Authors Note: Scroll down for the chapter if you don't like reading my ramblings. I know…its been forever. Honestly I still have a lot of w1ork to do on this act, but since it sits at 7 complete chapters but over 100.000 words and counting…I figured I would start posting. Mostly so you know I have not died or anything XD.

This ACT is more a chill ACT. Just a lot of healing and domestic stuff as we prepare for another act of adventures which is what I am planning for ACT VII. So get ready for some family drama, maybe a little adventure, and more as Tauriel continues her healing journey in mind and soul.

Hopefully it doesn't get too boring, and I am HOPING by posting this is pushes me to stop dragging my feet and actually post regularly again.

ACT VI

"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Chapter One

Tauriel allowed the pain to flow through her as she pulled herself up another ledge. A few more, and she will reach her destination. Valar, why was this so difficult?

"Come on Starlight! Almost there!"

Tauriel grumbled up to her grandfather as she nearly lost her footing and had to catch herself, the elf above her encouraging her as if she had not nearly slipped and fell a hundred feet. "Mutami ud'ruun."

"I heard that." Naurfaer sung. "Such language for a representative of a high Valar, dearest granddaughter." He lifted a brow as the cool wind swept through his hair. "And...I may be a crazy donkey hole...but remember, we share blood."

"At this moment in time...that is the only thing keeping me from killing you." She wheezed as she re-secured her hold and pulled herself up on the ledge about twenty feet under where her infuriating grandfather was standing.

"Everything alright, Tauriel?"

"Not now Kili!" Tauriel snapped through their bond. She quickly apologized, but he seemed to get the message as her apology was met with cold silence from her bonded mate. Great. She forgot Kili was angry with her and she probably just made it worse. This day is just turning out to be wonderous. When a drop of rain fell on her head as she looked up, her scowl deepened.

"Well that will put a damper on things." Naurfaer hummed as he rocked on his toes. "Better hurry up, starlight. I think it's about to rain."

"You think?" Tauriel huffed as she began looking for the best route up. She saw a rock sticking out and fastened her hand around it as she pulled herself foot by foot to the final ledge. She swears her lung is about to burst with pain, and her head is positively pounding un-relentlessly at the base of her skull. This...was probably a bad idea to do. Maybe she was not ready for this like Kili had said. He had tried to talk her out of her plans today...but she told him to stop babying her and let her make her own choices.

Tauriel paused as she stared at the rock inches from her face. "I was not fair to him." She said really to nobody in particular. He was trying to protect her, but the last two months has been nothing but him being borderline intolerable with his coddling. She was feeling a bit...smothered...and she didn't know why.

For one thing, she wanted to make it abundantly clear she loves her Kili with everything she was and is. She also never usually minds his overprotective nature, as she prefers to spend as much of her day as possible with her dwarven prince. Spending time with Kili was not the issue whatsoever; she feels most complete when he is nearby.

But that haunting look he always has when she is around? The desperation he has adopted over the weeks she has been home to keep her from every bit of harm possible...it was grating on her nerves.

So yes, she woke up that morning, saw the first cloudless sky she has seen in weeks greeting her, and informed her husband she was to go for a climb up to the mountain peak today.

And naturally, Kili absolutely forbit it...which led to a bit of an argument turned yelling match between the normally harmonious pair. Unfortunately, the children were all home and saw them. Kili in his frustration shuffled them out of the suites, telling Tauriel she could do whatever she wanted, far be it for him to deny her her freedom.

She may have called him her jailor...which was not fair but she was just so angry, she was starting to say things she did not mean. And Kili, well he took each jab at his character with little to no retaliation, his expression getting colder and colder until he scooped up their daughter, and followed the children out telling her to enjoy her climb.

When Tauriel stormed out of her room, she nearly ran right into Thorin who was shaking his head at her. "Natha, he is only trying to..."

"Please do not take his side right now." Tauriel had begged the dwarven king who ground his jaw, turned on his toes, and left as well. She really was winning with her family.

It was only when she got to the raven room, where she was going to start her climb, that she noticed a figure standing at the edge with a wide smile on his lips. Of course her grandfather would not let her go alone. Fine. He could come. Figures he would have heard the argument...the entire mountain probably heard it.

"Nearly there!" Naurfaer's voice broke through her thoughts and she grunted as she pushed and forced her muscles to respond to her command.

