AN: Short chapter, but it's something, and I wanted to get it up.
After a long and lonely journey, she finally reached the borders of her homeland. The captain of the guard (her successor) did a double-take and gasped, "Tauriel?"
"I have returned," she said with an attempt at a smile.
"How have you fared? We have not seen you for what seems like an age!" he exclaimed.
"It has been an age," Tauriel said bitterly, "and it has ended."
The captain took note of the grief etched onto her face and said simply, "Fare thee well, my lady."
"You as well," she said, passing the border and leaving them behind without a second glance, continuing on along the familiar road towards the halls of the Elvenking. As she rode she wondered who would remain. Would Mirkwood still ring with the clear, familiar voices of her kin? She thought of her old friend Legolas, and wondered if he had already departed for the Undying Lands. Even Erebor, protected by its great walls of stone, had not been left unscathed by the War of the Ring. She and Kili had been relatively isolated from the brunt of Sauron's forces, but Legolas had told her tales of battles and death and glory. She knew that in his heart of hearts, her childhood friend desired peace, and he would wish to seek that peace in Aman. Yet another goodbye that she did not want to have to say.
She reached the gates of the great Halls of Mirkwood; finding them unguarded. Strange, she thought. Have they not enough guards left? Has everyone gone? The gate creaked as she carefully pushed it open. She tiptoed further in, further up. She padded through the caves, through the dining halls, through the very throne room itself. The halls she had known as a child to be so full of light and laughter and eating and drinking were utterly silent. The atmosphere was eerie.
She sighed heavily and without thinking, started re-tracing the familiar passage to her old room.
