The prison cells

Kili turned toward the red-haired elf. "Aren't you going to search me?" he asked her. "I could have anything down my trousers."

She slammed the cell door closed, raised one eyebrow at him and said "Or nothing." He glared at her as he sat down on the stone seat in his jail cell. "I seem to recall you begging me for a weapon before I saved you from that spider. I doubt you've miraculously acquired one since then, dwarf." She turned and walked away.

Kili stood up and moved to the bars of his cell. "Captain!" he called after her.

"Yes, dwarf?" She turned to look at him from the higher stairs, eyebrow raised again.

"My name is Kili. Thank you for the rescue from the spider." He nodded his head at her the slightest bit.

"Kili! What are you doing?" barked Dwalin from his cell as the other dwarves muttered to themselves and glared in the direction of Kili's voice.

The Elf gave a nod and a small smile to Kili. "I think you shall prefer our hospitality to that of the spiders, dwarf—Kili, " she corrected herself. She turned and walked up the steps. Kili heard her say quietly as she walked away "My name is Tauriel." He watched her leave, a small smile on his face.

"Why does that dwarf stare at you, Tauriel?" said Legolas as she joined him at the top of the stairs. "Who can say?" she replied. "He is rather tall for a dwarf, do you not think?" She gave Legolas a sidelong smile as she said this.

Legolas replied "Taller than some." He returned her smile with a stony look and continued "But no less ugly."

Kili sat heavily down on the stone ledge in his cell again after Tauriel and Legolas had left.

"Have you lost your mind, nephew?" said Thorin, over the din of the other dwarves commentary on Kili's conversation. Fili said nothing but looked doubtfully at his brother through his cell bars. Kili sat uncharacteristically silent through the assembled barrage of dwarven displeasure being voiced.

"Nephew!" Thorin's voice boomed across the space between the cells. "We are not here as guests. We are prisoners of the Elven King. There is no place for niceties."

Kili sighed. "I prefer my name to simply being called 'dwarf' Uncle. I meant no harm by it."

"Peace, Thorin." said Balin in a soothing tone. "The lad is young. We must make the best of our circumstances and antagonizing our captors isn't going to help our cause. Let the lad be. He's done no lasting harm."

Thorin glared through his cell bars before commencing to pace the confines of his cell, but he spoke no more.

Bofur gave a hearty laugh. "I'm thinking you don't find this elf lass as unattractive as the ones in Rivendell, lad."

King Thranduil's chambers

"Legolas said you fought well today." Thranduil inclined his head as Tauriel entered his chambers. She stopped and looked at the Elven King. "He's grown very fond of you, you know." Thranduil continued, looking at her face.

Tauriel made a small movement with her head. "I assure you, my lord, Legolas thinks of me as not more than a simple Captain of the Guard."

"Perhaps he did once." Thranduil moved closer to her and looked down into Tauriel's eyes. "Now I'm not so sure."

Tauriel turned away. "I do not think you would allow your son to pledge himself to a lowly Silvan Elf," she murmured.

"No, you are right. I would not. There is no such thing as a lowly Silvan Elf in my realm and you should know this by now, Tauriel." Thranduil moved to face her again. "I care not whether you are Silvan or Sindar. You are the Captain of my Guard and that matters far more than your heritage." Thranduil tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "My son cares for you. Do not give him hope where there is none." He moved away towards the windows of his chambers, making a dismissive gesture towards Tauriel as he did. She bowed and walked out, cheeks red and eyes narrowed.

She and Legolas had been friends all her years in the Woodland Realm. She had come to be Thranduil's ward as a young elf. Legolas had treated her as a younger sister and she had tagged along behind him whenever she could.

He had taught her to use bow, knife and sword. He had sparred with her and given her bruises that hurt for days. It was unusual in elven custom to train a female with weapons but Legolas convinced his father it would be good training for him to teach her and valuable training for her, orphan as she was, with no family to protect her.

He was beyond good as a teacher. Tauriel earned her rank as Captain of the Palace Guard due to her fighting skills and keen eyes. Thranduil saw it made them both happy and he confirmed her rank. For many years they were simply companions and sparring partners. But Tauriel had been noticing a change in Legolas' demeanor lately. She had berated herself for being vain and imagining his attentions had changed but both his jealousy of the banter with the dwarf today and Thranduil's words just now only confirmed her suspicions.

She took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. She knew Thranduil's words had disturbed her but not because she loved Legolas in that way. The dismissive tone had hurt her deeply. Thranduil had always treated her as family after her parents' deaths. But obviously she was not.

She shook her head. She had no time for this. The spiders were growing increasingly bold and now she had thirteen prisoners in the cells of the palace to look after.

Legolas would get over her. She was sure it was simply his distaste at a dwarf addressing her in such a familiar way that had set this all off. She smiled. The dwarf had nearly made her laugh with his trouser comment. It was nice not to be so serious for a moment.

She headed to the kitchens to let the cooks know they had thirteen unwanted and unexpected guests. She would look in on the dwarves again tonight.