Chapter 16

An elleth hunting trip.

Many months passed since Tauriel's arrival in Imladris and the breakfast with Ada and Nana and much had happened. She had started her studies and training with Ada, we had been to see the dwarves witch on itself was interesting seeing how she reacted and thankfully no major disputes with them came of it. She is even starting to see herself as a lady of the valley and uses her authority when needed. Something I did not expect at all, but she is just and cares for others so I am so very proud of her. Our bond was getting stronger and our love bloomed. So I decided to ask Tauriel out on a hunting trip. Just me and her. After all the first few months had been somewhat stressful for her I think is the center of attention in the valley. Tauriel and I had been on everyone's lips and we got stares, smiles, and congratulations wherever we went and she looked so good in the clothes Geleth had made for her and loved seeing the heraldry of Imladris on her. She still had been shocked out of her boots seeing all the clothes and the quality of them and she begged Nana and Ada to have them give her tasks to repay them and the only task she got was to keep learning, keep training, be by my side and to do my tasks with me. An order she loved to follow.

Yes, it was of course nice and sweet, but it didn't give us much of a chance for a private time between me and her.

Tauriel had been very excited by the idea of hunting. She had hunted some on the road, but it was never time for it truly. Not like what we had planned. We each grabbed a large quiver, bows, and our long knives with us in case we needed them. We packed light except for that, cloaks, some food, skinning tools, a tarp if we needed cover from the rain, and of course two bedrolls.

"Be safe and don't be gone too long" Nana said.

"You two have three days to be gone or I will send out a party" Ada added to Nana's statement.

"Why can't we come?" Elladan and Elrohir cried in despair, still children at heart those two were.

"Because this is a trip for Tauriel and Elwen to spend together without interruptions that they have in the valley," Nana said.

"And they do deserve it, to get to know each other and not have everyone analyze every move they do or every single thing they say," Ada said. Much more supportive of us now that he had spent some time with Tauriel too.

"We will be safe and we will be back within three days Ada do not worry," I said with a smile.

"I am not worried Elwen, you got dear Tauriel here to watch your back." He said and grabbed her shoulder in a caring way. It was just very nice to see that and that he had started to trust her after the months she had been with us and those two had some time together as well.

"No traveling during the dark, keep close to each other and if anything happens, blow the traveler's horn" Nana added.

"We will my lady," Tauriel said "We won't go too far, just south of the trollshaws, and see what game there is. The hunt will be a bonus for us, the main goal is time together," she said and kissed me on the cheek.

Then we looked at each other and bid everyone farewell, for now, we turned and walked over the bridge and up the hills into the woods down to and over the bruinen towards the trollshaws.

We talked lightly as we walked and simply enjoyed the woods and the singing of birds. We could see all kinds of animals and some scouts too, but they just bowed to us and rode on. There were simple camps set up on the north and south side of the Great East Road that we could use and we did decide to camp at one I knew was rarely in use due to its height of where it was.

It did have a great view in every direction and if anything evil decided to come past us we would most likely go unnoticed.

"What do you think of this place?" I said and looked over at Tauriel as we both sat our packs down and took a breath. "It is very lovely, I bet we will be able to see many stars from here" Tauriel commented with a smile. "I hope so," I said and looked at her. "But there is only one star I need to see and I can see it already" I added as I adjusted my quiver.

Tauriel started to look up at the skies and it was still blue though the sun was going down. "I cannot see it. Where is it Elwen" She said looking up and I moved over to her and grabbed her. "Right here," I said and as she looked down blushing as I gave her a few kisses on the mouth "My favorite star is right here in my arms" I added to her blushing even more.

"I am not a star though, even if I sometimes wish I were" Tauriel commented as her arms wrapped around me too. "You are a star in my eyes Tauriel, you have been since I first saw you march into Imladris" Her eyes widened "You were there? I did not see you" She said.

"I stood in the back, shy as I was…" I commented and bowed my head. "It is good you are not so shy now, I have become too fond of your kisses," Tauriel said and kissed me so very deeply. "The day we met watching the stars made me feel alive again" she added. "It is the same for me, even if I was so very nervous the moment we spoke. You were so beautiful in the starlight" I said and she shook her head. "Nothing like you in the starlight that morning and to be invited to train with lord Glorfindel and yourself. Now that was a morning I will never forget" she said and we started to dance a little just holding each other as we spoke. "Nor will I ever forget you're worriedly overeating with me and my Nana," I said with a smile into her beautiful eyes. "How could I not be worried? I was to meet the Nana of a lady of the Noldor. Of the most beautiful elf in Imladris? nay my love, but it was the start of something beautiful" she said as slowly the day turned into evening and darkness once again fell over the trollshaws.

We decided to get to bed early that night and scout the area for wildlife in the morning. We could hear a lot of movement around us from deer, elk maybe, birds, and the water of the bruinen in the distance. It was truly a nice evening and the chefs had made simple but very delicious food packs so even if we did not get any game we would not be hungry at all.

