'Who is Tauriel?'

Dwalin frowned as he heard Basil´s question, but then he realized that the hobbit had probably never met the she elf, since she had not been with them when they were captured. Later, after the battle, both Basil and Tauriel had disappeared.

'She was one of the elves who had captured us in Mirkwood. The red haired captain of the guard…' Dwalin could hear Basil gasp in recognition.

'The red haired captain? But she was so brave and strong!' Basil had seen her during her stay in Mirkwood. King Thranduil and his son Legolas had highly respected her. 'How could something like this happen to her?'

Dwalin shook his head. He had heard stories about how orcs had come to existence and he had heard what had happened to Tauriel after the battle. She had defied her king, she had even pointed her weapons at him and had been banished. And she had lost Kili.

'Kili – the young lad loved her.' Dwalin told Basil who gasped again.

Tauriel had told her that she had been broken by dwarves. But could this be the result of a broken heart?

'Some people go mad in their grief.' Dwalin sighed, he had seen it often enough.

'Mad enough to become an orc?' Basil could not believe it.

'No, there must have been more behind it.' Dwalin mused. 'After Kilis death, Tauriel disappeared, but we heard from Dis that a red haired elf had visited her in the Blue Mountains and had given her Kili's rune stone. After that nobody ever saw her again. The king of Mirkwood seems not to care, but he does. And he worries.'

This information made sense. The female orc had spoken of a dwarvish token, Kili´s rune stone. But how could dwarves be responsible for her fate?

'Listen, burglar.' Dwalin chose Basil´s old nickname to break the tension. 'I think I can get out of here, but for that I need you to divert Tauriel and the guards. Can you do that?'

Basil hummed and started planning. She was curious and she needed to speak to Tauriel again; she wanted to know everything.

'I think I can. She wants me alive, she wants to see me and Thorin fail and break apart. Almost as if she…..' Basil could not think straight. All the information washed over in mind in pure chaos. It was as if Tauriel´s heart had been broken and now she lived only to see others break apart as well.

'I believe that we are somewhere in the Misty Mountains.' Dwalin told her. 'If that is true, I will try to reach Rivendell. Maybe the cursed elves there will help us. This….Elrond fellow seemed quite trustworthy.'

'Lord Elrond will help you, sure as death.' Basil told him grimly. Thinking about Elrond, Basil remembered that his wife had been taken by orcs as well. Their sons, Elladan and Elrohir, had rescued her, but she was never the same elf again and had sailed to Valinor. Had she become an orc as well? But orcs did not go to Valinor.

'You are quick in trusting the elf.' Dwalin grumbled, but was cut short by Basil.

'Lord Elrond offered me a bed and a warm home for many weeks.' Basil told Dwalin sharply. 'After the battle I….when I was on my way home, I stayed in Rivendell for a while. I was not ready to face the other hobbits, to hear them call me Mad Baggins. Gandalf was right, I was not the same hobbit I was when I left the Shire. Elrond did not care, he accepts people the way they are. He helped me when all others had turned their backs on me.'

Dwalin stayed silent for a while and tried to fight his feeling of hurt and guilt. But Basil was right, Thorin and the company had disappointed her, they had not fought for her as she had fought for them. Apparently, lord Elrond had given her what she needed, at least for a while. A home.

'I am sorry, lass.' Dwalin grumbled and leaned back in his cell.

'Do not be.' Basil sighed. 'Just get us out of here. Thorin needs us.'

#

Tauriel did not return to the cells for a long time. Basil already worried that she would never come back, but after many endless days, the dark shadow returned to her cell. She was about to leave again, but Basil took her chance.

'Tauriel?' she reached out for the former she elf and noticed her surprised bearing.

'So you recognized me. Who would have thought?' Tauriel snarled. 'You must have spent more time in Mirkwood than I had realized.'

'Tell me more about yourself.' Basil tried. Dwalin had told her a few things about the former elf and she hoped that it would catch Tauriel's attention. 'Kili told me about you.'

Tauriel turned around violently, her eyes wide and full of grief. 'Kili?'

'He gave you his rune stone. The one his mother had given him to remind him of his promise to her.' Basil said softly and hoped that Tauriel would take her out of her cell for some privacy.

'He broke his promise.' Tauriel stated bitterly.

'Was he the one who broke you?' Basil asked, but nearly crawled into the darkness of her cell as Tauriel's glare became murderous.

'So many questions.' Tauriel snarled. 'Why do you care?'

Basil did not care, she could not stop thinking about the threat this she orc was to Thorin and her, but she had to take her chances.

'You were close to Kili, but he died before you could tell him of your feelings. Is that what haunts you? I want to know who had the heart of ….my nephew.' Basil hoped that the Valar would forgive her lying, but she had no other choice. And apparently, Kili´s love for the former elf had been real.

Tauriel eyed Dwalin suspiciously and decided to open Basil´s cell. She did not want to have this conversation under the eyes of a dwarf who looked at her as if she was the most disgusting thing in Middle Earth.

'Come.' Tauriel grabbed Basil´s arm and disappeared into the darkness.

Dwalin sighed in relief, he had almost feared that the mutilated elf would never leave. Now he had to get to work.

#

'Tell me your story.' Basil asked Tauriel, who had brought her to her private rooms, at it seemed. The room was dark and uninviting, but it ensured some privacy.

'What do you want to know?' Tauriel asked defiantly.

