Dedication: To two other reviewers who have been been with this story for a time now, misssunnybluesky and NCISRookie33, thank you both very much!


Nine: Caul


Legolas had called them ugly, but Tauriel could not help but disagree. The dwarves were loud, rough, their hair flew in disarray about their hard faces, and growing beards seemed to be a commonality among them. They were perfect mirrors to the soft faces and graceful features of her kin. They were different, and perhaps a little odd, but she would not call them ugly.

Certainly not the tall one who claimed to have something down his trousers. She smiled at the memory.

"What do you think they were doing at our borders?" Meginor asked, as he unstrapped the sword that hung at his waist. They were gathering at the weapons room. All of them were fresh from the attack, but three of their number were missing. Two had gone to escort the dwarf to the king, while Legolas had not followed them from the dungeons.

"Did you not see the state of their clothes, and the weapons and tools they carry?" a she-elf answered him. "They were travelling, but as to where, I cannot tell you."

"The Iron Hills, perhaps?" suggested another. "It's the only thing past this forest to the East that they would seem to want to go to."

"Iron Hills? Who would want to go to the Iron Hills?"Glines had appeared at the doorway, looking tired but curious.

"Glines! Irima!" Meginor exclaimed, watching their two friends enter. "What took you two the better part of the day? We've returned from two trips to the forest and only now have you arrived."

"We were ambushed," Irima answered her, removing the bow that stayed at her back.

"Orcs?" Tauriel asked worriedly.

Irima and Glines shared a look. Glines took the chair beside Meginor and passed a hand wearily over her face. "We are not sure."

Most everyone stared. Tauriel frowned as she assessed her friends' conditions, their clothes were almost spotless, but she did not miss the tear in Glines' cloak, and how Irima's hair had fallen from her braids. "What do you mean?"

"It was at the forest's edge, where the trees are thicker and taller. There was a fog, so it was difficult to see far. We saw traces of a fire. It was long extinguished, but we knew it had been lit just last night. Then, as we stood, an arrow flew at us from the shadows, but we did not see where it came from. I peered, but the fog clouded my vision. It was Irima who..." she hesitated, looking at the she-elf.

Irima looked to Tauriel. "There were two of them, in black cloaks. I know because I will never forget what Gobelion looked like when we first saw him in the forest. They had cloaks that were identical to what he wore."

Many of the elves gasped in shock. Tauriel nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"They were powerful, we knew we could not fight them with only the two of us, so we escaped," Irima said, her eyes on the floor, her hands trembling slightly. "What could it mean, Tauriel? Are there really more like Gobelion? Elves poisoned and witless? I did not want to believe it, could not, but they were there—,"

"Come, mellon," Glines shook her head, her curly hair moved easily. She frowned at her friend, but took her hand comfortingly. "We do not know for sure if they were as you saw. I myself saw no one past the thick fog. But even if they were there," she continued, as Irima looked insistent. "Even if the attackers were dressed similarly to Gobelion, we do not know for sure whether they were elves. For all we know, they could have been men, or—or orcs, or goblins," she said, but she did not look convinced.

Meginor stepped forward, shooting a worried look at the pale Irima. "We have yet no proof that there are others like Gobelion. It is dangerous to fall to assumptions."

Glines nodded, clearly trying to pacify her friend's mood. "Yes. Oh, let us not linger in the shadows of these mysteries. It is Mereth en Gilith, yet we talk of such darkness," the frown on her face was replaced by a forced smile. She looked around her, feigning interest at something other than her friend's woes. "We heard talk of dwarves, tell us about them," she encouraged.

"They're certainly an interesting bunch. Especially their leader," Meginor answered her.

"Interesting enough to command an audience with the King, yes," Tauriel added, hoping to prey Irima's mind of the hunt.

"An audience that did not go very well," a voice commented from the door.

Tauriel looked to see the Feren, a brown haired elf who served as one of the kingdom's lieutenants. He was often sent by the King to serve as a messenger, and was quiet and just. Tauriel had only spoken with him in matters of the kingdom.

"Have they finished speaking?" she asked.

