Liruliniel tried to be as disjointed as possible, it was not an easy thing to do; not with the panicked screams happening around her, the oncoming wings beating the air making low thrums and a wind flicker throughout the town. She jumped and hopped from rooftop to rooftop again, more panicked screams echoed below her, and all she could do was inhale slowly and hope they managed to get to a boat and escape. It seemed it was what most were doing, she could hear the oars in the water, frantic splashing to accompany the equally frantic calls of the people around.
Shaking her head, she skidded along a roof and took a breath, she looked up at the dark sky. It was fully night now, the thick grey clouds were blocking the moon for the moment, but even without the full light Liruliniel could see it. She could see him, an ominous large shape, larger than what she could imagine and all she saw was a shadowy outline. Smaug dwarfed the town around her, easily so. Liruliniel breathed steadily, she had seen him in visions but much like when reality comes knocking, it was too much. Smaug was just yet another horror she had seen and would encounter in her life, add him to the list as it were.
Shaking her head again, she came out of her thoughts and looked towards the jail. Much like most of the buildings present, it was a poky thing. Dingy with a sagging roof and barred windows, naturally to keep whomever in without a chance of escape. Another beat of leathery wings caught her attention, and she couldn't help but side eye where the dragon was. Liruliniel was determined to try and keep Smaug in sight as much as she could. But the dragon wasn't stupid, far from it. He was staying just out of reach, out of proper sight. Much like any great predator, he was scoping out the situation, the town and those panicking within. He was probably circling several times from different heights, not only to frighten, but to proper gauge what and where he could attack first.
And he would attack. Liruliniel had seen fire in many a dream, and she had even felt it. She knew she was here when the fire ripped through the buildings, rendering everything to ash. She knew she would be here, she had foreseen it and she had the option, yes, to escape and to not look back. But Bard, dear, stern and serious Bard, how could she abandon him to this fate? How could she face his children knowing she had not helped?
Liruliniel was not custom to abandoning those which as yet weren't lost. And Bard wasn't lost, he was just locked away. She could get him, they could get out, from there? She hadn't a clue. He evidently had a plan, kill the dragon, yes, fine she could get behind that completely, but logically; what was the percentage of success here? Bard had one black arrow, which Liruliniel did not even know where it was. Bain seemed adamant to keep the secret of its hiding place. But without it, how could anyone succeed?
That still didn't solve the fact that one arrow was probably not going to be enough. Liruliniel inhaled slowly, the air was cold, crisp but heavy with anticipation, everyone was waiting for the inevitable. Scampering and stopping, she balanced her way across a beam connecting to the prison roof. Her earlier thoughts still lingered though, Girion had copious arrows and still failed. Could Bard honestly succeed with one arrow? He'd have to be extremely sure, even she knew of the tales of Smaug having a missing scale. But a dragons scale, not matter the animal, it was still a very small target.
Managing to climb down the side of the building, she was thankful there was a small ledge running the perimeter of the building or else, she'd be lost here. "Bard! Bard!" Liruliniel's voice made him jump, he stopped yanking at the bars which made up the door. He turned so quickly it had his hair whipping him in the face, yet he charged over to her.
"Lark, but why? How?" Bard had even cottoned onto her simple nickname suggestion for his daughter. His hands wrapped around the bars of the window and pulled, Liruliniel shook her head. She had already tried to dislodge them, they were going nowhere. "My children-?"
"The orcs came, but a dear friend of mine aided in protecting them. She is with them now, along with the dwarves. Trust me when I say, Tauriel will guard them with her life if needed. I said I would try and help you out, I promised them even. So, shall we try and get you out?" Liruliniel asked while looking around the window, how she wished for a piece of broken wood to already be present. It would've made things so much easier, as it was, he was stuck.
"The guards have gone, there's no keys." Bard explained while watching her pull at the bars again, she looked frustrated. He hadn't really seen that expression on her face, not since her first appearance and trying to talk to Thorin. He always thought elves were so placid faced, expressionless, that's always the impression he and those of this town were given. Yet no, Liruliniel was very expressive, he had learned that much by now.
"We need to get you out, Bard. Can you wedge the door off the hinges at all?" Liruliniel opted to ask, there was a rough bunk in the small space, she was just thinking out loud.
