She was relieved to feel a little less weight on herself, but then turned and looked to see where the other lost land folk went. With a relieved sigh, she saw Legolas holding the other body. He held the man a bit awkwardly, giving his light blue tail a few halfhearted swishes.
"Legolas," Tauriel said, looking back down to the other body in her arms. The man she held was slightly shorter than the other one, with long blond hair and the beginning of - what was the word? A beard, perhaps, or maybe something else. Either way, he had far more hair on his face than any mermaid did. "What are you doing here?"
"Why are you asking me that?" He glared at her. "I should be asking you the same. If my father finds out-"
"Don't worry about your father right now." She watched as the faces of both men paled in her arms. How much longer did they have? It was hard to know with land folk, and she didn't want to find out just when too late was. "Right now, we need to get these two to the surface as quickly as we can."
"The surface?"
Tauriel scowled. "Just swim faster!" She forced her own tail to move faster. With Legolas carrying the other, she had less weight on her, and she could at least move faster. "You saw them sinking too. We need to get them back to the surface!"
"I knew that I shouldn't have followed you. Going and checking out sunken ships and messing around with old land folk's things is one thing, Tauriel, but saving land folk who you see randomly sinking down? Now that is another!"
"Stop complaining!" The water pressure was loosening, and the water became clearer and clearer, the bright sun shining onto the waves. Her eyes, used to the dark, cold sea below, relaxed slightly. They were getting closer to the surface, and from there they would be safe.
The air on the surface was sharp, stinging slightly when she first came up. The blond man in her arms began to breathe again, though his eyes did not open. The same could be said about the darker haired man in Legolas's arms.
Tauriel took the man in one arm, and then pointed to a beach not far from them. Its yellow sands gleamed in the bright sun. "Legolas, we just need to get them over there."
"So you're trying to play hero, Tauriel?" Legolas wrinkled his nose at the two men. "Why didn't you just let them drown?"
"Why did you even follow me?" Tauriel began to swim forward. "You didn't even have to come with me, you know."
"I came with you to make sure that you weren't getting into any trouble."
She rolled her eyes. "If this is your idea of trouble, then you are in it with me. And I'm not being a hero, just doing what is right."
The breathing of both men began to come in a rhythm, and they seemed closer and closer to waking up. Tauriel's heart fluttered in a chest; even if she knew she needed to save them, she couldn't be sure what she would do if she actually saw them. Or, much more importantly, what they would do to her. She didn't feel like having her tail being turned into their dinner.
She laid the blond one on the beach, and Legolas did the same. From what she could see, neither had opened their eyes yet.
"There," Legolas said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you happy? Your precious land folk have been saved."
Tauriel took a moment longer to stare at them. She had certainly heard tales of them, most of them bad, but there were a few good tales as well. Even if the land folk did sound dangerous, they also sounded very interesting. Besides, the way that certain mermaids made them sound was rather hypocritical; how could they be mad that land folk ate fish while those very same mermaids ate every part of a fish but the bones?
For a moment, Tauriel memorized their features. Though they did look different, there was also something similar about them, almost as if they were related.
"You've been looking long enough! Do you want to be here when they wake up?"
"No," Tauriel responded. Quickly, she dove into the water, with Legolas right behind her.
They swam until they were a good distance away from the surface, and then finally stopped.
"I still can't believe that happened." Legolas crossed his arms over his chest. "Tauriel, that was ridiculous!"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, if something happened to you, Legolas, you would be head over fins if I saved you."
Legolas threw his hands in the air, his cheeks turning bright red. "What does that even have to do with anything?"
She chuckled. "You're just jealous that I looked away from you for even a moment. Those land folk were certainly handsome." She looked away from him. "If it makes you feel any better, it's that I'm ready to go back to the palace."
"Why? So I can blabber to my father that you made me go mess around with the items of land folk, and then that I was forced to help you rescue one?"
Tauriel clenched her fists. "I never forced you to do anything! You took the other land folk from me, and you followed me because you chose to." She sighed, looking away from him. "Besides, what's the chance that we would ever see them again? Considering this incident, they'll probably never step near the sea again."
. . .
Fili sat up, wiping sand off of his pants. He was still slightly drenched, though the hot sun was drying him off.
"Kili," he said, rubbing his brother on the leg.
"What?"
"Kili, wake up!"
"Huh?" Kili sat up, looking over to his brother. "Where's the pretty mermaid?"
For a moment, Fili froze. He had been sure that was nothing but a dream, the red haired girl just a fantasy his mind had concocted. How they had even survived that ship wreck was amazing. They had never made it to the life boats like their mother and uncle Thorin had.
Yet, Fili saw as he looked down at himself and then over to his brother, there they were.
"We should get going and find help. Wherever we are, we need to find our family again." Turning back to the sea, he gave the wide, endless ocean one last look. When he did not see his mermaid again, his heart sank.
Kili took a hold of him by the arm, and together they walked across the beach, supporting each other while they struggled to again get used to land.