Hello! A new chapter for you lovely people! :D
Beloved Daughter: Well, her temper tantrum will have consequences and though unfortunately, she doesn't even know how she did it herself. But she'll get some help with that in the next chapters :D
Sam0728: Is it her father? You'll see in this chapter :D Happy (very belated) Thanksgiving to you, as well, I hope you had a blast and ate lots of delicious stuff! :D
ThaliaHuntressGrace: Haha, I'm glad you like it :D The other Amarok has a rather significant role in at least the next few chapters and you'll see why in this one, so I hope you'll like it :D
Akilah Swiftblade: Yeah, I guess I have a thing for cliffhangers :D (I won't say that there's another one here but... there's another one here XD) Though I hope you'll still like it :P
DwarvenWarrior: Yeah, poor Tarya is going through some unpleasant stuff at the moment... She'll have some words with the other Amarok about a lot of things, including his lack of help, you'll see all that in the next chapters :) You'll see what Bilbo is up to then, too :D
13Nyx13: Yeah, Legolas isn't very nice at the moment... We'll see whether he keeps that up :D You'll see some wolf-on-wolf talk in this chapter and it will continue in the next few :D
kaia: First of all, I'm really happy that you keep such good track of the story, with all the information on Amarok ever since the early chapters :D Second, you'll see whether he's her father or not in this chapter :D And third, I guess she was just a bit too caught up in the situation to flip Legolas over her shoulder... but it could still happen, who knows what she's up to? :D
Angel of the Night Watchers: As kaia has already said in her second review, it was mentioned in one of the early chapters that Thranduil had an Amarok with him when he visited Erebor and that they live a lot longer than normal wolves, so it could have been foreseen that there is an Amarok waiting for our company in the Woodland Realm :D But I'm glad you liked the little surprise anyway and I hope you like where it's going from here :)
Also thanks to ZabuzasGirl, Borys68, JackieJr, Teshka for your lovely reviews and to the people who followed and favorited!
I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave me a review if you do!
Two days later, Tarya was still locked in and had only moved from her shadowy corner when Legolas – who by now she had found out was the king's son – had come and personally led her to the bath chambers in order for her to get cleaned up while elven maids were taking care of the chaos she had created on her first night. The elven prince had asked her what had happened, of course, but Tarya didn't bother answering him, for she didn't even know it herself. In fact, Tarya refused to speak even one word to any of the elves and when she had been led back to her chamber that day, which had been refurnished in the meantime, she walked straight past the new chairs and the comfortably looking bed, resuming to sit in her corner, back leaning against the wall.
She hadn't moved from there since then, even refusing to eat any of the food the elves kept bringing her. Tarya merely pushed the plate away from her whenever one was set down before her and hours later it would be taken back by a maid, untouched. As a wolf, Tarya was easily able to go without food for two weeks, only then would the pang of hunger start to really become inevitably prominent. So she wouldn't touch their food as long as she could avoid it, refusing to be fed like a pet dog. The only thing she took from the elves was the water they were bringing her.
Tarya didn't look up when the door to her chamber opened and stayed unmoving even when she heard footsteps approaching her. She didn't have to look up to know who had entered the room, the rustling of heavy robe and the sudden scent of wolf betraying that it was the elven king himself who was paying her his first visit, accompanied by the grey Amarok.
There was a long silence in the room in which Tarya could feel the king's gaze on her before Thranduil spoke up.
"It was brought to me that you refuse to eat," the elven king said and then waited for her to answer. But Tarya didn't even bother to look at the elf, let alone give him a reply, and kept silently staring at an invisible point on the floor to her feet.
She heard Thranduil sigh quietly before he continued. "Your behaviour is quite disrespectful, if I may say so, refusing to take what I am kindly offering you. I disburdened you from your misery and yet by the way you treat my courtesy, one would think – "
Tarya's gaze shot up suddenly as she interrupted the king with a low growl.
"Your courtesy?" the Amarok spat angrily. "Your courtesy consisted in separating me from my friends and caging me in this room like a wild animal while throwing them in the dungeons."
Thranduil's gaze was resting heavily on her and she glared right back at him as the grey wolf beside the king growled warningly. Tarya shortly glanced at the animal before she looked back to the elven king, her gaze now cold as ice.
