A Shot in the Dark (Thilbo - Bagginshield)

Chapter 34

Tauriel blinked rapidly for a moment; obviously taken back by Beorn's assessment. Then her eyes softened and her smile melted into something true and genuine. "Yes, they did manage to hurt me during a fight, but I was able to treat the wound before it grew into something fatal. Do not worry about it, Beorn. I'll be fine."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to double-check it before we leave," Bilbo pointed out as he took note of the dark circles under Tauriel's eyes. He had a feeling the Elf had been on the move without stopping since she left. "And I think you should rest for a moment before we leave. You look like the walking dead."

"She always looks like that," Bard muttered.

Beorn nodded quickly. "The bunny is right. Sit down and rest and let me see your wound. You'll be of no help if you faint."

The Elf rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air. "Fine, fine, you win. I swear, you lot are almost as bad as my king when Legolas gets a hangnail…"

Bilbo snorted and traded a look with Beorn as the Elf began to tug off her vest and tunic without hesitation. When her clothes were finally gone, he found himself blinking in surprise at the dark cloth wrapped around her upper chest.

"Why are you wearing that?" he asked, pointing to his own chest to show where he was looking.

"I bind my breasts so they don't get in the way during battle," the archer explained, raising a brow as she looked over the three males. "Why else do you think my chest looks so flat all the time?"

"Ehh, I just assumed it was an Elf thing," Beorn replied with as much shame that Tauriel had shown when undressing. "I noticed that most of them tend to be on the smaller size."

"Are you sure you weren't looking at the males?" Bard wondered as he carefully avoided looking at Tauriel. Bilbo noticed that he was also turning red and made a mental note to mock him for it at a later date.

Tauriel looked over her shoulder to scowl at the Man. "Would you stop encouraging the rumor that my kinsmen look like females—!"

"It's not a rumor, it's a fact," Bard argued back as he kept his gaze fixed firmly on the Elf's face.

"I didn't know your breasts got in the way during battle," Bilbo commented as he rubbed one of his beads. "Then again, I don't know much about breasts in the first place so…"

"I can draw my bow faster with them bound," the she-Elf explained as she pretended to pull out her bow from behind to demonstrate. "In the past, some female warriors would even cut off one or both of their breasts in order to increase their skills."

"Ouch. That sounds painful even to me," Bard admitted, flinching.

Tauriel simply shrugged and began to undo the bandage around her shoulder. "We do what we must to win. In battle, even the smallest detail can decide whether you live or die."

Bilbo nodded and then winced when he saw what lay under the bandage. Tauriel's wound was still an open sore with oozing blood and pus. The only bright side he could find in the sight was that there was no poison or rotting flesh from the spider's venom.

When Beorn saw the wound, he inhaled sharply through his nose and pulled his mouth back into a snarl. "It's 'fine,' huh? I hate to see your definition of 'bad' then."