We did not make a fire that evening as it was not very cold and we decided to try to sleep closely and not scare off any animal we might want to hunt in the morning.

"Sleep well my sweet" Tauriel said as we lay down.

"You too my love" I responded and it was like I could hear her smile. Not long after I could hear her breath deep as she was asleep, clearly a gift from her ranger training. I on the other hand just lay there listening to her breath and enjoying it before an arm came over me and pulled me close, It was Tauriel that did it in her sleep. "There you are my love; why did you pull away Elwen?" She said in her sleep. "I did not my sweet" I responded to her huffing and said in a very sweet voice "Don't leave me?" she said like she was begging me to stay. "I love you so much" It was clearly sleep-talking that made her say the big words so clearly and lovingly. We were a couple that was no doubt, but even for such a short time, I wanted to be more, much more.

After that, I fell asleep as well. It was the best sleep I had ever had and I woke up to her fingers pulling my hair out of my face.

"Good morning," She said with the most stunning smile I had ever seen. "Good morning," I said and sat up. Tauriel was beside me as she waited for something. "Do I have something in my hair? My face?" I asked by the way she was staring at me.

"No…" She said as she kept looking at me "I just waited for this" and she leaned over and kissed me on the mouth "Now it is a good morning" she added and smiled as she grabbed her bag and handed me my breakfast and I could do nothing but grin at what she did.

"You are the sweetest elf I know about," I said out of nowhere. "I am?" Tauriel responded. "You are, at least when you sleep talk," I said as I grinned.

"What did I say?" Tauriel said with her eyes going all big

"I will tell you when the time is right!" I said with a smile.

She clearly was not happy she had to wait and see what it was, but she came over and sat beside me as we had our breakfast and water. After that, we got our bows and quivers with long knives attached to them and we started to track into the wild. See if there were any animals we could hunt. We tracked all morning and far into the day not speaking unless we had to.

"We have tracked for hours now," I said looking around, my dark hair in the wind and Tauriel stopped not too far in front of me. "Tauriel?" I added.

"Something feels wrong. Can you feel it? It has been quiet all day" Se responded

We both had a strange feeling as the bird sounds were almost gone and very hard to hear even for our elven ears. The tracks of the animals were old, from around the time we went to bed last night.

"This is very strange," Tauriel said Looking at the ground and all the tracks she could see in the area.

"It is the woods feel so very different. Nothing like yesterday or last night" I added. "Do you know what it is my love?" I said as she shook her head. "Something or someone has scared the animals away," Tauriel said.

"Do you think it is us?" I asked her.

"No, we have been quiet, and in general animals do not fear us elves. But something has scared them off, but what I know not. But something there is around us. Something that scared everything off"

It was like her senses went into full gear. She stood still like a guardian of old. Listening, feeling, and smelling the air.

"We are not alone" Tauriel then said as a statement and looked back at me.

"Are we not? No birds or beasts I can hear my love?" I said in a worried tone. She did not respond and I added "Maybe we should go back to camp and set out for Imladris?" I asked her in a low voice, I am not sure why I said it so low, but it felt right due to the situation.

"We should turn back to camp at least, there we have good sight in all directions and the high ground. I do not think we should travel in the night if we get back too late to travel to the valley" she said strictly and somewhat worried.

"I'll follow you" I simply said as Tauriel was clearly more experienced in the wild than I was with her being a former Silvan ranger.

As we ran towards camp the feeling got deeper and deeper, what few sounds we had heard were simply far gone by now. We had no explanation for it other than that Tauriel felt something and even as the lands at this time should be safe and clear of anything evil, but of course, some stranglers could move around.

We decided not to light a fire due to the feeling we had in our bones and simply had our premade meal before we tried to rest after a long day of failed tracking and no hunting. We were unhappy about it, but at least we had spent time together. Darkness fell over Eriador and the trollshaws that evening and after some time we started to hear footsteps in the distance. We had not taken our weapons off due to the feeling we both had and decided not to sleep either.

We steadied our breathing and readied an arrow each. The footsteps were slow and it took them a long time to even get to our position. There were several of them now coming up on us. Slowly they marched and growled at the same time. They were not in a hurry and their lines were separated by the hill we were on None seemed interested in climbing up toward us to scout and our eyesight was peak as we had not lit any fire and we hid ourselves and our things in the bushes. It was clear they did not fear walking her during the night and they did not expect anyone to even notice them.

"Goblins" Tauriel whispered to me. "Scouts from the mountain coming west to see the defenses of the valley I am sure," She said and I simply nodded scared as I was. My inexperience clearly showed at this moment.

We could hear them smell for something or someone… most likely us and then our fear became justified. Not long after two of them came up the small path and walked over to where we had slept the night before.

In a dark, foul language of that of Mordor, they spoke to each other and smelled the ground more. We decided it would be better for us to surprise them instead of them doing the same to us. Our hearing told us there could be no more than a large scout troop under us and even with my inexperience in real combat we believed we could take them.