"Yes," Feren answered.

Tauriel nodded then laid a hand gently on Irima's shoulder. "Go to the King later and speak to him of your encounter in the forest. I fear to speak for you, as words can often change easily in transactions. It is better if you explain it yourself," she explained, and Irima gave her a determined nod. Tauriel smiled at her friend, then made her way towards the door. She needed to speak with the King. But Feren spoke before she could walk out. "You might want to delay your visit to the King," he warned her. "The dwarf did nothing but heighten the King's tempers."

"Thank you," she said curtly, but continued walking out of the room. She knew better than anyone that the King rarely held on to his emotions for long.


"Other lands are not my concern."

She paused, unable to answer. She had known it was so, but to hear the words from the King's own lips struck her like never before.

"The fortunes of the world will rise and fall. But here in this kingdom, we will endure," he said.

Tauriel could not see how she would be able to reason with the King. Had she really thought she would be able to change years of practice? Had she thought she would break the wall that King Thranduil had built upon himself and everyone around him? She gave a curt nod, turning to walk away.

She had only taken a few steps when again the King spoke. "Legolas said you fought well today."

She swerved to look back at him, and raised her face. She could not contain the smile that graced her features.

The King's eyes narrowed slightly, and a knowing smile played by his lips. Then, "He has grown very fond of you."

The floor tilted beneath Tauriel's feet, but Thranduil's words ran over and over in her mind. It could not be, surely. If Legolas had directed any feelings towards her, then she would have known. They were friends, and nothing more. Was that not what she had told herself, a million times over in the past? "I assure you, my Lord, Legolas thinks of me as no more than a Captain of the Guard," the words tumbled out her mouth, but she could not face the King.

"Perhaps he did once," he walked past her, towards a table that stood by her back. "Now I am not so sure."

Tauriel's heart rattled noisily in her chest. His words still resounded in her mind, and along with it, Kylis' comments just that morning: I have not missed the way he looks at you. Tauriel's eyes roved the floor, looking through her memories for the words to say. But all she saw was Legolas as he held her hand, Legolas and the smiles and laughter he reserved only for her.

Why does the dwarf stare at you, Tauriel?

Could it be?

She tried to stop the hopeful look she was sure would etch on her face, and then she frowned, as she realized, "I do not think you would allow your son to pledge himself to a lowly Silvan elf," the words came out slowly, as the King's glass clinked behind her.

"No, you are right. I would not," he answered carelessly.

Tauriel could all but stop herself from flinching. She turned to the floor again, her heart was still beating wildly.

"Still he cares about you. Do not give him hope when there is none," the King said nonchalantly, reminding her that this was a matter she should have known all along.

There was a numbness in her hands that she could not fight. He has grown very fond of you. It did not stop, and she watched the floor beneath her feet, but she could not feel it. How cruel fate was, to make her realize her heart has fallen, only to crush it down again; to make her dream that her feelings would be reciprocated, only to break it down after. She swallowed as she raised her eyes from the floor. If this was love, then she wanted no part in it.

"I understand that a title you may have had in Imladris, but that you stripped away when you accepted your life here. And even then, I have heard of the fog that obscures your past," the King continued. "You know it cannot be."

"Yes, my Lord," she said. Yes, of course. She was a Silvan elf with no past, broken. She walked to the door, but her hands hovered on the knob. "My Lord, then...the Lady Kylis?" she asked.

Thranduil looked at her, uninterestedly. "Yes," he said simply, taking a sip from his goblet. "It is she that Legolas will marry."

Tauriel closed the door heavily behind her. The music called from the dining halls, and she knew the elves were moving there for the feasts. But she could not bring herself to go there—at least, not yet.

Before she knew where she was, Tauriel found herself in the dark, wide rooms of the dungeons.

She walked through the cells, but the dwarves were quiet. She frowned, missing the rowdy speech and persistence of the tiny race. It was their noise she hoped would distract her from the matters that plagued her heart. She peered across the cells, but all of them were either hopelessly slumped on the walls, or brooding in anger, glaring at her through the dark.

