Chapter Text
You sat in your favorite corner of the house, reading your favorite book. It was a tale of a brave warrior who slayed a monstrous orc to save the woman he loved. You tucked your hair behind your pointed ear and smiled as you read your favorite part. The heroic battle between the man and the beast who had harmed his love. The valiance of the fight was inspiring to you, you wished that you could be a skilled warrior like that. You turned the page and read about the part where the warrior was reunited with his love. You sighed. That was another thing you wished for, not only to be able to fight and go on adventures, but to have someone to go on these adventures for.
And the two sealed their love with a passionate kiss and lived happily ever-
You were cut off from your reading by your father stomping on the floorboards above you. "Come on Y/N! Quit reading that stupid book and do your chores!" He scolded you as you coughed up dust. The little corner you were in was a small crawlspace of the house. You went there more often than not to escape your family. You picked up your skirts and came out of the crawlspace where you had a broom thrust into your hands by the descendant of your adoptive father. You had lived in this village for hundreds of years, ever since you were a baby. You came from the forest Mirkwood, previously known as Greenwood but ever since the sickness overtook it it has been known as Greenwood. Your parents had been killed when you were an infant, according to your adoptive mother you had an older sister Tauriel, and that it was your mother's dying wish that you would find her. But in the hundreds of years since then, that had never happened. Every generation of this family was different. Since you were an elf, you lived longer than your adoptive parents, they died hundreds of years ago, but since these humans were your only family you stayed with them. You had watched them be born and seen their funerals. All of their deaths weighed heavy on your heart, and that is why you would never give your heart to a mortal man. Though there have been many in the village who have tried to court you, mainly for your beauty, you were never able to pledge yourself to them because you knew that in the end they would die. You wanted something that would last, someone who could stand by you and watch the world change over an eternity. But not many elves passed through Harrowdale in Rohan, and if any ever did, they were too busy to stay and strike up a relationship with you. The granddaughter of your adoptive mother once made plans to bring you to Rivendell to try to set you up with someone but she never got around to it. You knew it was no use anyway. Elves are immortal, it would take a long time to fall in love with one and she didn't know that. She thought you fall in love and get married within a few months.
She was a kind woman. You missed her. Her line has always stayed and taken care of you, and in turn you have taken care of them. Whenever someone had a cold, or was injured in a fight you always knew exactly what to do. The rest of the family however did not see you so favorably. As the generations went on, more of them speculated that you were some sort of a freeloader, and that is why you did not want to leave. But this was not true. You stayed because this was your home, and you had no reason to leave. It's not like you knew where your sister was, and for all you knew she could be dead too. Little did you know that today everything was about to change. The man who had pulled you from your daily reading to do your chores, Baron was watching you as you cleaned the chimney. He had a habit of watching you as you did your chores, and complaining if you did them wrong. From inside the chimney you could hear the echoes of people's feet moving about as you dusted the chimney and coughed up ash. And this was only one of four chimneys that you had to clean. The family that you lived with ran an inn. You loved to hear the many stories that the people that stayed here told, but sadly in recent years Baron had you doing more work, and not letting you hear any stories from the travelers. You loved to read and listen to stories of adventure, and dream of going on one of your own. But now you could barely find time to read with all of these chores being thrown at you. As you dusted you heard someone come into the inn. Something about this voice seemed familiar to you, as if this particular dialect was familiar to you. Some ash got in your face however as you swept the chimney and you started coughing so you couldn't hear any more. Soon you heard one of the nice granddaughter's descendants hurrying over to the chimney. "Y/N get out of there now!" She orders you and you crawl out and she cringes. "Oh great now she's covered in so much ash he won't even recognize she's of his own kin." She wails and covers her face.
"What are you talking about Rosaline?" Baron asks.
"An ellon from Mirkwood, the same place that Y/N is from is staying here tonight." Rosaline explains.
"What the hell is an ellon?" Baron asks.
"A male elf!" Rosaline whisper shouts and looks up at the stairs, to make sure that said ellon was not listening. "Perhaps he knows someone who might know Y/N's sister, or maybe he knows her himself and could reunite them. Or maybe he could fall in love with her..." She explains and you blush under your sooty cheeks.
"He could get her out of here?" Baron asks and seems to smile at the thought of you not being around. "Very well. Get yourself cleaned up Y/N, you have an ellon to charm." He winks and you blush more and make your way up with Rosaline to get cleaned up.