Tauriel's heart was beating so fast, she thought it would burst from her chest. The first part of the climb was so easy...though she was driven by her anger which is probably why she passed Naurfaer in that first stretch with rather impressive speed for someone who nearly died just over two months ago. Then her body's condition crept up on her and she began to slow as her mornings frustrations could no longer numb the pain burning from her chest and lungs.

Naurfaer tried to get her to stop, but she cursed at him and pushed herself. So instead, he decided to climb ahead so he could help her from above or at the very least, encourage her.

"Just a few more feet, starlight." Tauriel heard her grandfather say as she pulled herself up and tried to ignore the heavy pain wracking her entire body right now.

When her legs slipped again, a hand reached down and caught her before she could plummet to the ledge she had just been on. It would not have killed her, but she would certainly have received a few good bruises at the very least.

"Up you get." Naurfaer said as he pulled her light form up to sit on the ledge. He watched her as her chest heaved and she gasped for air that did not seem to be coming.

Sitting beside her where her feet dangled off the ledge, Naurfaer waited as she tried and failed to catch her breath.

"Do I need to send for someone?"

"NO!" Tauriel growled through clenched teeth. She closed her eyes, trying to force her heart to slow down, and her lungs to take in the air she needed. The process was slow, but eventually, her body began to cooperate with her, and she was able to accept the water bladder from Naurfaer and take a few short sips from it as her eyes scanned the lands beyond the mountain.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Tauriel side eyed her grandfather, her jaw locking in place. Did she? Not really. Her situation with Kili was nobody's business but her own. They will work it out, but it will require more than a little humility from her considering she needed to be the one to apologize. She said some rather untrue and hurtful things to Kili. Sure, he was over-coddling her...but he did not deserve what she said to him.

"Starlight?"

"He wants me to just sit in the room, and not do anything." She heard herself say. Also not true, but that's what she felt like to her. "And I don't know how long I can stand to see that look in his eyes when he wakes up in the morning and seems to not believe I am there. It is like...he is mourning a loss that never happened. I am alive, and here. I don't know what else to do or say to him to make him realize I am here and alive, and growing stronger."

"Tauriel." Naurfaer sighed. "I understand your frustrations...I do. But I also understand Kili's perspective. Look..." He twisted a bit so one leg tucked under the one that was dangling off the ledge end. "…the first thing I need you to know, is Kili was the one to approach me and ask me to accompany you this morning."

Of course he did. Tauriel huffed a bit. Yet a part of her was also filled with warmth to know he wasn't so angry with her that he didn't go out of his way to at least make sure she was not alone. Tauriel looked down at her raw hands, wishing it was Kili with her. But Kili, was not really a climber. He was getting better…but he would not have been able to do what her and Naurfaer just did. So he did the next best thing he could think of and go to the one person in Erebor who could do it and asked him to go with her.

"So…you didn't hear what I said to him?" Tauriel asked.

Naurfaer looked confused. "What you said to him? Did you have an argument? I was not in the suites this morning. I was with Balin and Dwalin. They are talking about retaking Moria, but Thorin has already shut them down for the time being. Balin is a bit unhappy about it, but I can understand Thorin's reasonings…at least for right now."

"Moria?" Tauriel asked. "Isn't that the kingdom that fell? Where Thorin's grandfather was killed when he tried to retake it?"

"Ya." Naurfaer said. "It was also where Thorin's father was taken to spend the next century in Dol Guldur. So the place holds no good memories for Thorin…and I don't think he is ready to see his closest friends go and possibly meet the same fate."

Tauriel looked out across the land where she knew where the fallen fortress of Dul Guldur to be. She wonders what their world would look like if Thrain would have been saved. He would have been the next king over Thorin; would he have accepted her into his family like Thorin did? Would he have accepted her children? Would he even had allowed her and Kili to remain in Erebor? From the sounds of it, Thrain was no Thror, but what was his stance on his people marrying outside their race; outside their species even?

Fortunately for her…it was not a question she needs to worry much on. What ifs. Those are endless holes one can find themselves falling into that lead to nothing but unanswerable questions and unnecessary stress.

Taking a breath, Tauriel turned back to Naurfaer. "I got angry with Kili this morning when he told me I was not to climb today."

"And he had every right to voice that opinion." Naurfaer hummed in agreement. "And I would have said the same. We can both argue that you made through your climb, that you were able to accomplish what you set out to do today, Starlight. But what you endured? That was not some little wound. You don't need to push yourself, and you certainly have nobody you have to impress here. You have already done more than enough to earn these people's respect, to earn your family's respect. You owe them nothing. But for whatever reason…you are going from walking and some basic training to scaling the side of Erebor. Why? What are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to prove yourself to?"

