Spring of TA 2341

It had been a little over a year since Thranduil had found Tauriel out in the snowy woods and had decided to raise her in place of her deceased parents. Tauriel had felt utterly miserable during the first months after she had learned of her parent's death. Not even his son Legolas had been able to comfort her despite his eager tries. At night, Tauriel would often cry and sob herself to sleep and Legolas would try to gently wipe away her tears. Although Tauriel was grateful for Legolas' kindness and empathy, there would always be new tears streaming down her cheeks and there was nothing she could do about it. She often felt embarrassed to break into tears in front of the prince or the king even. Thranduil knew they had to let her grieve but he also was aware that it pained his son greatly to see Tauriel in such a state.

Thranduil too wanted to ease her sorrow. He knew it all too well and understood what the little one was going through. However, he did not know how to ease it for all Tauriel wanted was to be with her parents. If there had been a way to bring both of them back, Thranduil would have done so but he knew he could not and sooner or later Tauriel would have to accept that she was parted from them.

As he had anticipated, Tauriel was starting to adjust to her new life inside his halls albeit slowly. While his father was gone, Legolas would not let Tauriel out of his sight for long, so the two would spend most of the day together. Both of them did not mind for they had grown very fond of each other. Together they would study in the king's library for hours, play in Legola's chambers which he was sharing with Tauriel by now or further explore the king's halls. Thranduil greatly valued that both elfings displayed such independence as he did not have much time to look after them during the day when he had to attend to his duties.

However, when the last winter had drawn to an end, Tauriel had grown increasingly weary of the halls. She longed to be out in the forest as this was one thing she had the most trouble adjusting to. The king's halls were neither as dark and dangerous as goblin caves nor did they run as deep as those of the dwarves. Still Tauriel felt restless and greatly desired to wander through the woods as she used to. Thranduil understood the elfling's need, so he allowed both his son and Tauriel to go outside into the gardens which were protected by strong magic and could not be entered by strangers, not unless he himself permitted access. Legolas and Tauriel were also allowed to roam through the woods close to where his kin had their houses and huts but Thranduil had told them not to leave those few safe areas of the forest by any means. He knew no harm would come to them as long as they followed his order. Both his elflings would be looked after by his kin as elves cherished nothing more than their offspring.

One afternoon, Tauriel and Legolas were inside the king's library which was lined with high shelves stuffed with countless books and maps that were many hundreds of years old. Tauriel was lying lazily on her belly on a soft carpet in front of the large chimney studying a book while Legolas was sitting on a couch close to her doing the same thing. After a few hours had passed, Tauriel grew restless and Legolas noticed her low sighs and the turning and tossing on the carpet. He knew Tauriel would not adress and disturb him while he was reading so he lowered his book to face her.

`Tauriel, there is something on your mind. Will you tell me?´

Tauriel hesitated. `I'm sorry if I have disturbed your reading, Legolas. But I was wondering if we could go outside into the garden when we are finished with our studies...´

It was true they had not gone outside for a few days now and he too found a play out in the gardens quite tempting at this moment.

`We sure can. But we must tell my father before we go.´

Tauriel nodded and the two elflings swiftly ran to the king's study. They found Thranduil at his desk, deeply in thought about a letter he had received. After a while he put the letter down and looked at his son questioningly.

`Adar, please can we go outside into the gardens. We both have finished our studies in the library and are quite weary of it!´

Thranduil chuckled at his son's remark. `Of course, you can go outside but today, I want you to stay in the gardens only. When I'm finished here I will come outside as well.´

Thranduil did not want the two to go further out into the forest, not today at least. When he had joined the hunting party yesterday he had felt something off about the forest, even more so than usual. A foul smell had been lingering in the air. In respone, he had sent more patrols out into the woods today and ordered his kin to keep a watchful eye.

Both Legolas and Tauriel bowed to the king and hurried outside into the garden. Tauriel enhaled the fresh hair and let the warm sunlight tickle her skin until clouds started to cover the sun. Spring was still at its earliest stages, so the trees had only just started to grow some tiny leaves and on the ground grew snow drops and pretty purple crocuses. Closer to the trees grew bluebells which seemed to cover the grass with a beautiful large blue blanket. It was quite cold and there was still a thin layer of ice on the little ponds which would be full of pink water lilies in summer. Birds were cheerfully twittering on the branches of the trees and Tauriel felt her heart leap with joy.

