A/N Everybody ready for Prince Grumpy Pants and his dad King Stick Up His Ass? SWEET. Cause that's what we've got tonight on this episode of Full House.

I dunno, I'm usually in bed by now, that's what I've got. It's Thursday mah dudes.

ANYWAY

I'm super excited for all these Legolas interactions, I really need to flesh out more between them when I one day go back and second draft And Never Back Again. There's so much flesh I wanna add just in general. That story is gonna be as thick and majestic as Thorin's hair when I'm through with it.

The walk took only a little over an hour. The dwarves were roughly shoved and jostled with their hands bound, but Legolas only ever reached out to steady her if she tripped and never once touched her back again.

Josephine hadn't seen Bilbo since he'd cut her down, which was what was supposed to happen, but she hoped it was for the right reasons and he was hot on their heels. Then, thinking about Bilbo being gone reminded her of something else. Where was Tauriel?

Passing over the bridge and through the doors of Thranduil's realm, the dwarves were ushered down a hall to their right, and Thorin was led on ahead. Legolas pointed Josephine up a path to their left instead. She thought she'd either go with the dwarves, or be taken to Thranduil with Thorin.

"Where are we going?"

"The healers. We do not like visitors here, but you will not suffer a wound within our halls."

While she appreciated the sliver of kindness from him, it did surprise her.

They passed out onto a path running along the edge of the cavern and she paused to take it in. "Well," she sighed, thinking back to his words so long ago once the war had been won. "You weren't wrong."

"Wrong?" Legolas asked, not pressing her on and giving her her moment to look.

She cleared her throat and acted like she was changing the subject. "Your father's halls are beautiful."

He looked out over the cavern and then turned back to her with a frown. "In the forest I had the distinct impression you were acquainted with me. You fought at my side as if you'd done so before. How?"

Because she had done it before. Because she did know him. "I'm a Seer. I see things."

"You see me?"

"I see you not being an asshole like you are right now." She said sarcastically, trying to derail his questioning.

Annoyed, he nodded to the path and they continued walking. "How did you come to be in the company of those dwarves? To carry weapons forged by my kin?" He still held her sword belt and Orcrist in his hand and her eyes flicked to Aragorn's knife. At least if she didn't get it back from Legolas she could retrieve it in the future.

"They were gifts from Galadriel. And Lord Elrond gave Orcrist to Thorin." She figured telling him that and possibly softening his impression of her couldn't hurt.

"A lofty claim. One would think a thief would be more cautious about their tales."

Josephine couldn't stop herself before a scoff left her throat. "You're gonna look back on this one day…"

Frustration growing, he pulled in front of her and stopped them in his tracks. "I am trying to help you. My father will imprison you with the dwarves if you do not offer him reason to do otherwise."

"I'm sure he will." She said without an ounce of worry. God forbid she sit in a cell with one of the dwarves and actually get to sleep in for a few weeks while they waited for Bilbo to rescue them. Hell it almost felt like a vacation at that point.

Josephine stepped around him and kept walking. Every moment with this Legolas made her miss his future self more.

They arrived at the healer's wing in silence and she pretended not to understand as Legolas explained the situation to one of the healers in Sindarin. Her back, he said. And a cut that bled sluggishly on her head, something she hadn't noticed and discretely felt around for.

She was led into a curtained alcove by a silvery haired woman and Legolas' figure waited on the other side with his back to them. Because clearly she was going to cause trouble of some sort and he had to stay for everyone's protection.

They stripped her of her clothes and folded them into a pile by the door. She watched Gilraen's cloak, still stained heavily from her blood, get added to the stack and she twisted around. "My cloak, can I-"

"Your clothes will be cleaned and mended." Then she spoke through the curtain to Legolas in Sindarin, telling him that all the articles were of elven cloth. Score another point for Josephine's story.

Along the wall, a tub sat full of steaming water, fed by a pipe that came out of the wall. Questions soon left her mind as they guided her into it and she sank beneath the surface. God, it had been so long since she'd had a proper bath, it was like heaven incarnate.

Their stony faces didn't give away any reaction as they inspected her cuts, bruises, and scars. The old one on her leg from Morannon, her arm from Moria, nothing was paid much mind to. But the gentle hand that draped her hair over her shoulder as she folded over her knees in the water gave her arm a light touch before it drew away.

"Hir nin." One of them said, clearly drawing Legolas' attention. He was the only lord there. "Elye tira."

Josephine froze, shrinking in on herself and trying not to snap at them and tell them no, he shouldn't see. She didn't want him to see. Hell, she hadn't even seen her scars, having had no mirrors since Rivendell. But she also didn't want them to know she understood them so she pressed her face into her knees and tried to ignore the feeling of eyes on her as she heard the curtain move.

"Manen andave yá?" He asked in a sympathetic and somewhat angry tone that made her heart ache for home. It was comforting in a way, to hear his anger over what had happened to her. She would've sought his support if she'd been back home. His patience and encouragement while she tried to train back to her old strength. God, she didn't even know if she'd be able to use a bow again after it all finally healed properly.

The healer answered his question. A month ago it happened, perhaps a bit more she told him, and then said something about the pain that Josephine didn't understand.

"Are you going to stand there staring all day?" She snapped finally.

The curtain swished again and she hoped that meant Legolas had gone back to his place by the door. Peeking over her shoulder she was glad to see he had.

Clean and dry, they looked after what wounds she had from Mirkwood and the spiders, then applied a salve to her back and wrapped her in more bandages. They draped a pale blue dress over her shoulders and combed her hair before ushering her out of the alcove where Legolas was still waiting for her.

