"

"He already knows, but I don't think he will do much about it."

She sounded cold as she said so, in a voice only voicing a fact. Legolas didn't contradict her, because he knew that his father was less concerned on what was going on in the forest beyond the borders of their kingdom.

"Well, you do not need to worry", Legolas said in the most cheerful tone he could muster. "I will protect you against the dark. I promise", he vowed and found that he meant it with all his heart.

Tauriel frowned and glared at him. Her green eyes were narrow and a fierce scowl contorted her face into an expression that looked frightening on her young and dirty face.

"I don't need protection. I can take care of myself."

Legolas regarded her with a thoughtful look in his eyes. He didn't doubt her courage or her fiery spirit, but she was young and what had she truly seen of the world?

'Probably more than you', said a snide voice in the back of his mind, but he pushed it away, not wanting to believe it. Tauriel was determined, sure of herself. She had the mind of a child, because she was one, and lacked the wisdom of age. Legolas knew that it was something she would have to learn if she wanted to survive, but it would not come without a cost. He studied her in silence. She did not falter with her gaze. Legolas smiled half a smile at her and knocked on the door.

"Perhaps", he said in a speculating voice, though he knew deep down that he would protect her from whatever harm might come to her, no matter if it was in the form of darkness or glaring court members.

So, that was the first chapter! Any thoughts? Constructive criticism's welcomed if you think it's needed!

*note of this chapter; though not always portrayed so, I think that Legolas is older than Tauriel by some hundred years or so (give and take a few), which is how I've portrayed him in this*

Cannot guarantee when the next update will take place, but probably sometime next week.

Thanks for reading! :)