Legolas and Tauriel the dream

Hunting orcs/Aragorn's return

[Legolas POV]

"Tauriel, are you sure you want to do this? It could bring out some painful memories for both of us and for some of our guards." Legolas said to her.

"Are we not a part of this world? Who knows how many innocent travelers have been harassed by these orcs. If not us, who?" Tauriel asked.

"The rangers." Legolas replied patiently. "We can't just go out there. We have duties here." He hesitated. He didn't want to be the bad guy, but this was too dangerous. "I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you. We're staying here where it's safer."

A guard came knocking at their door at that moment. "Hir nin Legolas, there are orcs everywhere. Your father said to close every gate. Prince Elrias is out there showing a few elflings how to shoot a bow." The guard reported.

Legolas looked at Tauriel. "We have to help them. Tell some of the guards not to close the north gate till we come through with the children and Elrias." Legolas said to the guard.

The guard nodded and hurried off. Legolas and Tauriel grabbed their weapons. "I did this for you last time." he said to her.

"You are learning. Last time you didn't have them keep the gate open. Let's go rescue your brother." Tauriel said. They hurried to the north gate and out to the forest. Elrias was holding his own very well against a small army of orcs. The younglings weren't as good, but they were doing as well as they could with how little training they had.

"ELRIAS GO!" Legolas yelled to his brother. Elrias obediently grabbed several students by the hand and led them back into the safety of the palace grounds. Legolas killed several orcs. After only a few were left and they were running away in fear, Tauriel grabbed one orc.

"Do we bring this one for questioning?" She asked him.

"Yes. Ada will want to know why they attack us. Come, we'll bring the monster to my father." Legolas replied without hesitation. They carried the orc into Thranduil's throne room, bound.

Thranduil sat on the throne, looking at his son. "Good. Just what we need. Well done, my son." Thranduil said, coming down to the floor where stood Tauriel and Legolas. He looked menacingly at the orc. "Why do you attack Mirkwood?" he asked the orc.

Legolas remembered the last time something like this had happened. It had changed everything.

"Because it is your fault the white orc is dead. If you hadn't declared war on Thorin Oakenshield, our leader would still live." The orc hissed.

"Azog." Tauriel whispered darkly. Legolas put an arm around his wife.

"You are but a scattered group. How do you propose to defeat as large an army as I have? Already we have killed more of your little army than they have of my people." Thranduil asked the orc.

"By taking out the king, for that is what we want, for the elves of Mirkwood to know what it's like to be leaderless." The orc laughed. Tauriel gasped. She pulled out her daggers before Legolas could stop her.

"Tauriel, no." Thranduil ordered. She stood down. Legolas wondered if it had anything to do with what had happened last time, when the orc had antagonized her and she had been banished as a result of her reaction. "And what, pray tell, is their idea for getting rid of me?"

"Me." The orc laughed, pulling out a blow dart. He had somehow undone his bonds. Tauriel threw her knife before the orc could fire it. The knife hit the orc behind the ear and went in several inches. The orc was dead in seconds.

"Thank you, Tauriel. You have saved my life." Thranduil said to her, to Legolas' surprise.

A moment later, several of the soldiers and guardsmen entered the throne room. "Sire, the orcs have fled. We thought they might have had some other plan." One of them reported.

"Indeed they did." Legolas replied. "Thanks to Lady Tauriel, that plan was never carried out."

Forty years later, Aragorn came to Mirkwood. He was quite a bit older than he had been, though he didn't look it. He brought with him a prisoner, an ugly small creature called Gollum or Smeagol.

"Aragorn. It has been a long time, Mellon." Legolas said to him.

"Indeed it has." Aragorn said, embracing him. "I'm glad you managed to return home." He looked over at Tauriel, who was struggling to keep their five-year old daughter from running off. "That must be your wife. I remember you telling me about her."

Legolas nodded. "That is Tauriel and our daughter Thrandriel. She is a lot like her mother." He said, proudly.

"Both are very lovely, though neither is as beautiful as Arwen Undomiel." Aragorn replied. 

Legolas laughed. "I had no idea she was yours." He said to him. "Congratulations."

"Don't congratulate me yet. My hardest task is still at hand and she's not mine until that point." Aragorn told him. "By the way, you may want to keep a close eye on the creature Gollum. He is a very tricky creature. It took Mithrandir and me eight years to catch him. Should he escape, come directly to Rivendell and seek Elrond's help."

Legolas nodded. "I will." He said to his friend.