He didn't bring up the wounds, or anything at all. Silence stuck between them like a brick wall as she followed him, this time returning to the hall where they'd entered and taking the center passage. From the look of it, Thranduil was waiting for her.

The winding stone and wood pathways were all within his sight as Legolas followed behind her. She had never met Thranduil before, he hadn't come to the wedding and they hadn't made the journey to Mirkwood. All she had to go off of was his benevolent, trauma driven stubbornness as shown in the movies. Between him and Thorin, it was no wonder things went sideways. Everybody needed some fucking therapy. Herself included.

As they came up the steps towards his court, Thranduil came down from his throne and Legolas took his place near it.

"I would like to welcome you to my halls, Josephine." Someone must have told him after hearing the dwarves call her name back in the forest. "I have been told you faced many trials on your journey. I do hope you will find rest here."

Ahah, so Thorin got bad cop and she got good cop.

"Thank you for your hospitality, but I would feel more welcome if my friends were shown the same courtesies." She said pointedly.

"Your friends have given me cause to distrust them."

He began to glide around her, towering and powerful in a way that would've made her far more uneasy just a couple of years prior. Now it just felt more like a challenge to see how long it would take him to get annoyed that she wasn't reacting to his tactics.

His monologue continued as he went and she patiently waited it out. "None the least of which was your state upon your arrival. Your injuries speak to, at best, negligence on their part. At worst…" He paused. "Guilt." He stopped again in front of her and touched her face lightly. "If they have been at fault for such things, treated you poorly, I would beg you tell me such."

Anger pooled in her chest but she held herself steady. "I don't appreciate being shown false concern in the hopes of incriminating them with more charges."

"Dwarves are not known for their gentle nature." He said coolly. "It is my duty to question such things when one comes to my halls in such a manner."

"But they are known for their loyalty to their friends." She defended. "So one would think the goblins of the Misty Mountains would be more likely at fault, especially since you know we've come from the west."

"Goblins?" Thranduil said darkly. Behind him something shifted in Legolas' expression. A sadness came over him.

Josephine didn't know the specifics, he didn't talk about it, but she knew goblins had had something to do with his mother's death, so it didn't surprise her when Thranduil's tone lowered.

"The courtesy of their halls left a lot to be desired." She answered.

"What darkness you have endured, daughter of men." He said with more sympathy than she'd ever expected to see from him. "Some of our own kind have not found the strength to bear it as you do."

Then in a flash it was gone and the interrogation continued. "But how, if you are a Seer as you so claim, did you not see such a fate and avoid it?"

"I can't see all of Eru's song." Or any of it, really, but he didn't need to know that. "Nor does foresight mean I'm immune to the consequences."

"Indeed. None of us are." He agreed.

Stepping away, he put some distance between them. "I know why the dwarves make for the mountain. I would release them if they would but ensure the return of what is already rightfully mine."

If she'd needed to get out of Mirkwood right then, she would've promised those jewels he wanted in a heartbeat. The way she saw it, even if his claim was up for debate, it would do more good to hand them over at that point than try to iron it all out. But she didn't need to leave Mirkwood yet, they had yet another month to wait.

"I can't promise you anything. I'm sorry, I know they were probably your wi-"

"Do not speak of her." He snapped. "You know nothing of such pain."

"I know what it's like to lose people." She said warningly. "You're not the only one here with something to suffer over"

Returning to his throne he called back. "The difference is, I will do what I can to ease your suffering. Whereas you will stand idly by and allow mine and your friends' to continue."

"If I was going to let anyone guilt trip me, it wouldn't be you. Whatever went on with you and Erebor is between Thorin and yourself." Until later when she could beat some sense into them both.

From his throne he looked down at her with a cold gaze. "Then you will share in their fate. But remember, your years are far shorter than theirs."

He nodded to Legolas who bowed his head and took her by the arm to lead her away. It wasn't until they were far out of earshot when he broke the silence.

"Was it truly goblins that harmed you?"

She nodded, her stomach still sour with the memory. "Legolas…" She paused and touched his arm with a familiarity that clearly put him off. "Don't tell him, please?"

"Who?"

"Just…you'll know." Don't tell Aragorn, don't make him imagine the danger, the pain, the close brush with death. "Remember this, now, and don't tell him."

"Why would I offer you my favor?"

"Never mind, just forget it." She amended, annoyed at herself for even trying to appeal to a friendship that didn't exist yet. But god how she was missing it.

He seemed to have more words stuck on his tongue but he didn't ask them, at least not yet. The tension between them was uncomfortable so when he stopped and opened a door to a sparse but comfortable bedchamber she leaned on the sarcastic side.

"I thought I'd share in my friends' fate?"

"But not their accommodations." He clarified. "Your wounds require more than a bed of cold stone if they are to finish healing."

She stepped inside, relieved to find the beads from her hair sitting neatly on the one table in the room. "I wasn't lying about their loyalty, they'll raise hell if you don't tell them where I am." Turning around she gave him a wry smile. "Trust me, it'll be easier on everyone if you ease their minds."

"What has drawn you so close to them?"

"A lot of things. You know as well as anyone how traveling and fighting alongside someone fosters friendship. They're the only reason I survived what happened, that means something."

"Perhaps." He answered stubbornly. "But saving a life does not on its own give the promise of good character."

"And being an elf does not on its own give the promise of wisdom."

In one swift motion he stiffly stepped out, shut the door, and Josephine heard the click of a lock. She might have better accommodations than the dwarves, but it was clear she was under the same prisoner status. She had a distinct feeling that wouldn't be the last she saw of Legolas before they escaped either.