The first time she laid eyes on him, they were in the presence of King Thranduil.

To say that Tauriel was intimidated was an understatement struggling to meet its equal. She did not note anyone other than her King as she knelt at his feet, head bent, waiting to be allowed to rise. She was fiercely determined to not show any sign of weakness, any indication of fear.

If she happened to look upon an elf equally young as her, clad in majestic robes and remaining in the shadows, as her audience came to an end, she did not take particular heed of it.

The first time she saw him, really saw, was at the Feast of Starlight. The first one she was old enough to attend, still a mere infant among the elves of both high and low ranks.

Tauriel had been familiar enough with her kingdom's beauty before, but the feast made her realize how limited, in fact, her knowledge was.

Mirkwood was lit up, at first by the soft colors of dawn. Changing from azure to crimson, evolving into a fire of various tones of orange in turn and marking patterns along the sky long before the sun rose. Then, as evening neared and night fell upon them, a cloak of deep blue eloped it while, little by little, stars appeared. Their clear, enchanting light was completed by the moon.

In a way, she thought, the night was much brighter than day.

Tauriel was speechless at the sight of so many of her kin indulging in food and drink from seemingly another world. There appeared to be candles on each table and in every corner of the maze of corridors. No matter how many times she put it to the test and actively sought the source of the hypnotic light, however, her hand met simple cold stone. If one looked closely, it might have a life of its own.

She discarded the thought as soon as it had entered her head. She was at a feast, after all. Not quite a child anymore, harboring fantasies and fairy tales in its heart as a means to escape reality. Not quite, although who was to say a child's strange wisdom is not made to enrich life?

Despite her lower social status and inexperience considering events such as these, Tauriel thought it her well-earned right that she could sit on a secluded bench and watch the others with fascination, drink in hand (at first sight, the liquid looked like water and only as it was illuminated by light it shone in all imaginable spectra of colors and as soon as it trickled down the elf's throat, it became clear it was some potion yet alien to Tauriel; it simultaneously filled her with calm and cheer and its taste was to be compared to the ambrosia of the Greek gods alone).

She was distracted from the divine drink for no more than a blink of an eye, but by the time her hand wandered across the festive table's surface to grasp her cup once more, it found nothing but empty air.

Confused, Tauriel scanned her surroundings and only now discerned another elf standing mere feet from her. He, unlike most to be encountered in Mirkwood Realm, had blonde hair and held himself in a collected and confident manner. The latter greatly surprised her, for they seemed to be approximately the same age and as opposed to her, he was at ease with the company of those of high rank, almost like he had been raised so.

Furthermore, he held her cup in his hands and was sipping the delicious potion it contained.

"Is it too much to ask to walk along the south wall to claim one's own refreshment?"

The words were not intended to be spoken and, not for the first time, Tauriel cursed her short temper. She quickly composed herself and stood up, facing the thief whose expression had changed from good humor to incomprehension.

It was not until half the company present stared daggers at her that she realized she had made a grave mistake.

The sensation itself was by no means unknown to her, for her temper had been the cause of trouble on numerous occasions beforehand – at those times, however, she had at least been aware of what she had done wrong.

She saw no better way than to wait for a revelation as she sized up the outraged members of her clan, a sea of faces mirroring each other perfectly in their scandal. Tauriel's gaze met the blonde elf's questioningly.

All of a sudden, a wave seemed to ripple through the crowd as the silence was broken when voices were raised all at once, words overlapping to leave the redhead with a headache as most of the cries were reduced to meaningless gibberish. Some was not.

"Such a shame!"

"- foolish and disrespectful-"

"- not aware of who it is she's talking to, ridiculous is what it is."

In retrospect, as she fought the urge to shout at her family to be silent, Tauriel could have hit her head against a wall in frustration when she studied her cup's captor closer. The resemblance to Thranduil was startling. How had she not seen what was so obvious?

She took a deep breath and positioned her legs as to perform a hint of a curtsey while never taking her eyes off his electric blue ones. Some part of her registered that the murmuring had ceased and the celebration continued on as if there had been no jarring interruption – elves laughing and singing, bathing in the moonlight as if in cold water on a hot summer day.

Tauriel had just made towards the south wall to get another drink – she did not plan to offend the stranger with asking him to give her own back – when he walked up to her. She immediately froze, which seemed to be a reaction he was used to, since he couldn't suppress the ghost of a smirk transforming his features. Knowing full well she should hold her tongue, she blurted out:

"Is this kind of situation normal for you? Taking advantage of those lower than you so your life is easier? Only I had the impudence to not know you from sight."

"I believe we haven't been formally introduced yet. Legolas Greenleaf." His voice was calm, with only a trace of amusement giving his emotional state away.

Tauriel leaned her head to one side, reconsidering. Maybe he was not as arrogant as she would have had him be, except she still saw no reason to like him. She returned the favor and revealed her name in turn.

"I did not know it was your cup.", he confessed before she could decide if leaving the feast was a good idea or not. He was watching her carefully.

"Oh, really? Since when have inanimate objects acquired the skill to move at will, then? Surely that was how it ended up on my table.", Tauriel teased, relieved to see him throw back his head and laugh. At least she wouldn't be thrown into the dungeon tonight. Unlike Thranduil, who had a tendency to scare her, his relative made for a pleasant companion.

If he was not the reason one was humiliated in public, that was, she mused. Even in her mind, the sarcasm was thinly veiled.

When he held out his hand to her, palms up, she could do nothing at first but stare at it blankly.

"Would you like to dance with me?", Legolas asked, his grin widening.

Tauriel hesitantly brought up her own hand to cover his. As she felt him lead her to the part of the hall that was not full of tables and benches, she regarded him from the side.

"What are you doing – saving my reputation?"

"There would hardly be any other reason to dance with you." He raised an eyebrow, pretending to be dead serious when she could see that he was barely holding back from laughing again. Tauriel couldn't help but wonder what it was that amused him so much.

Unthinkingly, she stepped close enough to him so she could lean her head against his shoulder the second she heard the music slowing down. As realization to what she had done hit her, she could not bring herself to face Legolas and remained where she was instead. He did not seem to mind, for he made no attempt to push her away. He held her close and they danced in silence, their movements a single fluid one rather than various. Never once did they pause because one had stumbled over the other's feet.

After what could have been minutes as well as hours the music changed. It was now similar to a merry folk song. It seemed an odd choice for an event as their feast to Tauriel, but it gave her the opportunity to disentangle herself from Legolas and find out what she had been burning to ask for a while now.

"You always appeared to be so calm and collected-"

"Whereas you are overly emotional.", he remarked, smiling gently. His eerily accurate observation rendered her speechless for a second during which she wondered how it had come to be that they had got to know each other reasonably well, considering the short amount of time they had spent together. She ignored his interruption as well as she could for the time being and went on.

"How come you laugh so much now?"

Legolas shrugged carelessly. "For the same reason you only curtseyed before me after people told you who you were treating without due respect, however unwillingly." Tauriel noted that he rolled his eyes at the last part of the sentence. She supposed his position did not exclusively carry positive aspects with it.

"You didn't know you'd simply need to in such company."