Chapter 5

A redhead ranger.

The sun had not stood up yet as I woke up. But I could no longer stay in bed. I got up and put on some of the training clothes that had been made for me when I was to train with weapons and the everyday circlet. I opened the door and walked down the hall, the house was so quiet. Some of the servants were up making breakfast, but no songs were sung as they did not want to wake anyone. As soon as one saw me through all of them turned when he bowed going full "Good morning my lady, is there anything I can get you?" I smiled at him and greeted him back. "I am fine thank you all. I will just go for a little walk" The servants gave me another bow as did the rest and got back to their duties. It felt weird how much more formally they treated me after last night. Sure they had been very courteous before, but after I got the circlet it was next level at least.

I kept on walking down the hall and into the gardens and by the water, the air was somewhat cold but refreshing. I can't believe my luck. I live in such a beautiful valley, with the elves and being one myself. I would never have guessed that it was in fact real. I kept walking for a bit in deep thought and was going to turn the corner by the training yard as I was sure Glorfindel would be up and on his way… Out of nowhere, I saw another elf. The redhead one, the young elven Sindar ranger from the woodland realm. Her hair was red her ears large and pointy. Dressed in their dark green and brown travel/ranger clothes, I could only look at her as I saw her notice me.

"My lady, I am so sorry for not seeing you, I was too lost in the beauty of the stars. We do not see them in the woodland realm compared to her in Imladris" She kept trying to excuse herself and her mishap and I just watched

"What is your name, Mellon," I said as I grabbed her hands to get her attention away from her excuses.

"Tauriel, my lady," She finally was able to say.

I smiled at her and didn't let go of her hands "Tauriel, what a beautiful name" I said and smiled at her. "I am Elwen…" Tauriel interrupted. "Of Imladris, daughter of lord Elrond and the Lady Celebrian," She spoke as quickly.

"Yes, I am. So Tauriel, I am so happy you enjoy the stars too, they are very clear on this night are they not?" I said in an as friendly tone as I could and her body seemed to relax.

"Yes, my lady. I do and they are. We never see them in the woods of our land. To be able to see them here is amazing to me." I found it cute how she repeated herself.

"Good," I said. "Then you won't object to waiting with me and looking at them I take it?"

"No my lady" Tauriel responded in an instant. "May I ask what we are waiting for my lady?" she added and we kept eye contact, never looking away either of us.

"On Lord Glorfindel of course." As I said so her face went pale again. "Do not worry Tauriel. He is having sparing sessions with me as he does every morning, why don't you join us? I have heard much of the skill of the Sindar Rangers. Why don't you show me?" I asked her, our eyes still locked.

She held my hands back like she had no control. Her mouth moved in a cute way and I did not mind a bit that I was overwhelming the elf in front of me.

"If my lady says so I will of course join if it is fitting?" she asked me still eyes locked.

"It is Tauriel. For I said so" I added and we sat at the bench talking for a while the night gave up for the sunrise and we sat there in silence waiting until Glorfindel showed up. We kept on pointing out stars to each other and which one we liked the best for ourselves. There were so many that it was impossible to have just one favorite.

"Elwen, you are early?" He said with a shocking tone in his voice.

"I am, is that so shocking to you?" I said with a clear tease in my voice.

"Normally Estelwen is dragging you out of bed at this hour so yes I will say it is shocking," Glorfindel responded with an equally teasing tone in his voice.

Then he looked closer on the elleth beside me and tilted his head.

"Now you I do not know" He spoke directly at her and she got up and bowed to him with her hand over her heart. "I am Tauriel my lord. Of the woodland realm delegation. One of the guards" She added needlessly.

"She is a friend" I added to Tauriel's surprise.

"Welcome to Imladris Tauriel of the woodland realm delegation," Glorfindel said with a smile on his face. "Do you wish to join us for training today? Or do you have duties to perform for the good king?"

She shook her head "No my lord. I have no duties until I travel back with the king"

"She will be happy to join us," I said with a smile on my face. Tauriel again eyed me.

"Very well my ladies," Glorfindel said and moved off into the training yard to find training weapons for us and waved us to join him.

I took her arm and we started to go after Glorfindel.

"I am to train with the famous Lord Glorfindel and yourself my lady?" she said in a somewhat shocked tone.

"You are. Is that so off-putting a thought for you Tauriel?"

"No not off-putting my lady, I am just a lowly silvan elf. This is very much out of my station to be a part of this..."

I smiled as I looked at her. She was ever as beautiful as I had seen her in my foresight, yet I had not read about her when the books turned into stories of this world. Ada would say that not all things I would be able to see and just because it wasn't shown to me in either way did not mean it wasn't true.

