Legolas and Tauriel the dream

Lothlorien

[Tauriel POV]

Tauriel arrived in Lothlorien six days after setting out from the Blue Mountain. She had missed the woods more than she would ever admit to anyone, even Legolas. At that moment, Tauriel almost wished King Thranduil hadn't banished her. But Lothlorien was even more beautiful than she had dreamed. Golden flowers grew just outside the forest. Tauriel saw the river Nimrodel and was reminded once again of Legolas and how beautiful he had thought the story.

"Who goes there?" A voice called out. Tauriel saw an elf guard with an arrow trained on her. Two others were also pointing arrows at her.

"I come in peace." Tauriel said, holding up her hands. "I seek a new home."

"What is your name, elleth?" The leader asked.

"Tauriel. I am from Mirkwood." She replied. She watched the three elves whisper among themselves. After a moment, they relaxed their bows and put their arrows away.

"Welcome to Lothlorien. May it be a home to you as long as you need one." The leader said to her. They allowed her into Lothlorien. Tauriel looked at the leaves on the trees. They were golden, just like Legolas had described upon returning from his last visit here.

The elven guards led Tauriel to Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn. They stood there in their house in a tree, as if they had been awaiting her. A dark-haired elleth stood behind them respectfully. Tauriel curtsied to them.

"Your heart is much troubled for one so young." Lady Galadriel observed when the three guards had left. "You have lost so much. But do not despair. You will gain more than you have lost. He cares deeply for you."

Tauriel had forgotten that Galadriel could read minds like that. She looked at the Lady of Lorien in shock.

"You may stay here in Lorien for as long as you desire to." Galadriel said to her.

"Thank you." Tauriel said, curtsying once again.

Tauriel was given her own tree house, and a job. She would be the healer, for Lady Galadriel had seen that ability in her. Yet, as hard as she worked, Tauriel couldn't stop thinking about either Legolas or Kili. As she would help guards who had been injured fighting orc, she couldn't help being reminded of the battle of five armies, with those injuries and how they had happened, which made her think about Kili's death.

"Are you all right?" A gentle voice asked Tauriel one day. She looked up. There was the elleth who had been with Galadriel and Celeborn. About her neck was the Evenstar. Arwen Undomiel. How could Tauriel not have known that.

"I have suffered a great loss, my lady." Tauriel replied. 

"As have I. My mother was taken from me by orcs. She travels to the Undying Lands." Arwen said. There was a far-off look on her face. "And now there is a choice I have to make: stay here in Middle Earth and live out a mortal life, forsaking my immortal life, or go to the Undying Lands when the time comes for my people to leave."

"I may have been in love with a dwarf and he got killed by an orc. But I also may be in love with Legolas, prince of Mirkwood. King Thranduil banished me because I disobeyed him. And so, I went from having everything to having nothing all within the space of a day." Tauriel told her. "King Thranduil ruined my life, yet I cannot hate him, for he too suffered a great loss."

"Surely there is something you can do to return to his favor?" Arwen asked her. She looked at all the medicinal supplies in Tauriel's tree house. "Surely returning to Captain of the Guard would be a better fate than staying here for the rest of your life. Do you ever feel that you ran away from your heart?"

Tauriel thought about the question.  She had left Mirkwood immediately following Kili's death and Legolas' departure to Rivendell. Perhaps she had run away. She hadn't tried to get un-banished. Then again, she didn't think there was anything to do for that. After all, King Thranduil was quite cold-hearted. Or so he seemed. The only thing Tauriel could think of would be to save the life of one of the Princes, and that wouldn't happen. Legolas could take care of himself and Elrias seldom left Mirkwood. 

"Perhaps I did, my lady." Tauriel said finally. "But I cannot go back. Not for a while."