Aaaand back to Mirkwood we go! We last left off with Tauriel having returned to make her first report as Ambassador to Erebor and Dale. Many of you were wondering if Thranduil will let her stay. Will she even want to? Enjoy!
Tauriel did not know what she had been expecting. The wait for her turn to speak with the king had been borderline torturous, every single moment stretching on as though it were a life-age of Arda. The urge to fiddle with the pouch she wore at her neck was quite powerful, borderline habitual. The Ambassador to Erebor kept her composure though and stood with a hand clasping a wrist behind her back. When finally Thranduil summoned her forth up the stairs to his audience platform before the throne Tauriel could only then admit to herself that she was fantastically nervous.
Looking down at the Silvan elf with an unreadable, imperious expression, Thranduil looked as he always had and likely always would until the ending of the world. His silver-blond hair falling in a shining curtain from the crown of berries and thorns, he watched Tauriel from behind those haunting eyes. Only once had Tauriel ever seen what lay behind that almost unnaturally smooth face. Actually twice, she amended herself. Once as a younger elf, watching the king fly into one of his magnificent rages and accidentally dropping the glamour which concealed his dragon-fire scars. The second time had been on the steps of Ravenhill over the body of a dwarven prince, unbridled emotion showing plainly for her to see.
There was no such vulnerability to the king now. Whatever had transpired on Ravenhill between Thranduil, Legolas and herself had long since been buried back down beneath the façade. Moving not so much as a single muscle, Thranduil watched Tauriel like a carven statue.
"My lord." Tauriel bowed deeply, lowering her gaze to the stonework platform beneath her feet.
"Ambassador." Thranduil did not address her by name, as he might once have done. "I trust your time spent in Erebor and Dale has been productive?"
"Yes, it has been." Straightening up, Tauriel looked the king unflinchingly in the eye. She wondered at Thranduil's utter lack of expression. Normally even he had some measure of a sardonic smile to the corner of his mouth. When Thranduil made no move to ask direct questions Tauriel carried on. "Erebor has recently re-opened its marketplace, with plans to begin trade immediately between the Lonely Mountain and Ered Luin, Ered Mithrin and Ered Engrin. There is also talk of rebuilding Laketown, both to house residents and to serve as a trading hub. King Bard sends his regards, and wishes to enquire as to your interest in taking up a more formal commerce agreement with the city of Dale."
"And by extension, with Ironfoot in Erebor." It was a statement, not a question. Thranduil pronounced the name of the Lonely Mountain with dangerous smoothness. "Do not deny it; the new King Beneath the Mountain is eager to increase his wealth, now that Thorin Oakenshield's debt to the people of Laketown has been paid off."
Well, that had certainly taken Thranduil no time at all. And here Tauriel had been wondering just how to broach the trading offers she carried from both her host kings. Nodding shortly, she set her teeth. Negotiating it was then.
"The two kingdoms go hand-in-hand my lord, as they ever did before the coming of Smaug. With one being but a stone's throw from the other, King Dain and King Bard have laid plans to tie up much of their respective economies in one another. To ensure friendly relations between their peoples forevermore."
"Has Bard become so eager so quickly to tie up his life and the lives of his people with those of the dwarves?" Thranduil sounded disdainful. "We have no need of such alliances. The forest provides us with all we are needful of, and as you can see anything we do not have I prefer to trade with Imladris for." The king's eyes flickered to the Noldorin ambassador, who was already well on his way down the lattice of walkways from the throne. "Elrond at least I can have some degree of expectation will conduct his business honorably."
"And has King Bard earned anything less, or King Dain?" Tauriel felt her temper rising as it had not since she had last resided in these halls. Living in Erebor and Dale was somewhat less emotionally taxing, but also a marked degree less colorful than life in Thranduil's realm. When Thranduil only stared coldly down at her, she continued. "Bard sent me with a message as well. He prayed that you would remember how elves, men and dwarves allied together and fought for the good of all in the Battle of Five Armies. A common enemy united us, he said, and now he hopes that in times of peace our lands may remain united so."
"I have no quarrel with the lands beyond the forest." Replied Thranduil, crossing one long leg nonchalantly over the other. "But neither do I have any particular interest in them. Was not my commitment to the defense against darkness upheld in battle not four months past? Or perhaps does King Ironfoot suggest that I make myself available for tea every other week?" He snorted. "By the blood of our people we have fulfilled our duty as neighbors. I want nothing of dwarves and men now."
Really, Tauriel questioned whether this was truly an issue worth taking a stand on. It was true that the Woodland Realm would be strengthened by trade with Erebor and Dale, and vice versa. Still, was it actually a matter of life and death? Did she really want to announce her return by arguing with her king on his throne?
Of course she did. When had Tauriel ever back down from a challenge?
"My lord, I once asked your son if we are not part of this world." At the mention of Legolas there was at last a flicker of something across Thranduil's face. "Are the Eldar Days really so far gone and forgotten that we shall forever hide from both war and peace?"