"I have done that for your protection only," Thranduil said, his voice calm as he was observing her attentively. "Someone like you deserves better than to be taken advantage of by greedy dwarves. They seek to exploit the power that slumbers within you in order to use it in their hopeless attempt to slay the dragon that lies in Erebor. It is a suicidal mission that they have gotten you roped into. These dwarves don't see how precious you are and with how much care you deserve to be treated."
Tarya slowly stood up from her crouching position, glaring up at the tall elf before her. "But you do?" she growled lowly, ignoring the warning step that the grey wolf made towards her upon her words. "Do I deserve to be taken advantage of by elves, then? You must believe me very stupid if you think that libelling my friends will grant you my goodwill. You do not care about my wellbeing; I am merely a trophy that you want for yourself."
Thranduil stayed silent as Tarya took a step towards him, narrowing her eyes at the elven king dangerously. "I cannot fathom how someone like you gained the allegiance of one of my kin," she muttered lowly, glancing shortly at the big grey wolf to the king's side that was just looking at her quietly now. "But know one thing, elf. My loyalty lies with my friends and it always will."
The elven king merely looked at her for a few seconds, blue eyes boring into hers, before he smiled wanly down at her.
"I am sure in time your mind will change," he muttered then before he turned away from her, walking towards the door.
"You cannot keep me in here forever!" Tarya called angrily, making a few steps after the king but the other Amarok in the room blocked her path, making her stand still with a huff before he went to follow his king.
"Not forever," Thranduil smiled back at her over his shoulder as he opened the door and Tarya felt her skin heat up in anger at the derisively calm sound of his voice. "Only until you and your little friends see reason."
Tarya quickly grabbed hold of a heavy jug standing on a table beside her almost unconsciously and upon the elf's words, she hurled it after the king's retreating form, the object hitting the door and clankingly shattering into pieces just as it fell closed. The Amarok let out an angry cry, kicking a chair near her so that it fell to the floor with a loud rumble. For a moment, Tarya tried to concentrate and recreate the strange pulsation in her body that had caused such destruction the first time, but it didn't work and so in her frustration, Tarya resumed to destroy every single piece of furniture in the room with her own hands, throwing chairs around until they broke apart, hurling objects against the walls, knocking over the heavy table that stood in the middle of the room. There was nothing else she could do to let out her frustration.
A while later, the Amarok stood amongst the chaos she had created once again, breathing heavily but feeling somewhat better now that she had been able to let out her anger. And as she sat back down on the wall, looking at what she'd done, her thoughts wandered to her friends in the dungeons and she wondered whether they were all right, the image of one dwarf in particular appearing again and again in her mind.
Kili sighed heavily as he leaned back into the shadows of his cell when an elven guard passed by on the other side of the bars. It was the same redhead that had been there when they had been captured, the same redhead that had led them down and locked them in separate small stone cells, all far away from each other. Kili had called out to his friends, to his brother, on his first night but there had been no answer, confirming that he was indeed alone, and he had not tried again after that. In fact, the young dwarf had not used his voice ever since then. The guards kept asking questions, no doubt to everyone in the company, but Kili refused to answer even one of them. He ate the food he was given and drank the water that the guards offered but he never thanked them for any of it.
Kili was angry. With the elves, with their king, but mostly with himself. Ever since he had been locked in this dark cell, his thoughts kept wandering back to the moment that Tarya had been forcefully led away from them in the throne room, away from him. Kili couldn't erase the desperate expression on her face from his memory as she had fought in the blond elf's grip, the horrified look in her golden eyes as she had found his gaze in the chaos. Again, Kili hadn't been able to protect her, which pained him the most. Somehow, he always kept losing her. He had lost her as a wolf when they had been hunted by orcs on the plains before Rivendell, he had lost her when they had been fighting Azog on the mountainside after Goblin Town, he had lost her at Beorn's house, he'd lost her in Mirkwood when the spiders attacked and now he had lost her again, not even knowing where in the palace she was or whether she was all right. It was almost torture to Kili, not knowing how she was, not being able to see or help her.
And it couldn't go on like this, the young prince thought, and if they would ever make it out of this accursed elven palace, if he'd see her again, he swore to himself that it wouldn't. He would not let her slip away again.