"If anyone asks, tell them I ordered you to join me, then you are safe and the king can only scold me for commanding one of his rangers," I said with a teasing tone to my voice.

"And what if Lord Elrond sees it my lady" Tauriel added.

"He will think nothing of it as Glorfindel does. You are my guest and hopefully, friend Tauriel even if I pushed that title with Glorfindel. That is all they need to know to accept you"

The Silvan elf was clearly not comfortable with what was happening at first, but as soon as we found some long knives for her to spar with me with she was happy and caught in the moment. Glorfindel gave us both pointers and tips and after a while, the sparing match changed into a dance of blades and the two of us lost in the moment. Elves came over and watched us go at it with each other and time passed slowly for us, every action got the perfect reaction to block it. Or to push an advantage that was quickly stopped and blocked. As much as the both of us wanted to win and Tauriel had finally forgotten my title and station our blades met for the last time and the wood cracked so violently that parts flew everywhere. On us, Glorfindel, Elrond and Thranduil with Tauriel gasping.

"My king," Tauriel said and bowed her head as soon as she saw him. Breathing heavily as I did after our long-winded sparing session.

"King Thranduil," I said to give him an elven greeting.

"Lady Elwen. Tauriel." He said as stoic as ever. "At least one of my elves seems to spend her time well training on her day off." The king said as he and Elrond moved on and continued their talk.

"What did I say? He would not take it badly if he caught us" I said with a grin on my face. She looked at me and I at her as well as at Glorfindel.

I stood there and put my arm around her and pulled her to me, our foreheads met and we giggled some, then our eyes met again. I felt her arms around me too and my the fighting was like a talk for us, I felt her fea and mine dancing as well. Joy was over us and now after I just wanted to hold her and… I… wanted… so… badly… to… kiss… her… ohh my she had trapped me in her beauty and her spirit sealed me to her. She was feisty in battle and for a moment it was like I could feel her desires too. But then we broke off and noticed we were watched. We then just helped to clean up and Glorfindel sent me a cheeky smile and mid-day meal was decided on. He had been invited to eat with Ada and the King. So I decided to ask Tauriel to eat with me and Nana.

The training session had broken the ice between us and Tauriel looked somewhat torn as I started to leave as well until I turned to her.

"Are you coming?" I said in a light tone.

"My lady I should go and eat with…" I knew what she was going to say so I simply cut her off, rude as it was.

"With me and my nana, come now" I was getting used to seeing the Silvan elf shocked by my including her not only with my training but also that I wanted her to eat with me and my nana.

"I do not think that is fitting…" She said even as she started to walk after me.

"Why is it not fitting that two friends eat a mid-day meal together?" I said in a very questionable tone.

"You are a lady of the realm; I am but a ranger of very low rank…" She started to say again as we walked back towards the main house.

"Tauriel, you worry too much about title and rank. I enjoyed watching the stars and sunrise with you and I simply asked you to eat with me. Is It truly such a horrible idea to share a meal with me and my nana?"

At that, she smiled and nodded finally accepting my logic as we entered the house and went to the private dining area there were just two plates there, and as I saw one of the servants I asked if they could bring another for Tauriel.

She of course said she could go and find one herself if I told her the way, but the servant confidently said it was her job and to sit down and rest. Not long after Celebrian entered the room and didn't notice Tauriel at first.

"My dear daughter. How has your morning been? You did not show up for the morning meal and I got worried!" She said in a very motherly way as she hugged me and kissed my temple.

"I am sorry Nana, I could not sleep after everything that occurred last night so I went out for a walk to see the stars… and I lost time watching them with Tauriel over here," I said getting Nana to notice the silvan elf on the sofa.

Celebrian smiled and Tauriel stood up quickly.

"My lady Celebrian, it is my honor to meet you," She said so very formally and bowed her head deeply.

Nana on the other hand smiled and bowed her head in a typical elven greeting. "Welcome Tauriel," She said before noticing the third plate on the table. "It seems you are joining us for the mid-day meal, come both of you let us sit and talk".

"Yes, my lady, of course, my lady. May I hold your chair, my lady," Seeing Tauriel spin out a mixing her words reminded me of my first time around Celebrian, Elrond, and Glorfindel. It felt strange now that four years had passed and I felt comfortable in my new role. Well, not the newest role of daughter of the lord and lady. But in a way it had been how all the elves had treated me for years already, they were just more formal about it today than they had been yesterday.

Nana waved her off and sat down and so did I, Tauriel waited to sit down last. Ever minding her place, I guessed.

