An update! No time to respond to reviews now, but I do hope I did the scenes in this chapter justice. I changed it all up a bit, but hopefully not so much as to ruin it. We don't see much of Tauriel in this chapter, but she'll get her chance. :) And, as promised, the drinking scene is next chapter.
Oh, and we pushed 300 reviews last chapter. I'm still rather in shock. Thank you all so, so much for taking the time to leave those little notes, be it with criticism or mutual excitement. I read and treasure every one, and they always give me a push to keep on going!

There is a trigger warning for this chapter, as well, towards the very end.

Hope y'all enjoy!

Audriel lurched in the saddle, and all around them her daughter's words were echoing.

You.

You.

You.

She ripped her focus away from the wizard and turned it to the others.

Glaring eyes stared down at them as the arrogant, scarred elf smirked.

"Ah, yes," he said. "I knew we would meet again someday."

Audriel looked at Tauriel. She was shaking violently in the saddle, her eyes darkening until they were a murky, muddy green.

"Glamhoth melar," she spat, and her words were still carrying themselves high upon the wind.

Legolas whipped around to look at Tauriel, and for a heartbeat his eyes were glued to hers, his brow furrowed as he strove to read her face.

Tauriel closed her eyes for a long moment, and Audriel could see her fingers flexing hard.

She was surely burning for her bow, and an arrow nocked on the string.

Audriel bit the inside of her cheek so hard her teeth cut into the soft flesh and it began to bleed.

Gandalf had not even flinched at Tauriel's outburst, nor glanced their way. "Saruman! You were deep in the enemy's counsel. Tell us what you know!"

The wizard sneered, his lip curling, and her blood curdled with undiluted hatred.

Audriel closed her eyes and reached.

Her mind snaked out to brush against the other elf's consciousness, and within a moment she had broken through and torn secrets from him before he even knew she was there.

For a brief second, she grasped at Wormtongue's muddy being, and she glimpsed an image.

She tensed, and opened her eyes.

Grima Wormtongue was staggering to his feet, and in his hand was a small, thin dagger.

She bit down the shout of warning that was on the tip of her tongue, drawing and nocking an arrow fast enough that there was no time for any of the others to stop her.

It hissed through the air, thunked into flesh, and quivered slightly.

Wormtongue gurgled out a half-scream through the arrow shaft embedded in his throat and collapsed to the slick surface on which he had stood.

Theoden-king made a wordless exclamation of horror and shock.

Audriel's body was humming with the feel of a fresh kill.

He is mine, she thought fiercely. Saruman is mine. No one else will have the satisfaction of bleeding the life from his veins.

Gandalf had whipped around at Wormtongue's sudden death, and his face was harshly creased. "Audriel!" he thundered. "What have you done?"

She curled her fingers up into her palm and let her nails cut into her hand until there were whitish half-moons marking her skin.

"He was going to kill his master," she said by way of explanation.

There was a pause.

"She does indeed speak truth," the scarred elf said silkily, gliding to Saruman's side. "Given but another second, and it would have been too late."

Tauriel swayed violently at the sound of his voice, reaching for the bow strapped to the back of her saddle, her other hand straying towards the quiver of arrows still at her belt.

"No!" Aragorn snapped, and from her other side he grasped at her wrist.

"Let me go!" Tauriel snarled, fighting hard enough that he was jerked along with her movements. The horses shifted warily underneath them.

"You are not strong enough!" the Ranger said with considerable strength, and Audriel knew full-well that Tauriel would die rather than admit the words coming out of his mouth were true.

"I care not!" Tauriel's voice was rising dangerously, her eyes dark, and there was a curl to her lips that made her mother reconsider whether or not she wanted to continue restraining her daughter. "I know him!"

"She speaks true," Legolas answered, his eyes a steady grey and altogether far too much like Thranduil's for Audriel's taste. She forced herself not to sneer.

"You will withdraw your guard," Saruman was saying, and as the words reached her ears they registered but did not fully pierce, "and I will tell you where your doom will be decided. I will not be held prisoner here."

"And how am I to trust your word, Saruman?" Gandalf demanded.