Tauriel blinked at Naurfaer, taken aback by his words. Was he right? Was she trying to prove herself to someone? And if so…who? Kili? The other dwarves? Herself?

When another raindrop landed on her hand, she watched it slid off her wrist and onto her trousers. "I honestly don't know." Tauriel said after a moment.

"Well, I have an idea." Naurfaer said, lifting a brow. He gestured for her to look across the lands to the forest which confused Tauriel until it hit her.

"Thranduil?" She asked in disbelief. Then she scoffed. "I have no desire to prove anything to him."

"Is that so?" Naurfaer hummed as he sat back on his hands, a skeptical expression on his face. "So, it has nothing to do with the fact that you spent 600 years of your life, being conditioned to put your suffering aside and conform to being some kind of emotionless captain who feels no pain and exists to serve him and his court. Only now, in just in a manner of twenty years, you have miraculously managed able to completely re-set six centuries of training and molding to break completely free of any of those self-sabotaging tendencies that have you craving to prove that you are this 'super being' who only needs a small amount of time to heal emotionally and physically before she can pop back up and go back to doing whatever she wants or is needed of her? Sounds like someone is not being truthful with herself…and by all means, tell me I am wrong." He looked at her. "Go ahead…I have no other plans today."

The glare Tauriel gave him had him chuckling. "Please, you think I have not spent tens of thousands of years in middle earth to be moved by my granddaughters narrowed eyes? I may come off as someone who is ridiculous on many levels…but I promise you I am far more numb to such expressions than I should be."

"You can be terrible company at times, you know." The red-headed eleth grumbled.

The grin Naurfaer sported was so wide, it had Tauriel scowling even more. "You're only mad…because I am right and you know it."

"I will not dignify you with a response to that." She growled as she scooted back so she could stand.

However, Naurfaer grabbed her hand. "This is not about what you think." He said keeping her from moving, but gently so she could pull away if she wanted to. "Look, starlight. If you have not noticed, everyone in this family suffers deep traumas and heavy burdens within them. I think, that is why we are all so close and protective of each other. Every one of us, from Thorin to Dis, down to Kili and Fili, we all know what it is to lose everything. Those we tie ourselves to, our parents, and in some cases, even our children." He released her hand and looked away as he continued. "Even your Kili has lost you now three times, nearly four. That is more than most could handle but remain mostly unchanged."

"I have lost him too." Tauriel argued right back. "Nearly as many times. Yet..."

"Yet what?" Naurfaer challenged. "Yet you don't coddle him? Ha. Do you see yourself when he is ill? Fine, you two are on slightly different levels of protectiveness over the other. But I think the only reason for that, is you're polar opposite upbringings. Kili has had love and support in his life since he was born. He has a mother who, though strict and fierce, never let her sons go a day without making sure they both know she loves them. And though Thorin is not his birth father, in every way that matters Thorin has stepped into fatherhood with Kili and Fili, and even you."

"What is your point?" Tauriel pulled her knees up to her chin, wrapping her arms around them.

"If you would stop being impatient, I will tell you." He lifted a brow and waited for her to retort, but she didn't so he chuckled and continued. "Starlight, though I am sure you wanted for nothing your body needed…shelter, food, clothing, education…you were also denied something crucial but taken for granted by many. Love, compassion, understanding, and even acceptance. We have talked about this before, but your stubborn nature doesn't seem to want to hear it. You are not in Mirkwood anymore. You have nobody…nobody…to prove yourself to. Yes, it is okay to start challenging yourself; you are clearly feeling much better and ready to start building your strength further. So instead of jumping to climbing a mountain, let's do some heavier training in the guards wing where you can push your limits, but in a place that is safe to do so."

The elder elf shook his head. "Had I not been in that raven room…you would have come out here alone. You barely made it Tauriel. You could have been gravely hurt for no other reason but your own feelings that you are inadequate if you cannot perform to a level very few if any can reach. I know Thranduil…and he has certainly come a long way in the last two decades…but I also know he expects a lot from those around him. And I won't sit here and argue that he doesn't have his reasons, because in all honesty he does. What I will say, is what he did to you and how he brought you up is in my book unforgivable and unnecessary. You can forgive him all you want, but I won't, and I know for a fact, neither will Kili."

Tauriel swallowed the lump in her throat. Was that why she was doing this? Because of…of Thranduil?

