Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit nor the lines that have been lifted from the movie.


Ten: Miquë


The wind stung Tauriel's face as she followed the smell of water. She knew she needed to find the river, as it would lead her straight to her aim. She weaved through the forest, very slowly reaching the Eastern regions. Once, she had come upon the spoils of orcs and wargs, and the smell of decay was so powerful that she was forced to abandon her nose as guide, and follow the tracks of water in the ground instead.

When finally she reached the break in the trees, the sound of the river was deafening. She inhaled as she breathed the free air while the sunlight streamed at her, soaking her limbs in much-needed warmth. She was on a small rocky cliff, overlooking the river. It was not a great height, but she could already see the widening of the waters.

It had been hours since the dwarves and their attackers escaped. She could not tell how fast the current would take them, but she could only wish the speed of her feet would be able to keep up. She had been running since she left the Kingdom. The quick beating of her heart had sung along with each step she took.

Until now she did not fully understand why she did it. A part of her told her it was because of Kili's poisoning, another told her it was her frustrations of seeing her kin so unaffected by the lives of others, and yet a third part pointed her to the every growing void in her heart, and the complications with a certain blue-eyed prince. Maybe it was the weight of it all that suffocated her. She could not say for sure.

There were repercussions, of course. It had meant disobeying the King, abandoning her responsibilities as Captain of the Guard, and risking punishment, but to stay would have broken her. She knew also that she could not go back. But for now, she had to forget her own woes, and focus her attention on the world that bled with indifference. A war was about to bloom, and she could not simply follow the steps of her kin. She could not stand by and wait for others to fight for her.

A gust of wind blew and she wondered about the poison that was now seeping through Kili's blood. She was thinking back to the stone his mother had given him, when the subtlest movements in the trees behind her caused her hand to reach for the arrows at her waist.

A light step, as the intruder landed on the cliff.

She pulled an arrow, knocking it to her bow just as she turned in place. But the intruder had done the same, and at a quicker pace.

It was Legolas.

The deadly point of his arrow aimed straight at her, and it did nothing to abate her rushing senses. "I thought you were an orc," she called out.

"If I were an orc..." his eyes glinted in the light. "You would be dead."

Simultaneously, they loosened their weapons. He smiled at her, and the words he had said brought to her mind a memory buried deep. He had said those very words to her before, when their friendship was still fresh and not full of complications. She turned away from him, and gazed at the lake instead, wondering how quickly the years had passed.

The lake looked as it had always been to her, timeless and permanent. But she knew that the water that filled it now was not the same as before. It may have come from places far away. Like each drop in the water, they had changed so much from the first time he uttered those words.

"Tauriel," she heard his footsteps. "What are you doing?"

She considered his question. "Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?" she asked him back.

He stood but paces from her. "All for the injured dwarf?"

"You know that it is more than that," she frowned at him. "For years we have spoken of darkness in the world, and for years we have claimed to cleanse it, but we simply stayed behind our borders. Now evil has spewed to farther places and yet again, we do nothing but watch."

"It is not our fight," he told her.

"It is our fight. It will not end here. We cannot simply hide within our walls, and wait for the darkness to descend," she walked closer towards him. "Are we not part of this world? Tell me, mellon. When did we let evil become stronger than us?" she asked.

He stared at her with surprised eyes, but looked away. And she knew that he understood her, that he had known all along. He spoke after a pause, "Father will not understand—,"

"It does not matter now. I will face the consequences, and if returning home is a privilege I will have to give up, then so be it. But I cannot stay in the Kingdom," she stared at him, meeting his blue eyes. "Not now."

He held her gaze, and in the silence that followed, she could hear his heart and mind debating. Yet when he spoke, he uttered none of the questions she was sure he would ask. "They will be going to Laketown. It is the only point that would connect them to the Mountain. And they will look for provisions there," he said in a tone that reminded her he was still her prince.

Without another word, he walked back and disappeared to the forest.

Despite the anxiousness she felt about his presence, she followed after him with a grateful and content smile.


