Tauriel knew that there was friction, but she saw no reason in trying to pretend Legolas was not involved. He was a part of her life; and when it boiled down to it, he had accompanied her up the mountain to warn Thorin and his company, just as she had gone with him to Gundabad. He had put as much into the dwarves as she had, and she would be forever grateful for that loyalty.

"He came with me, to try to warn you," she explained. Of course, that was just a reminder that she had failed in her task; a smile flinched across her face, trying to conceal her consternation.

"If I feared pain, then I would be a poor excuse for a warrior," she answered, instead. "But I am... sorry." Sorry, because she had not been able to take Bolg herself. Because she had saved Kíli three times, but on the fourth she had failed. Because even now she could not seem to act in a way that was right or correct and instead stood there with his runestone in her hand, acting like his return from the dead was not the joyous occasion it truly was. And because the only time she had kissed him had been in his death.