Dissclaimer: I own nothing recognisable.
Tauriel, the Captain of the Guard
Tauriel raised the glass, clinking it against her father's. "Cheers," she said.
"To an uneventful night," Galion returned, before downing his rather large flagon of wine.
Tauriel's eyes widened when she sipped her wine, for she had not realised just how strong the Dorwinion truly was. She'd had a bad month, since catching those Dwarves bumbling around in the forest, and to make matters worse, the Prince and his friends had outperformed her yet again – she had captured renegade Dwarves, trespassing in the forest, but Legolas and his little Lalaith patrol had knocked the Necromancer off his high horse.
Burning with jealousy, the young Captain of the Guard forgot her duties for a while, and allowed herself to enjoy the whimsical flights of fantasy which can only be found in the bottom of a barrel of ale, or a bowl of strong wine.
Tauriel, having been in Rílglín's age group for her Trials, had always had high expectations of herself and her career. Now, Rílglín had ditched her, to join that silly little patrol in South Mirkwood with the girl he liked – Aldanna, who had nothing which Tauriel herself didn't have – and Tauriel was stuck in the Home Guard.
Yes, she had climbed her way to the top, but Captain of the Guard was basically a dead-end job – the end being either death defending her King, or being stuck in the same job forever. The last Captain of the Guard had met a rather painful end, involving a spider brought into the palace by a group of youngsters.
As Tauriel complained to her father, who grumbled in return about his never-ending duties in party season, she didn't notice how the walls became blurry, or her cup seemed to never empty.
The flagon of Dorwinion was perhaps the worst decision Tauriel had ever made, but in her defence, she had been under parental supervision the whole time. Not that she needed it. She'd been an adult for centuries.
At least, that's what she later told herself, and the King, and her mother, who was perhaps the most furious of the lot.
It was Taurwen who found her husband and daughter an hour later, when both failed to show up to the party upstairs. Her shouted disapproval rang through the halls, and the volume only increased when another guard arrived to take over duty on the Dwarves, but found their cells empty.
.
The next morning, Tauriel had the worst hangover she had ever suffered through. It was worse even than the day after her Trials, when she and Rílglín had been duped into trying Lord Celeborn's strongest liquor by previous Lothlorien graduates.
She suffered through the embarrassment of the Elvenking telling her off for losing the Dwarves very publicly, and was stripped of her command; instead she would be Lothellon's slave labour, at the bodyguard's beck and call until the King and Lothellon decided she had learned to stay sober on the job.
That was when Tauriel vowed to never taste any alcohol again.