After their exchange on the cliff, words had been scarce between them. He could sense the reluctance in her answers, and after a while met her empty replies with silence. With a pang in her heart, she remembered how she had rejected him just the night before, and she wondered whether it still affected him as much as it did her.

The sun had just retreated for the night when they came upon it. The camp was hurriedly covered up when they arrived, the still burning wood buried under freshly dug earth. Legolas pulled the bow from his back as soon as the camp was uncovered, and told her to do the same.

"Could it be the dwarves?" she asked, keeping her voice soft.

"No," he walked to the tree at the opposite side of the camp, his eyes glued to the ground. "One was poisoned. They would not be able to reach here from the river at such a quick pace. We would have seen them, or at least heard their retreat."

"But this fire..." she eyed the burning embers. "Legolas, this is not where people simply get lost in, this camp could not have been made by simple tourists."

"That is what I wonder as well," he bent to the foot of the tree and picked up something that had been obscured by the grass.

"What's—?"

He held up a knife, muddied with dirt but still gleaming true in the sliver light of the rising moon.

"A knife?" she asked, surprised. Together they swerved, their eyes alert and checking the thick forest that surrounded them. She heard his steps then felt the warmth of his back as he stood directly behind her. "They are here," he whispered.

She glanced around, her green eyes darting from one unclear object to the next. The darkness played with her sight. How could she have forgotten Irima's story? The camp, the half-extinguished fires, they were like a replica of what her friends had encountered.

The rush from the tall bushes took her by surprise. Two dark figures ran to her. She was only barely able to parry the sword that slashed through the air where her neck had just been. Behind her, she heard Legolas' daggers being pulled out from their case. She glanced at the enemies before her. Like she had feared, they wore the same cloak Gobelion had, the same cloak that Irima had claimed to see. Quickly inspecting the cloth, she understood how she and Legolas had missed them. The coloring and threads of their cloaks blended so perfectly with the covers of the forest. Yet it was not their clothes that she wanted to examine the most, but the faces that hid beneath them.

Pulling out her own daggers, she leaned forward, aiming to strike their legs, and at the same time, hoping to glance at their faces. But as if they had read her mind, they jumped a safe distance away.

She ran after the one in her left, but he was prepared for her. His sword clanged with the dagger she aimed at his heart, and his left arm pushed the second dagger away. She took a step back before lunging at him again, this time with both her daggers aimed at his chest. For the second time the song of steel resounded in her ears as he met both blows with his raised sword.

A battle of vigour ensued. She focused all her strength to pushing the deadly sword, while he resisted with equal force. Seconds passed, and his strength proved to be greater than hers. Slowly, Tauriel watched the blades of her own knives inch closer to her face. Knowing that she could not win against his incoming attack, she plunged in all her strength and pushed back one last time. The daggers flew from her hands, but his sword rebounded as well.

She could hear her knives slice the ground meters behind her. She knew there would not be enough time to get them back, and so did her enemy. He released a short laugh as he walked towards her, carelessly swinging his sword. Yet again, it cut through nothing, as she lithely stepped to the side, while pulling out an arrow from the quiver at her waist. Before he could recover from his failed attack, she bent and drove the arrow to his exposed thigh. He bent down, dropping his sword and exclaiming in pain. She picked the weapon and flung it to the side, then quickly retrieved her fallen knives.

It was only then that she saw the peril her companion was in. There were three figures surrounding him, one of them her original attacker. He had been holding up so far but she could see his breath coming deeper and faster, and a lone cut by his waist. The enemies had pushed him backwards, and she could see that they were cornering him to a tree.

Heart beating fast, she whirled one of her daggers to his attackers. They were all able to avoid it, but the weapon served its cause. The distraction was enough for Legolas to escape the boundaries and find himself by her side. Yet Tauriel could not spare him her attention. One of their attackers turned to face her, and it was then that the light of the moon revealed the smile that was hidden under his hood. For a moment she stopped, for the lips that curved at her were of her own kin.

"Be careful," she heard Legolas say beside her.