"Move." Bard's eyes widened, Liruliniel was about to ask him what he meant before letting out a yell and pushing herself against the wall. It was of very little protection from the fire which suddenly came hailing down from above. Bard had seen it, he had seen the dragon come circling around and coming low, the glow of his chest signalling full well what was about to happen. "Lark! Are you-?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Liruliniel turned and with an equally horrified face looked at the burning trail of fire which had ripped through the town. She could hear the screams, the agonised wails of those caught in the flames and perishing slowly within. Yet Smaug simply looped in the dark sky, a black figure looking darker against the night.
"You need to leave," Bard said while she looked at him sharply.
"Thank you for trying to be a knight in armour as it were, but no. I am not leaving you. We're getting you out, together we will think of something. Now come on, let's do this!" Liruliniel appreciated him and his gentlemanly moment, but she wasn't leaving him.
The attempt at wedging the door, didn't work. Bard even ushered her out the way and tried hitting the window bars free, it didn't work. Turning and looking, they both seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time. Sharing a knowing look, Bard plucked up the rough blanket from the bunk and started tearing into it. Liruliniel did offer one of her knives through the window, but he just shook his head. It wasn't worth it, the blanket was so worn it took little effort to tear it apart.
It took even less to tie and bond it all together, pieces linking and wrapping around each other to fashion a loop. Handing it over to her, she easily bought it through the bars of the window and let it go. All the while, the screams and the dragon continued on. Each time it circled and swooped down, more fire came forth. With the fire came more screams and more destruction. The town behind her, from what Bard could see, barely resembled the home he knew and grew up in. He could see charred embers of roofs, hollowed out burning buildings, the occupants of which were unknown to their fate. He didn't know if anyone could survive that. He could hear people on the river, the paddling sounds and calls echoed up to them and he was sure some survivors would come from this assault.
Liruliniel winced when some fire stretched beside herself, the arching flames soared upwards in the upbeat of Smaug's wings. Because of how low he came, she saw full well just what this dragon was truly like. Her mouth fell open slightly, he was ginormous, truly the biggest serpent she had ever seen. Orangey in colour, burnt terracotta in other places, especially his wings seemed a darker hue to the rest of his body, he was impressive; she couldn't say he wasn't, because he truly was. Liruliniel was at a loss, this dragon possibly killed those which went to the Mountain, that much she realised as her eyes stung with tears, not just from the smoke but that realisation.
"Lark!" Bard had been calling her name a few times, "Look at me, listen to me, you said it yourself that we would get out of this, tell me if anyone is coming." Bard's hands wrapped around the bars and his dark eyes looked at her calmly. Liruliniel's eyes were wide, glassy and distant. Bard couldn't say he blamed her, but also it was a look of someone who had seen this before, along with other horrors. He could not imagine all that she had seen in her life, but this scared her. He didn't blame her, at all.
Blinking and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she nodded and ducked down. "Yes!" She straightened up and smiled, "You may laugh at who it is." Liruliniel raised an eyebrow and from the sudden gargled noises, Bard couldn't help but sigh as the loop became tight and he let it go from his hands and stepped back. Even Liruliniel backed off to the side and jumped up onto the roof as part of the wall came clean off from the exertion against it.
Bard stepped back out and watched as the Master struggled, gasping and choking against the deck of his rather laden barge. It was clear what his priorities were, getting himself and his treasure out before worrying about any of his people. Bard looked up, Liruliniel was hunkered down on her haunches looking upwards, the wind and smoke blowing each which way with the fanning of large wings. She jumped and hunched her shoulders when fire suddenly appeared ripping through the town from behind her.
"Come on," Bard gestured a hand to her, not that he was expecting her to take it, and she didn't. She jumped down with all the elegance of a cat and followed after him.
"You want to kill Smaug, don't you? Bain told me, but he also told me you had a black arrow. Normal weaponry is not going to do anything, Smaug is...well, Smaug." Liruliniel didn't quite know where she was going with that sentence, she just knew that normal arrows weren't going to cut it. Yet she followed him to the armoury of the town, she wasn't surprised no one was trying to take a stand. It was clear Esgaroth was lost. Most of it was burning brightly, a beacon in the clear night sitting in the middle of an icy river. Being near the window, she merely sighed when he hit up and broke the slates away from the roof. Liruliniel merely climbed upwards and joined him. "We can go, I can take you to your children, Bard. This is not your responsibility, the failures of your ancestor do not fall to you to put right." She said honestly, hoping he'd agree.
"You have seen the future. Can you, or have you foreseen a future where we are all able to live peacefully with Smaug in the world? If he has lost the Mountain, he will look elsewhere; he may even come to your woods. Where will you go then? There is no going anywhere, Lark."