Audriel made a split-second decision, knowing she would likely sorely regret it later on.

"Who is he?" she hissed in Tauriel's ear, one hand holding her daughter's bow down as Tauriel tugged at it.

"Esnilleth," Tauriel spat, and there was more hatred in her voice than Audriel had ever heard before.

The look Legolas tossed at Tauriel spoke volumes. "He is a coward and a weakling," he added. "He was a member of the Guard until he betrayed us - Tauriel and I were both there - by revealing our location to a group of Orcs. She nearly died as a result of his actions. If she does not want his head, I do." The last words were delivered with so much force that Audriel drew back from him for a brief moment.

Tauriel exhaled through her nose, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "He is mine," she said viciously through clenched teeth.

Audriel nodded, accepting her words without further argument. "Very well then."

Casually, she lifted her bow once more, nocking another arrow - the fletching was dyed blood-red, and she thought it fitting - and started to draw back her bow.

She aimed carefully, wanting not a killing shot but one that would injure him significantly.

The arrow snaked away.

She waited for him to fall.

Waited for the shout of pain that almost always followed such a shot.

She waited, but it never came.

She narrowed her eyes and then flinched as she processed what she was seeing.

Esnilleth was holding the arrow in his right hand, one brow lifted as it quivered violently, the head just inches from his left shoulder.

"Really, Audriel," he said mockingly, "was that a wise decision?"

His words hung in the air for a moment, and Audriel realized a split second too late what he intended to do.

"No!" she roared, arrows upon her bow string before the word had even left her mouth, but he had moved too fast, had moved behind Saruman, and all she heard was the scream of her sister as the flames ate her flesh away and her children were butchered...

Esnilleth plunged the arrow into Saruman's back, and the wizard stopped mid-sentence.

Saruman sagged, mouth hanging open, his eyes wide, the color draining from his face.

Audriel knew that the angle in which the elf had shoved the arrow head and shaft into his master's back had pierced his heart.

Esnilleth smiled easily, and shoved the wizard's body casually off the tower, watching as it splashed into the waters below.

"Well, then," he said calmly, "now that that's out of the way, is there anything you all wish to say?"

"Yes," Tauriel whispered, her anger drained away, and as Audriel turned to look at her, she heard the deadly twang of a bow string as an arrow - no, arrows - were let fly, and froze for a half-second before turning to look up at the top of the tower.

Esnilleth looked down at the twin arrows protruding from his shoulders with vague surprise, a mocking smile still curving his lips.

Audriel half-winced; Tauriel had aimed to wedge the arrow heads into the sockets of his arms, and from what she could tell had succeeded.

A heartbeat passed.

And then he toppled from the edge of the tower, his eyes wide as he plummeted towards the ground - and was speared through the chest by one of Saruman's creations.

She heard rather than saw Gimli recoil in what was almost horrified sympathy, a half-groan leaving the dwarf's mouth.

Tauriel edged her horse forward, eyes trained on the massive spike protruding from Esnilleth's chest.

"What a pity," she said, emotionless.

Audriel let loose a short burst of laughter, the sound quick and almost surprised.

Legolas, Theoden, and Aragorn's faces appeared to be caught in between approval and disgust at the elf's death.

Gandalf closed his eyes, disappointment painted over his face for a long moment. "Send word to all our allies, and to every corner of Middle-Earth that still stands free. The enemy moves against us. We need to know where he will strike."

Theoden nodded wordlessly.

The wheel upon which the elf had fallen groaned, spinning slightly, and his body sank into the water.

Tauriel sighed, tension draining from her body, leaving her looking weary. "It is done, then," she said, and her eyes said she was sorry that Audriel had not gotten to exact her vengeance upon the wizard.

Audriel nodded, somewhat bitterly, being careful to hide the rising anger that was in her heart. "Aye. It is done."

"The filth of Saruman is washing away," Treebeard rumbled. "Trees will come back to live here. Young trees; wild trees."

Tauriel nodded somewhat stiffly. "I hope it is so. No forest deserves to be reduced to this."

Silence fell for a time, and then Treebeard spoke again.

