Tauriel braided her hair as fast as she could while she hurried to meet with Feren and the king.

She didn't know why she had been summoned and for a moment she was afraid that she had done something wrong, but as soon as she entered the Throne Room she was greeted with a warm smile by Feren.

Thranduil wasn't smiling, but he didn't seem angry either.
"You summoned me my King?"
Tauriel quickly threw her half-finished braid over her shoulder and stood up straight in front of the king.

"Feren has told me that he has seen you training with my son, is that true?"

His voice was not accusing, or angry, just curious.
Even if it had been Tauriel wouldn't be nervous. Almost everyone knew by now that Legolas had been teaching her how to fight, even though they couldn't understand why he did.

"He has, although he told me just a few weeks ago that there is nothing else that he can teach me."

"Do you believe that he has taught you everything he knows?"

Tauriel nodded.
"Yes, I do believe that."
She wondered what the king was getting at.

"Feren; would you care to tell Tauriel the reason why we have brought her here?"

She turned her attention to Feren who gladly explained:
"I have noticed your skill in combat Tauriel, and since spiders have been troubling us more than ever we could use more elves at the borders, what
would you say to joining the Forest Gaurd?"

Tauriel was speechless. Had he really just said what she thought he did?

Join the Forest Guard? Do they really want me to join the Forest Gaurd?

"If you do not wish to join the Guard that is alright."
Thranduil said slowly.
"Becoming one of the Forest Guard would mean that you would become responsible for the safety of all those who live in the realm. It is a heavy burden that few can carry, and if you feel as if you cannot-"

"I will join the Forest Guard."
Tauriel quickly realized that she had interrupted the king.

I must stop doing that....

Thranduil didn't seem bothered by it, or maybe he was just hiding that fact that he was.

"Are you certain Tauriel? As the king said it would be big responsibilty, and dangerous."
Feren studied her as he waited for her reply.

"I am certain."
Tauriel turned towards the king and waited for his response.
"Very well. If this is your desire than so be it. You will begin your new duties tomorow at dawn."

Tauriel nodded and the king waved his hand to dismiss both her and Feren.

The two elves bowed and left the throne room. Tauriel couldn't believe that she had just joined the Forest Guard!

I have to tell Legolas!

"What do you think Tauriel? You have gone from being a Healer to becoming one of the Forest Guard, and you have only been living among us for only three hundred years."

Tauriel jumped at Feren's voice. She had almost forgotten that he was there.

"I do not know what to think, I cannot thank you enough for recommending me to the king."

Feren chuckled.
"Do not thank me milady, thank Prince Legolas for asking his father to allow you to join the Guard."

Legolas? Legolas did this?

"You will be given your new outfit this evening, as well as a new bow and daggers. Then you will join the prince and the rest of the Guard at the front gate at dawn."

"Alright, may I request that I keep my old daggers?"
Feren looked at her quizzically.
"Are you sure Tauriel? It might serve you better to have new ones."

"I've grown rather attatched to the ones I have."
Tauriel could feel her face turning red but she managed to hide it from Feren.
"Very well, I would recommed getting them sharpened before you head out tomorow though."

Tauriel nodded and once again thanked Feren who shrugged.
"As I said before, it is the prince that you should be giving your thanks to."

At the mention of Legolas Feren's gaze grew thoughtful.
"You and the prince spend a lot of time together."
Tauriel came to an abrupt stop and nearly tripped over her own feet.

Graceful.

"What do you mean?"
"The two of you go out into the forest anytime he is free to do so. I have noticed, the people have noticed, and I have no doubt in my mind that the king knows."

Tauriel refused to meet his gaze as she felt heat rising into her cheeks.

"I am not condeming you for spending time with the prince Tauriel, I am only suggesting that you consider what you are feeling very closely. Some things are not as they seem."

Before she could ask what he meant an elf called for him and Feren had to go speak with him.

"I'm afraid I have to go, but please remember what I said."
With that Feren jogged over to the elf and the two of them began speaking in hushed voices.

Meanwhile Tauriel headed towards her chambers to retrieve her knives to bring them to the blacksmiths.

On her way she almost ran into a familiar figure.
"Greetings milady."
Legolas bowed, then took her hand and kissed it.

Tauriel held back a laugh as she bowed dramatically in front of him.
"Good day my Prince."
The two of them laughed at their joke that they used almost everytime they met each other.

