"For the last time, I am not getting up!" Tauriel yelled and buried her head under the pillow. She hated mornings. Especially winter ones.

"Come on, up you get," Thranduil answered, rapping on her door again.

"It's not even light outside. Leave me alone!" she answered, pressing her forehead against the mattress in a vain attempt to ease her throbbing headache. There was no light coming in her window, and so no reason for her to get up.

"I can take care of this." she heard Legolas say.

Oh, dear, she thought. He shouldn't be up. He'll hurt himself. Tauriel dragged herself out of bed and slowly dressed. She brushed her hair down so it didn't stick up four feet above her head in a felt-like mess and opened the door.

"See?" Legolas said. He was standing beside his father, arms crossed. His chest was bandaged.

Tauriel huffed. "Legolas! The only reason I got up is because you should not be! Now, back to bed with you!"

"Tauriel, I'm fine."

"You were imprisoned for a month, only just recovered, you were stabbed between the ribs, and are in no condition to be up!" She poked him in the chest, causing him to wince. "Bed!"

Legolas sighed. "Alright. But only because you might kill me if I don't." He turned and left, still limping. The Orcs had twisted his ankle badly and it had yet to heal.

Tauriel returned to her room and continued brushing her long fiery hair until it hung nearly to her feet. She twisted it up and stuck the hairpins in. Going to the kitchen, Tauriel plucked a carrot from the counter and, nibbling on it, went to the back bedroom. Legolas was asleep, as she had suspected, so she gently unbound the wound. It was healing, but not as fast as she liked. She packed it with more ather and bound it up again.

Ever since she'd rescued Legolas from Dol Guldur, things had been far from normal. Thranduil was visiting nearly every spare hour he had, because she could not return to the Mirkwood Halls. No matter how much he wished to the contrary, banishment was irrevocable. So Thranduil had been purposely spreading rumors to explain to others why she had not returned.

Legolas was in bed, or supposed to be, much of the time. Though, he never failed to ask if he could get up at least once a day. He'd figured out how to drive her utterly insane. The more annoying part was he put it to good use.

She herself spent much of her own time cleaning, sewing, and taking care of whatever affairs of state Thranduil asked her to do. It had to be the most boring occupation in Middle-earth, being a ruler; there was an endless supply of papers and whatnot to sign. As for her sewing, there were many windows without curtains and she had a mind to fix that.

Tauriel snatched her basket of fabric and went to the front room. It was either snowing or sleeting outside, so one could not tell whether the sun had risen or not.

Contacting Jolden, the dragon she had befriended in the past months, she asked, Can you see if the sun has risen or not?

Of course, he answered. Tauriel could feel the energy pulsing through him as Jolden flew higher, above the clouds. Yes, it has, a few hours past.

Thank you. She drew out her newest project and threaded her needle. Making a few quick stitches, she finished hemming the curtain. Pulling out another length of light cloth from her basket, she eye-measured three arrow lengths of cloth before cutting it with one of her daggers. She laid it out over her lap and folded the shorter end over an inch. After pinning the fold, she began making small, even stitches in the cream organza. Sewing quickly, Tauriel finished the other curtain and folded it. She tucked it into her basket and went upstairs.

Taking down the carved curtain rod in the open room, she strung the curtains on it and hung it up again. The curtains hung just as she'd thought they would. Tauriel gently arranged on the shelves the small wooden carvings Legolas had made. There were deer, falcons, and a few squirrels, all carefully fashioned from beech wood. He had also made delicate figures of elves and spiders for them to fight. Each and every carving had been stained with pigments to produce the exact color wanted.

Her favorites were the small figures of herself and Legolas, from when they were children. She had been an idiot at times, but Legolas had always pulled her out of the scrapes she'd gotten into, whether or not he had actually been involved in the first place. Tauriel supposed that was one of the reasons why she'd fallen for him. Well, that and his sometimes hilarious wit. He could talk circles around anyone if he wished to.

She hung her curtains in the other six rooms, each on the rods Legolas had carved for her to pass the time by. Running back down the stairs, a rather unwise thing, Tauriel scooped up the other items she'd been sewing. Just as she was about to run back up again, Thranduil grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Are you sure that is wise? You could trip running so fast."

Tauriel shrugged off his hand without answering him and ran up the stairs two at a time. She darted to one of the rooms at the end of the hall, not sure why she felt like running.

Pulling one of the beds down, she laid one of the sheets that she had made on the bed and tucked it in. She did the same with the second bed. Tauriel pushed them back up into the wall, one with each hand. Suddenly the storm outside seemed to flicker, letting in the smallest amount of sunlight before becoming even darker than before.

Life is calm now, but I have a feeling something is about to happen. she thought, dusting her hands off for no particular reason. She felt a sudden fear sink its claws into her chest. Yes, that was it. Something was going to happen, something big. And she had no way of predicting what it would be.