Title: Give Your Heart
Fandom: The Hobbit & The Lord Of The Rings (movies, essentially)
Rating: G
Length: 867 words
Content notes: Pairings: Tauriel&Legolas friendship, mention of Tauriel/Kili and Legolas/Gimli.
Summary: Should elves give their hearts to mortals? Two conversations between Tauriel and Legolas, one past and one to come.

Most of the elves of Mirkwood were feasting; but Legolas, standing unseen in the shadow of the carved archway, noticed an absence, like a hole in the air. Sighing softly, he slipped away himself, to look for his missing friend. He did not have to search far; he had guessed where she might be, and there she was, sitting at the top of the stairs which led to the dwarves’ cells.She glanced up as he approached, her eyes still far away.

“You’re missing the feast,” he said, sitting next to her.

Tauriel shrugged gracefully. “I have not the heart for feasting. Legolas… do you think they mean to take back Erebor?”

“Perhaps,” he replied. “My father thinks so, and I have rarely known him to be wrong. Why do you ask?”

“It seems madness,” she said, shivering. “Thirteen dwarves, against Smaug the dragon? What can they do… but die?”

“They are mortal; they will die anyway,” he said, and was surprised at his own harshness. Tauriel stared at him, half shocked, half angry, and he tried to make amends. “ Who knows? If these halls were taken by our enemies, what would we not be willing to risk to take them back? Perhaps they would view their deaths as worthwhile, if they were the means of the dwarves retaking Erebor.”

“Perhaps,” was her only answer, and they sat in silence for a while. Then, turning to him, she said, “You should join the feast, or they will come looking for you.”

She was right, he knew. “Will you come too?” he asked, knowing before she shook her head what the answer would be.

He rose to leave, then paused. “Tauriel… do not give them your heart.” Do not give him your heart, was his true thought, but he could not say it - as if the words might make his fears true.

She made no answer, just looked at him, but when he pressed his hand to his own heart, she returned the gesture. He wished he could stay longer, talk to her more. But he knew if he didn’t go, someone would come looking for him; indeed, he was lucky someone hadn’t come already. So he left her sitting there, already lost in thought once more, and walked away with light footsteps but a heavy heart.

Many years later, Legolas will remember that conversation. He will finally return to his home, long months after he rode out with a message for Elrond; and he will not come alone. Gimli will be with him, breaking the journey to his own home in Erebor - and, though neither would admit it, delaying the parting just a little longer. Some imp of perversity will drive Gimli to insist on seeing where his father was lodged on his visit to Mirkwood, and they will meet Tauriel there.

Her banishment long rescinded, she will have been invaluable to the forces of Mirkwood in the fighting this year, and will have won the praise and respect of all in the kingdom. But when her duties permit, she will still slip away sometimes to the stairs and the cells, to remember, to dream of days gone by - just as she will have done today. Gimli will greet her warily, knowing her name from the tales told by his father. For her part, she will start at being confronted once more by a dwarf in this place; and Legolas, seeing the sudden pain in her eyes before courtesy masks it, will wish he had thought ahead.

Later that night, while Gimli sleeps, he will seek her out again, find her staring at the stars.

“Forgive me,” he will say, sitting on the stone bench next to her. “I should have thought to warn you… I did not mean to hurt you.”

“Why should you know I would be there? There is nothing to forgive, mellon nin,” she will reply with a smile. They will watch the stars in silence for a while before she speaks again. “Legolas, was it not you who told me not to give my heart to mortals? Have you forgotten your own advice?”

“I have not…” he will begin to deny it, but the words ‘given my heart to Gimli’ will die unsaid on his tongue as he realises their falsehood.

She will tilt her head, look at him thoughtfully.“Your friendship, then, if that pleases you better.”

“I do not think I had a choice,” he will answer with a sigh, and she will smile at the tacit admission. “No, I had no choice… any more than…” he will trail off, and she will finish the sentence.

“Than I? No, I dare say you did not.” Her face will grow sad, remembering Kili, and the romance that was killed almost before it had time to kindle. Then she will smile at him again. “But I think yours will be a happier giving.”

As if sensing the confusion in him, the need to be alone, she will rise after speaking, touch her hand to her heart, then leave him. And he will sit there for a long time, thinking and wondering, just as she sat all those years ago.