After getting their things, they had almost gotten out the front door when Thranduil stopped them. Tauriel's eyes fluttered shut, and it was then that Kili realized that she had not told her king of her guests.
"See to it this filth does not enter my halls again Tauriel, or I will make sure you never see them again either." The elf king stood tall, straight, elegant. Everything an elf was expected to be. He looked down upon Tauriel, not as his equal, but much like a father scolding his rebellious child. His son, Legolas, stood behind him, and for a split second he looked at his father, really looked at him. Kili did not see pride filter across Legolas's face, but rather disgust. And though that expression was shoved behind a mask once he noticed the young dwarf looking, Kili couldn't help but have a little respect for the pointy eared prince.
Tauriel, having been oblivious to everything but the King's words, paused for a beat of a second before turning around, hair like fire to match her expression. "I hope one day you see that foolish grudges are nothing but foolish, and when it comes time for your son to rule, he will lead with such knowledge."
Thranduil's eyes flashed, shocked and hurt that Tauriel would say such a thing, and Kili struggled not to flinch away. "When I told you that you could never be with my son, I did not expect your affections to sink so low." He turned, cloak flaring around him as he walked away. "Come Legolas. There is much yet to do."
Legolas heeded the King's words, but not before displaying another expression of disgust, this time directed towards Tauriel. "I did not know of my father's doing, but to sink as low as to court a dwarf?" The elvish Prince scoffed. "You wound me." And then he, too, was gone. Tauriel's eyes filmed over, and Kili grabbed both the hand of the she elf and the hobbit before dragging them both outside. He was cursing furiously in dwarvish, so much that Tauriel was pulled out of her shock to stare at Kili in a curious manner.
"Are you alright?" Bilbo asked. Poor hobbit was quite shocked as well. His fingers kept twitching, and Kili focused on the action to calm down.
"The stubbornness of elves is almost as bad as the stubbornness of dwarves. And now I'm starting to sound like Gandalf." Kili sighed, exasperated. "Let's just get out of this forest before I start sounding like an elf too." Tauriel laughed, patting Kili on the shoulder.
They made it out the remainder of the forest without another incident with the spiders. By then the hobbit was coughing and wheezing, his little shoulders shaking. "Are you alright, Master Boggins?" Kili asked, concerned for the young hobbit's health. Tauriel's gaze was set on the field that separated Mirkwood from the Misty Mountains.
"Yes, just a bit of a cold," Bilbo muttered, pressing his fingers to his mouth to stifle another cough. Tauriel returned her gaze to Kili and Bilbo.
"There is something going on in the North. I fear that my stay in Rivendell is going to be short lived. It is where the evil stirs, and I do not wish to linger. We need horses. Until we get on the other side of the misty mountains, we are going to have to travel by foot. Come, while there is still day to see by." She smiled at the pair, almost sympathetically, but Bilbo and Kili were already making to move forward. They were used to Thorin pressing them onwards; it wasn't too much different from their travel to the Lonely Mountain.
Before they got too far from the treeline of Mirkwood, a whinnying stopped the party in their tracks. Tauriel was the first to turn, her elvish ears picking up the noise first, then Bilbo, and finally Kili. Legolas stood at the edge of the forest, his expression grim as he held the ropes of three elvish horses. "I am taking a risk bringing these to you, mellon." He spoke to Tauriel, and she approached the Prince, her smile gentle.
"Hannon le," she said, dipping her head forward as she took the ropes of two of the horses. "We only need two. Thank you Legolas. It is the right decision you made, providing us with these. They will return to you when we reach the edge of the Misty Mountains." Legolas nodded in understanding and started to turn away, but Tauriel grabbed his shoulder. "One day you will be King, and you will understand." She let him go then, and he sank back into the forest without so much another word.
Those words rang with familiarity, but as Kili was helped on his horse by Tauriel, he couldn't remember for the life of him from where. "Bilbo, ride with me." The hobbit complied, allowing Tauriel to lift him onto the horse and then pull herself up behind him. A momentary sense of longing passed through Kili; he wanted to be in Bilbo's place. He quickly shook away the thought. Though horses were still too big for him, he could handle the creature while Bilbo alone could not.
They rode for most of the rest of the day, and managed to make it to the edge of the Misty Mountains just as the sun sunk below their tips. Tauriel dismounted, and, after Kili and Bilbo had done the same, she sent them back to their home in elvish.
