Legolas and Tauriel: What I Did For Love

12: Rivendell

A/N: Hey, guys. Yeah, it's been a while since I updated. Sorry! But here it is, so have fun! Let me know if any of the dialogue sounds unnatrual. I had trouble with it.

A tall elf dressed in rich red-browns sat concealed in the long grass on the edge of a valley. Over his back was slung a quiver of amber fletched arrows and lying next to him in the grass was a recurve bow. At his belt was a single hunting knife and he was wrapped in an olive green cloak. Next to him was another elf, dressed similarly. Below them, in the valley, stretched Rivendell.

But the elves were not watching the valley. They were watching the land surrounding it. Watching for intruders.

"What time do you think it is, Oenwe?" asked the first in a low voice. His eyes were continually sweeping the grassland as he spoke. The Misty Mountains loomed to their right and would have cast a shadow had the sun been shining.

Oenwe shrugged. "Hard to say. Too many clouds. Can't see the sun."

The other nodded sadly. "I suppose we'll just have to wait until Eolin and Hausel come to relieve us."

Nothing more was said for a while. Then, Oenwe nudged his companion and pointed north, towards the mountains. "Raelen, look."

Raelen's eyes widened a fraction. Coming towards them were two riders. Both rode coal black horses and had quivers and bows on their backs. As they came closer, Oenwe and Raelen were able to make out their features. One was a woman, red haired and dressed mostly in forest greens. The other was male with blonde hair. He also wore greens but his were brown tinged.

Both the man and the woman were slumped slightly in their saddles as if they had been riding for days and were weary. Their clothes were tattered and dirty.

As the two scouts watched, they reached the edge of the valley and stopped, looked down on Rivendell. Then, slowly, the woman slid sideways, off her horse. The man reached out and tried to stop her fall but her weight pulled him to the ground as well.

The watchers waited for a minute but neither reappeared above the grass.

"Come on." Raelen sprang to his feet and started towards them, Oenwe following him.

[Tauriel POV]

Grey and white seemed to swirl around me, entirely filling my vision. There was nothing else, just the light. Gold joined the swirling pattern and mixed in with the other colors. Then my vision cleared and I realized I was lying on a soft bed, in a large, sun filled room. A woman sat on a wooden chair next to the bed, reading a book. She looked up as I groaned.

"What time is it?" I mumbled, wondering why someone was sitting near me.

She smiled. "About noon."

I sat up quickly. "Noon? Why was I allowed to sleep so late?"

"You have been asleep for nearly two days. Our scouts found you the day before yesterday, in the afternoon."

"Found me? Where am I?"

"Rivendell. How are you feeling?" She reached out to feel my forehead, her yellow dress rustling slightly as she did so.

I pushed her hand away. "I'm fine. Why?"

"You nearly starved. When you were found, your packs had no food and you were both too weak to stand. You were unconscious."

It all came flooding back to me. The swirling currents as we crossed the Anduin, almost being swept away, discovering that most of our food supplies had washed away. The trip across the mountains, running out of food halfway across, knawing hunger, finding that Legolas had fed me most of what was left over. Legolas.