Tauriel eyed the misty woods quarter a mile away.

It had only been the afternoon of the fifth day since she left the child out on the borders of Mirkwood. With the wild horse that she found, Tauriel rode outrageously towards Northern Mirkwood in a tremendous speed. However, there was one risky occasion in which she had dumbly gone too close to the border - dangerously enough to be seen by a patrolling guard. After the risk had passed, Tauriel decided that she would take a farther road that ranges onwards to the region of Rhovanion. Better be safe than sorry. She thought while panting for breath after the guard had left the area.

So here she was. Tauriel got off the horse, and gazed away at the forest.

Something struck the soft place in her heart. Tauriel's nose trembled as she immediately started to have a desire to cry, but she knew that it's not quite the time for lamenting yet. She tilted her head, trying with hardships to hold the tears back. Nothing could be compared to her emotions at that time, for a nomad would wish for nothing if she could once again gain even a tiny grasp or glimpse of homely comfort; and though the Halls of the Elvenking could not be counted as the top-notch choice for that, it was good enough for Tauriel who had been away, starving and depressed for such a long time. Just right outside of the woods, Tauriel swallowed and set the horse free.

I'll take the rest of my road on foot.

Lightly and soundlessly she paced towards the edge of the forest. The sky was about to dusk, and as Tauriel had remembered now was the time when most of the guards head for dinner, and the ones that were still patrolling are either hungry or sleepy. Anyways, this would not be the hour of their best vigilance. She wished herself luck one last time, and slipped behind the shadows of a tree. Not far away she could hear footsteps and casual talks in Silvan about the newest delivery of wines, and then the chatters died off, fading into the faraway woods. Tauriel sighed heavily and continued to tiptoe through the woods.

Luck was on her side.

She ducked and hid behind the tree trunks, making the least noise so that she won't be heard. Tauriel cursed slightly in the heart, wondering why they hadn't taught her about camouflage when they trained her as a guard. She was in such a state of vigilance that even small dins of animals would make her jerk and gasp. It was hard, doing something that was not right for her to do, but Tauriel had somehow got used to it. On that fateful night the dwarves stepped into the realms of Mirkwood, she had been doing something that she wasn't supposed to. Sneaking out at midnight, leaving the realm on her own... But Tauriel had to admit that this was somehow strangely satisfying for her. Even though she had suffered the horrible consequences, until now it hadn't been too bad. Maybe it was because of the previous six hundred years of her life she had done nothing but to obey, to be assiduous enough to repay what had been given to her. Maybe those things were what she lacked, and also a part of growing up, but now she had them.

But does that mean that she was now fully mature?

I believe the worst part is already behind me. She thought joyously as she arrived at the darker section of the woods. Here most things that move would go unnoticed, and it was okay for her to run. Coincidental enough, when Tauriel was younger she actually made an observation about the lack of guards in this area and proposed it to the Captain of the Guards at that time, and somehow as time passed it got ignored and neglected. Now she was actually grateful that this hadn't been ameliorated, for if it had been, it would be impossible to pass this area. Tauriel sighed, My life is full of chain events.

As she began to run, accidentally she tripped over a small string of spider web. Tauriel stopped abruptly, for a massive and noticeable noise was made. The web trembled and trembled all the way to the end of the webs, but no spider was at sight -- they sleep at day. However, this was more than likely to attract curious guards to come to see. Tauriel ran farther, but was soon out of breath and finally admitted that she needs a break. She rested under a tree, leaning against the trunk, but was totally unaware that she was standing at a position where she could be very easily seen.

Something approaches.

"I cannot stress the need of a way in which we can protect outsiders from themselves! Need I remind you of what almost came to be when a company of thirteen~"

The ongoing debate regarding the erection of some form of barrier around the Realm of Mirkwood had kept the Council from the early hours of the morning and there was still very little consensus amongst the councillors. Thranduil himself had not yet spoken his own mind on the matter but instead he listened to each and every argument brought forwards and he considered each carefully.

It was only as Tarthadîr began to speak that Thranduil felt that not all was right. The feeling was not one the Elvenking could not describe in words for it was not a sensation provoked by a force one could see, touch, hear nor smell, but he felt it all the same in spirit and it caused him great unease. He could feel an unwanted presence in the forest beyond his Halls and in a sudden flash, he felt the branches snap under footfall, the weight of a body against the base of a tree, twigs snagging on russet hair.

