" How long exactly will be be away?" Tauriel asked as they made their way to the great hall.
" It depends entirely on how many people are making their way over here. The more we have to guide here the longer it will take." He answered shrugging.
They soon came to the hall, where everyone was waiting already.
" I trust in you that you will lead our people here safely. They are your responsibility." Thorin said and hugged Kíli for a short moment. To witness this little, rare gesture of affection made Tauriel smile. Kíli then started making his way out of the mountain, followed by Ori, Dwalin, Glóin and Fíli, but before Tauriel could follow Thorin held onto her arm.
" I know you will watch over him..." He said quietly, eyeing the others as their backs disappeared in the dim morning light. " But I would very much appreciate if you helped him watch out for the others as well."
" Of course." She answered just as quiet and in return Thorin handed her an envelope.
" I would like you to give this to my sister. Do not let anyone besides her open it."
Tauriel frowned but took the envelope and hid it under her cloak. " Alright..."
In the distance Kíli turned around and laid his head to the side. " Are you coming?"
" Yes, I am right behind you!" She shouted to him and nodded to Thorin as he let go of her arm.
" Good luck Tauriel, now you have the responsibility for Kíli." Thorin chuckled as she hurried to catch up with Kíli.
" What were you two talking?" Kíli asked her curiously once she was walking next to him.
" He wants me to keep an eye on you..." She winked.
" As if I cannot take care of myself..." He grumbled slightly.
" You can't, that's what you have Tauriel for." Fíli said happily.
" Oh zip it Fee... You can very well go on this mission and let us stay at home!"
" Sorry little brother, but this journey is yours."
In front of the mountain they found four ponies and one horse, all fully loaded with provisions.
They stopped right in front of them and Fíli embraced his brother in a hug. " I wish you all the luck in the world... Come home safely, promise me that!"
" You sound like mother..." Kíli chuckled.
" I'm serious Kíli, be careful."
" I will, I promise..." They let go of each other and Fíli turned to embrace Tauriel.
" Take good care of my little brother..." He said, only for Tauriel to hear.
" I will." She returned and smiled at him encouragingly while getting onto her horse. Kíli on his pony was a lot shorter than her, and as he had it stand next to Tauriel's horse Fíli had to hide his smile. He gave them one last wave and headed back to the mountain.
" So... in which direction do we go?" Kíli asked up to her with an apologetic smile.
Tauriel's sigh turned into a chuckle and instead of answering she headed westwards. She liked her horse, it seemed easy to handle.
Kíli followed closely behind, his pony trying to catch up with Tauriel. " Come on, I have the on with shorter legs!" He shouted to Tauriel in front of him.
Dwalin, Ori and Glóin trotted behind them, not taking much out of the usual banter.
" Do you know the way?" She asked Kíli teasingly, " Because right now that does not seem to be the case..."
" I know where we are supposed to meet them, and yes I do know the way!"
" A rough idea or do you know it?"
" Ehh, let's say I know most of it!" He smiled, his pony now walking next to her horse.
After a while of silence her expression changed from amused to rather bitter. " We have to cross a part of Mirkwood..."
" We could go around it!" Kíli suggested.
" We would lose far too much time, we need to cross it."
Kíli frowned, " Last time we tried to cross it we got lost and arrested. I doubt that going through Mirkwood is worth it."
" But we met because you were foolish enough to cross it without any help." She smiled. " We will most likely not get lost this time."
Kíli looked at his hands and fell silent for a while before he dared to say what he was thinking. " You know, now that you are human it will try to kill you as well."
" I am well aware of that, but I am most certain that I am still able to find the way, even with the air clouding my mind."
" I know you can, I simply do not like the thought of you having to go there. I can tell it makes you uncomfortable."
" Not the forest makes me uncomfortable, but the fact that I am banished. If they catch us, we will end up in Thranduil's dungeons again."
" I would much rather end up in his wine cellar." Kíli chuckled to brighten the mood.
" Last time you did after all... By the way how did Bilbo manage to steal the keys from the guard in charge?"
" I have absolutely no idea..." Kíli answered honestly. " Back then I assumed we were your responsibility, not some lower guard's... Why did you even come down there the night we talked? As far as I recall it was the feast of starlight, so why were you down there if it was not your task?"
" Dwarfs do not often cross the borders of the woodland realm... Despite Thranduil's hate for your kin, I found myself rather interested in you."
" In me-you or in us-you?" He teased, winking at her.