As an answer, she lunged again at the enemies. Fueled with an unknown anger, she slashed her blade at one of them, but he avoided her easily. The rush of wind and steel met her ears as their duel played on. Moments passed where it seemed like neither one would gain the upper hand, but finally, her enemy took a wrong step and she felt the friction of her blade cutting through his arm. He exclaimed in pain, and she watched him drop the blades in his hands.

She paused, catching her breath, and it was in that moment that Legolas called out her name. His voice was laced with panic and urgency. Sensing something wrong, she moved quickly to the side, but a hot pain erupted in her arm. She exclaimed in surprise as she shifted to see her attacker. It was the first one she had fought with, and in his hand, he held the arrow she had pierced through his flesh. His own leg was bleeding profusely, but it was to his face that she stared.

He hood has been pushed too far back that his face was discernible in the dank light. It was an elf, an Imladris elf whom they had believed to be missing as well.

She forgot her injured arm and instead watched him with horror. "Why—?"

An arrow struck the elf's neck, even as she uttered her question. His eyes widened in surprise before he fell backwards to the ground, his hood finally falling completely off his head.

"Tauriel," Legolas' voice sounded closer, and before she could respond, she felt his familiar arms hold her. "Your arm," he said, his face pale.

With difficulty, she held her arm out to him, each movement causing jolts of pain to erupt from the wound.

He tore the cloth that covered it, and inspected the bloodred wound. "It's deep, but only the flesh is cut," he examined her.

"The others?" she asked, ignoring his assessment.

"Two escaped, the other is dead," he informed her, eyes still on her wound. "We must find athelas, this may be poisoned. The liquid may now be flowing in your blood stream and—,"

"No," she said, wishing to calm him. "No, it's not. It is my arrow that he used."

Looking a bit more relieved than before, he nodded in consent. "Still, we have to get this washed," he said as he wrapped her wound with her torn garments. "We'll make to the river, and I think it is best if we camp there as well for tonight. We are not alone in these woods," he finished her bandage, then began to walk away.

"Wait," she called out, and he paused in his tracks.

She made to the body of the elf who lay with an arrow still to his neck. His eyes were closed, and he looked almost peaceful. "They're elves," she whispered as she knelt beside the body. "He looks now as if he was one of our comrades."

"That he would have been, had his heart not been filled with malice," he watched her.

"Did you know?" she asked.

"I suspected. But I did not know clearly until I slew the other," he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come, Tauriel. It is not safe for us to linger here."

She took in the features of the elf's face. He was familiar, but she could not associate a name to him.

"Come," he repeated, and the heat on her shoulder disappeared as he started walking away.


The beach was colder than it had been on their first night, but the roaring fire before Tauriel was enough to offset the chill. After two days of travel, they had reached the southernmost part of the river, where it was not rocks that met the waters, but the white sand. Their fire danced with the ever changing wind while their shadows played in the forest behind them.

She had again cleaned and wrapped her wound, and although it still hurt, her mind had groped for more distractions than ever before. The image of the elf was still vivid in her memory, and she wondered how many more of them were involved in their operations. She wondered why they were doing it and what it was they wanted.

She and Legolas had not spoken of anything else but their speculations on the matter, yet even so, Tauriel still brimmed with questions. She gave a quick glance at the prince. Like her earlier, his complete attention was on the orange flames. But his blue eyes rose to hers before she could look away. His brows crinkled in worry. "How is your wound?"

"Better than it was yesterday. It is healing quickly," she replied. The flames danced between them. "But it is not my wound that worries me."

He sighed, then reluctantly stood and made his way beside her. He sat close to her, blocking the wind that rose from the river. "I know what worries you, and we have already discussed this. Yet today, I still cannot answer you, for your worries are shared by my heart as well," he looked at his open palms. "The blood of our kin is on my hands, but what is most difficult is not knowing the story behind their darkness."

"I aided to their deaths, do you not recall? So if it is any consolation, at least you do not have to bear this weight alone," she answered quietly. She thought for a moment. "The elf who wounded me, he was from Imladris."

"Do you know his name?" he looked at her questioningly.

"No," she considered. "We never spoke, but if I remember correctly, he was one of the scouts sent to Gondor, when King Telumetar asked for aide."

