A flash of pain went through her left hand when she startled and the sharp edge of her dagger cut her finger. For a moment she stared at the blood that bubbled up, then she wiped it with her robe and looked around irritated, looking for the one who had jolted her. 

It was an elf with sharp features and his hair was as dark as the nightly sky. He wore a simple robe, that somehow didn't suit him. She couldn't remember she had seen him before and wondered why he thought he knew her.
"A friend sent me," he said, taking place next to her in the grass without asking. "Alyssae."
The whetstone fell out of her hand. Alyssae...
It felt ages ago that the elf princess had been here and almost had taken her away from this place - but only a few years had passed.
"How is she?"
Just like the others elves, she had heard the dwarfs had succeeded in recapturing the mountain and killing the dragon. What had happened to her after that, was a mystery.
Tauriel knew her fiance had died - something Legolas blamed the dwarfs for - and she wondered if that meant that Alyssae had became happy with Thorin.
Concluding from the serious look on the man's face, he wasn't just here to bring her greetings.

"It's a long story, but it boils down to the fact that her daughter is stolen."
Tauriel looked at him in horror. Why would someone want to steal a baby?
"Alyssae thinks Thranduil is behind it."
She sighed. By some her king was considered as moronic, but she had no idea what Thranduil wanted to do with Alyssae's baby. He wasn't particularly a children's friend.
"I haven't seen a baby here."
"Thranduil cursed the child," the elf told her. "It is no usual child. I've heard she looks like a four-year-old child with pallid hair and wings. She has so much power that she has killed three elf children right after she was born."
Tauriel squeezed her hands. She didn't like his tone. He seemed impressed by the atrocities the little child was responsible for, while it filled Tauriel's heart with fear.
"I fear Alyssae has to look somewhere else. If a winged girl had arrived her, it wouldn't have slipped my mind, nor that of my kin."
A sigh left her lips. There were already many things she was worried about, there was no room for a strange creature that turned out to be the daughter of a bygone friend.
"Are you sure?"
"We are at the edge of a war," Tauriel mumbled. It was secret information that must not leak, but the whole mission felt not right anyway. She had no idea who the enemy was, there had been no threats. All of a sudden Thranduil had ordered her to prepare his army, without suggesting any destination. "If we had a creature that would fight on our sight, I would have known."
"A war? With whom?"
Tauriel stared at the sky. She sounded as a silly commander by not knowing who she had to fight. "I don't know. Lord Thranduil hasn't said anything and to be honest - I think it's all very strange. We never got permission to leave Mirkwood."

"Could Chyndall be the aim?"
Tauriel shrugged. "It doubt it. We have no reason to attack them and will only awake the fury of Rivendell and Lothlórien. A fight between elvish realms is nothing but a betrayal of our own blood."
"And Erebor?"
"Erebor?" Tauriel repeated in surprise. The name of that place made her voice tremble and she thought about the dwarf she had tried so hard to forget.
"Erebor is not far from here and at this moment Thorin and his successor are not there."
Tauriel bit on her knuckles. Dear lord, would that be true? Was the king willing to force her to fight the kingdom of the man she loved? She cursed and looked almost desperately at the man. "So Kíli is on his own now, since Fíli and Thorin are not there?"
The elf looked right into her eyes. "Fíli died while capturing the mountain."
"Oh." Tauriel took a deep breath. Fíli was nothing more than a memory she had put away and although this news shocked her, it only hit her because she knew this loss would have scattered Kíli's heart.
The dark haired man reached her a rolled up piece of parchment. "The dwarf prince ordered to give this to you."
Her throat was squeezed while she rolled it out. Her eyes flashed over the sentences, even though there were few.

Tauriel,

I know it's been a while, but I haven't forgotten you.
Every moment of the day it seems like your dancing through my thoughts.
This memory of you is all I cling to in dark times.
And unfortunately, there have been many.
Hopefully you will become more than a memory, for I miss you.

As you know, I can't travel to Mirkwood, but know that I'm still waiting for you
until you have found a chance to meet me.

Kíli

Her eyes became watery and she bit on her cheek. She would go to him. It was a gruesome twist of Fate that she would assault his city soon. She had sworn to serve her king and she couldn't defile her honor, despite her contradictory feelings.
She took a deep a breath and hid away the letter.
"Warn him," she whispered and she grabbed his hand in despair. "In case Thranduil really wants to wipe out Erebor."
And suddenly Tauriel knew he would do so. His silence toward her was fully logical now and she felt ashamed of her blindness. She should have seen through. Now she could only hope the dwarfs would have enough time to find allies. She knew she could not stop this war, but she would do everything in her might to slow it down.