"You are speaking as if the dwarves succeeded. We do not know if they did or didn't. With Smaug out here I can only presume the outcome was not good, and he is smart enough to figure everything out and know where the dwarves got aid from. This is revenge. This is revenge in its purest form, Bard. There is no distinguishing, you are right, but as yet he does not look to the woods. He looks to purging the world of those that have wronged him, and he is doing this right now. You need that black arrow, Bard. But Bain would not tell me where it is. Without it...the goal you have set yourself will end in failure, and I am too stubborn to leave you."
Bard stood in front of her on the roof, the fire all around them illuminating them both brightly. But their figures were so small, that Smaug paid no mind when he flew close by and unleashed more fire, this time destroying some of the bridges when he saw many forms running across them. Those people were just trying to escape, to get free from this inferno, and Smaug killed them for it. Regardless, the fire made her hair seem on par in colours, her eyes looked fiercely at him. Bard sighed, the distance and worry from earlier dissipated to determination, that much he could tell. Yet he shook his head, put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "I will not ask you to stay. This is my choice." He said while looking at her earnestly.
"I don't abandon my friends. You're coming with me, even if I have to drag you." Liruliniel said while straightening up and looking at him blankly.
He tilted his head, there was that airy countenance he was waiting for. "We need to get to higher ground." He looked around, on the ruined horizon and pointed. "There, we go there." He nudged her gently by the shoulder, Liruliniel looked at the watchtower and nodded.
"Agreed. That seems like a fine place to have a last stand." She said while jumping and sliding down the slating of the roof, she easily kicked off at the last minute and landed on the other roof. She turned and waited, Bard didn't have the agility of an elf. Liruliniel aided him where and when he needed it, and he thanked her quietly each time.
"Never know, we may do it." He commented in reply to her last remark.
She scoffed, "Yes, and I may learn to fly like a bird in the air." She waved a hand in the air and dispelled smoke from in front of her face. The ringing of the bell in the watchtower was growing ever louder. Stopping suddenly on a roof, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Promise me though Bard, if at any point this seems more lost than it already is, you will come with me. I am not leaving you, nor am I returning to your children without you. I would not be able to look at myself, or live with myself if I did. I do not care for my own preservation, but yours and your family's? Yes, I care immensely."
"May I ask why? Seems, as you said, this could end like everything around us; why do you not take those same feelings and keep them for yourself and your life?"
"Events which happen in these lands are bigger than me, and I cannot spend every waking minute thinking and running off if things do not look totally lost. This town is lost, the people are lost, and I refuse to lose you in the fire, Bard. You are my friend, as I have said, and I mean it, I will drag you to safety. I care for these lands, and the people within them, no matter who they are, I always have done. Events such as this affect everyone, not just you." Liruliniel explained while they made their way forwards again. Both paused and ducked down though when Smaug drifted low and by closely, the low rumbling growl coming from him seemed so utterly deafening in the air as his chest glowed once more.
Pressing on was easy enough, Smaug was too busy with destroying the town to care about two figures running quickly over the roofs. Liruliniel was more sure footed, Bard was a little uncertain yet followed after her. Her vision and hearing was better than his, she could see a safe way to the watchtower, likewise she could hear above the screaming of the people remaining to know where the dragon was. To Bard he heard Smaug just as he was close and within range, but a few times in running Liruliniel would point in the air and Bard would look, his dark eyes watching as her finger pointed at the winged beast. At the moment she was definitely a huge asset to him.
Bard took a stand on the main platform, Liruliniel standing on the slanted roof. Inhaling slowly she shut her eyes, the screams still echoed up into the air, the panic, the fear, the absolute horror rung in her ears. And then there was the smoke, the acrid thickness, clogging her throat and assaulting her nose with the stench of burning wood, as well as flesh. It was something which was engrained in her memory, she had faced something akin to this before, but not in a town. The dragon itself though, "I was wrong." She said, Bard peeked up and around the roof slightly to look at her puzzled. She stood there staring at the roaring dragon as he poured more fire into the town. "I have not faced serpents like this before. Smaug is something else entirely." She whispered honestly, yet Bard still heard her, even above all the noise and panic. Smiling lightly, she looked to him. "I hope your aim is good, Bard. Can't have me taking the credit of killing the dragon, can we?" She joked hollowly, Bard appreciated her attempt at well, trying to take the huge seriousness off the moment. But ultimately it didn't work. He pulled his arrows from the quiver, whereas Liruliniel adjusted her footing and pulled Azkâr from her shoulder and grasped her first arrow, waiting for Smaug to loop around.