"And the other elf?"

She shook her head. "I have never seen him before today."

"Neither have I," his eyes narrowed at the fire. "But if you do not know him, then he must be from the other elf dwellings. First, Gobelion. And now the others. I cannot help but wonder, has this been where all the elves have disappeared to? Have they resigned themselves to wearing black cloaks and hiding in the forest, attacking their kin? What madness have they subscribed their lives to?"

She quietly agreed. "Now I miss Aegnir all the more. Maybe he holds the answers we cannot find," she sighed. "How do you think he is faring?" she thought fondly of their friend.

"I know he is well," Legolas answered, raising his eyes to the stars. "He will take care of himself, as he is fully capable of doing."

"He never told me why he left," she surmised. She could still remember clearly the night before Aegnir departed. He had been just as good-natured as he had always been to her, though he had always avoided answering her questions about his choice to leave. "But he had mentioned this: that the heart was a more powerful influence than duty." She paused, now considering the words at a new light. Was it, really? For how could she have made her decision if it was so? She looked away, avoiding Legolas' gaze. If only Aegnir was with them now, then maybe he could have helped her understand. "Will we—When will we see him again?" she struggled to ask, hoping to detract from her accidentally expressed sentiments.

"Let us add that to the list of questions that have accumulated these past days," he smiled sadly. "It seems mystery has a habit of troubling people all at the same time," he glanced at her. "But you remain the biggest mystery." It seemed he was not to be swayed.

She could feel his attention boring onto her. She shifted away from him, and the heat from the fire seemed to magnify. "I do not know what you mean," she answered, pouring her attention on the sand, the water, the skies... anything else.

"For years, I have known you, but you keep doing things that continue to surprise me," he answered. She could hear the smile in his words.

She wanted to inquire further, but a dreadful anxiousness overtook her. She was scared of where his words would lead.

"Yet I suppose I should have expected it. You were never one to follow the rest. And your sentiments of love, and duty, and evil—thinking about them now, your choice of leaving was one we all should have known from the start. If we had, then things might have turned out to be very different. I am sure Aegnir would not have left," he took a pebble from the ground, and turned it in his hand. It was wet and it shone in the moonlight. "His last words to me were to take care of you, although he never had to tell me that. First, because I do not think you would need to, and second because I would have done it anyway. I did not need his instructions. It is why I followed you out of the Kingdom, and why I shall follow you to wherever you choose to go."

She froze in her seat, and she could not reply.

"Tauriel," Legolas said her name softly, but it made it all the more difficult for her to look at him. "Aegnir also told me that I should tell you. And now I think I have delayed it for too long," the pebble dropped from his hand, and it sounded to her like boulders crashing into each other. "Tauriel, I—,"

She stood abruptly, back still to him. Her heart was beating furiously, and she knew that it was because of her fear of what he would say. She would not be able to bear it, especially with the duty she had given herself. She walked away from him, to the trees lined at their back, hoping that maybe the darkness of the forest would hide her. "No, mellonin," she spat the word. "I do not need to hear it."

She heard him walk closer, and she moved farther from him. She stopped only when the trees blocked her way. She turned stubbornly away from him, even when he had reached her.

"Why?"

"Because what you are telling me is meaningless and unnecessary. I do not need to know that my actions surprise you, that you care for me, and whatever more you have saved for me to know," frustration bubbled up inside her as she realized how truthful her words were. Why was he doing this, even when he knew there was nothing for them? "Besides," her words were but louder than a whisper. "There is a she-elf in the Kingdom that awaits you."

His eyes narrowed dangerously at her, as he dissected her reply. "You are worried about Kylis." It was more a statement than a question.

She swivelled to face him, and her eyes flashed along with his. "You will marry her, will you not?"

He stepped even closer, and for the first time in what seemed like years, he stared at her with anger. "How?" he asked. "Who told you?"

She looked away.

"Did the King tell you?" he asked again.

