Fangorn Forest, Gimli has decided, has no redeeming features.
The trees are taller and wider than a tree has any right to be; craggy like old rocks, covered in moss and animal shit. The shadows are deep and dark, which mean that the three hunters cannot see further than maybe a hundred feet before their view is blocked by trees and undergrowth.
The shadows play tricks on the eye, flittering and shifting with the wind, moving shadows that look like faces in the trees, eyes watching them, rustling leaves in the breeze like something is following them. Nothing like the solid, still shadows of stone in caverns underground.
There is also silence. Unnatural silence, because here there are trees in the wind but there is no audible indication of animals. There has been no birdsong, no animal cries, no hasty escape of the wildlife as they move into a new area. The air itself is thick and musty; almost stale.
It is, over all, very unsettling. (Though the dwarf would never admit it.)
It does not help him remain optimistic about the fate of the hobbit lads, either. Being lost in a forest is surely better than being bound captives of the Uruk-Hai, but in this forest… It doesn't sit well with Gimli. And the elf's talk of trees moving, alive and able to communicate had only increased his unease (another thing he swore never to admit.)
All three are tense and on edge, hands hovering near weapons and eyes sharp, so therefore it is perhaps no great surprise that when a figure emerges from the trees before them without a sound to herald their approach, the person finds themselves facing three battle-ready figures.
It is a woman, which gives Gimli pause, and half a second later he realises that the figure is not just a woman, but an elf.
The liquid flow of her clothes and hair give her away, as do her height and build. She holds herself tall and straight, bow and quiver strapped to her back with two knives, though the handles are almost covered by her hair, which is long and red-brown, tied back in a style similar to Legolas' own.
She is staring at Legolas and there is recognition there, and it is this that makes Gimli and Aragorn pause. Legolas clearly recognises the she-elf in turn.
"Tauriel!"
Legolas puts his arrow away and puts his bow behind him as the elf woman says his name, and they both sound shocked. With something almost like desperation the elves surge towards each other and clasp arms, their eyes meet and something unsaid passes between them. They hold each other for a beat then break apart and the red-headed elf woman bows her head and murmurs something in their incomprehensible language, and Legolas steps back.
Aragorn stepped forward and seemed to burst whatever strange bubble had formed around them.
"Are you going to introduce your friend, Legolas?" Aragorn asks.
"Of course." Legolas says. "Tauriel is an elf of Mirkwood, a friend I have not seen for many years. Before I left Mirkwood we frequently worked in the Guard together. Tauriel, this is Aragorn, son of Arathorn of the Dunedain," the red-haired elf inclined her head, and the man returned the gesture. Legolas continued, "And the Dwarf is Gimli son of Gloin."
Tauriel's eyes snapped to Legolas, and she appeared genuinely surprised. Again, some common thought passed between the two elves, a shared history that was not spoken. Then she looked away and offered her hand to Gimli, who eyed it with a little suspicion before accepting. She clasped his forearm and nodded.
"Well met, Gimli Gloinson," she said, and seemed genuine. "I met your father, however briefly, and though we did not speak I respected his cause."
Gimli could not have looked more shocked if she had pulled a fish from her quiver and slapped him with it.
"His cause?" The dwarf repeated eventually, voice gruff. "You speak of the company of Thorin Oakenshield?"
The elf looked down and away. "Yes. I became acquainted with several of the dwarves in the company while they passed through Esgaroth." And she would say no more.
"The dwarves were pursued by orcs," Legolas said, "And we were hunting them." He turned back to the she-elf. "Why are you here, my friend? I did not expect to see you."
"These days I wander, and my wanderings drew me to these forests. I am here by chance alone. What brought you to this place?"
"We hunt Uruk-Hai," said Aragorn, "Or we did, until they faced the riders of Rohan and met their end. We are tracking friends who were stolen from us."
"Friends?" Tauriel questioned.
"Hobbits," Gimli answered. Understanding seemed to dawn on Tauriel, and then horror.
"I passed through Rivendell, and Lord Elrond told me of your quest. The hobbit taken was not the one…?"
"No," Legolas assured her, and Aragorn said,
"But they are our companions nonetheless, so we would save them if we could."
That, the she-elf appears to understand.
Later that night, when the long shadows they cast are vanishing into the rising darkness of evening, they stop in a clearing ready for night. There is no fire, for fear of igniting or insulting a tree, but with the forest keeping the most of the wind away the cold is not too biting. Gimli and Aragorn begin to set the camp to give the elves what illusion of privacy they can.
"I have not seen you for many years, Tauriel." Legolas says, touching her arm. "I don't understand. I thought you must have died."
"I did not," the elf, Tauriel, says quietly. "After the Battle -" she stops, and an old grief passes across her face. Legolas waits for her while Gimli returns to laying out his pack and carefully remains silent. Half of him wants to interrupt and demand context - which battle? Where? - and not long ago he would have, but part of him is also curious to see how the conversation will play out, so he sits silently.
"After the Battle, I went to the Blue Mountains." The elf woman says eventually. A type of understanding crosses Legolas' face, but this time Gimli cannot contain himself.
"But that is the land of the Dwarves!" He says loudly. "What business would a lone elf have in the Blue Mountains?"
Legolas sends Gimli a cutting look, which startles him, and quiet sorrow crosses the elf woman's face again.
"That is no short distance, Tauriel!" Legolas exclaimed. "Especially traveling alone. What gave you cause to go there?"
"You had gone north, and I remained banished and grieving. I didn't know what to do so - I thought to complete his promise, and return the stone home."
Aragorn leaned hard on Gimli's shoulder to silence him.
"But the dwarves reclaimed their home," Legolas said. "Did they not? When Erebor was taken and Smaug and the armies defeated."
"But it was not returned to the one it was promised to." Tauriel replied. "I went to find his mother."
Legolas remained silent and waited for her to continue.
"By the time I arrived, the birds from Erebor had bought the news. His mother – Dis, is her name, - she knew that the mountain had been taken and won, and that her son was dead. That at least was a relief. But I tried to explain, that he had died well, died fighting and…" Tauriel's eyes stayed in the treeline and her hand dropped to a pouch tied at her waist.
"You still carry it?" Legolas asked quietly.
"She would not take it," Tauriel said. "I gave it to her and her fist closed, but then she took my hand and returned it. She said if he gave it to me then I should keep it." She caught Legolas' eye. "She said, if he'd wanted it to be returned to her he would have died with it and the dwarves would have kept it for her. So I will continue to carry it, and remember."
The elves were awake all night it appeared, heads bent together and talking in quiet, lilting murmurs barely audible over the sound of shifting leaves. Gimli had fallen asleep and woken to the quiet noise of their whispers, and the next morning Tauriel was packed and ready to depart almost before he had fully awoken.
"I will leave you to your hobbit hunting," He heard her say as he dug through his pack for something to break his fast.
The dwarf and the man stood while Tauriel turned to Legolas, and they clasped arms. "Maybe I will see you again soon, mellon nin."
Legolas nodded. "I hope the next time we meet it will not have been so long. Take care, Tauriel. The world is a darker place."
"It is indeed," the she-elf murmured. She retreated a few paces, regarding the three hunters. "I hope you find your companions." And then she turned and vanished into the trees without a sound, leaving no trace that she was ever there to begin with.