"You seem awfully absorbed in thought for someone that has nothing to do but sit in a cell," a soft voice pulled him out of his trail of thoughts. Kili looked up and saw the red-haired she-elf standing before his cell, observing him attentively. The dwarf snorted slightly upon the guard's words.
"You seem awfully concerned for someone that has nothing to do but blindly follow her king's orders," he shot back, not quite knowing when he had decided to talk to her.
Tauriel's eyes narrowed slightly at him but Kili didn't care. "Guard your tongue, dwarf."
"If you don't like what I have to say then you may leave," Kili muttered, raising one eyebrow slightly. "I would, but unfortunately, I don't have that option at the moment."
"You could have it," Tauriel answered calmly. "You could all be free if you agreed to king Thranduil's conditions."
Kili felt his blood boil with anger at the mere memory of those conditions and he clenched his jaw together tightly before he answered. "I would rather die in this cell than let your king have what he wants."
Tauriel's eyebrows rose slightly upon his words, her eyes studying him intently. It was quite clear that he wasn't talking about granting Thranduil a part of the riches in Erebor but about leaving without the Amarok. Tauriel had not seen her ever since she had been put in a chamber near the king's halls but word spread quickly within the palace that she kept fighting anything and anyone ever since Thranduil had first visited her, which had been about a week ago.
"Your companion is about as stubborn as you are," she then muttered, causing the dwarf's eyebrows to rise slightly in question. His interest was obviously piqued now that she was talking about the Amarok, though Tauriel wasn't sure what the reason for that was. It was said amongst the elves of the palace that the dwarves were merely using the Amarok for her legendary powers and that she wasn't with them voluntarily but by the way Tauriel had experienced it in the forest and in the throne room, Tarya seemed to be absolutely loyal to these dwarves. For whatever reason, the elf thought grimly, before she shot the brunet dwarf before her a last look and turned around. She made to exit the dungeons but a deep voice stopped her before she reached the stairs.
"Wait!" Kili called, having stepped up to the bars to be able to look at the she-elf's retreating form. Tauriel slowly turned her head to look questioningly at him over her shoulder. Kili swallowed tightly. "How - … how is she?" he then asked hesitantly. He knew it wasn't a good idea to rely on this elf but he needed to know that Tarya was all right and she was the only source of information he could hope for at the moment.
Tauriel watched him for a moment, the cool expression on her face shifting slightly into something more compassionate as she looked at the young dwarf. It wasn't greed that caused his interest in the Amarok, Tauriel realized upon seeing the almost pleading look in his dark brown eyes, but love. He loved her, she thought, and couldn't quite help the amazement that came with that realization.
"She is well," Tauriel muttered quietly and honestly then. "Albeit quite fractious."
Kili held her gaze for a moment, an almost untraceable smile tugging at the corners of his lips, before he nodded slowly, sending the elf a thankful look. Tauriel turned away from him as he retreated back into the shadows of his small stone cell and as the she-elf exited the dungeons, her thoughts wandered to the small human Amarok, wondering whether she knew what this dwarf felt for her and whether it was right to keep them from one another.
Tarya looked up as someone slipped past the door of her chamber, meeting the grey wolf's gaze as he entered the room. She huffed quietly as he stepped towards her and his gaze darkened slightly upon seeing the heavy iron chain that was attached to her wrist, the other end securely fixed to the wall behind her. Her continuous fighting had caused a few unpleasant consequences for Tarya. After the fourth time of having to refurnish the room, the king had decided that she would be chained until she learned some manners, which wasn't likely to happen soon.
'I am sorry they did this to you,' the wolf rumbled deeply, stepping towards her as she averted her gaze from him. He had visited her a few times over the last days, though he had never spoken to her in the company of the elves. This was the first time that the wolf was coming to see her on his own. Maybe it was because he was now able to push open the door himself, since the guards didn't bother to lock it anymore ever since she'd been chained to the wall. There was no escape for her now anyway.
'It was not in my power to prevent it after you fought as much as you did.'
'Do not ignore me, Tarya,' the wolf growled when she still didn't acknowledge his presence as he arrived beside her. The Amarok shortly looked up at her counterpart, one eyebrow raised slightly.
"You remembered my name, I am impressed."