Rosaline tried to imitate an elvish hairstyle for you and pulled your long hair back into two small braids, leaving a few strands in front of your face and she tied the two braids together in the back and let it flow with the rest of your hair. "Thank you Rosaline." You tell her as she wipes the soot off of of your face and revealed your beautiful complexion. You changed into your best dress and then Rosaline gave you his dinner for you to give to him.
"Alright, let's hope he likes you." Rosaline says and you smiled at her encouragingly but you knew how this went. This ellon wouldn't be any different than the others. You opened the door and you nearly lost your breath. This ellon's presence was striking. He was carrying an assortment of different weapons. A sword at his side, a bow on his back with a quiver full of arrows, and two knives on his back. You gulped and set down the tray on a table near the bed.
"Do not be afraid of me." The elf says as he takes off his weapons and lays them on the table. Then he looks back at you and notices something. "You are of my kin?" He asks, noticing your pointed ears. You nod. He smirks a bit. "Can you speak, or is meeting another one of your kin intimidating to you?" He asks and chuckles. You smile a bit too. "What is your name?"
"Sorry." You apologize. "You are right, not many of my kin pass through this town, I am not used to talking to elves." You explain and blush at how stupid that sounds. "My name is Y/N." You tell the elf and he smiles.
"Legolas." He replies to you. "Why do you live here and not with your own kin?" Legolas asks.
"My parents were killed in an orc raid when I was an infant." You explain to Legolas. "These nice humans found me and I've been living with them and their descendants ever since."
"You never thought to leave and find a home with other elves?" He asks curiously and sits down on a chair.
"I never saw a reason to. I have no family, save for my older sister, and I have no idea of where she could be." You explain and sit down on a chair opposite to Legolas. You knew it was impolite considering she was an employee here and should not sit in the chair in front of a guest but the elf did not seem to mind. "So it seemed like I should just stay here, with this adopted family."
"Where are you from?" Legolas asks.
"Mirkwood." You say and he raises his eyebrows.
"As am I." He answers and a spark of hope ignites in your heart.
"Really?" You ask eagerly and he nods and then you find him staring intently at your chest. You blushed a bit. You were used to men staring at you in this manner but no ellon has ever stared at your breast. "Hey eyes up here!" You scold him but he gets up and picks up the necklace that you were wearing and looked at it.
"I apologize I was not staring at your..." He blushes. "Never mind. I was looking at this necklace. I have seen this pendant before. It belonged to someone I am very close too. Except hers shone bright with starlight, and this one glows a light green. Where did you get this?"
"My mother gave it to me." You explain. "It's been in my real family for generations. Her mother gave it to her and so on, so one day if I'm lucky enough to find someone and have a daughter I will give it to her." You say and smile a bit. "My sister may have a similar pendant."
"What's your sister's name?" He asks eagerly.
"Tauriel." You answer and his eyes go wide and he regards you with an intense stare. It made you slightly uncomfortable.
"Tauriel." He repeats and you nod. "I am very fond of her." He says and your heart starts beating faster. Was this the moment you had been waiting for?
"Do you know where she is?" You ask, your voice shaking slightly. Legolas's head dips and so does your heart.
"Sadly I do not." He says, tears starting to form in her eyes. "We were separated after the Battle of the Five Armies. Surely you have heard of it." You nod. "She fell in love with one of the three dwarves that were killed in the battle, Kili." He practically spits his name. "Since Kili was slain in battle Tauriel has had her heart broken." Legolas says and you can see him clenching his fists. "I fear she may whither away, dying of a broken heart." He says. You held your heart, feeling sad that Tauriel may be dead before you could meet her.
"Is there any way to save her?" You ask Legolas, who seemed upset from being reminded of your sister who was apparently very dear to him. Suddenly his demeanor changed.
"You are her sister!" He exclaims and smiles.
"Yes, we have established that but how does that help Tauriel?" You ask, confused.
"You can give her something to live for, you're her family." Legolas smiles then his smile falters again. "When my mother died my father was distraught, and he almost died of heartbreak."
"I am so sorry for your loss." You tell Legolas and he smiles at you.
"It's alright." He says. "It was a long time ago. Anyway, because my father had me, he was able to be brought back from that horrible heartbreak and he survived."
"Was he happy again?" You asked and smiled. Legolas looked down.
"Occasionally. I never saw him smile after she died." He says and you cautiously but gently place a hand on his shoulder. He looks confused at you. You removed your hand quickly after.
"I'm sorry." You say.
"It doesn't matter." Legolas says and stands. "I've left my father now. I prefer not to think of him, or my mother." He says and pours himself a glass of water from the tray. He offers you the cup.
