Honour For Bastards

Chapter 16 - Deja Vu

How did we end up here? 

That was a question Laire found herself asking more often than not. Especially now as she was shoved into the cells of Mirkwood for the second time in her life. She glanced around as the other Dwarves were placed into their cells and she recognised a few faces from her last visit. She noticed the young red-haired Elf, Tauriel she was certain her name was, walking away from Kili's cell, the Dwarf staring after her fondly. Then she found the eyes of those who had been strategically avoiding hers, and her his. 10 years is merely a blink of the eyes in the life of an Elf, yet it is strange how much one could change in that short time. He did not look much different, not physically, but his eyes were wiser and perhaps more serious like his father's. The boyish twinkle she remembered was nowhere to be seen, and the air around him felt more reserved, more regal, more like his father would want. 

She knew it was all a facade, a face, because when they first locked eyes after all those years, for a moment, just a fleeting moment she saw it break and the old him show through. 

Laire grimaced at the sticky webs that clung to her clothes, their run in with the Mirkwood spiders had been less than pleasant. She silently cursed the Wizard for leaving so abruptly and leaving them to attempt to navigate through the dense, sick forest on their own. As she had predicted they had gotten themselves lost, and have you ever tried telling a man, let alone a group of stubborn Dwarves that they were lost, or going the wrong way? Laire had tried to warn them but her words fell on deaf ears. Instead, she worked with Bilbo, the only one who still seemed to have some wits about them, to find a way out of the forest. 

One minute, one bloody minute she took her eyes off them and what happens? They go and get caught by spiders. And to top it all off, the moment Laire and Bilbo freed them from the spiders the Elves had them surrounded. Laire always prided herself on being prepared for almost every situation possible, and she knew there was always a possibility that their paths would cross again, but this was not a situation one can easily prepare themselves for. Reuniting with an old flame, not sure what either of them are feeling, the uncertainty did not sit well with Laire. That and the dreaded reminder that his father would execute her the moment he laid eyes on her.

But in the brief moment when they locked eyes, when blue met grey, they were reminded of the bliss they once shared. The fires of passion they once shared stirred just a little bit, just enough to make even the brave, and stoic Legolas Greenleaf break face.

Laire watched curiously as Legolas and the she-Elf Tauriel exchanged words. She could only make out parts of their whispered conversation in their native tongues but from what she could gather, it sounded as though Legolas was jealous of the way Kili was ogling at Tauriel. Laire smirked to herself as the Elf Prince sent a subtle glare at the Dwarf before striding out of the dungeons, but not before sending the quickest of glances over his shoulder to the redhead Ranger. 

While the Dwarves tried to bash and break the doors of their cells down, Laire worried about her neck. If any of the Elves recognised her and if Thranduil found out she would be dead before sunrise. Thorin was escorted back to his cell some time later, and Balin was quick to begin an interrogation of his own. 

"Did he offer you a deal?"

"He did. I told him he could go - 'Ish kakhfê ai'd dur rugnu!' - him and all his kin!" Thorin spat, stalking around his small cell.

Balin bowed his head and sighed heavily, "Well...that's it, then. A deal was our only hope."

"Not our only hope." Thorin whispered.

Laire feared what might have befallen the Hobbit, she'd lost sight of him between the tree tops and freeing the Dwarves and hadn't seen him since. Distracted by her thoughts, Laire failed to notice the presence that appeared beside her cell door, just out of sight.