Soon she had forgotten all about her worries and the two elflings started to carelessly chase after each other. Despite the fact that Legolas was taller than Tauriel, she was a fast runner and everytime he thought he was about to catch her, she would swiftly turn to the left or the right, causing him to grasp at nothing but air. Legolas was so focused on catching Tauriel and not loosing sight of her that he did not notice that they were no longer in the king's gardens but in the middle of the forest. He abruptly came to a halt.

He shouted after Tauriel. `Wait! We are too far from the gardens! We must go back!´

Tauriel came running towards him. She seemed to be a lot less concered about the dark shadows surrounding them than he was. `Do not worry, I know this part of the forest. I used to live not far from here with my parents. Let's stay for a little longer and then we can return to the gardens. Surely there will be no harm in that!´ She smiled at him expectantly.

Legolas frowned. He knew what was on her mind. `Tauriel, you know you can not go home...´

She lowered her head. The king had told her that the elves who had survived the attack had not returned to the destruction the orcs had left behind. After they had recovered, they had busied themselves with building new houses and huts in safer parts of the forest with the rest of their kin which were even closer to the king's halls. When Tauriel had asked him what would become of her deserted home, Thranduil had also told her time had passed and her home had already catched the sickness of the rest of the forest, gradually falling into darkness.

Tauriel would not believe him and Legolas knew. Too fresh were the images of her beloved and cheerful home in her mind. She looked at Legolas pleadingly who eventually gave in and followed her deeper into the forest albeit very cautiously.

When they arrived at Tauriel's home, she was shocked. She looked upon the destroyed huts and it struck her that Thranduil had been right. Everything was shrouded in darkness and loneliness, no cheerfulness to be found anywhere. She pushed the door of the hut open in which she had lived with her parents but instead of the faces of her beloveds and the warmth of the fire in the chimney, she was met by cold air and a foul smell. Tears started to well up in her eyes.

Legolas was growing impatient. `Please, Tauriel. Let us go back. This place scares me. It's as though there's evil lingering in the shadows...´

Tauriel could feel it too. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

`Come, it is no use to stay here any longer. It'll do nothing but worsen your sorrow.´

She turned around to face Legolas when she heard something move in the thicket close to them and saw the look of horror upon his face. She turned her head into the direction Legolas was staring and saw an orc running towards them. Both elflings were scared stiff, unable to move. Soon they were surrounded by a small pack of orcs. There was no escaping now.

`Look! What have we here?!´ said one of the orcs in a deep and snarling voice.

He grinned mischievously upon the elflings, revealing his rotten teeth. Another orc who was even taller came stomping towards Tauriel and roughly pushed the other orc aside who grunted protestingly in response.

`Let me see that little red-haired worm!´ he said and lifted Tauriel up into the air who was tossing wildly, trying to free herself of the orc's strong grip to no avail. She was so disgusted by the creature touching her that she felt her stomach turn.

`Let go of her!´ Legolas shouted, pulled a little dagger out of his pocket and ran towards the orc who was wrestling with Tauriel. Another orc was faster than him, however, took Legolas by his neck and pulled the dagger out of his hand, letting it disappear inside the pockets of his own filthy clothing instead. He pushed Legolas down to the ground and started laughing at the sight of the little elfling helplessly turning and tossing underneath him.

Suddenly the orc who was holding Tauriel stopped westling with her and looked at her intently.

He remembered.

`Ah, I know that redhead reminded me of someone. You were with that she-elf I killed some time ago. Didn't take long to slice her in half and she didn't so much as sqeal. Bet you were so scared you pissed yourself, huh? I don't know how you managed to run away from me back then but now you're mine and I tell you I won't be half as merciful with you as I was with that elf-bitch!´

Knowing that this was the orc who had killed her mother let Tauriel's fear turn into fury. She started to scream and somehow managed to grab the orc's right arm in which he was now holding a dagger. As much as she was disgusted by the creature, her instincts got the better of her and she bit down into the orc's flesh as hard as she could until she tasted blood on her tongue. He sqealed and let the dagger drop onto the ground. The orc started to shake her furiously but Tauriel refused to let go and started scratching his arm with her nails. The other orcs who stood around them roared with laughter at the sight.

Soon the orc had enough and he brutally grabbed Tauriel by her neck. She flinched in pain and he used this moment to get her off his bleeding arm. He threw her against a tree and she slid down upon its roots. Her head was spinning and she felt a throbbing pain in her back. The orc picked up his dagger and came stomping towards her angrily. The other orc who was still pining Legolas to the ground held his head in place. He enjoyed the idea of that elfling watching his friend being slaughtered. Legolas was desparate. No matter how hard he tried, he could not free himself of the orc's grip but he did not want to see Tauriel get killed so he squint his eyes shut and cried.