" Maybe a bit of both..." She smiled slightly and looked at her hands at first, then at the landscape around them. The early sun rays illuminated the world in a soft pinkish light and made her hair glow like fire.
" You know, you left quite the impression on me when you took down all those spiders..." Kíli said after a few minutes.
" And you surprised me by meeting me with interest and kindness rather than hate and hostility."
" Why would I, I did not even know you!" Kíli smiled. " I assume I am bad at being a dwarf for that matter... Prejudice is simply not my thing."
" What is your thing then?" She chuckled. " I have something in mind but I would much rather have you tell me!"
" Oh there is a lot... But friendliness is pretty high in the rank."
" I have never been good at being an elf either..."
" Oh no, you certainly have! You were just as amazing as you are now..." He grinned at her. " Besides, you were- and still are- a highly skilled warrior."
" I was good at being a warrior, but that does not mean that I was good at being an elf."
" What do you mean?" Kíli frowned, intrigued to learn more about this.
" I want to do what is right, but it more often than not disagreed with the rules and laws. I was supposed to value the law more than my own judgment."
" And that made you a bad elf?"
" That is only the beginning to a long list of failure." She smiled at him, " It does not matter for it is all in the past."
" It does matter to me, I want to know what your life looked like before we met!"
" Believe me, it was much different." She responded with a sigh, " I may not have lived as long as most of Mirkwood's elves, but long enough to dread the ordinary life."
" I cannot imagine what an ordinary life would look like for you..."
" For hundreds of years, I have been doing my duties without ever complaining. I was exactly who I was expected to be, a good guard, loyal, always following the king's order."
" Why do I sense a 'but' somewhere in there..." Kíli said as she did not continue the story.
" Perhaps the only difference between me and others is that I always expected more of life. I wanted to see the world that lies beyond the borders I was forbidden to cross. That's perhaps my only sin."
" That's not a sin..." He answered with a small smile.
" I was supposed to be grateful for what I had, not demanding more."
" If we didn't demand more of life, where would we be today? It's the people who demand more that bring the greatest change to the world after all."
" When I first met you, I got a glimpse of what life could be like. It mesmerized me, and eventually it lead me to you..." She smiled at him, " You are everything I have ever wanted of life. A bit of adventure, a bit of freedom, a bit of love..."
" Mahal, could you two just stop being all doting?!" Glóin behind them groaned.
" I think they are adorable..." Ori returned as a defense.
Tauriel turned to look at the three dwarfs behind her and then at Kíli.
" Be nice or you don't get dinner tonight." Kíli said with raised eyebrows and an especially serious expression, causing everyone to burst out in laughter.
" Careful lad, I can take ya' out with my hands behind my back!" Glóin snorted, but a testing glare from Tauriel made him fall silent.
" Are you so certain about that?" She asked teasingly.
" I wouldn't make a bet against you..." He said carefully. " Though I'd like to see how ya' do without that bow and daggers..."
Tauriel shot Kíli a quick glare, her eyes telling him to not say one word about their experiment the previous night. Kíli on the other hand grinned and winked at her suspiciously.
" I could give you a glimpse of what happens when she has no weapons at hand..." He said to Glóin, but his eyes remained locked with Tauriel's.
" How dare you!" She exclaimed, hiding a laughter.
" Whoops..." Kíli frowned and sped off, making his pony run as fast as it possibly could. Immediately Tauriel chased after him and only heard the other three chuckle in the distance.
In no time she had caught up with Kíli and raced past him, only giving him a teasing wave with her hand. A few minutes later she stopped though, waiting for the others to catch up.
" Still unfair..." Kíli mumbled as stopped next to her.
" Yes, I have the horse and you have the pony, I know." She chuckled, " We can very well switch if you want to..."
" You would?" He grinned.
" For a few minutes, why not..." She sighed and gracefully rose to stand on the back of her horse. Keeping her balance was more difficult than she had imagined, but with a bit of struggle she managed to keep standing.
" Careful there!" Kíli said with a worried look at her and then jumped off his pony. Tauriel nodded and made a step down onto the pony below her. It moved and she had to told onto her horse to stay in balance, but instead of easily sitting down, the gap between her horse and the pony widened and she found herself right in the middle.
" Tauriel, just jump off!" Kíli pleaded from the side.
But she didn't want to give up yet, and thus she shifted all her weight forward, landing across the pony's back while her horse backed off.
" Was that really worth it?" Kíli asked with a chuckle as Tauriel shifted to sit up.
" Well, it must have been quite entertaining for you at least..." She mumbled in return.
