Chapter Text
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, or any of the characters within the stories. Some of these characters are my own (Kelda, Anona, Eyela), but other than that, all rights go to Peter Jackson of the movies and Sir Tolkein of the books. This story is set slightly before the events in The Hobbit. I changed the storyline of course, but some of the scenes are original Peter Jackson scenes. I do not own these, he does.
Note: I not only added some of my own characters, but I also changed the age of Tauriel. She is actually 600 years old, but I made her age gap with Legolas a little smaller. I tried to stay as accurate as I could to the true characters, but some of it may not be entirely accurate.
Enjoy!
Chapter 1
Tauriel walked outside, beyond the gates, to the edge of the forest. He has to be here. And she was right.
Legolas sat at the edge of Greenwood, or Mirkwood, watching the stars. Tauriel smiled inwardly because though her best friend never admitted it much, this was where he felt at peace. But Legolas was not acting like himself. He had snapped at the guards and at his father, and his once bright blue eyes were dull and almost lifeless.
She tried to sneak up on him by padding quietly towards him, but Legolas was an elven archer. He knew better than that.
“I can hear you, Tauriel.” His voice was toneless.
She sat next to him and looked at Legolas for the first time since the last patrol. His face was pale, even for an elf, and his eyes were a dark, cold blue. He did not acknowledge her.
“I am enjoying your necklace, mellon [friend],” she said, admiring the gold chain around his neck. A thick green teardrop emerald hung from it.
Legolas fingered the chain. “It is a gift from my mother.”
She immediately stiffened. The Queen Anona was never out of her chambers. She was constantly ill, but no elf (at least no lowly Silvan elf) knew why Mirkwood never saw its queen. King Thranduil did not speak of it, and most were too afraid to ask. “I’m sorry, I did not—“
“It’s all right. I did not expect you to know that my mother gives me gifts every so often to show her love for me.” He smiled at the necklace. “This is particularly special.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the nightingales’ song and the wind whistling through the branches.
Legolas watched her for a moment before asking, “Did my father give us permission to hunt the spiders to their source?”
“No.” Tauriel’s gaze hardened. “Doesn’t he understand that the only way to get anything done is to leave this forest and track the spiders? That way they’ll never come back.” She slammed her fist on the cliff side. “His Majesty can be so frustrating.”
Legolas was staring past the cliff and into the night. “There was once a time when the king was not so…cold. He was not ill tempered and bitter. It’s a secret the royal family has kept for years and years.”
Tauriel reached towards him. “Lego—“
“Tauriel.” He looked directly at her now. “I trust you. With my life, and with my secrets, I trust you to no end.”
“I will not reveal what you tell me.” Tauriel understood now. He was giving her a task.
Legolas took a deep breath and began.
“Many, many years ago, when I was just an elfling and my sister was not born yet, my mother and my father were the happiest I had ever seen them. This was when my father was merely a prince and my grandfather was king. My father, yes our king would laugh and smile many times a day. And it was all thanks to Anona. My beautiful mother changed him like no other. It was as if her pure joy radiated and spread to all those around her. I loved spending time with my family. My mother taught me to heal and to find happiness around me, while my father taught me how to defend myself and fulfill my duties as the future prince and king. 500 years later, my parents welcomed my baby sister Kelda Filverel of Greenwood. It was Greenwood at the time. I thought everything was perfect. But—“
“But…?”Tauriel begged him to continue.
Legolas looked pained, but forced himself to keep going. “My father traveled a lot. As prince, he was a messenger and warrior for Greenwood, and he was extraordinary at anything he did. But his work often had him leave my mother with a son and baby daughter to look after. My mother was a common elf, who, for love, had married into royalty. She insisted on watching both of us herself, with no help from the palace elves. My father decided to visit the elves of Rivendell just in time for an Orc pack to come down from the North. They were looking for my father, but instead found his wife and their children. But, Tauriel, you know that Orcs are not sensible or patient creatures. Instead of waiting, they took my mother and sister to their lair and tortured my mother for information regarding my father and his plans once he became king. My father came home, and—“
Legolas broke off again, and looked away. There were tears sparkling in his eyes. Trembling, Tauriel placed her hand on his shoulder and was encouraged when he did not brush it off.
