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.
Italics are Sinderain
Chapter 10
Thorin walked through the door followed closely by Fili with a stoic look on his face and King Thranduil stood taller, even with the dwarf king standing on a stage, the elf king was still taller than him. His son and the other elves stood at attention, though weaponless, still stood ready to react if needed. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me." He said formally with a small bow.
"I do not usually allow guests to come unannounced." He said roughly with a glare. "But today I will make an exception for you, King Thranduil." It was paining him to be civil towards the elf that was responsible for most of his pain and suffering.
"Forgive me, King Under the Mountain." Thranduil said smoothly. "I would not have come unannounced had it not been a great need. I am searching for a deserter and traitor of the Woodland Realm and I was led to believe that she would find refuge here."
"I don't know where you got such information that we would harbor one of your fugitives." Thorin said offended, folding his arms tightly against his chest.
The elf king's eyes hardened and he could hear his son shift uncomfortably. "It will not be in your best interest to lie to me, Thorin Oakenshield." He barked, pointing an accusing finger at his direction. "I am prepared to tear this mountain apart to find her."
Thorin shifted his weight from one foot to another. "And it is in not your best interest to come to Erebor unannounced and harass the host." He said evenly, like Legolas, Fili shifted nervously beside his king. "Just tell me what you came here to say."
"Tauriel, former Captain of my Royal Guard has deserted her post, thus making her an enemy." Thranduil answered, his nose held up high. "I've come to take her back to Woodland Realm."
"As a prisoner." Fili said without question.
He only shrugged his heavily draped shoulders. "She will be punished for her crimes."
Fili's eyebrows shot up, he wasn't aware of elven forms of punishment but the king's tone of voice left everything to the imagination. "And the child?"
Thranduil took a couple of steps, tenting his fingers together. "I assure you that she will have the opportunity to raise her child, once her sentence is up." He decreed.
"You would not be here if you didn't suspect that the child is every bit of dwarf as it is elf." Said a third voice coming from behind the other dwarves. Kili had appeared on the other side of his uncle with a hard look on his face. Thorin glared at him, he loved the boy to death but his recklessness was going to make the situation worse.
Thranduil's eyes lit up. "The black haired archer I have heard so much about." Kili took the steps down to stand in front of the king, who was a giant standing close to him. Kili was tall for a dwarf, but the high elf was very tall for an elf. An accusingly sharp finger was pointed at him, so close that it nearly touched him. "You are the cause of her behavior."
Kili held up his hands in surrender and opened his mouth to retort when a small voice from behind them silenced him. "Kili is not the reason why I left." Said Tauriel, appearing from behind Thorin. She stayed on the platform, her hands at her side and she had a sharp look on her face.
The elf king looked her over, taking in her new curves that weren't hidden well under the yards of fabric. "Which time?" His voice dripping with sarcasm. "When you chased after the dwarf after you learned he was shot by a Morgohl arrow? Or was it when you abandoned Legolas at Laketown to heal the orc wound or, better yet when you hid away to create this. . ." He motioned to her stomach and her delicate hand went to cover it, to hide it from his sight. "It has been awhile, Tauriel."
She ignored his attempt at a taunt. "I was doing what I thought was right! You allowed those orcs to plague our lands and then turned a blind eye on them attacking others outside our lands." She defended her actions.
"Silence!" He seethed as he stepped around Kili. "You will not turn this around to be my fault that you did not follow orders. You abandoned your kingdom to hide your mistakes, you will face your punishment. I may allow you to raise your child on your own if you cooperate. . ."
Tauriel took a step forward, anger flashed in her eyes. "I would rather die than to see my child raised in the darkness that had taken over the forest." She said and Kili bit his lip, he wished that he understood what they were saying. She knew the punishment for treason was death and she assumed the second she left these halls, he would end her because his reverence for life had been lost many years ago.
