Hummingbird Heartbeat

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Tauriel crouched in a branch above with a surprised look on her face. Maranda slowly stood, watching the Silvan Elf as she slid from the tree to the ground. The two women watched each other for a moment before Tauriel walked slowly to Maranda and kneeled, their eyes level.

"Have the Fairies returned to us at last?" Tauriel breathed in awe. Maranda shook her head.

"Just me. Me and my broken wings," she turned and extended her good wing for Tauriel to see. Maranda glanced at her over her shoulder and Tauril stared in awe.

"May I..." Tauriel extended a hand and Maranda nodded. Tauriel's fingers touch the tip of her feathers and she gasped in awe.

"Listen, Tauriel, the spiders are going wild everywhere, my friends have been taken by them...Dwarves," Maranda elaborated. Tauriel frowned slightly. "Can you help me? If I know what day it is then Legolas will already have come upon them. They're really, I mean really, loud," Maranda said and Tauriel nodded.

"Allow me to carry you, my Lady."

"Tauriel, I'm not a princess or a noble or regal or anything. I'm a warrior raised in the slums with no extra penny in my name. Treat my like a princess and I'll slap the shit out of you," Maranda snapped and stormed into the wood.

"OTHER WAY!" Tauriel called after her. Maranda marched back past and Tauriel followed after her. "If I may, we will move faster if I carry you."

"Fine," Maranda sighed and climbed on Tauriel's back.

"What's your name?" Tauriel asked as they traveled through the wood.

"Maranda."

"An Elven name." Tauriel said, very pleased.

"I prefer to go by Mara. That's what my friends call me," Maranda said quickly and Tauriel nodded.

"These Dwarves call you this?"

"Most of them," mumbled Maranda.

"Tis a Dwarven name, Mara," Tauriel mumbled.

"Yes it is," Maranda said firmly and Tauriel nodded. There was a great cry and Tauriel tensed. "That's them! Put me down and go fight! I'll follow the mayhem," Maranda said and she was dropped onto a tree branch to find her way down. She ended up hugged a vine and gliding down with her three wings extended and eyes squeezed shut. She hit the ground a bit hard, but stumbled towards the sounds of battle anyway. She stumbled into the clearing as Kili was marched into line with the others.

"Lady Mara!" Tauriel said in relief and jogged over.

"MARA!" Fili shouted in joy mixed with rage and Maranda waved with an awkward smile. Thorin looked upset and relieved and Kili had his eyes fixed on Tauriel.

"Oh for the love of-"

"Hello," said a voice and Maranda span on her heel.

"Oh fuck me," she muttered under her breathe. It was Legolas and he was looking at her very carefully.

"Tauriel had told me she met a Fairy in the wood, but she did not tell me of your beauty." He wasn't speaking Westron but Maranda understood him all the same. He kneeled before her and collected her hand in both of his, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. She was wearing that stupid smile every girl wears when she meets her idol.

"Your a flatterer and you know it," she replied in the Sindarin. Legolas smiled at her with soft eyes and she just about fainted. Thorin was having a conniption behind them trying to charge to her side and punch Legolas square in the face.