So Comes Snow After Fire

23.ii

Traveling had lightened Tauriel's spirits, as she had predicted it would. In the course of the journey through the Greenwood, she had felt an inexplicable ease of heart, as if she knew, somehow, that her journey would bring her to happier days again. Even her fears for Kíli gripped her less strongly, as she reminded herself that she had released him into hands more sure than her own.

Legolas cheered her greatly by his presence, whether he shadowed her silently or chatted and sometimes joked as he had done before a dwarvish quest and a war had drawn them apart. He had once, she gathered from unconscious hints in his speech and actions, felt himself in love with her, and perhaps was half drawn to her still. Yet she was equally sure that he recognized her love for Kíli as real and true. For all his warmth, Legolas never asked more from her than friendship, and she felt encouraged in her belief that any residual attraction he felt for her would eventually soften back into the close and confident friendship they had long shared. Fond as she was of him, she had long ago realized they would make far better friends than lovers, and she knew Legolas was clear-headed enough to recognize this fact in the end.

They had been traveling for a little over a sennight when both elves became aware that someone travelled the forest road behind them. All morning, the birds and squirrels and other forest creatures had been shifting and alert, as if in response to others in the forest besides these two stealthy elves, who moved through their native wood as easily as any of its other denizens.

"Surely your father has sent no one after us?" Tauriel mused, meeting Legolas's eye. "Though I think these are none of our folk. They disturb the wood too much." The last outsiders she had tracked in the wood came unbidden to her mind: a company of dwarves, among them one who had become unexpectedly dear.

"Such was my thought," Legolas concurred. "Could they be emissaries from Dale, bound for the settlements west of the River?" He nodded towards the branches arching over the path, seconding Tauriel's own unspoken plan. "Shall we see?"

In answer, she merely swung herself up among the sheltering leaves. Legolas soon found a perch beside her, and the two assumed relaxed yet ready stances as they waited for the unknown travelers to pass below.

Nearly three quarters of an hour passed before Tauriel's ears finally caught the tromp of footsteps—two sets of them, it seemed—on the forest path. Their cadence was heavy and quick, suggesting a sturdy figure and a short stride. It was not, she was almost sure, the step of a man, whether from Dale or elsewhere. Dwarves from Erebor, then? Against all sense, her heart momentarily leapt with a sudden, unfounded hope of hearing news from Kíli. But of course, she reminded herself, surely these dwarves traveled on business among the clans now that Erebor had reestablished its eminence among the dwarven kingdoms.

She was still wrestling her elation back into calm when the figures came into view through a gap among the oak branches. Tauriel started so that she nearly lost her footing on her own perch. Her longing had truly colored her mind, for she could have sworn the lead dwarf had been her Kíli.

Her heart throbbing loud against her ribs, she crouched low over her branch, eagerly straining for the next sight of the travelers. Of course, it could not be him—he was miles away, serving his duty as a prince—and Tauriel would feel relief once she could confirm this fact for herself.

The lead dwarf stopped, irritatingly out of sight behind a particularly verdant limb, and the second dwarf, whom Tauriel had not yet glimpsed in her excitement, drew up with him.

"I swore we'd have met with them before now," one of them said. "You don't think they've left the path after all?"

That is Kíli's voice, she thought. And then, Surely I have lost all control of my senses to think I hear him now. She clutched the branch below her, fingers gripping the ridges of the bark as her breath came fast and uneven and the world seemed to reel slightly. Oh Valar, what is wrong with me?

She heard a swish and a light thump as Legolas slipped down to the path below and then a short burst of cursing in a deep dwarven voice which she could hardly now deny was Kíli's, thanks to his particular choice of obscenity.

Tauriel forced herself to draw in a long breath, though her thoughts raced wildly. If Kíli was here, had he come for her? Or perhaps he'd been sent, as a prince, on some mission to a neighboring kingdom? But if he were an emissary, why would he travel nearly alone? Did not his small party betoken his haste, as if he came with urgent news? And yet, it might well be other tidings than those she longed for most. She must, she thought, wait till she knew his purpose here before revealing herself, or she might do much harm to them both.