"That can be easily arranged." Growled Thranduil. The dwarves shared a look between each other, the Elf King's tone sound dangerous, but Tauriel didn't flinch. The King's son broke rank from behind him and place a hand on his father's arms, making the dwarves nervous.
"You promised that you would not harm her." He hissed as his father brushed him away, he had hoped that it would not come to this, he wanted to dissuade him from calling for war. "Do you not see that the dwarves are prepared to fight for her?"
Thorin looked at Thranduil. "You son is very wise, King Thranduil." He answered. "It has been brought to my attention that an alliance with the Woodland Realm would be in our best interests, but should you attempt to remove her for Erebor, you will be met with our full force."
Fili and Kili shared a look from across the room, both looked surprised. Thorin was protecting the elf with what little army he had at the moment. "She carries my nephew's child and will be the heir to the throne, both titles will be protected." She had obviously worked her way past his stony exterior to allow her stay.
Thranduil's sharp glare turned from the king back to his son, who had taken his hand off his arm, and finally fell on Tauriel, who was slightly stunned at the moment. "I have given you everything and I have favored you among others, despite my better judgment." He said, shoving past Kili so that only the stairs separated them. Kili gave a hard look before moving back up the stairs to stand next to her. "I raised you as if you were my own child."
Watching her face, Kili could tell that her stony façade was breaking. "Did you raise me because you truly cared for me?" She asked her voice cracking. "Or did you raise me out of necessity because I was an orphan and you were the king."
With a sharp finger pointed at her. "I did not have to bring you into my family, there were others that could have raised you or I could've just let you out there to fend for yourself." He seethed and she gasped, her heart breaking. "I raised you to be a proper elleth to fit in with other high elves, but clearly your Silvan blood is stronger. Clearly your carelessness has gotten you into trouble and I have let your insubordination go on for far too long." He took a deep breath, he knew he was breaking her. "I never thought you would turn your back on your kin, on me just because I would not allow Legolas to pledge himself to you."
It was Legolas' turn to look shocked, his father had caught on to his affection to Tauriel and interpreted it as romantic. Maybe it was at one point, but not anymore. "If any of this was about Legolas, I would not have returned after the battle." She said harshly. Kili looked to his brother before looking to the prince, had there been a history between them?
"You should not have come back once you gave yourself to the dwarf!" Thranduil answered, his voice raised. "You disgust me!" He turned around to compose himself, breathing heavily.
"I came back because I was still loyal to you! I am still loyal!" She cried, her hands clenching into fists. "You are like a father to me, you cared for me when I had nobody else! You raised me with your son, a debt that I would never be able to repay."
He turned around with a flash. "You are an insolent child who ran away when you didn't get your way." Thranduil shouted. "In six hundred years I never expected this from you. What I don't understand is why would you leave? You know the consequences!"
"I guess you don't know me as well as you think you do." She argued her look going dark. "You do not realize that I love Kili more than I fear you." Kili watched with a heavy heart, because she had never voiced the words together.
Thranduil took a step towards her, even with her standing on the bottom step he towered over her, but he was stopped by his son who placed a hand on his arm. "Ada!" Legolas said and the dwarves flanked her sides ready for anything.
"You should have feared me more!" He growled breathing heavily as he allowed himself to be pulled back by his son. "You were like a daughter to me." The room filled with silence.
"I haven't been your daughter for a long time."She all but yelled and silence filled the chamber. Both Tauriel and Thranduil were breathing heavily, looking for more jabs to hurt each other, both of them masters of the psychological warfare. She looked down at her hands and it was then that she allowed a single tear to streak her cheeks. "When did you stop seeing me as your daughter?"
The elven king turned his back to her and took a deep breath. They couldn't see the hurt that crossed his features, but Legolas could. "When I realized that you couldn't control your impulsiveness and kept getting yourself into trouble. When I realized that you would never pass as a high elf." His tone was harsh, he was building a wall around his heart to protect himself. Legolas knew that he was only playing the society card as a last resort.