"Thranduil?" Tarthadîr's voice drew Thranduil from his thoughts and he focused on the worried look that his friend was giving him.

"Forgive me, I must deal with a new matter that has arisen. We will finish discussing this tomorrow." Thranduil dismissed the council and he swiftly rose to take his leave. Though upon seeing Tarthadîr shifting to follow his King, Thranduil put a steadying hand on his friend's shoulder to indicate that this was a private affair. Tarthadir gave him a confused look, but did not question orders and stay put. Thranduil gave him a small smile and swept across the room and flew towards the exit of the forest.

Usually Thranduil would have sent a patrol to deal with intruders and have them brought back to his Halls to answer for their carelessness. But he had seen the face of the lone intruder and he knew that it would be unwise to meet Tauriel with force or violence. This was something that the Elvenking had to explain to her in person.

It had been only over two years since the Tauriel had been banished from his Realm, since she had broken her vow to protect, abandoned her post and left to follow her own desires. Two years since they had exchanged such hateful words on the battlefield outside Erebor.

A part of the Elvenking had always felt bad saying those words to Tauriel. He had always cared for the young Elfling after her parents had made their journey to the Halls of Mandos. She had always been so spirited and hard-working as a young Elf and Thranduil had enjoyed her company even as she grew older. There was no denying that the young Elf had been exceptionally gifted with a bow and she had made a fine Captain in her earlier days. But he would not treat her different to any other Elf had they been in her position despite their past together and Thranduil would stand by his judgement.

With that, he vaulted gracefully onto his Elk, Arataure and he galloped at great haste to where Tauriel was. The trees flew past him as he used his surroundings and his senses to locate where the Elf was. And as they neared her location, Thranduil managed to sense the hidden figure in the shadows to his right. He dismounted and composed himself as he approached.

"The shadows do not conceal your presence here Tauriel." He spoke evenly, "Why is it you have returned?" He asked  his heart was almost pounding out of it's chest as he stood before the young Elf he had once cared for and loved.

"Huh!" Tauriel jerked her head up and woke up. To her utter disbelief, she almost fell into a half-asleep situation under that damnable tree. And now she was even more tired. What had happened during the time when she was unconscious? She tried to got up, but rather found her feet to be numb, plus her hands went pins and needles. Tauriel tried again, and then gave herself up once more to the tree trunk, and exhaled like breathing air out of a balloon.

Luck had left her for some reason. Maybe she was too lazy and too eager to sleep.

Hopelessly, Tauriel sat against the tree, moving her hands and feet a little bit to 'keep them awake' and hope the pain and numbness would assuage soon. But another wave was blown up by the wind - sounds of chatter, no, some heavy debate was coming from a side, and Tauriel could not tell whether it's from the east or north. One thing was bloody certain though - they are approaching her. Now Tauriel had absolutely not a single clue of who are these people and whether they are aware of her presence or not, but in every sense Tauriel did not feel that they are friendly - if they are friendly, they bring her back to the Elvenking's Halls and the reasons and stories would took a million years to tell, and if they mean hostility, bang - that's the end to everything.

Out of apprehension Tauriel climbed with all her might to the other side of the tree, the more shadowy side, and hoped that she won't be discovered, though she knew that the hope had a little chance to success. She leaned against the tree and listened, and could roughly hear that this discussion was about - barriers? Outsiders? Tauriel only caught a few words, but she recognized no one's voice.

Then someone said something, and the chatters died away. It was then also that Tauriel felt that her feet and hands were well and movable again. She stood up, soundlessly and gleefully, appreciating that luck once more came back to her side. Tauriel twisted her ankles, time would still have be passed until she could run again from this numbness of sleep.

A voice came back from behind, calling her name, saying that the shadow won't seal of her presence. Now Tauriel was so happy that she would have replied that she knew it won't, and if that her hair were some dark color then it might do her good again, and she would have said it.

Tauriel would have said it if the familiar, deep voice wasn't of Thranduil's.

Abruptly she turned around, finding the King standing there with his elk by his side. She squinted, steadied her gaze until she was sure that it was Thranduil himself. It occured to her that it was kind of like that Luck itself played her, baited her with a tiny worm of hope and then dropping her into an icy basket. Frankly she had not seen it coming, that she would be standing face to face with a Wood-elf, and this told her to craft her skills in hiding. And it would be better, much better if it had been anyone else but Thranduil, some young, naive guards that she could easily trick off using words and knives, or someone that she could have scared off using weapons or to fight them. Anyone but the King himself, Tauriel would have a better chance of escaping away.