"You take the one on the left, I will take the one on the right. As soon as they fall we will run toward the edge and loose arrows from there. If the rest climbs the path I will fight them hand to hand and you will stay there and keep losing arrows at them" she said confidently and I could not but smile.

"Yes, my captain," I said and looked at her. She only smiled at that and we drew our bows.

"Now," She said and our arrows flew into the Goblins with both falling and we both rushed forward to the edge. We were right. There could be no more than thirty or forty Goblins and we started to lose our arrows at them. The others screamed in confusion and fear with several other Goblin screams coming from around us we kept firing arrows. Clearly, this was a route used by the foul creatures during the night to both avoid our elven patrols and the Arnorian patrols. They had to have hiding spots or caves in several places in the area.

Several more Goblins came out of the tree line and moved towards us, I started to lose arrows at them and Tauriel was in hand to hand with the few that were left of the first patrol. They moved quickly towards us and my quiver was running empty. Hand to hand it was then I kept thinking as I loosed the last arrow into the head of the largest Goblin I saw and dropped my bow and pulled out my two long knives from the scabbards on my back.

We simply let them come to us and cut them down one by one, several times we blocked blows that were meant for the other and charged at them. Some punches and club hits were taken, but we kept on like that for a good while until the sun started to creep up behind the mountains and the Goblins started to fear our position and the angry screams we heard at the start turned to frightened gasps. Tauriel then grabbed her bow from the ground and let the last arrows she had in her quiver fly into the flying Goblins and with that, the night was finally over.

We were both scanning the area around us before we looked at each other scared the other was injured.

"Are you hurt Tauriel finally said and looked me over" I did the same to her "No, are you hurt my love? Any cuts or scratches? Goblins do poison their blades!" I let out, but all I could see on her was her clothing covered in black Goblin blood. That was all she could see on me as well and what had happened that night was finally dawning on us.

We had taken out at least one troop of scout Goblins if not more. As we held each other and looked around we could not help but ramble about how scared we both had been for the other. It was all that worried us and if the Goblins would be able to overwhelm us. Thankfully they did not manage to do that.

We just stood there for a bit hugging each other and breathing out in relief.

"We should pack our things and run back to Imladris" I finally said.

"We should…" Tauriel said "But first" She let me go somewhat and then kissed me deeply. Not like any other time before, this was a truly deep kiss with a lot of emotions in it, and all of them she sent back to me with her lips, tongue, and all. Several moments passed as we kissed and as soon as she let go she said "I was so worried I would never be able to kiss you again. To hold you… to love you…" She gasped for air as we had dropped the kiss and tears came from her eyes and from mine too as I heard her speak. "The trip did not turn out as we hoped, my love but we faced it together and won, we are both alive and fine, even if I were so scared you would be injured or worse, to not have you at my side," I said with a smile on my face, our faces too were black with Goblin blood and we hurried to grab our packs, clean our knives and grab what arrow we could that was not too far away. The rest we decided to leave as a warning to other Goblins in the area if no patrol got there before them.

We ran all we could down the road towards the valley. The animal sounds started to return and by the bruinen, we found a patrol captain who was shocked to see us all black with Goblin blood.

"My lady Elwen," He said and bowed to me as he saw Tauriel too. "My lady Tauriel" he added quickly. "What has happened? Are you two both well? Do you need aid?" He said with fear in his voice. "We are well Captain…?" I said with a questioning tone. "Captain Landor, my lady," He said and bowed.

"Captain, I need you to take your patrol to the old lookout over the road. My mate and I were assaulted there last night by Goblins. We believe they are scouts from the mountain and we managed to slay most if not all. Unless they have a cave to hide in close by."

"At once my lady, do you need any assistance getting back to the valley?" He added.

"We will be the fine captain" Tauriel added. "But inform the other patrols of the situation and the Arnorians too. We cannot let this scum infect our lands" Hearing her speak so forcefully and commanding made me love her even more. How could I have found such a perfect mate?"

"At once lady Tauriel," the captain said and his troop rode off the way we had come and they blew their horn not long after as they found the bodies we had left.

"I love how forceful you were back there," I said to Tauriel as we ran. "and I love how forceful you were with the captain." She responded as I reached for her hand and grabbed it as we ran. I had learned much over the last few days. Mostly she is the one.

Back in Imladris, we shared our story with the twins, Nana, ada, and Glorfindel. All were happy we were safe and handled the situation so well. Nana wanted us to never ever leave the valley again though and hugged us both so hard.

But the twins, on the other hand, thought us lucky and wished it had happened to them instead of Nana's despair and they had to swear not to try and get into such a situation by themselves to which I am sure they would find a way.

After a hot bath and fresh clean clothes, we ate dinner with them all. It was very enjoyable, but both of us were very tired as we had not slept any the night before. I followed Tauriel to her guest quarters witch she had stayed all these long months and when we came to the door I simply looked at her, did not let her hand go, and took her to my room and shut the door. We got into bed and kissed each other good night and had the best sleep of our lives.