So I've had a majority of this written for ages, but never got around to finishing it until now. Oops.
This ship is going to be the death of me, I swear
Disclaimer: haha I wish.
She is 300 and Tauriel has never been so conflicted in all her years.
Fate works in strange ways, and although he has come back to her in a way, it isn't in a way she'd ever imagine.
"I told my friends that elves live in the wood, I told them, but they didn't believe me!"
The eight year old human child chatters eagerly, and if Tauriel didn't recognize the unmistakeable smile and dark hair, she'd think she would be crazy. But it's him, she is sure of it.
"And why ever would they not believe you, Keoran?" She asks, as he clambers up the tree she's sitting in with a grace that should be impossible for his age. His hair is shorter this time and it falls in thick strands into his eyes. He is still so young, but Tauriel can see that he will grow into a strong warrior. Clever fingers inherited from blacksmith father, a sharp mind from his scholar mother. Already he had been introduced to the art of swords play by his skilled older brother.
Did Tauriel mention the fact that she can also see the strong jaw and chiseled face of a very handsome young man that she's sure he will grow into?
Playfully bumping into her shoulder Keoran grins up at her. "You know, I like talking to you Tauriel. The other boys in the village don't get it." He says.
Tauriel arches her eyebrow in question. Rolling his eyes, (because he knows that she knows what he's talking about) he elaborates. "They think starlight is weird. They think the night is scary"
"And you do not?"
"Nah. I think that starlight's beautiful. There's something special about it, you know?"
Tauriel smiles gently at him as her heart swells in her chest. No. Not just now. He's still a child, and has a great deal of growing before he can become the man he once was.
They stay that way for hours. Up in the tree, talking about whatever comes go Keoran's mind. In the distance, the sun begins to set, and Tauriel feels a twinge of sadness. "It is late. You'd best head home Keoran. Before anyone worries."
He frowns, "But you'll be here again, right?" He asks.
Tauriel's heart twists in pain, as she gently ruffles the child's hair. "No. I'm so sorry my dark haired mellon-head, but I have to go." She says softly. Seeing his horrified and outraged face, she brushes a stray lock of hair behind his ear. "But I promise I will come back for you. One day."
"When?"
"I don't know." She admits, "But I promise, I will."
Keoran holds out a hand to her, and Tauriel grasps it tightly. "Always like this?" He asks in an uncharacteristically serious voice.
"Always like this."
:-:-:-:-:
If there is one thing an elf is bad at, it is the concept of time. And time, is something that Tauriel is running out of.
It has been fifty years since she last set foot in this particular village. Fifty years in which she thought she had plenty of time, only to have the sudden and horrifying realization that fifty years is a very, very long time for those living a mortal life. And she is terrified. Terrified that once again, a promise has been broken.
Pulling her hood down, she shakes her hair out, and glances around the small town hesitantly. Despite the time that has passed, there have been very few changes made, and all the old buildings are in the same general place. It doesn't help her in her search though.
Stepping into the blacksmith's forge, she lets her eyes wander for a moment at the various items that are displayed on the walls. Swords, axes, stirrups, spades, and everything in between line the walls. Pictures adorn several small spaces of the wall as well.
Her curiosity getting the better of her, Tauriel walks up to one situated right by the front desk. Bending over to take a closer look at it, a gentle smile forms on her face. There, standing proudly with one foot placed firmly atop of an anvil and a hammer resting across the back of his shoulders, a grown Keoran beams back at her. Mouth open in his trademark laughing smile, and his long black hair tied back with a thin strip of leather, Tauriel has a moment of smug satisfaction as she remember the very accurate prediction she made when Keoran was still a child. Her smile falters when she realizes that this picture is already decades old.
"Oh, sorry for the wait. May I help you?"
Straightening, Tauriel turns to see a young man, probably just into his twenties. His hair is just a shade lighter, and jaw slightly wider than Keoran's. She knows that he is definitely a descendant of his. His face is red and sweaty from the heat of the forge, and he hastily wipes it with a rag when he sees the grace in her body language and the points in her ears.
"F-forgive me. We've never had the pleasure to serve an elf before, my lady." He says with a nod, his face again turning red, though not for the reason stated before. The way he carries himself is just like Keoran…She thinks to herself. Giving him a small smile before she continues Tauriel nods at the photo.
"I know this man. Do you know where I could find him?" She asks.
"Gramps? You know Gramps?!" He asks in shock, and Tauriel's suspicion about his relationship to Keoran from before is confirmed. For a moment she is overjoyed-judging by how he phrased it, Keoran is still alive. But she's then bitten by a feeling of irrational jealousy. Keoran found someone else to love...Meanwhile, Keoran's grandson is biting his lip and he rubs the back of his neck uncertainly. "Gramps…He hasn't exactly been faring the greatest lately." He admits.
