Daughter of Starlight

Chapter Forty Two: A Bittersweet End

Well, here we are. The forty second chapter. The last chapter. It's been so much fun writing this story and I'm so grateful for all the support you guys have given. Thank you for reading this story. I hope you've loved reading it as much as I've loved writing it. It's been an amazing experience and I can't thank you guys enough for all your reads, votes, and comments. They've meant the world to me. Now enjoy the final chapter of Daughter of Starlight!

Gandalf was the first to find Legolas, Bilbo, and Thorin, thankfully alive and well. He couldn't say the same for Laerornien. After surviving hours of battle, the young elleth had met her end in a fight she need not have fought, but one she fought nonetheless. Legolas held his sister's cold body close to him, looking down at her and whispering her name as though he thought if he said it enough times, her eyes would open. But they never would again. She was gone.

"Oh, Laerornein," Gandalf said, his voice cracking as he felt tears begin to fall. He now realized that was what he had always said to her, something he as a father figure used to tell her when she was doing or saying something foolish. Only now he had nothing to reprimand her for. There was  just simply nothing else to say.

Thorin stood from where he had knelt by Laerornien, looking as though he were torn between being agonized and angry at what had happened. He had no idea how to react, what to say or do. She had sacrificed herself for him after everything he had done to her, after the way he had treated her on the journey and especially during their time in Erebor. And what was worse, he now knew that it was out of affection that she knew could never have been returned, but she still did it anyway.

Bilbo had been reduced to silent weeping where he stood a few feet away. After all their time together, he couldn't believe Laerornien was gone. He had connected most closely to her, what with the both of them being misfits in the company. One would think that such opposites as an elf and a hobbit would never connect, but they had shared a friendship that he had thought would outlast everything else. He had been wrong, though. It ended today, with her passing.

In the ruins nearby, Thranduil had left Dale and was searching them for his son and daughter. At long last, he had finally found the strength to push aside his pride and do what he should have done a long time ago. The White Gems of Lasgalen were of great value to him, yes, but he had let them mean more to him than his children, a mistake that should never have been made. Legolas and Laerornien were more important, and he was going to find them and bring them both home.

The elven king had already come across Tauriel, who was so grief stricken by the loss of her love that he couldn't possibly have asked her about his children. He simply offered what condolences he could and moved on.

By a stroke of luck he came across Gandalf and the hobbit Bilbo sitting wearily at the top of a set of stairs descending to the frozen river. A few feet away with his back turned stood Thorin, his eyes on something a short distance away on the ice.

"Mithrandir," Thranduil said, approaching the three of them apprehensively. The wizard turned his head to him, his eyes red and his face drawn in grief.

"What is it?" he demanded of the wizard, but received no answer from him. He looked to Bilbo, but the hobbit hadn't even turned his head. He was not going to speak to Thranduil. All he could think was that his friend had died with honor, but without a home, and that was no ones fault but her father's.

Finally the elven king looked to Thorin, who said, "It's Laerornien."

Thranduil's eyes widened in dread as he turned back to Gandalf.