Basil thought about Dwalin and his plans to escape, she had to buy him time. 'I want to know everything. How did you come to serve under Thranduil? He seemed to be very fond of you.'

As Tauriel´s expression turned stony, Basil already feared to have asked the wrong question. But then, Tauriel sat down in front of the door, preventing any escape plan Basil might have had.

'My father was one of his best warriors.' Tauriel began, but she did not seem to know where to begin.

'Tell me about you parents, then.' Basil encouraged her.

Tauriel closed her eyes and Basil could see her features relax. She could almost see the old elf in the creature on the floor. The memories of her parents seemed to be good ones, or so Basil thought.

'Both of my parents were silvan elves. My father was a highly decorated royal guard and his wife was a maid in the king´s household. ' Tauriel stated bitterly. 'Silvan elves are lesser elves, lower class elves. My father rescued his later wife from the orcs. Her village was attacked and he dragged her away from her burning home, but he could not rescue her parents. Her father died in the flames of their burning home and her mother was chopped to death by orcs. She hated my father for it for many hundred years. But finally, she accepted the fact that he had saved her life and as the years passed, they got to know and love each other. But they did not marry for several decades. She was very beautiful and soon Thranduil had begun to show interest in her. The queen had died long ago and the king was alone. So my father´s love was the king´s mistress for a long time before she got sick of his wandering eye and turned away from him. My father then offered to marry her to grant her a position in the higher class of elves. Of course, he was also a silvan elf, but his duty made him an honorable member of the higher class of Mirkwood. In the end, their love was great and passionate and many other elves envied them for what they had. But one day, my father´s love, who was wandering the edge of Mirkwood at night under the stars, was captured by orcs. My father hunted the orcs, he did not rest, he did not sleep, nor eat, nor drink. He neglected his duty as a guard and hunted the orc pack who had his wife. But during this time, he also betrayed her. In his grief, he turned to another elf and destroyed what he had with my mother in one single night. While my mother was in the hands of those filthy creatures and was probably raped and tortured, my father found oblivion in the arms of another. A few months later, he found the orc pack which had captured my mother and killed them all. He had banished the other she elf from his home, for she had gotten pregnant from this one night. Nevertheless, his secret was revealed and it broke his love´s heart.'

Tauriel´s eyes went blank and Basil bit her tongue. She was far away, captured in her story and her memory. Basil was an excellent story teller herself, she knew the symptoms. A sharp pain twisted in her heart as she remembered the nights in which she had told all those stories to Thorin and in which they had come close.

'You have been disappointed by love very early in life.' Basil remarked sadly. 'Your father broke your mother´s heart.'

'Yes, he did.' Tauriel stated bitterly and with hatred dripping in her voice. 'But my mother was not his wife. My mother was the other she elf. The one with whom he betrayed his soul mate, his One, his great love.'

'Oh.' Basil had not seen that coming.

'But my father´s wife had a good heart. My mother died in childbirth and she took me in as her own child. Her marriage to my father stayed childless, for she had never truly forgiven his betrayal. Their love broke apart with every day that passed and all I could do was watch.' Tauriel´s voice was sad and Basil felt sorry for the former she elf.

'You think that you destroyed their love?' Basil guessed.

'No.' Tauriel snorted. 'My mother and my father wrecked their love. But I was there to remind them of it every day. Neither of them wanted to show it openly, but I felt it.'

'So you never believed that a love such as theirs would happen to you?' Basil remarked and tried to make Tauriel remember Kili.

'Love.' Tauriel spit the word out as if it pained her. 'Love is not worth all the pain it makes you feel.'

'Love is worth every single minute of pain!' Basil said animatedly. 'It is worth so much more! Everyone who has loved in his life will tell you this.'

'So you think that I have never loved?' Tauriel smiled cruelly. 'I thought that I loved that dwarf…..'

'His name is…was….Kili.' Basil tried to ignore the wrenching pain in her heart when she thought about Thorin´s nephews. 'And he loved you.'

'He died and left me to rot in this world alone.' Tauriel snarled.

'He gave you his rune stone as a promise.' Basil did not believe what she heard. 'His mother gave it to him and it was dear to him. And he gave it to you.'

'The rune stone.' Tauriel chuckled bitterly. 'Do you know what I did after the battle? After Thranduil had banished me? After Legolas turned his back on me? I went south to bring this stone to Kili´s mother. She could not make it in time to Kili´s funeral, so I thought that this stone would help her mourn. Tell me, hobbit queen, have you ever met Dis, daughter of Thrain, son of Thror? Is it not funny how females are ignored in the dwarven culture? Did she not have a mother to honor? Was she only her father´s daughter? Anyway…..I digress. The lady Dis is a proud lady, her back is straight and her shoulders wide. She holds her gaze high and looks down to the ones she does not deem worthy of her time. She is as fair as king Thorin is dark. But she would not even talk to an elf and called me a liar when she heard that I had been...close to her son. I had to break into her rooms to meet with her. As she saw the rune stone in my hand, she ripped it from me and looked at me as if I was some low insect, which had no right to touch her son's token. She pressed the stone to her chest and collapsed crying. I wanted to tell her how brave her son was and how….he made me fell when he was near me. He was my starlight. I tried to tell her that I saved his live in Laketown only to lose him on Ravenhill. But she did not listen. She looked at me with so much hatred in her eyes that I fled the Blue Mountains. I ran into the starless night – and right into the arms of a rogue orc pack.'