Title: Sky Full of Stars
Author: LastWaterBender
Fandom: The Hobbit
Pairing: Kili X Tauriel, with one sided Legolas X Tauriel
Rating: T
Special thanks to my beta Robben
Summary: Post Battle of Five Armies. Everyone survives. Tauriel discovers a life changing secret that starts new problems between the very new relations between the Elves and the Dwarves.
It was late into the next afternoon when Kili woke up.
His eyes opened to see Tauriel sitting next to him with her legs folded. She was dressed for the day in a green form fitting dress that nearly looked identical to the one she was wearing when they met, except the small addition that was accented in her midsection, running a brush through her hair. "Good afternoon, Melamin." She said with a smile.
"How did you sleep?" He asked, rolling to his side and propping his head on his hand as his hand traced patterns on her covered thigh.
She turned to look at him, her smile bright. "Very well." She answered as she started to braid her hair.
Kili rolled over and got up to search for some clothes to wear for the day in his wardrobe. "Oh, I wanted to say thank you." Kili started, turning to look at her from his wardrobe. She raised an eyebrow, confused. "For helping everybody last night, I know that it was hard for you. . ."
She shook her head, unfolded her legs and stood up. "You do not need to thank me, Kili." Tauriel said walking towards him, placing a hand on his cheek. "I did what I could to help them when they needed it."
Kili shook his head. "You saved Dwalin's life." He said with wide eyes. "I know it wasn't easy, I could see you wearing yourself out and yet you didn't give up on him."
Tauriel shook her head. "I could not stand there and not help, Kili . . ." She argued softly.
"You don't understand what you've done! You not only stitched up Thorin, you saved one of his oldest friends." He said, his hand held hers tightly in his. "I cannot thank you enough for what you've done for him."
She kissed him on the lips. "You are welcome." She said as she pulled away from him before looking at her stomach sheepishly. It was late in the afternoon and Kili knew that she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, she had to be hungry.
He smiled at her blushing. "I will hurry and change, I'm starving." He joked, hoping to draw her away from feeling self-conscious. She nodded with a small sigh, she was grateful that he could nearly read her mind.
/
Legolas ran as fast as he could.
He needed to make it to the stables before his father left for what he assumed to be the Lonely Mountain. Rumors of the king's surprise trip was among the chatter that he picked up while on assignment, deep in the forest. Legolas wasn't stupid and knew that the king was set on bringing Tauriel back.
His father had been secretive for the past week, which only peaked Legolas' curiosity even more and made him pay more attention to what his father was doing. He had caught on to his secret meetings with the Captain of the Guard.
"Ada!" Legolas called out as the king mounted on to his majestic elk. "I just heard that you were leaving?"
King Thranduil studied his son and he knew that his son was playing him. "Yes, I have some urgent business with the Masters of Dale and Esgoroth." He said as he settled himself on the giant animal. "I should be back in a week's time."
"You are going to search for Tauriel." Legolas said flatly. "In the Lonely Mountain."
Thranduil looked down on his son, "I have reason to believe that she has made her way to Erebor." He said as one of the stable boys adjusted his stirrup. "I also have reasons to believe that they would take her in." Legolas kept his face neutral. "But I'm guessing you already knew that."
Legolas' hands clenched in a fist. "Are you accusing me of something, Ada?"
"I am merely making an observation." He responded while he placed gloves on his long fingers. "She is pregnant and alone, and yet you seem to be in no hurry to find her. Even if it is not your offspring, you still care deeply for her and I believe that if you truly didn't know where she was you would be blinded with panic."
The younger elf looked at his feet; he had tried to be careful to not put suspicion on him. But his father knew, he knew the whole time and Legolas knew when he was defeated. "I apologize for not being honest father." Legolas said truthfully, he did hate lying to his father.
Thranduil deflated, he really couldn't be mad at his son. "You are forgiven." He said regally. "See that it doesn't happen again and when Tauriel returns, you are not to see her ever again."
That was a knife to his heart. His father signaled for his small company to get ready to leave with a raised fist. "Please don't do this." Legolas pleaded. "Please just let her go."
He froze. "Tauriel has betrayed her kin and will be brought back alive, I will not guarantee the life of the unborn child should she fight back." He stated officially and received nods from the top men in his army.
"The dwarf prince will not give her up lightly, Ada. I have seen the way he looks at her, the way he talks to her, and he cares deeply for her." He said softly. "Do not think that the dwarves will not protect the next heir of Erebor."
Thranduil laughed. "The dwarves would not allow a Halfling to rule Erebor, especially because it is half elf." He said when his laughter died down. "You do not know their kind like I do, dwarves are greedy. I would not at all be surprised if they tossed her out of Erebor to raise the child on her own after they get all of our secrets from her."
Legolas rolled his eyes. "What secrets does Tauriel know that they would want?" He asked annoyed. "And if you think she would just hand over information, you obviously don't know her because she only wants peace between us and the dwarves. Despite everything she is loyal to you."
"Loyal to me? If she was loyal to me, she would not have chased after the dwarf in the first place!" Thranduil said with a humorless laugh.
Legolas shook his head. Did he not know the elleth that he had raised from a little elfling to the captain of his guard at all? Or was he a victim of paranoia? "What secrets would she divulge? Her only interests lie in what is good for her child."
"They know she is close to us, they would bribe her for refuge. . ." Thranduil started.
"She hasn't been close to you since before the Battle of the Five Armies! She voiced to me her concerns that you no longer saw her worthy of her post as Captain of the Guard even before the dwarves crossed into our lands." Legolas interrupted, his voice raising.