As the rain began to fall harder, Tauriel looked up into the sky to see the sparse patches of blue be taken over by the darker grey clouds. These last few weeks, her anxiety has been growing, that need to perform to her regular standards was becoming overwhelming; could that have been stemming from the years she had to get over her injuries' and hurts to keep going? To go do her duties despite having an ankle nearly fractured from falling from a tree she had not realized was wet after a cloud burst. To push down the pain from her failures when she sees the disappointment in others when she did not perfectly perform moves considered beyond advanced for her rank and experience level, and try harder despite being a quarter of the age of those testing alongside her. To build a stone wall around her heart so the words of others calling her weak, childish, and odd despite how they still penetrated her young, sensitive, ears.

Yet there was one, who worked every day to make sure she knew she had value in his life. Who wiped away the tears from her nightmares, and held her through the hard times…taking the day off to lay alongside her when she could not hold herself together after a particularly difficult night terror. Never once did he call her weak. Never once did he push her to get better quickly, or tell her she was being inconvenient when she was unable to perform at an acceptable level.

And here she was, pushing him away, because he was not treating her like Thranduil did and pushing her to return to normal.

"Mhm, there it is." Naurfaer hummed when he saw the realization on her face. "Your recovery is not a competition to improve as fast as possible, starlight. You need to stop treating it as such. We both know your body requires more time to recover and heal than it used to, so let it do so. War is coming, and yes, dark days are ahead, but they are not at our gate yet, nor will they be here tomorrow, or even next year. We have time to strengthen ourselves, and all you're doing here, is putting yourself in a situation where you can just re-injure yourself, permanently damage your body, or worse…get yourself killed."

The reality hit Tauriel harder than she expected it would. Of course she knew she had a lot of internalized hurt and scars that affected her…but when that hurt is bleeding into her relationship with Kili, then clearly something needs to be addressed. "What do I do, adar?"

The earnest expression on her face had Naurfaer sitting forward and taking her hand. "Well if you want my honest opinion, you can first apologize to Kili. We all know how overprotective he can be, but his heart's always in the right place especially when it comes to you. Then maybe, you and him can sit together and make more realistic goals meant to aid your recovery, not set you back or push yourself to the point of reinjury."

Tauriel sighed but nodded. A bit of her pride flared up, because Kili should know by now how much she hates being coddled. Then again, she did recall telling him he could coddle her all he wants. So maybe…this was also her fault in that aspect.

"We really need to get down before the rain worsens." Naurfaer broke her from her thoughts as he looked over the edge with a grim expression on his face. "That rock is looking slick even from here. But no matter." He smiled wide. "We are not climbing down anyway."

"What!" Tauriel said in surprise. "Whyever not?"

"Well for one thing, you're still breathing in a way that concerns me." He said, pressing a hand to her neck and feeling the fast rate her heart was beating at, tsking. "Such a stubborn little elf."

Tauriel swotted his hand away. "I am not little." She huffed.

"You're not? Odd. I have never once seen you have to duck in the mountain…or have an issue with any furnishing whatsoever. Seems like your size is perfectly adequate for the people you love."

Naurfaer laughed at Tauriel's flashing eyes and pierced lipped expression. "Alright, you're not hobbit sized, how about that?"

Rolling her eyes, Tauriel stood. "Can we just get back. I can sense my daughter needing food, and I would rather nurse her than Kili be forced to bottle feed her. She is always in a right mood when she is bottle fed."

"Of course, starlight."

When Tauriel slipped her leg over the ledge, however, he quickly grabbed her. "Absolutely not." He said in a tone nearly identical to Kili forbidding her from climbing. It had her reeling and pulling herself out of his grip so fast, she almost fell off the side of the ledge. Thankfully she caught herself.

"Do not tell me what I am and am not capable of doing." Tauriel spit at him.

"Well, if it is not the same argument you had with Kili." Naurfaer shot back.

Tauriel blinked, then her eyes widened in mortification. She is sure she would have grown red from her cheeks to the tips of her ears had she not already been red from the climb she was still trying to recover from if her heartrate and difficulty breathing was anything to go by. What was wrong with her today? "Forgive me, adar."

Naurfaer shrugged. "It's fine." He then gave a whistle to which a large black and white raven suddenly appeared and landed right beside Tauriel.

"Nana." It croaked and nuzzled her hand.

Tauriel smiled, scratching her beloved bird on the head. "Hello Kaw. Were you following us the entire time?"

Kaw didn't answer, he just began rubbing his head against her palm.

