Tauriel's POV:

There were many things that Tauriel had expected to encounter that day. Orcs. Spiders. A few complaints from the younger eleven guard members.

A company of dwarves, however, had not been in even the realm of possibilities.

"I've counted twelve of them," Legolas called out to her. "Do you see any others?"

Tauriel opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden yell from deeper within the woods.

"Kíli!" One of the dwarves shouted, struggling against the grip of the elves on either side of him. "Please! You have to let me go to my brother."

Tauriel shook her head and unsheathed the sword that hung at her hip. "I will find your brother, dwarf."

And off she went, cutting through the hoards of spiders as she ran.

It took her only a minute to find him, cornered by a particularly large spider with no weapon in hand. She stepped forward to help him, but quickly turned at the sound of more spiders approaching her from behind. She sliced through them easily, spinning out of reach as they tried to fight back.

She spun around again, pulling an arrow from the quiver at her back and firing it into the spider before it could reach the dwarf. He glanced up at her, and Tauriel felt the impact of his gaze as though it was a boulder that had slammed into her.

Another spider approached from her left and she tore her eyes away from him and focused once more on the battle at hand.

"Throw me a dagger!" She heard the dwarf, Kíli, shout. "Quick!"

"If you think I am giving you a weapon, dwarf," she answered, cutting through the spider to her left and spinning around to dispatch the one charging at him. "You are mistaken."

The dagger she threw lodged itself into the spider's body, and it collapsed with a loud thump.

"You are now under control of the Woodland Realm." Tauriel kept her eyes trained ahead as she walked past him to retrieve her dagger.

Kíli groaned. "I think I preferred the spiders. I have heard many tales of the elves of Northern Mirkwood."

Tauriel turned back towards him, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "And I have heard many tales of 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 kind."

"What do they say?" He asked playfully, taking a step closer to her.

Despite her instincts, Tauriel found herself stepping closer to him as well, playing along. "They say to never trust a dwarf - "

Before she could finish her sentence, he had stepped to the side of her and grabbed one of the daggers from her waist. Tauriel turned around in time to see him slam the dagger into a spider that had been approaching her from behind.

She hadn't heard it approaching at all.

"I apologize," he said, wiping the dagger against his thigh. "You saved my life, so I thought I should save yours in return."

Tauriel only frowned. Elves prided themselves on their supernatural abilities - their immortality was at the top of the list, but their unusually good hearing was not far behind.

And she hadn't heard anything beyond the soft, teasing voice of the dwarf.

He stepped towards her again and held out the dagger. "You can have this back."

"You don't want to use it against me?"

Kíli grinned. "Nay. I saw you fight and you would take me down in seconds."

Tauriel smiled back at him. "Then I trust you will cooperate and follow me back to the rest of your dwarven company."

"Lead the way."

--

"Make sure to search them thoroughly," Legolas called out. He was inspecting the sandy haired dwarf, Kíli's brother, a few cells away, and pulling out various knives that were hidden on him.

Tauriel turned and looked at the dwarf in front of her. It was the first time she'd allowed herself to look at him since she'd rescued him in the forest, and she felt uneasy as the same powerful force crashed into her. She wasn't sure what the feeling was, but she didn't like it.

"Aren't you going to search me?" Kíli asked, looking up at her earnestly. "I could have anything down my trousers."

Tauriel squeezed her lips together to quell the laughter that bubbled up inside her, and forced her face to remain neutral. "Or nothing," she retorted, closing the door to his cell. It took her a moment longer than it should have to pull her gaze away from him, and a pang of worry shot through her as she turned to see Legolas watching her.

"Why does the dwarf stare at you, Tauriel?" Legolas asked in their Elvish tongue.

"Who can say?" She replied quickly. Legolas had clearly noticed something going on, and the last thing she wanted was to upset her prince.

Legolas stared at her, as though waiting for an explanation.

"He's quite tall for a dwarf." The words had tumbled from her lips before she could stop them, and Tauriel felt her face flush. She hadn't meant to share that opinion with him. "Don't you think?" She added, as though asking for his opinion made any of it better.

His brows furrowed. "Taller than some," Legolas answered. "But no less ugly."