“Go on, mellon.”
“My father came home to find that his son was the only one left. I had barely escaped with my life. I remember that day well…”
[Flashback]
“Legolas?” A healing elf appeared in the young prince’s doorway. He was sitting upright in bed, reading. “Your father has returned from Rivendell.”
Legolas forced himself out of bed and onto his aching feet. The bruises had mostly faded, although the one around his neck was darkening. It was a painful reminder of the night before. What will I tell Ada?
Despite being injured, the elfling ran past the guards and out of the gates, jumping into Thranduil’s welcoming arms. His father stroked his hair and held him close. It was just what he had desired.
“Ada!” Legolas buried his face into his father’s traveling tunic.
“Ah, hello again, my son!” Thranduil looked past Legolas, but Anona did not follow him out the gates. Odd. “How’s your new little sister?”
His smile faltered at the look on his son’s face. “Legolas? Mani naa ta [What is it]?
“My lord.” An elven guard came to greet the Thranduil. “Anona and Kelda have been captured by an orc pack not just a night ago. Your son was injured, but he managed to escape. Your father has sent out a search party to look for them, but they have not yet returned.”
“What?” Thranduil stared at the guard as if he was a human in Greenwood. His voice was shaking. He looked at the elf in his arms. “Legolas?”
[End Flashback]
Tauriel was weeping now, for the king, and for his son. The tears burned her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. But the story was not over yet.
“Many months past, and many search parties were sent. At the end of it, my father and I held a grand funeral to honor my mother and sister, whom we assumed were dead. My father carried on to become king. We resumed our normal daily lives with a hole in our hearts. However, the Orcs returned. And with them, were Anona and Kelda.”
Legolas’s shoulders shook with sobs. She had never seen him like this. Tauriel longed to comfort, longed to say something, but what was there to say?
“My mother’s once beautiful face was torn and mauled beyond all recognition. She was not quite dead; they would have done her a service to kill her off. No, she was not dead. But she would never be the same. She could not even speak! And my little sister…”
“Princess Kelda?”
“The Orcs had grown tired of my mother resisting their attempts to get information from her. To punish my family, they injected Kelda with a slow-killing poison.”
Tauriel looked horrified. Princess Kelda was also rarely seen out of her chambers, and she had not met her. Was this the reason behind her infamous sickness?
“Do not be fooled. This was no ordinary poison. It takes many years, even a thousand, to fully kill the being injected with it. But it makes it so that the victim cannot live a normal life, and is ill. Ill for as long as they live. “
“But what of your father?” Tauriel asked. “How did he find this out?” How did you get her back?
Legolas laughed humorlessly. “They brought them to us, like some sort of sick trophy. They dropped my mother’s body at my father’s feet and bragged to him of what they had done to his queen. The same went for Kelda.”
He looked at her, half of his faced masked by the moonlight. “Now do you see? My father has every right to be the way he is. He has had too much taken and too little given.”
Tauriel’s hand went over her mouth, as she felt a wave of nausea. It all made sense now. King Thranduil’s insistence on staying in the Woodland Realm and never letting his warriors make other lands their concern. He was cold, quiet, and calculating. He had lost his father, the love of his life, and his daughter, all without quite losing them. How could he be happy?
“I understand now, Legolas.” Tauriel made eye contact with her friend. “This is why you are this way. You are strong.”
“What?”
“The past has made your father a bitter man. But you are special. The past has made you a stronger person.”
Legolas smiled. “I suppose you’re right.”
Tauriel put her hand on his. “I mean it, mellon. He is very blessed to have you as a son.”
“I haven’t been much of a help to him.”
“Oh, don’t believe that.” Tauriel smiled at him. “Shall we finish up the watch then?”
Legolas’s face broke out into a grin for the first time in days. There it is, she thought. His smile is back.
He grinned from ear to ear. “Let’s do it.”