His eyes had found her immediately, even after all these years; perhaps old habits died hard. He would have noticed her first anywhere. The years had treated her well. Her eyes, despite the shock mirroring his, had lesser shadows than they used to. Imladris, perhaps, had been good for her.

"Le- Heru en Amin," she greeted him, with a formal eleven greeting she had not used in several hundred years. He felt the brief stab of irritation, and something else that he did not want to put into thoughts.

"Captain."

With that brief acknowledgement, he turned to Lord Elrond to exchange the necessary pleasantries. But when Lord Elrond asked after his father, it was with a pang that he admitted to not knowing - he had been away for years, with the Dunedain.

Legolas felt her eyes upon him. There must have been as many questions in her mind as he had for her. So many...

He forced his thoughts resolutely back to the meeting and kept it there till the meeting concluded.

"Tell me, Legolas Greenleaf, how is your father?" Lord Elrond had asked. She had watched Legolas' expression tighten, almost imperceptibly, before he had admitted to have no knowledge, having been away since The Battle.

It had taken her by shock. Legolas' sense of duty shouldn't have kept him away for so long, especially knowing that his people would be busy picking up the pieces, rebuilding after the war. Their people.

"I have summoned you today to discuss a matter of utmost secrecy," Lord Elrond declared. "In particular, Gandalf brings grave news to us."

Nodding towards Gandalf the Grey, he returned to his seat.

"Ah yes yes... Where should I begin... Yes perhaps I should start with a tale," Gandalf murmured to himself, before standing up. "This tale began with the forging of the great rings. Three were given to the elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of men, who above all else desired power. For within these rings was bound the strength and will to govern each race..."

It was a tale familiar to them - the tale of how the great rings came to be, and of Sauron's deceit. It was a tale told to young elves as a warning of how power corrupts and distorts. And how the alliances of men and elves came naught to be.

Gandalf's tale continued passed that of Isildur's folly, however, and the last sentences brought an ominous silence upon them.

"... History became legend, legend became myth and for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Recently, it has become known to me that there is a creature, known to us as Gollum, who has lived an unnatural long life," Gandalf paused, looking up from his thoughts and pacing. "I have heard news that the minions of Mordor has been looking for him."

"Estel, It is my wish for you to look for the creature Gollum. And when you do, to bring him to Lord Thranduil. I will meet with you there."

The young man named Estel had exchanged a glance with Legolas, as similar lines appeared on their faces.

Her steps had led her to the one place in Rivendell where she could seek solace, a little known section where she could dip her fingers into the cool waters. Her father once told her that emotions were like flowing water... A heavy burden had set upon her heart as Legolas' appearance had inevitably reopened a flood of memories - memories that she had sought to keep at bay. And with the reawakening of memories came a flood of emotions that should not have caught her unaware, but did.

Longing for the familiar forest conflicted with a fear that she had lost the right to call the woodland realm home. Desire to see her friends brought with it a fear of rejection. The very same heart that yearned to see his eyes shine with a familiar light, like a joke only they shared, also knew that it had given up all rights to it that day on Ravenhill.

A tear escaped her eyes, as she brushed it almost angrily away.

"It's Legolas, isn't it?" A soft voice that could only belong to Arwen broke through her thoughts.

"Why else would my formidable friend have failed to notice my approach?" Her friend leveled an even gaze at her; in her own way, Arwen could be as unnerving as Lord Elrond.

"We were friends once," Tauriel admitted, "perhaps more than friends. I looked up to him as my leader just as he respected my position as Captain. In a way, no one else believed in me as he did."

"You love him," Arwen concluded, saying the words Tauriel could not, would not, bring herself to articulate. "What happened?"

"What else? I am but a lowly Silvan elf," Tauriel whispered, "our union would have been frowned upon. First and foremost, the king would never have allowed it."

Arwen asked the very questions she had once asked herself in the dead of the night, "and that matters because?"

And she could only reply with the answer she had given herself. "I owe King Thranduil my entire life. From the moment he took me in when my father fell, I owed him my allegiance. Nonetheless, I betrayed him; let the protection of our people take second place to my own agendas. I have no right to return home, yet Legolas' duty, his fate, is tightly interwoven with that of Greenwood. There can be no future between us."

"Just as there was to be no future between Beren and Luthien?" Arwen asked; but it was a rhetoric that had needed no reply.

They settled into a silence, as thoughts filled each of their minds.

Estel had seeked him out at the archery grounds, having stayed behind at Lord Elrond's request. Deep lines seemed to have been etched into his face, making him seem older than his 30 years of age.

Legolas had set down his bow almost unwillingly, but his quiver was empty; the result of furious shooting. Estel had lifted an eyebrow at the sight of the heap of arrows, split in halves, lying below the target where one lone arrow remained deeply lodged in the middle.

"What occupies your thoughts, my friend?" Estel asked.

"What occupies yours?"

Estel sighed, knowing that his friend would not answer him in that mood of his. Besides, he had sought his friend out for a separate reason...

"Lord Elrond has just given me much to ponder, and the magnitude of this knowledge suffocates me, Legolas," Estel confided. "That he has chosen to reveal this just as Gandalf have tasked me with the mission of finding Gollum comes as no coincidence, I realize. But now, it will be with the fear this knowledge brings that I embark on this mission. I fear failure, Mellon, because it could be brought upon by my own weakness - a weakness that flows in my very veins."

Legolas studies his friend, who seemed to be struggling with the decision as to whether to say more. It was after several moments that Estek finally lifted his head and looked Legolas in the eye, declaring, "I have just learnt my true name. I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Isildur's heir."

Author's note: There you go! We've come full circle, now that Legolas has learnt what he had first set out to do. I think both Legolas and Tauriel has to deal with their conflicted thoughts separately before they can face each other, and I felt that Arwen, who in the Lord of The Rings dealt with her relationship as bravely as she did, ought to be the one who plants this thought into Tauriel's head.