She didn't wake that day or the following day. Artemis had sent everyone out of the inn for a while to get some sun. "You all look like vampires. Go get some vitamin D." She ordered and shoved them all out of the room with a gust of air.
"What are vampires?" Fili asked while Kili kicked the door angrily.
Artemis turned back to the room and opened the curtains and the window letting in light and fresh air. She moved the chair to the window and sat down to work on some sewing she'd picked up. She watched Tracey bullying the dwarves across the village square and smiled before turning her attention back to the sewing; she had started to sing softly when she saw Tauriel stirring. She kept singing while she worked and let Tauriel come around on her own and smiled when the she-elfs hazel eyes blinked open.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." She said softly.
Tauriel for her part was a little surprised at her circumstances upon waking. She had drifted in a world of white noise only broken occasionally by the sound of a deep voice asking her to please wake up, then she'd heard a voice singing. It reminded her of when he mother had been alive and sung to her while she drifted off to sleep. She found herself drawn to that voice and when she opened her eyes she saw the rough wooden beams overhead, felt the slide of cotton sheets under her hands and a few stray aches and pains, mostly in her head. She glanced over at the other person in the room and was surprised to see a human woman sitting by the window holding a shirt in her lap still singing. "Who…" She cleared her throat, her voice felt raw. "Who are you?"
The woman turned dark eyes to her and smiled setting down the sewing. "My name is Artemis. Can you tell me your name?"
"Tauriel, my name is Tauriel."
Artemis smiled and moved to the edge of the bed. "Good. Follow my finger with your eyes." She moved it from side to side and Tauriel followed it with her eyes not quite sure why she was doing so.
"Good. No cognitive damage. I was worried when you didn't wake." Artemis patted her hand in a motherly sort of way but she didn't look old enough for that.
"How did I get here?" She asked.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Artemis asked and Tauriel thought about it.
"I got a letter, saying I must come to Lothlorien, that my future depended upon it. I was traveling and then… I woke up."
Artemis nodded. "You were attacked by Orcs. A hunter found you and brought you here, they sent a message to Lothlorien and we came to get you."
Tauriel frowned but she didn't remember, Artemis helped her sit up and handed her a cup. "Don't rush it, retrograde amnesia is common in head injuries. Drink that down and I'll get something more substantial for you."
Tauriel sipped the drink while Artemis left the room, she didn't think she knew the woman but the human spoke and acted with a familiarity she found reassuring.
Artemis had the innkeeper prepare scrambled eggs, porridge and some sliced fruit, she was smiling and hoping Tauriel would be able to eat most of it before Kili came back. She wanted Tauriel to have something in her stomach before that shock.
She took it back up and got most of it into Tauriel before she head Tracey berating Kili and Fili for something on their way up the stairs. "Brace yourself." She told Tauriel and smiled.
"Will you keep it down boys, you make enough noise to put a stampede of Rohirim horses to shame." Tracey growled, motioning for them to keep their voices down. "Artemis needed us to leave for a while and you have to admit the fresh air was a must. Besides it's not like Tauriel is going to be moving around for a little while. We need to let her rest so keep it down."
She stepped up onto the last floor's landing, touched the handle to the door of Tauriel's room and stopped in mid-step. Her ears wiggled and she suddenly opened the door slowly and stepped inside.
"Ah so you are awake." Tracey said slowly, a smile on her lips. "Are you feeling better?"
Tauriel stared at her then at Kili and Fili who were trying to force their way through the doorway and then at Legola who came up at the rear standing taller than Tracey by a head and the dwarves by quite a bit more. "You...I thought...I…" She turned her head and looked at Artemis her face stunned and Artemis put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's ok, just breath for a minute." She said and looked at the dwarves.
She motioned to Kili. "Come in here and sit down. Fili, Tracey and Legolas why don't you go get some lunch. I'll be down in a few minutes and I am seriously craving some mutton."
"Kili remember to breath and let Tauriel collect her thoughts too." Tracey said quietly, taking Legolas's and Fili's hand and dragging them out into the hallway again. "Let's get some lunch and then afterwards we'll come back in a little while to catch up."