Honestly, for an animal so large he was very able to contort in the air and twist about, his large tail whipping behind himself as he righted himself. His wings tucking against his body as he sailed upwards, before diving back down to the ground and opening his mouth wide, the red glow of the fire made it almost blinding to look at, and that was even before the flames had come forth. Once it had, it was brighter than the sun, Liruliniel swore. Squinting her eyes and lifting up her arms, she easily fired and tilted her head, Bard shot at a similar time and both their arrows skidded off the dragon. She knew it was pointless, but the attempts of the mortal below her had her trying again. They needed that arrow. Even if the attempt ended in failure, they still needed it.
Bard cut the rope of the bell, it now falling silent as he braced a foot against the wooden railing of the watchtower. He shot and watched the arrow fly off and fall downwards into the fire below. Liruliniel was no longer shooting, she was wasting arrows now and it was becoming fruitless. Shutting her eyes she went to lean down and talk to him, only for Bard to exclaim her name and her to scream. Smaug had came in low and close, very close, to the point that he knocked against the watchtower and the wind from his wings had Liruliniel's already unsure footing from his nudge, to fully go now. She fell, he tried to scramble through the bars of the railing to grasp onto her in someway. He too had fallen from the hit, but he could see she had not fallen far. She managed to grasp onto one of the railings of the staircase, with ease she hauled herself up and over, just as Bain appeared through the trapdoor near Bard.
Liruliniel had just about got her footing and was running up the stairs, nearing the end she grasped the rickety railing and gritted her teeth as Smaug ripped the roof clean off. She continued running, seeing poor Bain laying stricken on the floor as Bard stood holding the arrow in his hands. "You realise we have his attention?" Bard looked from the arrow to her, Liruliniel sighed slowly. "Look about you, Bard. Everything Smaug has done, it is calculated; he has burned the bridges, he has burned the boats...even with people trying to get in them, he has burned nearly every house and building present; everything is for a reason. He hadn't paid mind to the watchtower until we were here. He knows we are here. You need to ready yourself, but you also need him near or facing you." Liruliniel said while sighing and patting her sides before stepping forwards.
"What are you doing?!" Bard looked at her with wide eyes.
Liruliniel paused, she smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. "I believe I am bait."
"What?! No, that is absurd! You can't go out there and think you can outrun him!" Bard exclaimed grasping her hand off his shoulder and holding her wrist tightly. "You cannot do something so reckless. You wished so much to protect and to get me out, and you are going to do this?" Bard's dark eyes just stared at her unblinkingly.
"But you have the arrow now, so it will be fine." Liruliniel said while patting his arm, he let her arm go and she sighed slowly. "Trust me, and yourself there, Bard." Liruliniel jumped off and away before he could say anything. She shook her head with a small smile though, it seemed she just got a lecture. But Bard needed to prepare to shoot an arrow, with well, something. Smaug knew they were shooting from the watchtower, did Bard honestly think the dragon wouldn't come and target there specifically? It was literally only a matter of time. Liruliniel was fine for playing distraction, she supposed. Truthfully, she was doing this before she fully registered it.
Rolling her eyes she climbed upwards to a more sturdy looking rooftop and flicked her eyes sidelong, she could see Smaug, fire erupting from his mouth as he changed his body position and came to land. His large body all but crashed against the remnants of the town. What buildings that may have escaped being burned, were now well and truly crushed underneath his form.
Liruliniel whistled, she scrunched her nose up, that was stupid, she thought yet looked blankly upwards when a very serpentine neck twisted and a face was looking in her direction. Smaug's eyes were alight, fiery like the flames around them, his clawed hands gripped and crushed buildings beneath himself as he turned to look at her properly. There was a long inhale, "So, the elves too are in on this? Now, that is a surprise." Liruliniel shuddered, his voice felt like it was creeping up her spine and slithering into her ears. Such a low, menacing voice suited something of his calibre.
"I act alone, dragon." She said while looking over her shoulder, she could see Bard doing something.
"Ah," came an exclaiming sound dripping in sarcasm. "Not so alone it seems, elf. Are there more of you around?" Smaug lifted his head and seemed to scan the surroundings, even sniffing lowly to see if he could sniff out anymore elves. "It appears not, you are rather a long way from home, are you not?" His voice dipped low, uncaring as to the answer regardless of his musing question. "Perhaps I will pay it a visit too."
Liruliniel raised an eyebrow, "Did you kill the dwarves?"