It was in Kili's cell that she slowed. He tossed a black stone in his hand, and, wishing more than anything to be distracted, she spoke to him. "The stone in your hand, what is it?" she asked.

He did not look at her when he answered. "It is a talisman. A powerful spell lies upon it," he narrated. "If any but a dwarf reads the runes on this stone..." he shook his head as he looked at it. Then, with a swift movement, flashed the stone to her, his eyes wide and foreboding. "...they will be forever cursed!"

She had heard of curses and dark magic, and she cringed from the small object. She turned away and began to walk away, her heart beating faster in her chest. But he spoke before she could get any farther, mirth in his voice. "Or not."

She looked at him, and he was smiling at her.

"Depending on whether you believe in that kind of thing. It's just a token," he chuckled at her.

His brown eyes were warm, and she could not help but smile, just a little.

"A rune stone," he looked back at the stone on his hand. "My mother gave it to me so I'd remember my promise."

She walked closer to his cell, still smiling despite herself. "What promise?" she asked.

"That I would come back to her," he answered. "She worries," he flipped the stone, high in the air. "She thinks I'm reckless."

"Are you?"

"Nah," he tossed the stone again, but it slipped past his hand and rolled out of his cell. It slid dangerously across the floor but she put out her foot, stopping it. She bent, taking the small stone in her hand. The cuts were deep but made carefully in a language she had only seen in books.

"Sounds like quite a party you're having up there," he expressed, even as she gazed at the stone.

She nodded. "It is Mereth en Gilith," she walked away from him and looked up at the heavens. "The Feast of Starlight. All light is sacred to the Eldar, but Wood Elves love best the light of the stars."

"I always thought is a cold light. Remote and far away," he could hear the frown in his voice.

She turned back to face him. How could one so bright not see it? "It is memory, precious and pure," the stone throbbed in her hand, but she watched the dwarf's brown eyes, gazing at her raptly. "Like your promise," she handed him the rune stone. The music called to her and she gazed back at the stars, remembering years past. "I have walked there sometimes," she told him, forgetting that he was one she should not be speaking to. "Beyond the forest and up into the night. I have seen the world fall away and the white light of forever fill the air," she explained, she could almost see them in her mind. They danced above the leaves, untouched by all that lingered in the earth. She had watched them, but not alone. But forever it was, while it lasted.

"I saw a fire moon once," he said, and again his voice stole her from her memories. "It rose over the pass near Dunland. Huge. Red and gold it was, it filled the sky. We were an escort for some merchants from Ered Luin. They were trading in silverwork for furs." She sat on the steps beside his cell. "We took the Greenway south keeping the mountain to our left. And then it appeared, this huge fire moon lighting our path. I wish I could show you the caverns. They glowed in the night, and for a moment we thought it was day..."

The minutes passed to the night. The music played on, but Tauriel's ears were only for the stories of the deepest caves, filled with gems of all color, and in moons that turned red in the night.

Yet even Kili's stories could not let her forget forever. As he spoke and images of travels crept through her mind, her heart would always bring her back to the King's cold words.

Her hands trembled in her lap, and she was thankful for the fact that she was sitting down. How was she to face the days to come, knowing that her heart yearned for another she could never reach? And the possibilities that Legolas could have loved her back—it was that knowledge that hurt her more than any other.

A single tear dropped to her hand, and she looked at it, startled.

"My lady?" Kili asked worriedly beside her. When had he stopped narrating his stories?

Tauriel wiped the tear quickly away, but it seemed it had done her no good, judging by the way he still looked at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "What happened?"

Tauriel gave him a sad smile, but she did not answer. How could she explain? How could she tell him of a story that spanned through years, involved so many? "It is a long tale. And it ends in nothing but pain and sadness."

His brows furrowed, and he clenched the cell's bars, walking closer to her. "But the pain will pass. And surely, the sadness will, too. If you let it."

"No," she shook her head as she stood. We have a duty to protect it. To make sure none of it goes to harm. Not love. Legolas' own words came unbidden to her head. If it was so, then he would understand what she was to do, and he would accept it. This was her duty, to her King and to the prince: to keep him from knowing she reciprocated his feelings, so to save him from the pain that she felt. To let him realize that no amount of affection could bring the two of them together. "This pain I have to accept. For duty. And so I could save that I love from greater suffering."

