A/N A fluffy Legolas chapter, enjoy – J x
Mellonanim = My friend
Amin mela lle = I love you
I meet Legolas in an embrace a little too informal considering that we're surrounded by the guard and standing right next to our King, but I don't care. I nuzzle my face into his shoulder, breathing in his comforting scent as his long fingered hands clutch my back protectively.
"Are you okay?" His lips move against my ear, his quiet voice thick with worry.
"Yes, I missed you," I reply and he leans back to look at me, his hands on my shoulders. His blue eyes pierce my own intently.
"We need to talk privately," He tells me although his expression remains smooth, so I cannot tell what he means by it. I see the King shoot us a glance from the corner of my eye but his attention is quickly diverted as Thorin walks out to meet him. Both Kings' eyes narrow at the sight of one another.
"Thorin," Thranduil says curtly and Thorin greets him in turn. "It is a pleasure to see you again so soon," My king drawls, in a tone that borders on sarcasm, "However, it is under not so pleasurable circumstances,"
"This time you are in my kingdom," Thorin replies gruffly and Thranduil raises a thick eyebrow in a sneer.
"Although possibly not for long," He almost laughs which sends Thorin's lips curling into a snarl. "Of course, that is why I am here and why I have bought my best warriors. To ensure that it remains your kingdom," His pale blue eyes, so like those of his son, stare down the dwarf. Thorin considers this for a moment, his gaze roaming from Legolas and I, to Thranduil, to the group of Elves behind him.
"Come with me, we will discuss the plans," Thorin gestures for Thranduil to follow him and Thranduil does so after issuing some commands to the warriors. Legolas holds both my hands loosely in the space between us.
"Come, do you think your friends will let you show me around?" He looks to the entrance where the dwarves and Bilbo have gathered; some look hesitant and wary of the elves, others look angry, but all carry an undertone of relief for some help has arrived for them. I meet Kili's dark eyes from across the stretch of land; they appear blank and hard as they flit from my face to Legolas's and our entwined fingers.
"Let's see," I drop his hands and lead my friend to the small party of dwarves. Fili looks at me with a hard glare, fiercely protective of his brother as usual. Gloin, a large red-haired dwarf looks at Legolas with distaste; although he is more accustomed to me (if not fond), he has not forgotten Legolas's rude comments about the appearance of his family. Legolas merely nods curtly at him. I walk straight to Kili, trying to ignore the stares that Fili throws in my direction.
"Kili, do you think I could show Legolas inside? He wishes to speak to me," Kili swallows and looks at Legolas with narrowed eyes. Something unusual lurks in his expression; jealousy?
"To speak of what?" He says flatly, looking back at me.
"I do not know for we have not yet spoken of it," I try to tease but my voice sounds more sarcastic than light hearted, which Kili picks up on. His jealous glare drops into a resigned expression with his sigh. The result is so heart-breaking and sad that I bend down and cup his chin with my hand, forcing him to look at me. His eyes seem to regain their usual warmth with the intensity of my gaze and his lips part slightly as he watches me. I pull him in for an embrace and whisper against his ear –
"I will be back soon, my love," before I smile at him and straighten up to return to Legolas's side. Before I go someone grips my arm. I turn to see the stern face of Fili looking up at me, his golden mane and fierce expression reminding me of some wild beast.
"Tauriel, if you hurt him..." He growls and Kili makes an exasperated noise.
"Fili, if I had any intention of harming your brother, I would not have gone to the trouble of saving him," Legolas sniggers behind me as I pull my arm free from the dwarf's grip. I hear the sound of Kili punch his brother as we walk away. When we are far enough away from them, under cover of the rocky roof (though we were not expressly permitted to enter) Legolas asks me -
"You called him 'my love'. Are you and he...?" He murmurs, examining patterns on the walls and tracing them with his fingers so as to avoid my gaze.
"What of it?" I try to sound casual but my voice rises in pitch.
"Tauriel," Legolas says quietly, stopping and turning to look at me. He takes my hands in his and bites on his lip, a rare sign of anxiousness, an emotion he does not usually like to display. "I will not say I understand, but if he is your love..." His eyes flicker downward for a moment, "Then I wish you both all the fortunes of the world. You are my truest friend, you have been there for me through many hardships and many adventures and I hope that we can share many more. It was wrong of me to act as if my feelings were more than friendship, for I know now that you do not reciprocate them," He pauses.
"Legolas," I whisper, reaching up to stroke his face but he silences me by pressing his index finger to my lips.
"You are a beautiful woman, Tauriel, and I love you with all my heart. I do not know if you are my one love, I do not know that I have found them, nor perhaps if I ever will! But I know that we are alike of souls, kindred spirits if you will. I am sorry for doubting you; not just your opinions on the dwarves, but of the world and our part in it. I say now what I have been thinking of for a long time, but I say it now on the eve of battle, in case it goes ill."
"It will not go ill," tears well in my eyes from a mixture of the thought and Legolas's heartfelt speech.
"Of course not, how could it? When the Captain of the guard is there to protect me?" He winks at me and we laugh together, though a tear spills over my lashes. He kisses it away but I lunge forward, throwing my arms around his neck.
"I love you, mellonanim," I whisper to him and he rocks me, stroking my long hair tenderly.
"Amin mela lle," He replies and I let him hold me for a while, drinking in his presence and the comfort of the man who has stood by me for all my long life; the man who will continue to stand by me, and I to him, whatever may cross our paths.