"I hide from nothing." Thranduil said sharply. "If you are so certain of your words, perhaps you would like to explain to Galion just why it is that his brother is dead?"
The king's steward, whom had been passing by on a parallel causeway paused briefly at the mention of his name. Hearing his brother Galdir mentioned sent him walking away at a brisk pace with a stiff spine though. Galdir had died at the Battle of Five Armies, along with near two hundred more of their people.
"What did he die for? What did any of them die for, if not the hope of brighter days?" Tauriel's green eyes flashed. "If we go back to living just how we did before, then nothing has changed for the better after all. There are just a few less orcs in the north, nothing a few years spawning time will not fix for them."
Thranduil glared at Tauriel. "Enough." Standing, the king waved a hand imperiously, a dismissal if ever anyone had seen one. "I see I did well in assigning you to Erebor and Dale, Ambassador. Your place was never here in this kingdom to begin with. Go now, and on the morn return to your posting."
It was like speaking to a stone. For a moment Tauriel made no move. Then she gave a curt bow and spun on her heel. Perhaps living out her years in the company of men and dwarves would not be so bad, if the alternative was to spend eternity quarreling with King Thranduil.
That being said, the meal she enjoyed that evening seemed to Tauriel one of the best things she had ever tasted. Seated amongst familiar faces at a table in the guardroom, she happily ate and drank and caught up with many whom she had not seen since the battle. Still, there was without doubt a certain aloofness to many elves whom Tauriel had once called friend. They welcomed her warmly enough and spoke at length to her as none of the dwarves save a few would ever have done. Still, there was a distance plain to see in them. Even Nimloth, one of her oldest friends regarded Tauriel with a strange light in her dark eyes. Was she so marked, for having loved a dwarf?
Shrugging it off, Tauriel decided if that was the price for what had lived even if only for a short time between herself and Kili, then let it be so. When she spent the night in reverie, her dreams were strange and winding. It seemed that here, in the halls of the Woodland Realm Tauriel felt more of Kili's presence than she had in Erebor. Perhaps it was because here was where they had enjoyed the most time together without any outside concerns beyond stars and Fire Moons. Erebor was the home of Kili's ancestors, but it had never been his home. In Tauriel's dreams she stood once again before the three stone tombs, buried in the rocky roots of the mountain. If Kili's body lay there, surely his spirit did not. No, a spirit such as that belonged free among the stars and the moon. Once Kili had told her in a delirious haze that Tauriel walked in starlight, far away from him. Now it seemed the opposite was true. All the more reason for Tauriel to love the stars, and she awoke to find herself already missing the open sky fiercely.
The next morning as she was making ready to leave, a messenger came to seek her out.
"Ambassador Tauriel, King Thranduil requests your presence in his audience chambers."
Tauriel was genuinely surprised. The last time she had stood beside the pool of Thranduil's chambers, he had been telling her not to encourage whatever budding feelings Legolas might have for her. She could not imagine why he would be sending for her now, especially after their 'conversation' yesterday.
Still she gathered her things together and strapped on her quiver, ready to beat a speedy retreat for the open road straight from seeing the king if need be.
Thranduil was standing with his back to her when Tauriel arrived, looking into the depths of the ornamental pool with a faraway gaze. As a much younger elf Tauriel had learned not to approach the king on his left side; even despite his much-enhanced hearing it still made him cross. Clearing her throat, Tauriel announced herself.
"You wanted to see me, my lord?"
Still not turning, Thranduil beckoned her closer. "Do you believe he is well, Tauriel?"
There could only be one person of whom the king was speaking. Approaching slowly, almost timidly, she came to stand a body length behind him.
"I…"
"Do not seek to pacify me. Speak your mind, as you have always done." If Tauriel had been mistaken, she could have sworn she heard the slightest hint of a sarcastic smile in Thranduil's tone.
"If there is anyone who could make their way in the wilds, my lord, it is your son." Tauriel spoke slowly. She had not turned her thoughts to Legolas often while in Erebor and Dale, but here she had become aware little by little that she truly did miss her friend. "He is well."
"They have both gone from me now." Thranduil spoke in a low voice, and Tauriel wondered if he were even speaking to her anymore. "I wonder when or if he shall ever return."
"...This is his home." Tauriel stepped forward and saw her reflection in the waters of the pool. For half a second, barely a heartbeat, she thought she had seen another elf woman where now Thranduil's reflection rippled. She had never known the queen, but she imagined her son had inherited those soulful blue eyes from her. "And you are his father. Legolas will return, when he is ready."
Thranduil said nothing for the longest time. Tauriel stood at her king's side, silent. Finally, when it seemed the silence would stretch on forever, she away toward the door. What more could or even need be said?
She was just about to step across the threshold when Thranduil's voice came after her.
"Tell Bard and Ironfoot that I have no interest in dragon-hoarded gold. Unless they have begun once again mining raw ores from that wretched mountain, there is nothing they have that I want."
Even though Thranduil's back was still turned, Tauriel's lips quirked in a smile and she bowed before leaving. Perhaps trade negotiations would not be so tedious as she had thought. Let the games begin.