A/N
Hello! I was fascinated by the character of Tauriel in the Peter Jackson adaptation of The Hobbit, and when I found out that she didn't have a backstory, I decided to create one!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"I wish you hadn't cut your hair." my mother said sadly.
"Emel (mother), it is not that short, and it will grow back." I protested. I had cut my hair to near shoulder length a few hours earlier, and my mother was not happy about it.
"Still...it used to be so long and beautiful...now it is so...short!" My mother said.
"Emel, it will grow back!" I again said. My mother prized herself on her long, near floor length hair, and she loved it when mine was long as well. As the only girl from a family of boys, and now myself as a daughter in a house full on sons, I understand what she meant.
"Still..."
"Emel, it was getting in the way! I cannot shoot arrows, for my hair blocks the quiver! You know I want to be an archer and a warrior some day!" I responded. Previously, my hair was near my bottom, and to be fair, it was considered beautiful, but I saw it as it in the way, and possibly dangerous if I was in a fight.
"Tauriel..."
I knew what was coming. That I was a girl, that girls couldn't fight, that I would never be able to hold any rank in the royal Guard, so I might as well give up on going to Thranduil's Great Hall and being a warrior. That I should stay here, in the outlying village of Canela, and live my life here, with my only greatness that in being a mother. I would never be able to achieve greatness...that was what they told me every day. That was what the boys in my Archery class told me, even what the teacher said, though nonverbally. That was the disapproval that was in my parent's faces every time I came home with blood on my hands and a black eye because someone had told me that girls could not fight. I beat them every time, but that is beside the point.
"Tauriel, you cannot continue on this path. No one ever goes to the Great Hall, ever, least of all female warriors. And your hair was so pretty, I do not see why you would ever cut it! I wish you had not done so." My mother said.
"What's going on?" asked my father. He had just returned from a long days work at the forges, making arrows for Thranduil's archers. I was standing with my back to the door, and he could not see my hair.
"Tauriel cut her hair." My mother said. That was all that needed saying. I was too different, too weird and strange, in a bad way.
"Tauriel..." My father started.
My temper, like my red hair flared up.
"I don't see why I can't be a warrior! I am just as good, if not better, with the bow then any of the boys in training, and I've beaten at least half of them in hand to hand combat or sword fighting! And if I cut my hair so I can better myself and try to go to the Great Hall, maybe it was for the best!" I protested.
"Tauriel, we need to talk to you about something." My father said
"What!" I angrily said
"Tauriel...you've been so rash lately, cutting your hair and getting into fights and such that we simply cannot have you around those boys, you'll get hurt! You have to stop your training. In fact, I will make sure of it. We will no longer be paying your instructor. At the end of the month, you will be removed from military training and you will stay here, in the home, safe, with me." My mother said.
"Emel! Ada! (father) this is what I want to do and if I cut my hair to do it then why does it matter for the deed has been done and cannot be undone! You know that I can take care of myself, I have been fighting for years, much longer than any of the boys!"
"Tauriel, you are a mere one hundred years old. You will not talk to me in that tone. I am your father and all of the decisions regarding your training therefore fall to me." He continued talking in that vein for quite some time, as I debated in my mind what to do. I wanted, no, needed to be a warrior! If I had to stop training, I will fall far behind my age-mates! I can't afford to do that, for only the best get to go to the Great Hall. I needed to convince my parents that training was in my best interest, but how?
"Ada, what can I do to keep training?"
"Nothing." was my father's harsh response.
I couldn't take it anymore, couldn't take the disapproval nor the put downs. I had to leave. I grabbed my bow and quiver, slung them over my shoulder, grabbed a knife and left the house without a word to my mother or father. I still regret that.
I moved silently through the woods, sometimes running, sometimes walking, occasionally even shooting a few arrows into faraway targets just to prove to myself that I was good enough, that I could do it! I walked for a while, burning off steam, when suddenly I heard something: an orc battle cry. I raced back to the village. I got there, and there was pandemonium. Villagers were running around, some herding panicked children, others just running in general. I quickly scanned the village square, where most of the fighting was taking place. It wasn't true fighting, it was more orcs killing innocent women and children while men tried to kill the orcs in return, but none of my fellow soldiers in training were fighting.
Enraged, I moved through the square like a flash of lightning and killed the first orc I came across. I fired another arrow at another orc, then slashed off its head. I didn't want to look around for my brothers, but I couldn't help myself. I peered through a window in my house. My older brothers were dead inside, died in our home, probably died while giving my parents the opportunity to escape!