Pulling them to the stairs, Tracey shut the door closed and went down to the common room and asked one of the serving girls to bring them some food, especially mutton. She hopped that things would be set right now, that Kili and Tauriel would be happy together, but is this the end of her's and Artemis's time in Middle Earth? What were they going to do now? Those questions she put aside for their food had arrived and they ate at their own pace, each of them in their own thoughts.
Tauriel stared at Kili as he approached her then looked at Artemis in confusion. "How…"
Artemis sat on the edge of the bed and motioned for Kili to sit in the chair. "That's rather complicated I'm afraid."
"You sound like that Wizard...Gandalf." Tauriel said a little accusingly.
Artemis chuckled. "I've been travelling with him for weeks and he taught me to use my powers. I am a Wizard in my own right Tauriel."
"Did… did you bring him back?" She asked and looked at Kili who looked like he wanted to throw himself on his knees.
"No." Artemis replied. "We're not entirely sure who or what brought him back and that could mean a lot of trouble." She explained the situation to Tauriel who leaned back against the headboard her hands clasped in her lap.
"You're telling me that he has to leave again?" She asked and she couldn't help the tremble in her voice.
Artemis reached over and took her hand making her look up. "What I am saying is that he cannot return to Erebor, or the Mirkwood, he will have to be as far from there as is physically possible and he must stay out of future events. There are a few choices open to him. He could travel to the Gray Havens, he could travel to the edges of the map and make a life for himself there, or he can retreat into hiding somewhere in the known world. But he need not do it alone."
She gave him a significant look before continuing. "He has promised me that he will not follow Thorin if Thorin means to retake Erebor. He was waiting for you to arrive before he chose his course, things went a little awry but his decision I think is the same."
He nodded and reached over to rest a large hand on Tauriel's arm. She stared at him then Artemis. "I…"
Artemis cut her off and stood. "You don't have to chose now Tauriel. Take some time to adjust."
She moved to the door and gave them both a kind smile. "Love is precious, to have lost it and then regain it is so rare."
She stepped out and closed the door behind her leaving them in silence. Kili couldn't stand it anymore and cleared his throat. "Tauriel I…"
She pulled him into a hug so tight he thought she would crush his ribs, she pressed her face against his neck and he felt the tears staining his skin. "You were dead." She choked.
He held her and rubbed her back. "I'm sorry. He said gruffly.
She pulled back and shook him a little. "I saw you die you idiot. I thought I would die from the loss."
He rested his hands on her shoulders and smiled gently. "I won't do it again I promise."
She gave a choked laugh and rested her forehead on his tears still wet on her cheeks. "Why didn't the letter say anything? Why keep it a secret from me?"
He shrugged and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears. "Artemis is much like Gandalf, she keeps her own council and her own secrets. I guess she thought if you were told by a letter you might not believe it and nt come."
Tauriel gave a small sniff. "She might have been right. What did she mean before she left just now?"
Kili shook his head slightly. "I'm not really sure. I think she was in love once but I think he's dead, or lost in some way, she always gets a little queer around Legolas and Tracey. They're bonded."
Tauriel looked a little surprised. "Bonded? I never thought to see him bonded."
He nodded. "Aye, bonded, and she's no elf either, she's a Faery, right out of the legends of the First Age."
Tauriel's couldn't have looked more surprised if she'd tried. Kili grinned at her and ran a finger down her cheek. He'd wanted to touch her, hold her since the first time he'd seen her and now he was finally allowed to. She regained herself and looked a little shy and he cupped her cheek. "I never thought you'd allow this, that you'd ever feel for me as I do for you."
"I never thought I'd feel this for a dwarf." She admitted. "You are unique, a dwarf with the love of gold and gems and riches but the wonder of an elf for the surface and its miracles."
He gave her a shy smile of his own. "I never thought beyond my Uncles quest until I met you."
They sat that way for a few minutes until he worked up his courage. "May I kiss you?" He all but whispered.
She leaned in and pressed her lips to his feeling the spark that leapt between them. He gasped softly and wrapped his arms around her pulling her in close so he could kiss her more fully, he knew he was never letting her go again, his Uncle be damned.