Tauriel never called Legolas "My Prince" or "My Lord" and Legolas never called her "Milady."

"I trust that you have heard the news then?"
Legolas arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"I did, and I would have appreciated it if you would have warned me before hand that you were going to ask your father to let me join the Forest Guard."

Legolas shrugged.
"I wanted it to be a surprise."
Tauriel smiled and shook her head.
"Well, it was a very nice one."

Legolas smiled and stepped aside to allow her to pass.
"I will not keep you from getting your new weapons, and I will see you tomorow morning."

"Oh! Well, I am not getting new weapons Legolas."
He looked at her in confusion.
"Are you not joining the Guard?"
"I am, but I am keeping my old daggers. Although I will allow myself a new bow."

Legolas smiled.
"In that case, I have something to show you."
Tauriel finally noticed that he had been hiding something behind his back, he pulled out the last thing Tauriel had expected to see.

"Legolas," she breathed, "It is beautiful."
"Do you like it?"
"I love it."

Tauriel took the newly made bow from Legolas, she ran her hand over the smooth, dark wood that was decorated with golden leaves.

"I had it made especially for
you."
Tauriel looked up at Legolas and noticed that he was blushing.
"I love it, thank you Legolas. For everything."

He nodded and once again moved aside to let her pass.
"Until tomorow, milady."

Tauriel rolled her eyes as she carefully held her new bow in her hands.

"Rest well your highness."
As they parted ways neither one of the elves could understand why their hearts were beating so fast.

»»»»

Tauriel was dressed in her new Forest Guard attire and had her sharpened knives secure in her sheeths.

She carried the bow Legolas had given her yesterday and had a quiver of arrows strapped to her back.

When she arrived at the gate the elves that made up the small group Legolas headed were already gathered.

Tauriel's eyes searched for one elf in particular and her eyes lit up as soon as she saw him.

Legolas' eyes lit up as well, but he quickly hid it when he addresses his warriors.

"Today we are headed to the Western border, there was a nest spotted near that area and our king wants it completely destroyed."

The elves nodded in agreement, their faces were set in grim determination to rid their home of the fell creatures that lurked in it.

"We have a new guard amongst us today, Tauriel will be accompanying us and I want her with an experienced warrior at all times. And she is to be treated as one of us is that understood?"

Tauriel felt the color slighty leave her face as all the elves turned to face her.

She couldn't read any of their expressions or tell what they were thinking.

Perhaps it is a good thing that I don't know.

Once Legolas was assured that everyone had heeded his orders and was ready to go they set out.

They walked across the stone bridge that led into the palace, but as soon as they entered the forest they took the trees.

Tauriel watched as they immediately vanished from sight, and then quickly scrambled to follow them.

The elves moved through the treetops with speed and grace that could not be matched by any.

Tauriel had pleanty of experience with climbing and racing over treebranches, but she would often lose herself to amazement and wonder as she watched the elves around her, flying like shadows through the trees.

She caught sight of a familiar flash of golden hair and began to make her way towards Legolas.

Once she reached his side he smiled and continued moving through the treetops.

They had been going for about thirty minutes when Legolas finally ordered them to halt.

Tauriel stood next to Legolas on a branch and took in the sight in front of her.

She had never been this far into the forest before and couldn't believe her eyes.

It was dark, an evil air hung about them, and in front of her as far as the eye could see were webs.

Long, thick, disgusting webs.
Filled with leaves, twigs, and the remains of small birds and animals.

The sight made Tauriel sick to her stomach. Legolas, who had seen this many times and was now used to it, called for his elves to gather around him.

"The spiders are nearby, and I believe that something has caused them to leave their nest although I doubt it was us."

"What could it be then?"
The elves glared at Tauriel, who had no idea what she had done wrong.

"I do not know."
Legolas replied.
"Whatever it is we need to find out more about it as well as destroy this nest."

Some of the elves couldn't hide the disbelief on their faces. Wasn't he going to repremand Tauriel for speaking out of place?

Legolas ignored the looks from his warriors and continued to give orders. He pointed at an elf with dark, brown hair and said:

"Take seven elves and enter the nest, destroy whatever eggs you may find and kill whatever spiders are there. Though I doubt that you will find many."