"You care for Oakenshield? Did I burn him, did I not? Did him and the rest of his wretched kin finally meet their fate, a long overdue fate? I do wonder." Smaug spat and tilted his head, eyes narrowing as a claw scraped against the tilings of a roof.
The sound made her teeth go on edge, pushing her tongue against the back of them, Liruliniel stood steadfast. "Revenge is pointless, I have seen you die." Liruliniel said rather nonchalantly and noticing the darkened look in the dragon's eyes.
"Revenge has served its purpose." Smaug corrected with his head bowing. "I grow tired of this conversation." He said while Liruliniel could see his chest slowly start to glow. "I have seen you die, will see you die, right now, elf." Before he even had a chance to shoot fire her way, Liruliniel duck and dove, climbed and ran through the ruined remains of the town and board ways.
There was a screeching roar, fire licking at her heels and Liruliniel ended up opting to dive into the frigid waters, she swam underwater for what felt like a long time before resurfacing with a cough. Spluttering and splashing, she swam towards a wharf, somehow it had survived and she hauled herself up and onto it. Rolling onto her back she curled up pathetically and cried out quietly when Smaug was crawling and clambering a little too close to her; roof tiles and pieces of boarding chipped and fell against her, some even still alight as he conversed with Bard. Well, she got the dragon looking his way at least but the conversation was one-sided in the sense that Smaug didn't say too much that differed from when he spoke to her, and nor did Bard reply. The mention of killing Bain however, even Liruliniel picked her head up slowly at that to see Smaug soon commence running forwards.
It was more of a slithering crawl than an actual run, but the roar which came from him had her clasping her hands over her ears as she stood up slowly, chipped tiles and wood falling from her person as she did so. Looking to the side, she climbed upwards, the dragon being far enough away now for her to watch as the impact of the arrow had him recoiling, with a startled noise and a wheeze, Smaug went careering upwards into the air with struggled breaths and growling. She watched his form stop moving, watched as it fell, but she was also looking to where the watchtower was. He had knocked it down during his plight.
"Bard? Bain?" Liruliniel called out worriedly, a small face sprung up first, and she was relieved to see the boy was in one piece. His father wasn't too far behind, smoky and shocked, but in one piece too. "You did it."
"You sound surprised. Weren't you the one that mentioned trust?" Bard quirked an eyebrow and looked behind himself as the rest of the watchtower seemed to give way and went fully collapsing backwards.
"I had faith and trusted you...just...it's immense."
Bain nodded in agreement, yet got a hand to the shoulder by his father, directing him away and to finding a boat which could get them out of here. Liruliniel was on the boy's other side, looking at his father with a small but relieved smile. "Where will we go?" Bain asked, which was a good point.
"Everyone would've evacuated to the shoreline, we go there and we find your sisters." Bard replied while the three of them scrambled about the wreckage of the town.
"I will find Tauriel too. I do not know where her path leads now."
"What about yours?" Bard asked, he managed to find a small boat, somehow miraculously it was fine and he watched Bain get in before gesturing to Liruliniel. She hopped in too and sat down, her hands in her lap as she looked confusedly at him. "Well, you are achieving what you set out for: you're getting me out of here."
Liruliniel scoffed, wiping a hand across her forehead, she couldn't help but shake her head slowly. "Yes, at last." Pausing she watched the town and the fires burning within become steadily more distant the more the boat was rowed away. "My path...my path leads to finding out if Thorin is truly dead, or whether the dwarves have reclaimed the Mountain." Liruliniel looked worriedly at her lap. "Either scenario could have repercussions which will play out, diverging and dramatic."
"You're speaking in riddles." Bain commented with a quiet huff.
Liruliniel looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, friend. Just, musing aloud. Here, let me help row."
"Ever rowed a boat before?" Bain asked with a sceptical look.
"No. But there is a first for everything!" Liruliniel exclaimed with a clap of her hands. Bain shook his head, yet relented. The moment didn't last long as it was discovered she had very poor control. Sitting and being a passenger meant she could look around and truly view everything, dawn was coming and with dawn came the sun; the fires were still burning and probably would for quite some time. The growing warmth of the sun was welcomed though, especially to Liruliniel who was still wet, but also with rowing through smokey air, covered in dirt and dust again.
However, when it came to reaching land seeing how quickly it took for people to turn on each other, was surprising to Liruliniel. She had parted ways from Bard and Bain, for the sake of finding her friends. It didn't take much, the two elves being away from the rabble which were all shouting at Alfrid, Liruliniel was confused before she realised it was the Master's horrid friend. Scrunching her nose up, she picked up her pace and ran towards her friends. Tauriel for one double took, a look of utter relief on her face whereas Legolas just watched her stoically.