It made Legolas realize that his father was angry because SHE abandoned HIM, not as a king but as her father.
He remembered the time when King Thranduil worshiped the ground that Tauriel had walked on. She was a young little elleth when she was found in the forest next to her dead parents. Legolas had watched his father sit next to her bed for days on end while she healed. His father was a different man when he played with the girl, so alive and full of light. And Tauriel had grown so attached to the king that Legolas had to hold her as she cried when the King had to leave for trips. Legolas had become the doting big brother that kept her habit of getting into trouble at bay and had taught her how to shoot a bow. While the king taught her the ways of the high court, Legolas found them boring, but was obedient to his father whereas Tauriel was always looking for an escape.
Tauriel's shoulder sagged as she turned away from him. "You stopped being my little elleth when you were old enough to make your own decisions. I could look away from your mistakes because you are young and reckless." He said to her and it was the first time that Kili had reached out for her, rubbing her arm. "You stopped being my daughter when you left my kingdom to chase after an injured dwarf."
She bit her lip and her hand went to her mouth to stifle a sob. Kili wrapped an arm around her and shot a glare at the other elves as he tried to console her. Thorin stepped up, in fear that Kili would say something stupid as he had been prone to do in the past. "From one king to another, we both know our kingdoms cannot handle another war." He started standing tall. "I ask you to allow Tauriel to stay here and in return I will return something that belongs to you."
He motioned for Fili to step forward with a very old looking chest, where it had come from Tauriel would never know but she knew what they were. The white jewels. Her chest tightened at the thought of it because King Thror angered the elven king by teasing him with the jewels and she had heard Thranduil complain that Thorin would do the same because he suffered from the same madness his grandfather had.
Thranduil froze and watched the heir walk down the steps, stopping in front of him and opened the lid of the chest. The jewels reflected off the light and seemed like they were as bright as stars. "Do you honestly think you can bribe me to change my mind?" Barked Thranduil looking both impressed and offended at the same time.
Thorin raised a brow. "That is not my intention, King Thranduil." He said, forcing himself to not become defensive.
"Do you play me for a fool, Thorin Oakenshield?" The king asked with a hard glare that would shake a lesser being's foundation. Thorin didn't quake, but stood taller with an equally strong glare before he relented.
Thranduil was the king of circular conversation and nothing was going to happen when he had his defenses raised. Thorin was going to have to be the greater king, he turned around and looked at his nephews, the she-elf. He also knew what had happened last time when the jewels were offered to the elf king and he knew that he still harbored bad feelings from over a hundred years ago. "Fili, Kili you are dismissed."
Fili nodded and handed the chest to his uncle, took the steps next to his brother and his lover, following them from the throne room. Fili shut the door behind him and the three of them stood in the hallway in silence. Kili placed a hand on Tauriel cheek, trying to get some sort of reaction from her.
"It's going to be alright." He reassured her and she blinked a couple of times trying to believe him.
Fili placed a hand on her arm. "You have won over Thorin." He said softly. "You've got nothing to worry about."
She shook her head and let out a shaky breath. The door opened again and all three of them turned to look in surprise. Legolas came through the door and shut it quietly behind him. The brothers stood protectively next to Tauriel, who only pushed through them to be gathered up in the elf-prince's arms. She wove her long arms around his neck and his snaked around her growing waist. "I don't want to lose you." She whispered into his neck and the dwarves watched with mixed emotions, the embrace was far too intimate for any of their comforts. She cried against him for a few moments and he buried his face into her neck, his hand woven through her hair.
"You won't lose me, little star." He whispered with a nickname he had given her when she was an elfling. He pulled back and wiped away the tears that had slipped down her cheeks. "I am sorry, I tried to stop him from coming."
"Thank you." Tauriel whispered and he rubbed his hands up and down her arms. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and her eyes closed tightly. "You know that I didn't want to abandon you, Mellon-nin. I was doing what I thought best for my baby."