"So Tauriel" Nana started. "You are of the woodland realm I see; you too love the stars as my daughter does?" Tauriel nodded and paled somewhat before I jumped in.

"Yes, and we met when I was gazing at the star's nana, I was up very early when I could not sleep and we then started talking and she joined me and Glorfindel for morning drills in the training yards." I got a look from Tauriel but I did not mind about it. Nana looked at me and she knew that there was more to the story as she could hear it in my voice, but what it was she did not know.

"Then I must say my thanks to you Tauriel for looking after my daughter in the middle of the night." A smile on Nana's mouth and Tauriel simply bowed her head.

From that moment we simply chatted about everything and nothing, Tauriel was mostly quiet unless we said something directly at her, but she tried to focus on the food she was clearly enjoying. Either in fear of speaking out of term, I guessed or just enjoying our amazing chefs cooking.

"So Tauriel, tell us about yourself," Nana said in her ever-straightforward way.

"My lady there is not much of me to know that would be interesting to ladies like you and Elwen…" She said before I cut her off this time as I noticed she had only called me Elwen witch made my heart feel joy.

"Do not make yourself seem less Tauriel, Nana asked because she wanted to know and so do I."

Bowing her head somewhat to collect her memories she finally spoke.

"Well it is not much to say, I lived with my nana and ada when I was young and our kin moved northwards with King Oropher's wish to not live so close to the dwarves of the mountain and…" She cut herself off, even if it was common knowledge that Oropher did not wish to live close to the lady Galadriel and the lord Celeborn she didn't want to say it in the face of their daughter. "Well, it was a happy time" She started to speak again, not picking back up where she stopped. "But then the war came again. My ada went with King Oropher to war and did not return, my nana died of grief not long after learning of his fate and I was left alone… so I followed in my adar's footsteps and the King took me under his wing in some ways. He felt bad for my loss and has ever been so kind to me. I joined the rangers as it kept my mind occupied and on the move, giving me the chance to see the stars on rare occasions…" Tauriel got quiet and looked at the plate in front of her. Clearly misses her family and is angry over what took them away from her.

Without a second thought, Nana got up and hugged Tauriel from behind and I joined her. The Silvan elf was shocked by this, but for once did not question it as I think she needed it.

"I am so sorry for your loss Tauriel," Nana said and I joined her. "We both are". "Thank you my ladies" was all she could say, tears down her cheeks.

That was how I met the red-haired elf of the woodland realm. Over the next weeks, Tauriel finally lost her need to say my lady every time she spoke to me as we spent much time together, with Nana, sparing, talking, hunting, and simply enjoying each other's company.

I told Tauriel of my past and what had happened to me with the humans. I left out that it had happened in another world, but she found comfort in me about her family and I did so in her about my hurts. Just as I did with Elrond and Celebrian too or well ada and Nana as I call them now.

One evening we stood by the waterfall and just enjoyed the wet cooling breeze on our faces when one of the king's elves found us.

"Tauriel, the king has given his orders. We are leaving at sunrise tomorrow." I felt my heart drop, she had been one of the first elves I had gotten close to except ada, Nana, Glorfindel, Erestor, and Estelwen. But they were my family, teacher, and/or servant. This was different.

"I will be ready," She said with a bow and the elf turned and walked back down the path.

I looked at my friend… nay my love… with despair in my eyes.

"You cannot leave already Tauriel," I said. She looked at me and my sad face.

"I must, even if the time with you and your nana has reminded me of good times I must do as my king commands" Her own face was sad, she knew we were not her family, but it had felt like it even for just a very short time. At that moment I believed she might not feel as I do…

"Can you not ask him to say? Just for a time?" My voice was sad and almost desperate sounding. "I beg you Tauriel. Please"

"He is my king, Elwen. Just as Elrond is your lord and ada, I cannot defy him in his command." Her eyes look at the ground.

"it would not be defiance if you simply asked. Doing so without his permission would be" I tried to convince her. "What if I ask for you?"

But she knew her king and his stubbornness, maybe she could ask for leave a time after they returned to the woodland realm, but to ask so now would not sway her king and she knew he would demand her at her place with the Rangers.

That night we spent some time watching the stars again as we had the day we met. One last good memory before it was a goodbye for who knows how long. At that moment I was both happy and very sad. All I could do at that moment was to enjoy the time I had left with my friend… only friend… as the starlight made the heavens look like silver upon a dark blue carpet. I just hoped it would not be goodbye forever.

The next morning, I got up early to see her off, Tauriel was in the middle of the group of Silvan rangers and I waved at her from a distance. Thankfully she saw and returned my wave with the cutest smile I had yet to see in my life. All I could think was… "I love you".