"Ada, has the guard returned yet?" The Crown Prince of Mirkwood, Legolas, asked his father one night while they were eating dinner. "You sent them off months ago. Surely you must have heard something from them?"
"No, Legolas they are not, and you asking after them every time we sit down for a meal will not change that." His father, King Thranduil, replied with an exasperated sigh. It was true, every night for the last month Legolas had inquired after the guard, hoping for some glimmer of news. Thranduil was beginning to believe that there was something more to his son's idle question than was being said, and he suspected it had something to do with Tauriel, Legolas's best friend.
"Oh." Legolas said flatly "I thought I saw Tauriel today."
"No word has been received of their return, so do not worry about it. Legolas, I am sure that Tauriel will come see you as soon as she returns."
"Alright Ad-" A palace guard, normally stationed outside the door of the dining room, burst through the door, breathless under the weight of untold news.
"King Thranduil, the guard has-" The guard is cut off as another elf saunters into the room, this one a redheaded she-elf.
"Eyllwe. I told you not to bother announcing it, I do believe myself to be quite capable of doing so."
"Tauriel! See father I told you I was sure that I had seen her earlier today." Legolas says, joy gleaming in his eyes as he stood up to go and hug his newly-returned friend.
"Hello Legolas. I am sorry it took so long, everytime we cleared a nest, three more appeared." She replied, returning the hug with just as much enthusiasm as Legolas.
"It is no matter Tauriel, but I am-"
"Tauriel, report please?" Thranduil cut in, breaking up the friend's happy reunion. "Why have I recieved no word of your return if it truly occured earlier today?"
"I apologize my Lord, I asked the guard to keep our return quiet, so that I may have the time to take a proper inventory of broken, dull, and cracked weapons, as well as to prepare my report." Tauriel replied, stiffening as she turned to face her king.
"Have you eaten anything since your return Tauriel?" Legolas, ever concerned about the well-being of his best friend, piped up.
"I will eat later, there are still more tasks that I must attend to." Tauriel's posture remains stiff as she answers him, never once taking her eyes off of King Thranduil.