"Alright, enough of that, you have a job to do. So go do it." Naurfaer said. The raven puffed his feathers, but croaked and flew from the mountain ledge.

"What, exactly, do you have him doing?" She looked back up to the sky when what was a steady rainfall, turned into a downpour instantly.

"Getting us a way down that doesn't involve either or both of us ending up in the undying lands." Was Naurfaer's response.

Naturally, he did not elaborate, but Tauriel didn't have to wait long either when a loud screech filled the air followed by the whooshing sound of wings definitely not belonging to a raven.

It was seconds later, a large, white, creature soared over them and landed on the large ledge they were standing on.

Tauriel didn't know if she should be grateful, or roll her eyes when Nyaunni jumped down off Dajnel's back and placed her hands on her hips. "Are you done playing stubborn? Because in my personal opinion…this was a stupid idea."

"I knew I liked her for a good reason." Naurfaer grinned.

"You…spoke to Nyaunni to get her to fly us down? When?" Tauriel asked.

"He didn't speak to me." Nyaunni hummed, folding her arms. "Kili did. Said you got it in your head to climb the mountain…and he was making sure you had a plan to get down if the weather turned. Which it did. Maybe next time, consider the season and your wellbeing before you force yourself up a vertical rock." She smirked. "And you just wait until Dis gets her hands on you. She is steaming like a dragon ready to flame. Thorin is attempting to calm her down."

Tauriel groaned. Why did she feel like an elfling caught sneaking out after hours? It is official…Tauriel wants to do nothing more than to crawl back into bed and restart the day. If only Thranduil and Legolas could see her now…she certainly was not the elf the elven king had been raising.

"I thank you for the warning." She eventually said.

Nyaunni, though, laughed. "Come now, she'll be fine as soon as she sees you are fine. Let's go though, I don't fancy being out here when the winds pick up. Dajnel still has work to do with severe wind currents."

The aelúg nipped at Nyaunni as if she understood her, which maybe she did. But Nyaunni just pushed her face away and ignored her. "Well, climb up. I would have brought Uri…but he is throwing a bit of a tantrum with the harness and has started to only mind when Thorin is around, so I thought it best to leave him behind." She then pulled herself up and waited.

"I am quite anticipating the day I can teach Feredir to fly." Feredir was Naurfaers little aelúg. They have all since hatched, Kili's being the first, but the others all breaking into this world within the same week. Tauriel's little hatchling was last. Nyaunni was beginning to get worried, wondering if something had gone wrong despite the fact she could feel its lifeforce within the egg. But a day later, it hatched and Nyaunni declared it a happy little male. He was a little talker and Tauriel thought his chirps sounded almost musical in nature, so she quickly named him Dulinn, which was one of the few terms in Sindarin that translated to nightingale.

"That won't be for another twenty years, adar." Tauriel reminded him as she accepted Nyaunni's hand who helped give her an arm up onto Dajnel's back. There was only a slight tugging in the muscles in her chest, but it was tolerable.

Naurfaer just easily leapt on making Tauriel turn and scowl at him. "Show off." She muttered but he just smiled.

"According to the letter, we can actually teach them to fly in ten years." He proclaimed. "If…we feed them that diet they are supposed to be on."

"It was fascinating to learn they can in fact grow faster than I thought." Nyaunni said. "Honestly I am not sure if I am frustrated I did not learn that until now…or happy the orcs and their masters did not know. If they did, there would likely be fellbeasts already in the air causing terror. I think they only got away with just under a dozen. Who knows what they are doing with them. With any luck, they eat each other and we only have to deal with one."

As she said that, she made a sound that had Dajnel leaping off the ledge and seemingly freefalling down the side of the mountain. Tauriel tightened her hold on Nyaunni but she was not afraid. The opposite really. Anytime she flew, she felt…free.

Far too soon for her liking, Dajnel was touching her claws to the muddy ground and shaking out her feathers.

"She is landing so much better." Tauriel praised as she slid off the aelug's feathered back.

"We have been working on it." Nyaunni laughed. "Uri though…" She cringed. "…he needs more work. A lot more work."

Tauriel glanced at the stables just a few yards away from where they landed. She felt a small nudge in her back, and turned to see Dajnel almost pushing her towards the mountain.

"Looks like someone thinks you have better places to be." Nyaunni smirked.

Tauriel sighed but nodded. Time to face the fire.

Authors Note at the bottom: Well it's a start. Lol. See you guys after I go through my next chapter.