Quick note: Ada means Daddy and Nana means Mommy in Sindarin.
Thranduil entered the Halls of Healing. There had been an orc attack on an outlying village a few days ago. The survivors had recently returned to the Hall. He was going to see that status of the injured.
"My lord." the head healer, Sanewen, said.
"Sanewen. How do the injured fare?" Thranduil asked.
"Most are in good condition. There is one, a girl called Tauriel, who I fear for. She received a deep cut to the abdomen. The villagers told me that she did not wake up when they traveled here, and they had to carry her. They also told me that her parents and brother died in the attack. She has not woken up since the attack." Sanewen reported.
"Take me to her." Thranduil ordered. Sanewen guided him to the children's ward. There was a sole occupant in the room. A small red haired elfling slept in one of the beds, her hair contrasting sharply with the stark whiteness of the pillow. She seemed small and frail, her skin pale. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to sleep peacefully. Thranduil walked over to the bed.
"Hello little one." he said. Tauriel did not stir. Thranduil bent over the elfling, examining the bandaged cut on her stomach. If the bandage was anything to go by, it was a horrible would, one that no elfling should have to endure. His hair tickled Tauriel's cheek. She opened her eyes slowly. Her stomach hurt. She was in some place that wasn't home. Where was her Ada? Where was her Nana? She took in the sight of a mane of blond hair before her. Her Ada had hair that color. Maybe he was here.
"Ada?" she asked, her voice small and weak. The source of the hair turned it's head to face her. Thranduil straightened up.
"No. I'm not your Ada." Thranduil said, his voice full of sympathy for the young elfling.
"Where is he? Where's Nana?" Tauriel asked. Her voice was twinged with worry. She remembered screams, then a sharp pain, then blood, then nothing. She wanted her Nana, or her Ada, or her doll, something, anything from home. She didn't even know where she was. Thranduil looked at Sanewen, wondering if he should tell the elfling about the fate of her parents. Sanewen nodded. The elfling would have to know sooner or later.
"Your parents are dead. I'm sorry." Thranduil said sympathetically.
"What do you mean, dead?" Tauriel asked. "We live in Horar. Me and Nana and Ada and Benion. Don't we?" She felt a sudden flash of guilt for not thinking of Benion sooner.
"Not anymore. Your village was destroyed by orcs. Your parents and Benion died in the attack." Thranduil explained. He hoped he didn't have to explain the concept of death to the elfling. She couldn't be more then twenty, it was quite possible that she had never encountered before.
"No, no! They have to be alive! They have to! Benion promised that he would stay with me when Nana and Ada told us to go and hide! He promised!" Tauriel cried. She was very close to crying now. Benion had to be alive, he had promised he would stay with her forever! The man had to be lying. He didn't even tell her his name.
"I'm sorry. They are dead. You will never see them again." Thranduil said. It was best to be blunt, he hoped.
"No!" Tauriel cried. "They're still alive! You just haven't found them! Let me go look for them!" She had to prove that her family was still alive, had to find them. She couldn't live without them. She tried to get out of bed, but could barely sit up without becoming dizzy and making the wound on her stomach hurt.
"Lay down." Sanewen said, rushing over to keep the elfling from hurting herself further. She gently but firmly moved the elfling back into bed.
"No! They can't be dead!" the elfling cried. She started to cry. They couldn't be dead, no! Sanewen tried to comfort her, but she could not be comforted. Her grief knew no bounds, and she could not stop.
"You're all right, we'll take care of you, shh, shh..." Sanewen said, muttering soothing nonsense as she held Tauriel close. What the elfling needed was a mother, and though Sanewen had no children of her own, she had comforted enough crying children in her time as head healer to know what to do. Hours later, Tauriel had managed to cry herself to sleep. Thranduil had long since left, and Sanewen left as well. She had missed dinner while comforting Tauriel, and wanted to get a good meal and some sleep before she returned to the Halls of Healing to take another shift. She was worried about the elfling. Families had close bonds, and breaking those bonds could be devastating.
Tauriel let out a small scream as she woke. She had been dreaming that she was on a picnic with her family in their favorite clearing but then orcs came and Nana and Ada were telling her and Benion to go hide without saying why and then they were screaming and the orcs found her and Benion and then he was covered in blood and then there was pain and she was covered in blood and then she woke up. The nightmare made everything that happened all that more real. She was alone. She had no family. In the entire world, there was no one who loved her. The realization was crushing. She knew the blonde man, whoever he was, wasn't lying. She felt the absence of her family like a hole in her heart. The elfling sobbed into her pillow. No one came to comfort her. She was truly alone.
Hi! Yes, I'm starting another multichap fic when I haven't finished my current one. Don't worry, both will get finished, and it hopefully won't be too long between updates. There will be trigger warnings for slight thoughts of suicide in later chapters, and I will leave a note at the chapters. Remember to review, favorite, and follow! Starship T.A.R.D.I.S. out!