Tauriel's horror must've shown on her face, because Keoran's grandson's expression turns sympathetic. "Probably didn't know right? Yeah, Gramp's been ill for months now. Father says that it's his sheer stubbornness that's keeping him here." Glancing up at her, he asks uncertainly, "Did you want to see him…?"
Nodding silently, Tauriel follows him out of the smithy, and back into town. "My name is Rieran by the way." He says as they make their way to one of the houses that face the wood.
"Tauriel." She says quietly, looking anxiously at the windows of the modest house in search for familiar dark hair and smiling eyes. She sees a movement in the window and moments after a small child sprints out of the front door, and jumps into Rieran's arms.
"Daddy!" She cries. Her wild, dark hair frames her face, which is glowing with a smile. "Gramps went to the wood today again and he said that I could come with him to the tree, but only if you take me, so will you, please?" She says all in one breath.
Scooping her up, Rieran kisses her cheek. Noticing Tauriel's gaze, the man blushes. "Tauriel, this is my daughter, Del. Del, this is Tauriel. She's Gramps…" Rieran hesitates, glancing at the elf uncertainly.
Tauriel gazes off towards the woods. "Friend. I knew your grandfather when he was a child." She says, offering her a small smile.
Del nods her head, clinging to her father. Rieran lifts her up and places her on his shoulder. "Ready to go to the wood?" He asks her, bouncing her up and down playfully. Shrieking gleefully, she clings to him, fingers tangling in his hair and legs flailing wildly. Tauriel marvels at how Rieran gets away unscathed.
As they travel towards the woods that Tauriel hasn't seen for fifty years, the elf feels several conflicting emotions that she's never had to deal with before. Jealousy and joy, envy and excitement. All of it seems to revolve around the two humans in front of her.
I should have been their grandmother
Tauriel almost trips over her own feet in utter shock. The thought is so random and unexpected that she has to take a moment to compose herself. If she was a human maybe. Maybe, if she was a human because then they'd actually be able to age together. Maybe if he had only been born an elf again, she would be able to wait for him knowing that fifty years wouldn't be the end of their time together. Maybe, maybe-
Tauriel's eyes widen in shock as they make their way over hill. Their tree is still there, taller and weathered, but still there, stretching tall into the sky. And on a branch, lower than the last time she was there, but still ridiculously high considering his age and the illness that Rieran mentioned before.
Rieran gives a strangled cry, while Del laughs gleefully. "Gramps! The hell are you doing?" Rieran demands, lifting Del of his shoulders. Scowling, he walks up to the tree, lifting an arm up to climb up, but is freezes mid action when a ringing laugh reaches his ear, and a gentle breeze brushes past him.
Composure completely forgotten, Tauriel is laughing like an elfling first experiencing the joys of the world, but she doesn't give a damn, because he's still alive and waiting for her and she didn't break her promise and-
"Tauriel."
A choked noise comes from Tauriel's mouth, as tears begin forming in her eyes against her will. "Keoran, Keoran I'm back. Like I promised." She says breathlessly, because his skin is wrinkled and littered with age spots, his hair is white, his limbs are frail but his eyes still twinkle the same way they did when he was a child, when he was an elf, and Tauriel feels like she could kiss him-
But then she realizes the starlight in his eyes is starting to fade.
"You're so beautiful." Keoran says, reaching a frail hand up to gently caress her cheek. Tauriel wets her lips and pulls him into a half hug, leaning his head against her shoulder. "My…daughter. I told her all about you." He continues haltingly, slowly weaving his fingers into the elf's. "She named…her son…after us."
Tauriel's shoulders shake with a mixture of amused laughter, bitterness, regret and affection. Tauriel. Keoran. Rieran. How could she have missed it? "It's a beautiful name." She says quietly.
"Everything okay up there Gramps?" Rieran's voice asks from somewhere below them. Del's eager chatter asking her father to let her climb the tree to sit with her grandfather and his elven friend float up to the two of them as well.
A gentle smile slowly grows on Keoran's face. "Love you Del. Rieran. Make sure you tell your mother that too, won't you?" He asks his grandchild.
Tauriel glances down at Rieran and sees the grief-stricken look he is giving his grandfather. "Gramps…? What are you…?"
"Hey Tauriel?"
"Yes Keoran?" The elf responds, nuzzling her face into the human's snow white hair, her throat tightening as she faces what is about to happen.
There's a feather light pressure on her hand as Keoran squeezes it as tightly as he can. "Always…like this…?" He asks in a voice no louder than a whisper.
It takes a moment for Tauriel to respond. And in that moment, his shoulders stop moving, his body goes slack, the slight pressure on her hand vanishes and the starlight fades from his eyes. Slowly letting out the breath she didn't know she was holding, Tauriel stares up at the sky as her heart breaks a second time.
"Always like this."
When is the trailer for the final movie coming out, holy god ;_;
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