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V. Unrequited

"Do not think I won't kill you, Dwarf. It would be my pleasure," the Elf before them threatened.

Athena tightened her hand on the grip of her bow. "I would not do that unless you wish to suffer the same fate."

His cold blue eyes turned to meet her fiery ones, she did not care that they were surrounded and that she would be shot down within a millisecond if she chose to fire her arrow, she was going to protect Thorin even if it cost her her life. She only removed the daring glare from her face when she heard a familiar voice cry out in both pain and terror, whipping her head around to search for Kili while keeping her bow trained on the Elf.

She watched as Kili was thrown to the ground by a spider before quickly being aided by a female Elf, her eliminating the rest of the spiders effortlessly and in turn saving the Dwarf from becoming prey.

Thorin raised his hand and lowered Athena's bow, her sending him an incredulous look while his commanding one unwavered. He did not want her to be harmed by the Mirkwood Elves, not even if his life was at stake. If they had wanted to kill them they would have done so already.

"Search them," the singular blonde Elf commanded, he held himself with an air of superiority, far more than that of the others which led Athena to believe that he held some kind of high standing in Mirkwood.

The Elves closed in around them and began to take the weapons from the Dwarves and woman, one of the Elves with hazel hair taking her sword from its place and pulling the quiver from her back. "Be gentle with them!" She hissed as he clearly held no regard for the safe-keeping of her belongings.

"Your bow," he instructed, holding his hand out for her to hand him her bow. When seeing that she only held it closer to herself he snatched it out of her hands and stepped back to the rest of the Elves. She gritted her teeth at the loss of her favourite weapon for more than one reason. "This was forged by the Elves of Rivendell," he observed while inspecting the intricately designed weapon, "how did you come by this?"

"It was given to me by a friend," she plainly stated, her face void of any emotion other than anger as the Elf gave her one last glance before walking away from her.

"Hey! Give it back! That's private!" Glóin objected to Legolas removing a set of pictures from his pocket.

He did not listen though, instead he looked at the pictures that lay within. "Who is this? Your brother?"

"That is my wife!"

"And what is this horrid creature? A goblin mutant?"

"That's my wee lad, Gimli!"

Legolas only raised an eyebrow at the revelation, Athena taking a deep breath to calm herself down from the hatred she was beginning to feel for the Elves of Mirkwood, it was clear they thought the company was beneath them purely because of their race. It did not hurt to be polite to strangers that have done you no harm, yet here they were insulting their family members and carelessly discarding their possessions held dear to them.

She watched as Fili was searched by one of the Elves, an endless array of weapons being removed from all of his hiding places. Just when the Elf thought he had retrieved it all he continued to find more blades hidden in his clothing, Fili sent her a shrug with amusement apparent on his face, her letting out a quiet chuckle at the light-hearted nature of the shrug despite the situation they had found themselves in.

"Echannen i vegil hen vin Gondolin. Magannen nan Gelydh, [This is an ancient Elvish blade. Forged by my kin,]" Legolas spoke up, holding Thorin's blade in his hands while he studied the craftsmanship of it in awe but also confusion before pointing the end of the blade at Thorin, "where did you get this?"