"You look well, forest-child."

Tauriel hesitated for a long moment before answering. "I am better than I was," she said honestly.

Treebeard inclined his head. "I am glad. I was ... sorry, to see one of your race reduced to so little."

Tauriel paled somewhat. "Indeed."

The Ent exhaled gustily. "Come... Sit upon my branches and tell me of the goings-on beyond my wood..."

She nodded, taking the proffered leaf-covered limb and working her way up onto Treebeard's body as best she could. She hated the tremblings of the muscles in her legs and arms as she climbed.

"Darkness is coming," she finally said softly. "I think we are all at least a little scared. For what if Sauron wins, and everything is plunged into the deepest Shadow? There will be no life left upon these lands..."

And so she continued, speaking until her mouth was paper-dry and her eyelids were threatening to drift downwards.

She smothered a yawn, feeling perhaps younger than she normally did. "I am sorry. I did not anticipate feeling quite so weary."

Treebeard huffed out a laugh. "I am ... grateful for your time, forest-child. I suppose I should indeed take you home. They will be looking for you..."

There was silence for several heartbeats.

"You saved me, you know," Tauriel finally said softly. "I will be forever in your - and this woodland's - debt."

Treebeard inclined his head. "They have been wondering ... why you have not yet fulfilled your promise."

She laughed shakily. "And so that is why they so rudely refused me entrance."

Memories, burning white-hot through her consciousness. Everything she had ever done to harm others washing over her skin like poison. Her hand, clenching around the bark until bone shone pale through the skin. And Legolas, wrenching her away when it was almost too late-

"They thought that perhaps ... if they helped you remember ... then you would come back to them. It has been ... long since they have found a friend. They never wished to harm you."

"Yes." She was quite for a long moment. "When I return to my woodland, I will do as I once promised, no matter the cost."

Tauriel rode back to Edoras with a gentle smile gracing her lips, her back ramrod straight even as it ached with every jostle the horse made.

Theoden was still carefully ignoring her. She was too tired to fully concern herself with why, though she saw a gleam in his eyes that was not particularly welcome. A small piece of her wondered if he was scared of her.

She sorely regretted losing her control so badly. The sight of the traitorous elf had unsettled her deeply. And yet, now that he was dead - now that they were all dead - the itch she had thought would have disappeared was still begging to be scratched. She did not like the sensation.

Speaking with Treebeard again after so long had lifted her spirits somewhat. There was a fresh blush to the world around her and a gentle hand upon her shoulder, invisible and nonexistent though it was.

He had saved her from herself, even though she had not known it for a long time - and had not even fully remembered until she had looked upon him once more.

Audriel had looked at her with gem-like eyes when she had returned - beautiful, yet stone-cold.

An actual hand on her shoulder made her jump and try to grasp at her weapons, before realizing that it was - and of course, she thought - Legolas.

"How did the Ent know you?" he asked quietly. There was a undercurrent to his words that warned her this was not just an idle question designed to craft a conversation between them.

"It is not a tale I wish to relive," she said, her voice steady, and though she did not know it her eyes flashed bright, almost in warning.

The woods were dark, the air heavy. She fell against the tree trunk, gasping, her body numb. Black and white spots danced before her eyes, and a smile tilted the corners of her mouth up. The trees creaked and groaned in the wind, sending her body swaying as she moved with it. She sighed, settling back against the trunk, waiting for loss of blood to take effect.

The call to the forest was singing stronger than the sea.

Her skin was humming.

She wanted to laugh and dance and weep.

But there was not enough time...

Soon, the light faded around her, leaving her world dark and empty.

She fell with a smile on her face, safe with the knowledge that she would die in the forest she loved so dearly.

And unknown to her, as she fell, arms caught her - leafy, moss-covered arms, and the great Ent looked down at her face. All around them, Fangorn Forest - the woodland that looked so very much like Mirkwood at times - rustled, whispering, exclaiming over the fact that they had at long last found someone to help them.

"Now, then," Treebeard croaked. "What do we propose to do with her?"

"Tonight," Theoden-king roared, "we remember those who gave their blood to defend this country. Hail the victorious dead!"

