<sub>How dare I speak to you like an equal? She retraced the words she used, the gestures she made, how he shrugged her outstretched hand from his shoulder, they were no more friends than two trees parted by river. They shared the same source but nothing more. 

She only spoke to him as a friend, her intentions were back by concern, nothing more! Aragorn would die and what then? What would Legolas do, what would Ithilien do, what would Thranduil do, what would she do?</sub>

_{Her gaze wavered in his Iris’s as he stood strong and heated. Defeated, Tauriel dropped her gaze and stepped out of his way. She had lost her friend the moment he departed from the Woodlands, she was the fool who dared to cling to what was instead of what is.}