Turning to the ten remaining elves he said,
"The rest of you will follow me. We will find out what has drawn the spiders from their nest and if it poses a threat to us we will handle it with caution. Understand?"

The elves all nodded and Tauriel did the same. Just as the elves were about to split up Legolas approached Tauriel and clasped her shoulder.

"I want you to go with Nârin's group."
Tauriel's face fell, she had wanted to go with Legolas!
She wanted to argue but she had already seen the looks the other elves had been giving her and she didn't want to upset them any more.

"Alright."
Legolas nodded and called to the other elves to follow him. Reluctantly Tauriel stayed behind as they disappeared into the trees.

»»»»

Legolas led his warrior forward without hesitation into the trees. In the distance he could hear shouts and the screeching of spiders.

Whatever had roused them from their nests was putting up a fight.

As they moved closer Legolas peered between the branches of the trees and couldn't believe his eyes.

Dwarves! They are all dwarves!

"My Lord, what are we to do?"
One of the elves asked.
"Do we leave the dwarves to the spiders?"

Legolas shook his head.
"We will aid the dwarves but do not allow them to escape. My father will have questions for them so do not harm them either."

The elves nodded as Legolas quickly explained his plan of attack.

Once everyone knew what they were to do they spread out to take their places.

Legolas meanwhile watched as a spider began lowering itself down onto the ground in the distance.

Without hesitating he ran towards it, pulling out his bow he fitted an arrow into the bowstring and fired it at a spider on the ground.

Holding his bow in his right hand he leapt onto the web the spider was hanging from and swung down onto it, he grabbed another arrow and shot it in the head, killing it instantly and leaping off gracefully he slid under another spider and cut it with one of his arrows.

He then placed that arrow into his bowstring as he came face to face with the group of dwarves.

He kept his arrow aimed at the dwarf in front of him as the rest of his warriors arrived from out of the shadows.

They had killed the other spiders just as they had been ordered to do.

"Drop your weapons."
Legolas ordered.
"And you have my word that no harm will come to you."

The dwarf glared at him and reluctantly dropped his sword. The rest of the dwarves followed his example and dropped their own weapons as well.

He must be their leader.

Legolas lowered his bow and turned towards his warriors.
"Search them."
He ordered.

The elves obeyed immediately and began to move towards the dwarves when one of them suddenly cried out, "Kili!"

Legolas finally noticed the spider that was dragging a young dwarf into the trees. He raised his bow and was about to fire when someone beat him to it.

Legolas watched in a mixture of awe and disbelief as Tauriel and the other elves entered the clearing.

She had her knives out and was killing the spiders that had followed them.

As she fought against a large spider the dwarf, who had been in trouble earlier, was shouting for her to throw him a dagger.

"Quick!"
He called as a spider began to advance on him.
"If you think that I am giving you a weapon dwarf,"
Tauriel thrust her knife into the spider she was fighting then quickly spun around,
"You are mistaken!"

She threw the knife into the spider's head, killing it instantly.
The dwarf looked at the spider; and then at Tauriel in bewilderment.

Two elves came over and brought the dwarf over to the others while Legolas approached Tauriel.

"Is the nest destroyed?"
He asked her in elvish.
"Yes, the spiders either fled south or were killed."
She replied.

Legolas nodded his approval and gestured towards the dead spider.
"You may want to retrieve your dagger."

Tauriel nodded and went to grab it while an elf called for Legolas' attention.

He turned towards the elf in question who held a sword in his hands.

Legolas took the sword and inspected it.
"This is an ancient elvish blade, forged by the high elves of Gondolin."

His voice revealed that he was in awe of the blade, and if he had allowed it his eyes would have shown wonder as well.

But Legolas kept a stern expression on his face and he faced the lead dwarf.

"Where did you get this?"
"It was given to me."
Came the gruff reply.
"By whom?"
The dwarf refused to answer which caused Legolas to narrow his eyes.

"What is your name? And why are you in our lands?"
Still no reply.
Legolas studied the other dwarves and saw that none of them were going to give him an answer either.

"Very well, if you will not answer to me then you will answer to the king."

He turned towards the elves and shouted, "Take them away!"
The elves grabbed the dwarves and shoved them forward.

As they passed him Legolas barely heard one of them whisper in a frightened tone, "Where's Bilbo?"