And the crowd screamed in vehement agreement, a single word pouring from a hundred throats. "Hail!"

The noise lessened somewhat, reduced to nothing more than loud chatter.

Legolas watched rather impassively, trying his best not to wince at the sheer amount of sound.

Ale was being splashed into mugs and handed out, the smell altogether far too strong for his taste. He was not one to drink, even of the finest wines, though he could understand the wish to drown the past and present in drink.

His eyes flicked across the crowd.

The men were rowdy. He looked briefly for any hint of the women Tauriel had led into battle, but found none, which he thought perhaps a bit odd. Tauriel herself stood almost directly across from him, on the other side of the room, her eyebrows pulled together so sharply they were almost meeting in the middle.

She looked disconcertingly like Lord Elrond, when the light hit her face right, and her bright hair was not quite so visible.

He forced himself not to move towards her and inquire yet again how the Ent of Fangorn had known her so well. He still itched to understand her ties to the woodland - or perhaps woodlands.

The steeliness of her face when she had responded -calmly, coolly - had warned him not to push any further.

Abruptly, a mug was pushed into his hand, and a voice was shouting in his ear.

"No pauses; no spills!" Eomer - yes, that was his name - finished, and splashed more liquid into the mug.

"And no regurgitation," Gimli added.

Legolas peered down into the mug. Ale slopped over the sides and onto the floor. His nose wrinkled ever so slightly. "So it's a drinking game?"

"Aye!" everyone else around them roared.

He exhaled gently, bracing himself. He knew that he could likely drink a barrel of this liquor and not be affected by it in the least. "Very well, then."

Gimli grinned somewhat nastily. "Last one standing wins."

Silver moonlight reflected off the keen edge of the blade as she stared at it, watching as the slightly curved hilt glimmered in the pale light.

Slowly, Audriel lowered the blade to her bared chest, looking down and watching dispassionately as the blade slid across the skin, leaving a three-inch, vertical strip of red that quickly began to well with blood. Three other cuts - now nothing more than ridges of raised and discolored skin - marred the skin in between her breasts.

For a long moment, she closed her eyes.

One - mouth opened wide in a wordless scream, and a small child watching with tears streaming down their face. "Please don't kill mamma."

Two - A face, darkly handsome, but twisted, with a scar tracing its way down from one ear. A blade in her own hand, poised to throw, but instead of hitting its target it sunk, quivering, into the wall behind him and he was gone.

Three - a woman, sneering, hair white and wild around her face. "You are too weak. You always have been." And she eased back the tension on the bow and wept, because she was.

And four - an arrow stabbed upwards to pierce a heart.

Audriel raised her head calmly, smearing crushed herbs over the cut to help the wounds heal, donning her clothing quickly. There was no hint of pain in her eyes.

But the blade wavered ever so slightly in her hand, and then she wiped it on her belt and sheathed it.

She whispered to herself - of promises, burning recollections of what she should have done and what she vowed to do in the future.

She did not yet know that, by the time all was said and done, the four scars would have more than tripled in number.

Laughter.

So much of it, and Tauriel wanted dearly to be able to join in. Yet, the sounds were sticking in her throat, and when she tried to speak no words came out.

She kept reliving Wormtongue, Saruman, and Esnilleth's deaths.

Try as she might, she could not push the images into the recesses of her mind.

Her eyes strayed to the other side of the room, settling upon Legolas and Gimli.

They, at least, looked happy.

"What shall we drink to?" the men all around them were roaring. "What shall we drink to?"

And then another shouted, "To victory!"

"To victory!" they all bellowed.

Tauriel's brow creased slightly as she hesitated, then moved towards them. Gimli lifted his mug, grinning madly before chugging its contents without pause.

She opened her mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

Felt much like a fool.

And then -

"May I join you?" she finally asked.

*rubs hand together* Ooooh, this is going to be fun. ;P My apologies if Tauriel seemed a bit out of character in this chapter, but do remember that most of the time we're seeing her through Audriel's eyes.
I think we're all looking forward to the next chapter, haha! I'll have it up ASAP!

Until next time!