"Tauriel," Kili cried out, just as she took a step forward.

She looked back, surprised that he had known her name.

He looked down, abashed. Then, "I heard him say it. The blonde haired elf. Your name.

Tauriel slowly walked back to him, then knelt before him, meeting the warm brown eyes that she had come to trust so quickly. She wished that he was free of his bonds, that the promise he made to his mother would be kept true. He would be her friend, she knew, despite the distance that had long been between their races. "Your mother worries for a reason, but I will not allow her fears to go unchecked. Thank you, Kili." He smiled at the mention of his name, but before he could answer her, she had already stepped away, walking the path from the dungeons.

It took her only a matter of time to reach the King's quarters, but it was empty. Remembering the feast, she made her way instead to the Hall, wishing she would be able to speak with the King despite the celebrations.

When she arrived, the hall was brimming with music and wine and laughter and dance. Two long tables lined both ends, and the space between them served as the dance floor. When Tauriel arrived, dozens of elves were already moving to the music being played by a small band at the corner of the room.

Standing by the door, she scanned the room. The King was seated on a raised dais at the end of one table. He sat lazily, but the light in his eyes showed that he was also enjoying the celebrations. Four elves were already lined before him, and Irima spoke to him at present. Tauriel was reminded of the cloaked elves she had claimed to see. Knowing that she could not steal the king's attention now, her eyes roved through the crowd to look for the lone elf who shared the King's hair, but he was absent. By the table to her left where most of her friends, and it was there instead where Tauriel made her way to.

"Ah, Captain!" Meginor grinned as she sat. His cheeks were already red, and Tauriel noted the goblet of wine in front of him.

Glines also grinned at her, but then she took note of the garments she wore. "I thought preparations led to your tardiness, but it seems I am mistaken. You are still in your hunting clothes," she noted. The she-elf was wearing a golden gown, lined with brown lacings. "Where have you been?"

Tauriel took a sip of water, ignoring the plates of food set before them. She did not feel hungry. "I was at the dungeons."

"The dungeons?" Meginor frowned. "Oh, but the dwarves must have been making quite a ruckus. Just hours ago, they were banging their bodies against the cell's bars, as if their weight would bring them down. Barbaric, don't you think?"

"No, I do not," Tauriel snapped, sounding more aggressive than she had intended. "I think they tell marvellous stories," she added quickly.

Meginor took no note of her outburst. "Well, Legolas said they would be dangerous," he shrugged.

Tauriel ignored his comment. "Legolas, I was searching for him. Where is he?"

"I thought he was with you," Glines said.

"He'll appear sooner or later, oh—," his eyes had caught something by the door. He grinned widely. "There he is, and he's not alone."

Tauriel turned, and saw the prince standing by the door, Kylis at his side. Her arm was linked around his, and they stood very close to each other. Something pinched inside her chest but Tauriel ignored it, and instead rose from her seat. "I need to speak with the prince," she told her friends as farewell.

Nearing them, Tauriel could not help but notice the look of relief that slowly overtook the prince's features.. "My lord, my lady," Tauriel greeted as she approached.

"Oh, Captain. You look, ah," Kylis eyes moved through her clothes. "...busy."

"May I have a word with the prince?" Tauriel asked quickly after, disregarding the look that Kylis gave her. Legolas nodded and, saying a curt goodbye to Kylis, walked with Tauriel out of the hall.

"Why are they imprisoned?" she asked him, as soon as they reached the side of the corridor. It was empty but for them.

He frowned at her tone, but still answered her. "It is not for us to question the King's orders, Tauriel. The dwarves are rough and dangerous. They trespassed, and behind bars is where they should be."