'Of course I remember your name,' the wolf grumbled after a moment of silence, observing her intently. 'I have given it to you almost 70 years ago.'
Tarya didn't really react to the bluntness of that statement. She had known, or at least she'd had a suspicion. The grey of his fur had seemed too familiar, the gold of his eyes too similar to hers. The grey wolf took her silence as a cue to continue.
'I am Arkin,' he rumbled, watching her every reaction attentively but Tarya's face was set in an unreadable mask.
"I am not interested in your company," Tarya muttered coolly, averting her gaze from her father's golden eyes.
'Would you prefer the company of dwarves to that of your own kin?' the male growled lowly, stepping around her so he could look at her face.
"Any day," she replied calmly, even though she was getting angry, too. "For they treat me with love and respect instead of chaining me to a wall like a worthless cur."
'Are you sure of that, Tarya?' the grey wolf asked, causing her to narrow her eyes at him as her thoughts involuntarily produced a picture of Kili in her mind.
"They're my friends," she growled, thinking of one brunet dwarf in particular. "They would never do anything to hurt me."
Arkin stayed silent for a moment, observing her with a curious expression in his dark golden eyes. Tarya shot him a dismissive look before he continued calmly.
'Which one is it then?' the large Amarok asked, sitting down in front of her and making it highly visible that he was not about to leave for a while. 'Maybe the old one with the dark hair, I think his name was Thorin?'
Tarya's eyes widened slightly upon that assumption and she growled quietly, not knowing what the male was getting at. "Which one is what?" she asked a bit irritated. Arkin merely shot her a pointed look.
'The one you have committed yourself to,' he replied in a grumble as if it was the most obvious thing to ask. 'It is fairly obvious that it is one of those dwarves.'
"And why, pray tell, is that?" Tarya grumbled, annoyed by her own father's smug behaviour Arkin gave a small snort, looking at her almost amusedly.
'You are the only Amarok in hundreds of years to transform into a human form,' he said, looking at her curiously. 'And yet you understand nothing of our kind.'
"What does my commitment have to do with my transformation?" Tarya's eyebrows drew together in annoyance.
Arkin twitched with one ear, eyes twinkling with amusement. 'You are truly unaware,' he rumbled, almost as if to himself. Tarya merely raised her eyebrows at him questioningly.
'Commitment is something you do out of love,' her father mumbled after a long while, lying down lazily and resting his head on his paws, his gaze still set on her. 'It allows your very soul to take form. The origin of light as some call it. Your soul binds itself to another person and your transformation adapts to the one you commit to.'
Arkin shot her a short look out of wise eyes before he averted his gaze, seemingly lost in thought. Tarya could only stare at him blankly as he spoke, all her anger suddenly forgotten as she listened to her father talk.
'You have committed yourself to a dwarf,' he grumbled. 'That is why you are so small. Your soul matches his, so your body does, too. We transform when we commit and we commit when we love.'
'When we…?' Tarya muttered incredulously, lost for what to say.
Arkin moved his head slightly in a sort of nod. 'You were not aware of this?'
"I – no… I thought we didn't… love," Tarya stuttered helplessly, all of a sudden completely overwhelmed by this information that Arkin was throwing at her, probably not even knowing what effect his words had on her. If what he was saying was true, then it inevitably meant that she was in love with Kili. And that she had been for a long time without even knowing it. And as unbelievable this all sounded, she now suddenly had an explanation for the strange feelings she experienced whenever she was around the brunet dwarf.
Arkin snorted lightly before he replied. 'Of course we do. Not often, but we certainly do love and very fiercely, too,' the grey wolf grumbled, dark eyes watching her calmly as realization dawned on her face. 'Committing yourself to someone means that you put another one's life before your own. That is something you do out of love, that is what causes the origin of light to come forth. The power that comes with your transformation is a mere side effect. You develop it in order to protect the one you love. The one person in the world that you would die for.'
Tarya stayed silent for a long while, lost in thought, and Arkin took this as a sign that he was getting the message through. After a while, Tarya's gaze slowly climbed up from the floor to meet her father's dark golden gaze. Disbelief was written all over her features.
"So, I'm in love with – "
' – a dwarf, yes,' Arkin completed his daughter's sentence, torn between amusement and annoyance.