"It does not matter!" she could not control the volume of her voice, nor the torrent of emotions that swelled within her. "You are to marry her, so why are you doing this?" she did not know why she asked, especially when answers meant nothing in this game they were in. She also did not know why she felt so angry, or why her words had come out so venomous. Yet the anger did not last long, and exhaustion overtook her. She looked down. The current of water seemed silent compared to her outburst, but for now she did not care. Her hands trembled and she knew her tears would not be far from falling.

Yet before she could walk away again, she felt his fingers on her chin, and his hand gently tipped her face to his. All anger that had been there earlier was replaced with overwhelming care. His blue eyes shone in the dark night, and more so than ever before, it penetrated her very being.

"Customs can never dictate how the heart falls. Tauriel, do not tell me you do not know," he said gently, as his fingers left her chin and grazed softly through her cheeks. Her breath stopped in her lungs. "Do not tell me you do not know how I feel for you."

Her mind screamed at her to leave him, tell him that there was no point. But she could not move. She could not look away, could not even breathe. Time seemed to freeze and it seemed like minutes before either one of them moved again.

She opened her mouth to speak, but before any words could be uttered, he leaned forward and his lips captured hers.

Had she waited for a thousand more years, she would not have been prepared for the touch of his lips. There was no surprise at her furiously beating heart, and the way her hands stayed limply at her side, but she had not expected how perfect it all seemed. Like theirs was a match unquestionable and long-destined. She had not expected, as well, how she would respond to his kiss.

For one brief moment, she froze in his hold, but her inhibitions seemed to melt away, and her body moved on its own. She kissed him back, and his hands flew to her waist. The kiss deepened and he pushed her backwards, until her back met the trunk of nearby tree. Her own hands travelled upwards and rested at his chest, feeling the heart that was beating just as fast as her own.

When they broke apart, it was with heavy breaths and closed eyes. He leaned his forehead on hers, while she clutched his arms, scared that her knees would buckle beneath her. They stayed as they were, under the light of the starlight and moonlight. What would have happened afterwards, she could not tell, but it may have been different had he chosen not to speak.

"Tauriel," he whispered so gently. "Le melin."

His words awakened her and the voice of warnings and worries broke down the barriers their temporary heaven had created.

Her eyes snapped open, and there was a jolt in her arm as she forcefully pushed him backwards. He stepped back, his blue eyes full of surprise. The tears she had held onto threatened to fall again as she shook her head at him.

She watched as his face slowly shifted from surprise to pain, and her heart twisted along with his. It took a moment for him to speak, and when he did, it was with a broken and whispered voice. "Is this your answer?"

She could not tell how long he waited for her after that. She knew what she had to say, but she could not say it, and she also knew that she would not answer him with the words he wanted to hear. He did not speak another word until the moment he turned around and walked away from her.

The moment he had left her view, her legs gave in and she crashed to the ground. She could not anymore understand what she was doing, nor judge whether it was all for the best. But she knew that she had never encountered a pain like what she had inflicted upon herself.

That night, even when her tears had dried and sleep overtook her, she could still feel his lips on hers.

END OF CHAPTER


A/N: About time, no?

I am very nervous about this chapter, for various reasons which I do not have the energy to write now. But I do hope the wait was worth it, and that you guys are still up for the roller coaster love that is Legolas and Tauriel. I will not apologize for the late update, as it would have been physically and mentally impossible for me to have updated earlier than this week. I do apologize, though, for not anticipating it in advance, and not telling you all.

For this chapter, I think the following would be important to know (or not. I just wanna explain a few stuff):

1. Miquë is Quenya for "a kiss"
2. Yes, I made changes to the Legolas and Tauriel dialogue from DoS. First, because I wanted this chapter to signal the start of the separation from the movies. Second, because the movie dialogue was kinda difficult to write as a story dialogue. And third, because the movie dialogue didn't really fit had I just pasted the words in.
3. Le melin is Sindarin for "I love you"

By the way, update information will also be found in my profile (check the last section). So in case I don't update on schedule, refer to my posts there. Expect lots of Kili and realizations in the next chapter.

Thank you all for reading this! I honestly miss everyone.

Be kind!

Love,

Vee