She looked at him coldly, the injustice of the punishment and the hurt of the king's warning removed all hesitance from her. She wondered how blind they had become to the other races. This was the price isolation had to pay, and her heart questioned whether she could still bind herself to it. "Why?" she asked. "We don't even know why they're here. They may have simply been passing through, going home—"

"They may have, but they did not. It is not a simple home that their path leads to. It is not the Iron Hills they seek, but the Lonely Mountain. The dark haired one, their leader, he is who they call Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror. They call him the King Under the Mountain. But another claims residency of the Lonely Mountain, or have you forgotten the great beast that has taken refuge in the gold that lies within its earth?" he asked her.

Tauriel looked away. She had heard the rumors. Dragons and burning flames, and sparkling jewels. She had heard of betrayals and anger, and of a hatred rooted so deep and dark. She could not see now how Kili and the others would ever find their freedom.

"Tauriel," Legolas said her name gently, and she started as she met his gaze. His worried look threatened to break through her barriers. "Let us not speak of these things. The music calls, and the feast awaits." He tried to smile, but confusion still clouded his eyes as he tried to understand why she was being like this. Yet his gaze softened as they stared at one another. She did not speak, but wished she had when he finally broke their silence. "Will you dance with me?"

She had never seen Legolas dance. Many times in the past she had seen she-elves invite him, and even she herself had asked him once, if only to see him in the dance floor. But he would always refuse. Never had she seen him take a dance, let alone invite someone else. Almost her resolve wavered and questions of duty and responsibility failed her. In that moment, all she could see was her prince and her friend, and the one who held her heart. Yet even then, the King's words did not leave her. "I'm afraid I should decline, ernil," she said, steeling her gaze. "I have duties to attend to, and the Lady Kylis awaits your presence within the hall. Maybe it should be her that you invite to the dance." Without looking at him, she turned away.

Almost, she wished he would call her name, ask her to come back, and change her mind. But all she heard was her footsteps, and the laughs from within that seemed to mock her predicament.

It was her duty to protect the prince from love, and it was what she would do.

She will not give him hope, when there is none.

END OF CHAPTER


A/N: I am definitely putting this chapter up in my to-edit list.

Okay, yes, yes, this chapter is later than usual, but I'm afraid a week-two weeks will be the norm from now on, because (drum rolls) the second term has started and it's back to school! I know you guys want the five-day updates back, but life calls to me and I do have limited writing time. Please expect updates every Tuesday morning, PST. BUT I cannot promise that they will be out every week, because I really am very busy with a lot of stuff, but I can promise that updates won't be later than two weeks. :)

Caul = Heavy burden (Duty)

So. FAQs:

Is this a TaurielxKili story? I was planning to not answer this, but I'm really surprised you guys asked it anyway. Hmm. Actually now that I think about it, I won't answer it, but I do think all the past chapters are enough of a clue for you to know what pairing will be emphasized by this story. And like one reviewer pointed out, I won't be necessary following ALL the events of the movies, even if majority of the lines in this chapter was from it.

WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO KISS? Just a few pages more. Make of that what you will. Wink wink.


REPLIES:

Aramat: Your second question was one I've long wanted to answer in the story but couldn't (and probably can't, which is why I'm writing it here) because it would require a very wordy, short, and boring separate chapter. She was so desperate to have his friendship back so why didn't she tell him? So first off, is that if you recall a few chapters ago, Legolas didn't really give her a chance to explain herself (literally). And after their little bicker in the roof, they didn't get around to talking much. But, the opportunity came at the forest (the first time they saw Gobelion), and she did, in a way, tell him of what happened. But never explicitly (refer to Chapter 20). And like you noticed, she didn't (and couldn't) mention the betrothal thing, and also because I do not think Tauriel would be one to speak ill of others, no matter how badly she saw them.
And don't you worry! Like I told another review, I see where KilixTauriel fans are coming from, but I just really think Legolas and Tauriel are perfect for each other. :D Thank you so much for your review!

For other questions, if I didn't answer you, it's not because I didn't read them, but because your answers will be answered anyway in future chapters to come, and I think it would be best for your reading if you get those answers as the story goes along. :)

Thank you to the other guests who didn't leave questions but amazing, amazing reviews! Thanks, you guys!


Warm hugs,

Vee