The orc chuckled mischiviously at his reaction.

The other orc leaned down towards Tauriel, about to ram his dagger into her. She was struggling to get back up on her feet but she felt as though all strength had left her. When she was about to give up, closing her eyes and curling her legs towards her trying to shield her body, she felt blood dripping upon her face. Tauriel heard the stifling noises of the orc who slowly sank to his knees before her.

Then she saw Thranduil pulling his blood-stained sword out of the orc's neck. Only seconds thereafter he turned around to face the rest of the pack. They were running towards him, wholly oblivious to the fact that they were putting up a fight with the king of the Woodland Realm, one of the best and deadliest warriors in Middle-earth. Indeed, Thranduil was highly skilled with his sword. He used it as though it was merely an extension of his right arm. His movements were quick, precise and calculated and it was very unlikely that he would ever miss a target.

The orcs were dead within minutes for Thranduil had no mercy and would not let even a single one of them escape his wrath which they had brought upon themselves by attacking his children.

When the fight was over he looked at the two elflings to reassure himself that none of them was harmed. However his concern soon was overshadowed by the anger welling up inside of him.

`Who is responsible for this?´ he said in a calm voice but Tauriel and Legolas could see the fury in his eyes.

`If I order you to stay in the gardens, you stay in the gardens! Never defy my orders again, ever! If I had not come to your aid, you would be...´ Thranduil stopped, looking upon the shocked faces of the two elflings.

`Forgive us adar, we did not mean to cause you trouble. It was my fault! We were both playing in the gardens, chasing after each other and whilst doing so I did not notice that I kept leading Tauriel further out into the woods...´ Legolas' lips were quivering.

Thranduil of course knew what had really happened. He was not easily fooled and he would bring Tauriel to tell him the truth but for now, he accepted his son's apology.

`Let's go home!´ he said. He silently led them back to the halls and brought Legolas to his chambers who did not dare to raise his head once more, not even when he bade his father good night. Tauriel was about to follow Legolas when Thranduil grabbed her arm and gestured her to follow him.

Once inside the king's chambers, Tauriel managed to catch a glimpse of herself in a mirror at the wall and was startled at her reflection. Her hair was in disarry, her clothes looked filthy and both her face and her hands were stained with orc blood. Thranduil led her into his bathing chambers and helped her disrobe until she was wearing nothing more but a thin white undergarment. He drew her a warm bath and helped her into the large tub. With a wet cloth, he wiped the blood off her face and her hands. Then he opened the little buttons of her undergarment and examined her back which was completely bruised. He frowned.

`Tauriel, you both have been very reckless today! I will not stand for such behaviour, you know that!´

Tauriel's cheeks burned and she felt the need to cover her face. She was so ashamed of herself.

`My lord?´ her voice was low and shaking.

`Yes, Tauriel?´ She did not dare to turn her head to face him for she could feel his stern look piercing into her back.

`Your son lied to you today to protect me. What happened was not his fault but mine alone.´

Thranduil was silent, too silent.

`My lord?´ she asked again.

`Yes, speak.´

`I want you to know that I did not do it to endanger Legolas. If anything I want to be the one to protect him. But I wanted to see my home again, just one more time. I thought if I had to face the truth it would help me to overcome the pain I feel in my heart. It will not go away and sometimes it is so great it brings tears to my eyes. My lord, I do not want to insult your generosity and kindness or that of your son by breaking into tears in front of you but alas, I can not help it!´

Thranduil was still silent although he was now gently stroking her bruised back, pouring warm water over it to ease her discomfort.

`My lord?´ she asked a third time and Thranduil had to hold back a chuckle at it.

`Yes?´

Tauriel finally turned around to face him and saw that despite the fact that his expression was still quite stern, there was no more anger to be found.

Then quickly and much to his surprise, she leaned forward towards his face and placed an affectionate kiss on his cheek.

`Thank you for saving my life today, my lord!´

Note: I'm sorry for updating so late but the new term started a few weeks ago, so I was really busy with college classes. In short, my life has been quite hectic but I hope to update more frequently once everything has settled down a bit...

Thanks so much to everyone who is reading and reviewing my fanfiction. I very much appreciate your support.