Don't Be Melloncholy- Legolas x Tauriel

Chapter Five: Where There Is None

I know you're there. Why do you linger in the shadows?

Tauriel released a long exhale, her back hitting the wooden bench and her arm dangling off the side. She watched the sky as if searching for some counsel-- something to guide her in the right direction. If only she knew what to do.

Blinking slowly, Tauriel recalled the events of last night.

"Keep our lands clear of those foul creatures; that is your task." Thranduil's powerful voice resonated in the hall.

"And when we drive them off?" Tauriel had been resolute beneath the imperious glare of the king. "What then? Will they not spread to other lands?"

"Other lands are not my concern. Fortunes of the world will rise and fall, but here in this kingdom, we will endure."

Tauriel bit back a thousand bitter remarks.

Whether she liked it or not... Thranduil was her king. And what would a king do other than command? What could she do other than obey? She did not agree with his ways, but the elves were under his rule. And under his rule, the elven kingdom was a distant one, never intervening in other lands. Being a warrior meant being ready to protect and fight, but for the king, all of that revolved around the kingdom. Anything outside could crumble and fall into chaos and ruin, yet Thranduil would not blink an eye so long as the elven kingdom remained secure and intact and closed off from the world.

And with the kingdom, the elves would become detached from the rest of the world, too. Thranduil would cut them off from the outside world, and they would all be trapped in this sickly sweet land disconnected from the rest of reality.

But he was her king.

Tauriel gave his bushy-browed majesty a slow nod and turned to leave.

"Legolas said you fought well today," Thranduil swiveled to call after her retreating back.

She glanced back with an almost-smile on her face.

Thranduil seemed pleased, as if he had been proven right, earning her attention with the mention of Legolas.

"He has grown very fond of you." Thranduil said these words almost tenderly. His face-- usually a cold mask devoid of emotion except perhaps malice and anger-- had an expression which could have been mistaken for warm and gentle. Softened somehow.

This was worse. Thranduil should have been frigid, hostile. Tauriel didn't want to think of what this suddenly heartfelt expression could be disguising. What was the king concealing underneath his saccharine smile? Whatever it was, it surely couldn't be good.

"I assure you, my lord..." Tauriel started, trying to hide the shock and panic creeping up on her. Perhaps that was the elvish king's intent-- to only fluster and toy with her. After all, his words couldn't be true. "Legolas thinks of me as no more than Captain of the Guard."

"Perhaps he did once. Now, I am not so sure."

Tauriel almost laughed. Whether it would have been a bark of disbelief or a naive giggle containing daydreams and hopes and childish what-ifs... Tauriel did not know. Perhaps it would have been the cackle of someone driven nearly to madness.

"I do not think you would allow your son to pledge himself to a lowly Silvan elf."

"No, you are right. I would not. Still, he cares about you. Do not give him hope where there is none."

Thranduil, with a swish of his cape, swiveled to stride away. He left Tauriel alone in the room, with her thoughts and the words of the king echoing in her head.

Tauriel was dubious about the king's suggestion that Legolas liked her as more than a friend. She refused to believe it. How could he think of her as any more? He was the prince of the Woodland realm, and he would someday inherit the throne. She was nobody.

But he was right about one thing. There was no hope for him and her.