"It does not take them long to turn, does it?"
"Legolas, a dragon just destroyed all they had, and all they had known; do not judge them for finding one to truly blame." Liruliniel said while stopping before them, what went on between the mortals was of no concern, in a way. Truthfully, she'd rather they didn't hang someone, but she couldn't intervene there. Looking to Tauriel, Liruliniel smiled. "Thank you for looking after the children. That was a position I probably shouldn't have forced on you."
Tauriel smiled lightly, she shook her head and put a hand against Liruliniel's shoulder. "It was of no trouble. Tell me, are you hurt?" Tauriel was scanning her worriedly, Liruliniel smiled and shook her head. She may ache a little, be a bit smoky and damp, but she was not hurt. Tauriel for one let out a relieved sigh, Legolas's expression did flicker slightly too.
"You followed the orcs, when they fled Esgaroth. Tell us, you must have discovered something?" Liruliniel did not believe for one second that Legolas hadn't found information out, only, it wasn't the information she thought she'd hear.
"The orc I pursued out of Lake-town, I know who he is; Bolg, spawn of Azog the Defiler. A pack were waiting for him on the outskirts of Esgaroth. They fled into the North." Legolas explained, quietly so none of the people around could hear. Not that they were likely to understand, they were all still shaken from Smaug. But he explained this as the trio commenced walking through the makeshift little camp which had been put up already. "These orcs were different from the others, they wore a mark I had not seen for a long time. The mark of Gundabad."
"Gundabad?" Tauriel turned and looked at him seriously, them having now stopped and were letting this information sink in.
"An orc stronghold in the far North of the Misty Mountains." Legolas said, clocking sight of Liruliniel as her eyes slid shut, her stomach had dropped. The mere mention of Gundabad had her feeling sick, her stomach churning as she tried to just block out that place. It was a place of nightmares, death and Liruliniel would've been happy to never have heard of that place ever again.
She had wondered where her path would lead now, and for the life of her, she knew she couldn't go there. If her friends intended to go there, she could not follow. She could try and force herself, to see the place in which her father and brother died...she couldn't do it. She may be brave, but she was not that brave. Luckily her thoughts were cut short by the sound of an elven voice, soft yet commanding attention. The three of them looked at the elf upon the horse, Thranduil was asking for Legolas's return. But Tauriel was being banished, the look on Tauriel's face was stricken, Liruliniel beside her looked utterly shocked. She herself had not been mentioned; did Thranduil believe she was still with the dwarves, perhaps even possibly perished with them? Her heart wrenched at the thought of that. The heartache and pain he would be feeling, the uncertainty of it all, Liruliniel felt guilt and sadness. She had hurt Thranduil, accidentally of course, but she had, she knew it.
"You may tell my father, if there is no place for Tauriel then there is no place for me." Legolas boldly stated while looking steadfastly at the messenger.
Tauriel slipped from Liruliniel's side and approached Legolas. "Legolas, it is your King's command."
"Yes, he is my King but he does not command my heart." Legolas said quietly, looking almost embarrassedly down at the floor. Liruliniel, who was still within earshot put a hand to her chest, the dread from earlier was being replaced by this warmth, this wholesome feeling of just watching the pair of them. "I ride North, will you come with me?" Legolas picked up walking again, sharing a look with Liruliniel as he passed her. He just nodded, seemingly understanding her reasons for staying rooted to the spot. She was not going to grace Gundabad with her presence, she could've tried to stop them both...but she knew it would be pointless, they'd both still go.
Instead she just turned away from the messenger, scratching her forehead and sighing softly, she made her way through the gathered people. Some looked a bit confused as to why she hadn't gone with her friends, would they understand the need to avoid stepping foot somewhere? Probably. She wasn't going to explain herself anytime soon. Instead, she found the small family unit which she had come to know. Tilda looked up with wide eyes, this being the first time seeing Liruliniel since parting ways in Smaug's attack.
"Told you so," she whispered, Tilda beaming up at her as Liruliniel was happy to see the girl so chuffed. She had told she'd be back, and not alone. "I will aid you all to Dale. Do you need anything carried?" Liruliniel offered, she could probably carry a lot heavier things than any of them, yet they shook their heads. Clearly all that was stashed in their boat, was rendered lost or useless. With a sigh, Liruliniel walked beside the small girl as they commenced the long walk from the shoreline camp.