Thranduil glared at him. "She chose her path and look where it has landed her." He roared. "She wants peace between us and Erebor, but she has single handedly made herself a pawn for war."
Legolas' look hardened at his father. "At least let me go and talk with her." He said.
"Absolutely not." Thranduil said and motioned for his steed to move forward, but Legolas grabbed his reins. "Let go."
"Ada, Tauriel and I have been very close for a very long time, I may be able to talk her into coming back to avoid any conflict." He said, tightening his grip on the elk. He needed to see her one more time to make sure that he had made the right choice in letting her go and talk some sense into his father.
Thranduil huffed with a glare. "Fine, mount up." He shared a look with the Captain of the Guard, who nodded with the silent promise to keep his eyes on him.
/
They were the only ones in the dining hall, save for Ori, who snacked on some jerky. "Hello Ori." Greeted Kili, who sat across from him and Tauriel sat next to Kili. "Sleep well?"
"Aye, I would still be asleep if it wasn't for my stomach rumbling." He said brightly, handing a plate of food to Tauriel. "You must try this! It's delicious."
Tauriel took the plate and looked at it cautiously. "Thank you." She said, unsure of what exactly that she was being asked to taste. She didn't want to put it on her plate and not eat it, in fear of being rude to the dwarf with the axe in his head, who had been really nice to her.
Kili leaned over and whispered in her ear. "It's like a meat pie." He answered, taking the plate from her and placing some on his plate. In the past week she had slowly been introducing meat into her diet and was still wary of new things. Kili filled his fork with a piece of it and held it out for her to taste.
She took a bite of the fork and had to catch the flaky bread part that that missed her mouth and both of them chuckled. "I have not slept enough to stomach your displays of affection." Said Fili walking in with deep bags under his eyes.
"Nobody asked for your opinion." Kili retorted as Tauriel looked away sheepishly, she put the flaky meat pie on her plate and passed it to Fili who sat next to her. "You didn't have to get up."
Fili shook his head. "I've got to meet with Thorin about meeting our kin from the Blue Mountains in about an hour." He said filling up his plate. "They sent a raven before the furnace exploded and they've just passed Rivendell, they should be here in three weeks' time."
"Is mother with them?" Kili asked.
"Aye, she is." Answered Fili excitedly. Tauriel listened to the brothers' excitement and Ori piped in asking about his family, when Fili announced that all the dwarves from the Blue Mountains were coming. "I'm leading a small party to meet them on the far side of Mirkwood at the end of the week."
It was like a dagger through her chest and the thought of her home. "Are you sure that is wise?" Tauriel asked in a quiet voice. Both brothers looked at her with a raised brow. "Those woods are not safe and is only two weeks if you go to the south."
"What do you mean?" Asked Fili. "King Thranduil promised us that there will be safe passage through the forest for our kin in the treaty agreement."
She shook her head and struggled to come up with something to say. She knew that Fili was being groomed to be the next king and that his young ideals were very refreshing, but it wasn't enough to protect his kin that would be coming through the forest. He gave Thranduil too much credit. Tauriel was torn, because Thranduil was a very wise and very old king, whose best interests lied with his people.
"You've got nothing to hold him up to his words. You have something that he wants and he's almost willing to do anything to get it." She said and she looked between the brothers wishing that they would understand what she was saying. "You've got to trust me on this; I've sat in on some very secret meetings between his highest elves. . ."
"You think he is planning something to cross us?" Asked a third voice from behind them. They turned to see Thorin, looking worse for wear with stitches on his cheek. She took a deep breath and looked at the occupants in the room; this was too public for this conversation. "Ori, leave us and guard the door, no one enters until I say so."
The dwarf scuttled from his seat with his plate and shut the door behind him leaving the line of Durin alone with the elf. She felt like a small animal surrounded by hawks.
Tauriel shook her head; she wasn't going to betray her king more than she already had by giving away his secrets. "I don't know if he has anything planned, but he has nothing stopping him from betraying you. Your alliance is very fragile and he doesn't care which way it goes." She said. "I would like to believe that forming a strong alliance would be a benefit for him and he would allow them passage through the forest, but lately he walks in shadows towards darkness."
The Durin heirs looked at each other with concern before they were interrupted by Nori who came in the door breathlessly. "The Elf King is here!"
Her knees grew week and nearly give way, but Kili caught her with ease and helped her to the floor as panic set in. She looked to the floor as her hands started to shake, her breathing uneven. King Thranduil had found her hiding spot and was going to force her back to Mirkwood to imprison her for betraying him. He was probably going to have her killed for committing treason against him.
Thorin was giving orders when her sense caught up to her again. ". . . Kili, take her to the dorms and stay there until I come and get you. . ."
Tauriel shook her head as she looked up at them from her spot on the floor. "I want to be there." She said firmly, Kili opened mouth to object, but Thorin beat him to it.
"Absolutely not." He said shaking his head. "There is still a chance that he doesn't know that you are here."
She shook her head. "He would not be here unannounced if he didn't know I was here." Tauriel said level headedly. "I need to be there, I need to speak with him."
"Let's go." Thorin said turning on his heels, Kili and Fili helped her to her feet and both stayed close to her. They were making a plan, but she wasn't listening. Her keen hearing was focused on the familiar footsteps of King Thranduil, she could hear him muttering to someone, a voice that didn't respond. They stopped outside the private chambers and Thorin looked at her. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked and she immediately nodded. It would've have made her smile to see him care about her well-being, but she didn't have time to dwell on it.
Stopping outside the chamber door, Thorin motioned for Fili to follow him. "You wait here." He ordered to Kili and Tauriel, who could do nothing but wait.