And now it's completely hopeless.

For a second Tauriel wondered at what would be done to her next. A logical possibility soon came to her mind of herself being locked up and thrown into a cell under the wrath of the King like those dwarves, but anyways, she decided to make a go with words. An expected question came to her ear - Why have you return? Tauriel lowered her head, finding it impossible to look at the others. Far away sounds of the hustles of the forest came twittering, and it had prevented Tauriel from drifting into memories. For if she did, she would collapse at once.

But not now, when she need to be strong.

Tauriel answered, but the cause that she had deemed noble before coming to here now seemed to contain such absurdity, "I have come to retrieve some items of mine, those that were once placed in my chamber. And yes this is no great reason, but without them I would fell into the darkness with nothing at hand to remind me of the joyous times. If someone else lives in my chamber now, I would have continued searching, the rubbish dumps, the storages. every corner of the Halls until I find them. Now I am here, caught. And I expect the punishments to be performed on me." Tauriel stopped before her mouth starting to go on forever, and surprisingly found herself to be weeping a little bit as her words started to sound choppy. She bowed and finished her words, "Your highness."

Some respect might do her huge good right now.

"Tauriel," the King started- but he stopped to compose himself as his voice sounded faint and quivered slightly, betraying his true feelings underneath it all. He took a deep breath in and looked the Elleth in the eyes. And for a moment he did not see the elegant, deadly warrior before him. No. He saw the young child, hardly ten years of age who stood before him without an alibi to comfort her after the death of her parents. And then, just like now, Thranduil dropped all of his regal composure and talked to her not as her King or Lord, but as the same Ellon who had sworn to keep her safe all that time ago. "Your travels have carried you back home, lay down the grief and pain that you carry. Life is too long for you to bear this burden by yourself. You can stop running now, you may have your place among us." Thranduil spoke and he approached the Elleth and placed a hand on her shoulder.

He did not find any more words for the Elleth. He struggled keep his own emotions under check- he knew all too well the pain of losing the person you love. He had lost so many in his long years walking the face of Arda. His own fëa had been torn apart and put back together so many times that it was beyond hope that he would ever be what he once was- merry, carefree and with a heart full of song.

There had been none who had taken her chambers since she had left, everything had been left the way it had been the day she had taken off. Many of the Elves had believed her dead and had left her seat at feasts unoccupied out of respect for the Woodland's great warrior, others believed that she would return to them and they took care of what was hers out of hope that they would see her again.

"None have taken that which is yours, melonamin. The young Elves would welcome you home, if you wish to meet with them again." He spoke truthfully. Hoping that she would take her place back among them. But he could not force her to do that which she did not want to do.

Tauriel stared emptily for many a time, looking at the Elvenking she had known for so long like a curious person would stare at a stranger. She was expecting a reply, whatever cruelty that may be. She wondered if she would be thrown into one of the cells - voice echoed in her head, you know nothing of love! over and over again, almost driving her mad. And when the reply was said, she was shocked by it, but she did not let it show.

The hand he placed on her shoulder stung like lightning in the sky. For a moment Tauriel thought that the voice of Thranduil sounded so weak and faint, that it was almost trembling - but that must be one of her illusions. Her eyes were red and wet, and she just stood there, suddenly petrified out of no fear but doubt, and said no word.

Her memories dragged her back to her childhood, to that fateful night when her parents died. Somehow the memory that was so vague to her when she tried hard to remember it became alive before her eyes, flames dancing around in the black of night and the light fading from her mother's eyes. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought of the kindness she had received over the years of her life. And that was when the phantoms of the past three years started dancing before her eyes.

She remembered the sweetest talk she thought she had ever had in the dungeons of the Halls, out of the joyfulness of the Elven folks at night; She remembered the day when the dragon fire came upon them, and the way it burned into the sky; She remembered the farewell she bid to the Dwarf, whom she had never saw every since; She remembered receiving the news that she was banned, clinging to a single thread of hope... And finally she remembered the battle. Tauriel had seen battles before, had fought battles before, but she had never saw something so grand and tragic. Nor did she ever fought with emotions in her every move, forcing her to her very last strength to lift the knives - to protect herself and the one she loved. Tauriel remembered the gloomy part of the Southern Mirkwood in which she had resided for months in the darkness, where utterly no light could be seen... The memories danced and danced before her eyes like ghosts, and ghosts they were indeed - reminiscent of the painful past years. Tauriel have never regretted anything, but rather she was grateful - grateful for all of this, grateful for these memories that she could cherish and warn herself in the future with. And yet, how naive and hotheaded she had been.