"We will be safe here, won't we?" Bilbo was eyeing the cliffs of the Mountain with suspicion, no doubt looking for any signs of goblins or even orcs. However, it appeared as if they were lucky tonight - it was quiet near the Mountain. Perhaps the Battle of Five Armies had taken out more of the goblin population that Kili had anticipated.
"Yes. The Mountain was drained of goblins when they marched on Erebor. Still, we will only build a small fire tonight." Tauriel moved towards the wood that went up the side of the mountain, and Kili followed her, snatching up his bow.
"Bilbo, set up camp. Tauriel won't stray too far and I'm going to find us some real food." Tauriel had packed some bread, something called Lembas, but Kili tired of bread and farm food. He longed for the taste of meat.
"Keep an eye on Bilbo? I worry for the hobbit," Kili said, adding assurance to his words as he trudged after Tauriel, who kept bending over to pick up twitches and branches for a fire. "I'm going to go mark a couple rabbits. A deer, if I'm lucky." He went quiet, hoping that he didn't offend Tauriel. Thranduil's steed was an elk, after all.
"Two eyes, if I can spare them." Tauriel shared a smile with Kili, a secret smile that nearly left Kili melting in his boots. He tugged on her hair lightly, wrapping a strand around his finger as she leaned down willingly. Their lips met, and Kili sighed blissfully. He would never get used to her lips, and was reluctant to pull away.
Her hand trailed from his hair down the side of his face as he pulled away, and it took all of his self-control to walk away and hunt. He failed a couple more times.
Kili hadn't had any luck on any deer, but he had managed to kill a few good conies, of which he and Bilbo were tearing to at the moment. The rumor that elves didn't eat meat was proven true when Tauriel took one look at the cooked meat and shook her head, politely declining. She settled with the Lembas bread, which she only took a bite or two of before she was full.
Bilbo fell asleep after that almost instantly, his cold causing his body to shut down into restless sleep. It was slightly on the chilly side, but it didn't appear to bother anyone but the hobbit, who shivered and rolled over in his sleep. Tauriel was looking up at the night sky, and Kili stood and shuffled over to her, settling down next to her and taking a sip of the soup he had made. It felt warm against his fingers, and he kept the bowl there, hoping it would warm up the rest of his body as well. The elf's body heat was certainly doing the trick, and she laid her head against the top of his head, causing a vibration to trail through his skull when she spoke.
"You wish something of me, yet you don't voice yourself. Speak, so that I may listen and decide for myself." Her words caused a ripple of shock to pass through the young dwarf. She was right, of course, something had been bothering him, but he didn't think he had displayed it so freely as to allow the elf to know.
"I-" He took one of her hands in his own, rubbing it and feeling the soft skin that settled there. There were callouses on the tips of her fingers and the padding of the palm of her hand where she held her bow, but it didn't compare to the roughness of dwarf hands. "I wish for you to travel with me to the Blue Mountains. I will inform Erebor's dwarves that they may return to their home, assure Ma and Da I'm alright, and then travel with you to the North, where we can see what evil lingers there." He continued to rub his fingers across her hand, marveling at her beauty.
"You wish me to meet your parents?" Kili could hear the amused tone in her voice, and he raised his head slowly so that he might look at her.
"'S that alright?" He felt hesitant, like he had said the wrong thing. He had never courted someone before, much less taken an interest in anyone else.
Tauriel's laugh was breathless, and she took the dwarf's hands in both of her hands. "As long as we do not tread astray long, I would be honored to meet such folk. Though, I do not know they will treat me any better than my people treated you." Her voice was sad, and Kili pressed forward, meeting her lips quickly.
"They'll love you," he assured her. Now, he wasn't sure just how they'd react. They had always preferred Fili over him in the sense that they always got frustrated with Kili, and now that he was bringing home an elf that he was courting? He hadn't the slightest idea as to what to expect.
Tauriel fell asleep easily, resting her cheek against Kili's shoulder as she held his hand, and he stared at up at the stars while he kept watch. It was a few hours before dawn when a flurry of movement filtered through the trees. He squinted, hoping that it was just some wild animal passing by, but when he saw the flash of armor and a banishing of swords, he quickly grew to realize that they were under attack.
"Orcs!" he shouted, pushing to his feet.
AN: Don't have much to say this time. Just know that I appreciate each and every one of you, and if fanfiction would let me, I'd be giving you all a great big heart right now. c: I hope you all know how hard it is to write their relationship, as elves usually see themselves above emotions. So writing Tauriel, who is quickly falling for Kili, is haaaard. Anyway..next chapter we'll get an inkling of who the antagonist will be. ;D Hope you enjoyed. Until next time. xox