" If I wasn't so worried about you I might enjoy it, yes."
" You wanted the horse, so now climb up!" She teased him.
With more effort than he let on, Kíli got onto the horse and found himself just a few inches higher than Tauriel. " A completely new perspective..."
" Indeed it is..."
" What are you two up to again..." Dwalin sighed a few minutes later as they reached Kíli and Tauriel. " Mahal, and you want to lead a troop of a thousand dwarfs?"
" Can't say I want to, but I have to however." Kíli sighed.
They went on riding to the west, their playful banter rising along with the sun. Around noon, Kíli brought the horse to a stop though.
" Can we please switch again, this horse certainly does not like me!" He said to Tauriel with a slight pout. Grinning she jumped off the pony and winked at him, " Most certainly..."
" Do you want to rest?" He asked into the small group, holding onto the rein of the pony.
" We have only been going for a few hours, I doubt that we should rest now." Dwalin answered his question, and as the others agreed Kíli got back onto the pony and they went on.
" We should take a short rest right before we enter Mirkwood." Tauriel said to Kíli, leaning to him so that only he would hear her suggestion. " While we cross it we need to keep going, no stop, no rest. Besides, I have to see which way is the best to take."
" Alright, whatever you say." He smiled, " I told you I had no idea about commanding such an undertaking, so it is entirely up to you."
" But if you can make them believe that you know what you are doing they will stop making fun of you. It is important indeed, if you really are to lead a thousand people home they need to accept you and trust your commands."
" Do I even want to know how you learned this?"
" The hard way, believe me..." She chuckled, " I know that you could do this all without me, you only need to believe in yourself!"
" But you are here, and even if I could give commands, I still could give the wrong ones."
" Do not worry, melleth nín, we will continue our plan as discussed. We decide together, and then you pass it on to everyone."
" Thank you, really..." He smiled and looked at her for a long moment, " I have no idea what I would do without you, beside the fact that I would have died a long time ago..."
" Well, to our luck you will never have to find out!" She grinned, " I will with you, in life and in death."
That suddenly brought a new thought to Kíli. " Aren't you afraid at all of the finiteness of a mortal life? Afraid of death?"
" I prefer living a limited but happy life with you over spending an eternity alone... So no, I am not afraid of death." She said positively, but deep down he could tell that this was not the whole story. He decided to let it go though. Behind them Dwalin and Glóin were fighting over who carried more weapons, while Ori tried to calm them down.
Tauriel chuckled at the numbers they exclaimed and even Kíli could tell that there was no way the numbers could be accurate.
" Ya' all should see how many knifes Tauriel has..." Kíli interrupted them.
" And that are only the ones you know about..." She winked at him in return, thinking about the envelope that was just as well hidden as her weapons. " Actually I carry quite few."
" Name a number!" Glóin demanded.
" Most likely twenty or so!" Kíli answered.
" All I carry is my bow, two daggers and a very small number of knifes." She corrected, and then smiled to herself, " You should never tell exactly how many weapons you carry, for you never know who might want to take them from you."
" See, the lass is smarter than you two fools!" Ori laughed at Glóin and Dwalin and grumbling they ended their argument.
An hour later they reached the borders of the woodland realm, and Mirkwood lay directly in front of them. Even in the soft sunlight of the afternoon, no light reached the forest floor. The trees created a dark and uninviting cave, and Tauriel was surprised to find every sense in her telling her to flee. The place that once had been a home to her was now telling her in every possible was to stay away.
They stood at the border for a while, taking a last rest before they would enter this utterly destructive place.
" Are you alright?" Kíli asked as he stood next to her, taking her hands into his.
" We are passing through the kingdom, the chances that they will find us are high. If they do, you will be arrested for entering the kingdom without permission. Maybe they even let you go since our journey is no threat to anyone. But if they find me... I am most likely dead." She said quietly and Kíli's heart sank a little, may it be for the awaiting danger or for her obvious discomfort.
" Is there anything we can do to not get caught?" He asked with hope in his eyes.
She lifted her head and looked at him with a serious expression that worried him.
" Do you trust me?"
To be continued...
Yeah, the journey begins!
First burden: crossing Mirkwood!
Next chapter we'll have: their way through Mirkwood! (What would you do with a forest that tries to kill you, in addition to a bunch of elves with the same aim?!)
Hope you liked this chapter and will let me know if you do! (I can really use a Little motivation right now, so even if it's just a word you'd really make me happy!)
Stay tuned for our journey ;)