And these thoughts were more than enough for now. With one step she stomped forward and paused for a second, her knees bending slightly as if she was about to kneel - but Tauriel steadied herself back and put her right hand to her left chest and extended it forward. She lowered her head and sighed, and all of a sudden regret filled up her heart. Tauriel smiled wearily, but the words that she used to say so effortlessly seemed stuck in her throat. So she merely whispered:

"Hannon le."

At that moment though no emotion other than peacefulness invaded Tauriel, it seemed that it had taken something foul away from her. This tension that she used to develop when she was not at home, or on some journeys - which have became impossible to get rid of after two years of pure avoiding, hiding and making a bitter life. And now she was truly home, where things would be better after all.

Hearing upon Thranduil's offering, Tauriel felt relieved that none had taken her place. It seemed that all that had happened in the past, in which she deemed to be true and hurtful, had been a facade while in reality she was still loved. She smiled again, though this time it was far more bolder and truer. But a weariness struck Tauriel's heart, and she decided quickly that she needed a time to heal before she could take up her old life again. She lifted her head and replied with mirth and gratitude in her tone,

"I have missed my companions and friends my lord, but I feel that I needed a tranquil period of time to recover and from everything that had happened over the years if you permits." Tauriel swished her hair, unknowingly relaxing, her normal personality returning to her, "Though I am curious about comings and goings of our realm in my absence. Has there been any new additions to the Guards' squad? Did the spiders grow bolder?..."

She trailed off, after all, it was the life as a guard she missed the most.

Thranduil looked to the elleth as she seemed to falter, her whole body tense as he addressed her as though she were a thousand miles from him and lost in a sea of memories. The Elvenking could not read her thoughts but as he felt her almost flinch under his touch, he gathered that his last words to her on the ruined streets of Dale still rung in her mind.

His words had been harsher than need be when she had confronted him at the gates, and yet they were not ones that he would regret. If the Valar had given him the choice to rethink his decision to pull away from the battle with the small handful of elves that had survived the onslaught, he would never have marched them to their death to protect Oakenshield's pride.

But what had happened that day was not what concerned Thranduil now- they could not change the past after all. Now it was a question of whether or not Tauriel would return now that her banishment had been lifted and all had been forgiven. She was of course, entitled to go her separate way and the Elvenking would make no move to stop her, but there was a part of him that dreaded to see their friendship ended like this.

Then at last she thanked him and made her first step homeward bound.

As she declined the position within the guard, Thranduil nodded. "I understand your decision Tauriel, many who see war do not wish to see it again. The faces of those one has last and the horrors of war are not quickly forgotten." He said calmly, looking down at the young elleth. He remembered the words Gilrin had used when Thranduil had asked her whether she would stand by his side when the Woodland realm had been summoned to aid Gil-Galad's attack.  "Do you know what it is you wish to do instead? If it interests you, we have great need of elves to undertake apprenticeships with weaponsmiths and armourers. Eru knows that should the shadow of the necromancer spread once again that we will have great need for plated armour and steel blades." He offered her, knowing that there were very few elves who wished to work in forges- and yet, they would not survive if leather and cloth and wood were their only defences against the orc. He did not expect Tauriel to accept the offer, but at least if more elves understood the need then they might find one or two elves willing to help.

Though as the conversation quickly switched to a horde of questions regarding the threats, defences of Mirkwood- Thranduil raised a brow at the elleth. He had quite forgotten how upfront the russet-haired warrior could be. It was certainly not the most cheerful of topics, but he would not lie to her. "The seeds of the necromancer have been planted deep within the forest and though he has been cast from Dol Guldur, his shadow still lies heavy upon the forest. We have yet many years of struggle ahead before all these threats can be vanquished. Until then, I have the duty of keeping each and every one of our people safe from harm."

"Though let us not speak of such dark matters on a such an occasion. We will have no shortage of time to discuss the guard and the threats to the forest over the next few days. For now I think you ought to focus on readjusting in the forest- not everyone may be happy to see you return." Thranduil spoke truthfully to the elleth. "Though I trust that I will see you again at the feast this evening?"