"Thank you." You say and accept the cup from him. You couldn't help but blush a bit from his kindness and the fact that your fingers gently brushed a bit against each other. He blushed a bit too and turned to put some of the food onto a plate and he hands it to you. "Why are you sharing your food with me?" You ask.
"Because you're my good friend's sister." Legolas says and you notice that the word 'friend' came out slightly strained, as if he didn't like calling Tauriel that.
"And I need to keep up my strength for the journey ahead of us." You say and take a bite of the food.
"What?" Legolas asks, confused.
"Our journey. Aren't we going to go find my sister together?" You asked and he laughed.
"Where would you get that idea?" He asks and pours himself a glass of water.
"Because you said the only way to save my sister is by reuniting us." You say. "And you clearly care very much for my sister so I thought that you would want to help get me to her."
"I am already on a mission from my father, to find a man named Strider." Legolas explains. "Have you heard of him?"
"I'm afraid not." You tell him. "Do you know why your father wants you to find him?"
"No." Legolas says. "When I find him I will know." Legolas explains.
"And you can't take a break from this mission to bring me to my sister?" You ask.
"Yes." Legolas says. "It is my King's command."
"But does he command your heart?" You ask him and his hard expression softens. He regards you with his light blue eyes and approaches you.
"Have you ever even left this town?" He asks.
"No." You answer and he laughs.
"It's a dangerous world out there. You could easily be killed five miles from this town." He says and you scoff. Then you hear the distant sound of wargs howling and you gulp. Legolas chuckles.
"You'll be going out there with them. And out in the wild, you'll have to fend for yourself." Legolas explains.
"Not if I have you to protect me." You suggest and Legolas laughs.
"I am not used to protecting people. Whenever I've traveled outside of the forest I have had Tauriel with me, and she was a skilled warrior who could defend herself." Legolas explains. "Have you ever even held a sword?"
"Yes." You say proudly.
"And fought with it." Legolas adds.
"No." You say softly.
"Exactly." He says and gets up and walks across the room.
"You could teach me." You suggest and he laughs.
"It takes hundreds of years to obtain the skills that Tauriel and I have." Legolas explains. "By the time you are ready to go Tauriel could be dead."
"Then time is of the essence and we need to go." You insist and stand from your chair in front of Legolas. "You say that you care for her. I know that you have another mission but your King won't know if you take a detour to go and find my sister. And he certainly won't realize if you take me along with you." Legolas looks at you with that same soft expression. "Will you do this? For my sister."
"For Tauriel I would do anything." Legolas says and sighs. "We leave at dawn." He says and you smile and hug him.
"Thank you! Thank you!" You tell him and he gives you a strange look. You realized you must have been too forward. "Sorry." You say and let go of him.
"I guess this is from living with humans?" Legolas asks and you blush.
"Yeah." You answer and gently push your hair behind your ear.
"Tenna' tul're, quel kaima." Legolas says and places a hand on his chest over his heart and extends it to you.
"Quel kaima." You reply and place your hand over heart and extend it to him.
"You speak elvish?" Legolas asks and you giggle.
"I am an elf Legolas, even if I have been raised by men my entire life." You say and smile at Legolas. "I read a lot. I love to read actually. And I taught myself elvish." You say and walk across the room to his weapons. "I'm a fast learner." You tell him and pick up his bow and pull the string as if you were about to shoot it.
"Then I look forward to teaching you." Legolas says. "Quel kaima."
"Quel kaima." You say and then leave the room. Rosaline was waiting outside.
"Well?" She asks eagerly.
"Were you waiting out the door all this time?" You ask her.
"That's not important." She says quickly. "How did it go?"
"I'm leaving in the morning." You tell her and her eyes widen.
"Really?" She asks and you nod and smile. She squeals and hugs you. The two of you hug each other and although you felt happy about leaving, you felt a certain sadness. This place was all you had ever known. You had had so many great memories there. And now you were leaving it all. You were finally going to be reunited with your sister. But you were losing this great family. Maybe you would come back and visit one day.
As the sun rose you walked outside the doors of the inn one last time, this time with Rosaline. Legolas was waiting there with you with a proud white stallion. You didn't expect anything else from an elf. You smiled and approached him, your bag slung over your shoulder as you walked up to him. He smiled at you and mounted his horse. You looked at Rosaline one last time and hugged her tight. Now it was time to let go. You sighed and released Rosaline and slowly backed away from her towards Legolas. You turned towards Legolas and got on behind him. He smiled at you and kicked the horse's sides and started to ride away from the inn. You looked back and watched the inn and Rosaline disappear behind you. You smiled at her and then wrapped your arms tighter around Legolas and rode off out of town with him.