Legolas and Tauriel the dream

An unexpected visitor

[Legolas POV]

Legolas was put on watch. After all, elves didn't sleep the same way men did. As the rangers slept, Legolas heard a horse approaching in the distance. Elrohir and Elladon must have heard it too, because they both sat up and looked where Legolas had heard the horse.

"What is that?" Elrohir whispered. 

"Someone approaches. Shall we wake Halbarad?" Legolas asked. He continued to listen to the sound of horse's hooves coming toward them.

"No need. I'm already awake." Halbarad replied. "What is it that your elf ears hear?"

"A horse approaches. We do not know where from or who it may be. I suggest we proceed with caution." Legolas replied. "Whoever it may be might not be a foe but a traveler passing through."

"We shall wait till they arrive at our camp." Halbarad said decisively. "Then we'll have several of the more experienced rangers surround him." Legolas was about to protest when the horse rider came into view. The rider was wounded.

"Wait. He's wounded." Legolas said to Halbarad. "We need to help him now and ask questions later." He remembered Tauriel healing Kili while he was fighting orcs. What if helping people was better than fighting? Had that been what Tauriel had been trying to tell him when they went after the dwarves?

As the rider came closer, Legolas saw that he was an elf. Not only that, but an elf he knew as well as he knew his own name. He was bleeding from his shoulder, the shaft of an arrow sticking out.

"ELRIAS!" He exclaimed, hurrying to bring the horse into the rangers' camp.

"Legolas. Get back to Mirkwood." Elrias said weakly.

"I can't. I have a place here. Besides, I won't go back until Father reverses banishing Tauriel and returns her to her station." Legolas said firmly.

"Legolas, do you know this elf?" Halbarad demanded.

"He's my brother and he's wounded. But I think I can help him." Legolas replied.

"Take me to Lothlorien, brother." Elrias said with effort. "There's someone who can help me there."

"It's too far. You would die before we got there." Legolas argued.

"You can heal me, brother? Last I checked, I only taught Tauriel how to do that. Father didn't want me to teach you that. Now get me to Lothlorien." Elrias ordered.

Legolas looked over at Halbarad. "Legolas Greenleaf, you may go. I can find another elf to teach the younger rangers archery." Halbarad said to him. "Your family needs you. Go."

"We'll take my horse. He's faster." Legolas said to Elrias. He helped his brother onto his horse. "Tell Aragorn I said goodbye." He said to Halbarad. Legolas mounted his horse and rode as fast as he could in the direction of Lothlorien.

Legolas and Elrias arrived at Lothlorien hours later. Elrias had lost consciousness from lack of blood, but he was still breathing. Three guards helped Legolas carry his brother to the healer's tree house.

"Haldir, I'll go find her. She's probably climbed into the trees again to look at the stars." One of the guards said.

"Go. I know a little about healing." Haldir replied. The other elf scurried off to find whoever it was they were talking about. "Legolas Greenleaf. It has been a long time."

"I haven't made a lot of visits in recent years. I've been busy helping keep Mirkwood safe." Legolas said as Haldir removed the shaft from Elrias' shoulder.

"Hold this cloth to his wound until she gets here." Haldir ordered. Legolas obediently held a wet cloth to his brother's shoulder. Haldir went to the door and waited for whoever it was the guards were bringing.

"We found her." One of the other guards told Haldir. The two guards led in the last elleth Legolas had expected to see here in Lorien. There stood Tauriel, looking as sad as she had when she left Mirkwood. Tauriel was homesick, that much Legolas could tell from looking at her.

"Tauriel, do you want to return to Mirkwood?" Elrias asked, teeth clenched in pain.

Tears stood in Tauriel's eyes. "More than anything, mellon." She whispered.

"Heal me and I can get Father to forgive you and allow you back to Mirkwood." Elrias said to her. Tauriel approached him and took a look at the wound. She lifted Legolas' hand off it.

In a flash, Legolas remembered his dream that he had had three weeks ago now. Tauriel had saved Elrias in that dream and been brought back to Mirkwood. Elrias had known she was here, hadn't he? Legolas had thought Elrias had the same opinion as their father that Legolas couldn't have her. But perhaps he didn't.

Legolas watched as Tauriel ground herbs to make a salve to help Elrias. "Why Lothlorien?" Legolas asked her.

"You were going to Rivendell and didn't want me to come with you. So I came here, not far from where your father found me all those years ago." Tauriel told him. She applied the salve to Elrias' wound. "Now, tell me what happened to him."

"I don't know. He came to find me where the rangers were. He didn't say anything about how it happened, though he was quite insistent that I take him here." Legolas told her.

"He has lost quite a lot of blood. We may need to stitch the wound closed so he won't lose more." Tauriel said to him.