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"It is not our fight," he said.
Tauriel shook her head, "It is our fight. It will not end here. With every victory this evil will grow. If your father has his way, we will do nothing. We will hide within our walls, live our lives away from the light and let darkness descend."
"Are we not part of this world? Tell me, Mellon, when did we let evil become stronger than us?"
She looked at Legolas, who had become dear to her, and knew that he understood, and perhaps, even if he would not openly contradict his father, agreed.
So they tracked the dwarves to Laketown, and arrived in time to stop the Orcs from killing the dwarves and children.
But when the injured dwarf, Kili, stabs the Orc in an attempt to protect her, she knows she cannot leave to hunt the Orcs while leaving him to die.
Legolas calls out for her twice, and she sees the acceptance and disappointment in equal measure shining his eyes before he turns and leaves.
She had become King Thranduil's first female captain.
Some were of the opinion that it was because of his friendship with her father. Others thought it was virtue of her friendship with the prince. And despite her unhappiness, even she could not say for certain why she had been given this honour, considering how she had regularly infuriated the King with her inability to hold back her opinions even when it contradicted his. She was not even the strongest warrior in the kingdom.
Gwedhiel insisted that it was precisely this trait that the King respected, and it didn't hurt that her skill with the bow was second only to Legolas. But she tended to look at Tauriel through rose-tinted lenses, and couldn't be trusted to give an impersonal judgement.
And so, this became a question that lingered in her mind even as she led her warriors, the validity of her captainship a constant insecurity as she struggled to lead her troops as her father once did.
Even as the Woodland warriors improved with every skirmish, the shadow of doubt and her frustration with seeming never good enough chipped at her confidence to lead.
It took a scolding from Legolas himself to finally wake her up.
"Tell me, mellon-nin, why do you look so sullen after a successful raid on one of the largest spider nests to date?" He had asked, climbing up to sit with her on the tree that she had begun to see as their tree with his usual grace.
She had many reasons. For one, her youngest foot soldier, had been injured in the attack because she was careless enough not to assign him to a more veteran mentor. Second, despite their best efforts to rid the realm of the giant spiders, more and more seemed to spring from the very darkness that was tainting their woods. Already, they had had to round up another village, uprooting them from their homes to the safer areas around the palace.
Tauriel hadn't had to tell these things to Legolas, as he could read her thoughts as easily as she could read his. His frown deepened, "Tauriel. Tell me, as Captain of the Guard is it your duty to ensure every new recruit is assigned to the most seasoned guards?"
She knew where this was heading to, "It is my duty, as Captain of the Guard, to make sure that every single one of my men comes home safely."
"No, it is your duty to make sure you lead your troops, and you lead them well. It is our duty, as members of the guard to make sure we, and the people around us, comes homes safely. Your duty is to plan, delegate and make sure your men know exactly what to do."
She could find no argument for that, and Legolas, in a rare show of temper, rebuked her, "How longer are you going to live in your father's shadow? For how longer are you going to attempt to keep things status quo. I saw a brighter fire in the Tauriel that was vice-captain than I do now."
"Start doing things your way. You are Captain."
She had not been able to look at him in the eyes. Instead, her gaze had been fixated onto her bow as a memory, once faded, was brought into clarity once more.
It had been one of the hardest battles for her father, and the Kingdom. It had also been one of the darkest, as they had lost their beloved queen, whose very presence filled all who beheld her with hope and happiness. Her father had been devastated. It was his failure as Captain of the Guard that had cost the kingdom a wise and beautiful queen. The king had lost the light of his existence, and the young prince, his mother. Even then, it was unclear if he would lose his father too.
He had retreated into his corner of the room, where he sat alternating between sharpening his arrows and falling into a contemplative silence for an entire day before her mother had decided that enough was enough.
"Daerion, you've fought a hard battle. Take a rest," her mother had coaxed.
Her father had spoken with a harshness that had taken her aback. "You do not understand. It is my fault that the Queen is dead!"
When the rebuke came, it was soft and gentle. Yet, it remained in her mind for the longest time.
"Tell me, Melamin, when did we let evil become stronger than us? We lost our queen. But do we not fight for our king, shall we wallow in grief and self-rebuke that we forget the living?"