I turned my head to the square, and there was my mother, being killed by another orc, and my father trying to kill the orc with a kitchen knife. The foul creature stabbed my father in the stomach. He turned pale, and backed away and fell next to my mother, reaching out and grabbing her hand as they died together. I pulled my battle knife from its sheath on my back and charged. I baptized the blade in the blood of the orc that killed my parents. I looked around. There were few, if any other elves fighting. All that were left were children, running around searching for their parents. I had to save them, save at least one if I could not save my parents. I tried, but they all ran from me. I wondered why for a moment, then looked at my clothes. They were covered in orc blood. If I could not save any of the children, then I was determined to avenge the deaths of my fellows here.
Unfortunately, that dream ended as soon as I faced my next orc. It's first swing connected with my sword arm, and from there things just got worse. I could no longer shoot my bow because of the cut that was bleeding profusely on my arm. It got in one swing after another, connecting with me each time. It was about to kill me when an arrow went through its throat. I looked at the owner of the bow that had shot the arrow and realized that a contingent of royal guards had arrived. They were too late. There was just me, standing alone and blood-covered in the village square. Dizzy from blood loss, I fell to the ground.
I opened my eyes carefully. Last I remembered, I had collapsed in the square. I looked around. I appeared to be in some sort of tent. I tried to move, and felt a stabbing pain in my arm, and in some other parts of my body as well.
"Ow!" I whimpered. I had pictured the aftermath of my first battle being something more...heroic.
"Lie still, you'll only hurt yourself more." said a voice. A man entered the tent. A healer, probably.
"I am Legolas, son of Thranduil." he proclaimed. The prince...so not a healer.
"Tauriel, daughter of" I broke off, holding back tears. My entire family had just been slaughtered by orcs, and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it!
"it's all right." Legolas said kindly. "It was your first battle, you could not have been expected to defend the entire village against thirty orcs on your own, especially seeing that you are still young. How old are you Tauriel?"
"One hundred, in Narwain (Elvish month meaning New Sun)."
"You are very young for defending the village as well as you did."
"I did not defend it well at all, my emel and ada and brothers, all my friends, my instructor, all gone! No one defended the village except for me, all of the other trainees fled and hid! I was in the forest, south from the orc attack, I did not hear their battle cry until it was too late, I shouldn't have run off I could have saved them!" The tears started once the anger had fled.
"I'm sorry, I should not have spoken like that, I have more than a bit of a temper." I said bashfully.
"It is all right, it is indeed refreshing to have someone speak to me as though we were equals, not as if I am the prince and they someone of lower station." responded Legolas.
"Why did you come here? Canela is, err, was an outlying village, of no importance to anyone." I asked.
"There had been a string of orc attacks near the northern borders, Thranduil wanted my men and I to push them back. We found your village under attack, it is surprising that the orcs had managed to get this far into our territory." Said Legolas.
"What will I do, where do I go now? I can't stay here!" I asked.
"Based on your defense of the village, you could probably train to be a part of the Forest Guard of Mirkwood." Legolas suggested.
"Really?! You let girls be warriors!" Disbelief coupled with astonishment and hope rang out in my voice.
"Yes, we let both genders fight. Why is this so different to you?" His tone suggested that female warriors were commonplace in the villages around Mirkwood.
"My parents did not wish me to fight. They discouraged just about everything I tried to do to train to become a warrior. Earlier today I cut my hair because it was getting too long to be able to fight with, and my emel got mad, and my ada told me that he wouldn't let me train anymore, so I ran out into the forest. I heard the orc battle cry and ran back to the village but it was too late for many...if I had not run off I would have been able to defend them, maybe my emel and ada would be alive, maybe." I broke off in tears. Legolas stared at me for a moment, then silently left me to my grief. I was glad for that. I needed time to heal and remember and honor the dead of my village. I knew that if I hadn't cut my hair I might have been able to save emel, or ada. I wouldn't be alone. Right there, in that tent I made two vows to myself. I would kill any orc I came across and never cut my hair again.
A/N
What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know by reviewing! Reviews make me write faster because I don't forget about the story/lose interest in it! Flames are encouraged! I have a lot pre-written now (about 33 pages) so updates will be frequent but will slow down once I run out of that and have to write new material. Chapters will vary from rather long (4 pages) to about 1 page. Side note, my friend imperatrixtempore on Devian Art will be helping me write some of the emotional and awkward romance stuff that will be coming in sometime around 12 or thereabouts, as it turns out me and writing emotions don't mix all that well. Anyways, I'm rambling, so I'm going to stop doing that now and do semi-productive things! Starship T.A.R.D.I.S. out!