He stepped back from her. "I know." He answered.
Kili stepped up between both elves. "I know that Tauriel can take care of herself, "He started looking at the taller elf. "But I want you to know that I will do everything in my power to make sure that she is safe and that she is happy."
Legolas looked over the dwarf and he couldn't help but believe him, this young dwarf had such tenacity that kept Tauriel on her toes. He found that he probably could get to like the dwarf if he got to know him.
"Please don't think I am taking her away from you either." Kili said and it surprised both elves and his brother. "The halls of Erebor are open for you to come see her as you wish. I also feel it is important for our baby to know both of its uncles."
Tauriel all but threw her arms around Kili's neck, her shoulders shaking. He held her tightly with eyes wide, unsure what caused her to start sobbing against him. She had never had someone stand up for her so selflessly before. Sure, Legolas defended her growing up and looked out for her out of necessity, but Kili knew how important he was to her to voice how important it was for Legolas to remain in her life.
"The hospitality of Dwarves are truly unmatched." Legolas said with a nod. "If only my father would believe that."
Tauriel pulled away and Kili wiped the tears away as she rested her forehead against his. She didn't say anything and closed her eyes, he could see just how exhausted she was. Fili motioned for Kili to sit her down on a bench that rested outside the chamber. He sat down next to her and her head rested on his shoulder, her eyes closing and she tucked her legs to her side.
Fili looked to the other elf, who looked away from the tender scene in front of him. It was still weird that to see his brother so affectionate with the elf. The three males sat in an awkward silence, unsure what to say to each other.
They were saved when the door opened and Thorin appeared. Fili and Legolas jumped to attention and Kili looked up at his warn out uncle. "King Thranduil has agreed to let Tauriel stay." He said lamely. Fili know that he wouldn't disclose the terms that he agreed too to keep his nephew happy. Kili smiled brightly and looked at the elf, who had fallen asleep against him and not heard the news. He pressed his lips to her forehead and ran his fingers through her hair.
"Did you discuss our kin crossing through the forest?" Fili asked quietly.
"I will guide them myself." Legolas offered and Thorin eyed him warily.
Fili was the one to step up and defend him. "We can trust him." He said, placing a hand on his arm. "I trust him, besides I will be there to lead them from the edge of the forest back to Erebor and it will be easier with somebody that I know."
Legolas was truly touched, not an hour ago the blond dwarf looked as if he was going to attempt to have him ejected from the halls. "Okay." Thorin said with a heavy sigh. "Your father awaits you, he is heading back to the Greenwood."
He nodded with a bow and turned to exit before he stopped on his heels. He opened his mouth a couple of times, unable to voice what he needed to say for a moment. "Thank you for opening your doors for Tauriel, she is very special to me."
Slowly he took one last look at the sleeping elf and exited the hall to find his father. Thorin sat down on the bench next to Tauriel and closed his eyes, to Fili he seemed to have aged in the minutes he had spent alone with the Elf King.
Kili looked at Fili, who watched his uncle. Tauriel shifted in her sleep and Kili held her tightly to him to still her. After a minute, the king heaved himself on to his feet with a tired groan. "I think I need to sleep for a month." He said drained.
"Don't we all?" Fili asked with a soft smile.
Thorin smiled warily and started to walk towards his bed chamber, his name was called and he stopped and turned around to see Kili stand up, crossing the distance between them and wrapping his arms tightly around him. "Thank you." He said breathlessly.
The king returned the hug and pulled back to lean his forehead against his nephew's. A moment later he turned on his heels and continued his trek towards his bed chambers. Tauriel still had tears streaking down her cheeks but was on her feet. He walked back over to her and took her hand in his. "I think Fili is right, I think we need to sleep for a month."
She yawned, most of her energy spent. "I can agree to that." She said and allowed Kili to lead her towards the dorms.