#I set this (generally) in the immediate aftermath of the BOTFA-- hope that works

[swordoaths]

@viaminvenia wrote:  ❝ i am glad to see you safe and sound. ❞   (sigrid to tauriel)

   Echoes of past and present ruin hovered over Dale, joining forces with the fog to create a shroud over what once had been a serene place. This shroud muffled the cries for help and thinly blurred horrific images of those who could not be saved. All things moved slower under its spell, with each step more painful  than the last, for it revealed how widespread the loss of life had been. It was in this daze that Tauriel searched, the swift agility of her kind no longer present as she stumbled forward, half-lost, yet still clinging fiercely to hope. It could not be that all her friends were lost to the battle. It simply could not be.

   But there was one voice that stood out amongst the others--- one that she had heard back at Laketown. Tauriel turned sharply to her left, eyes widened in disbelief. All at once, the shroud had been lifted. Relief released the tension built up in her shoulders as she stepped toward the voice that called to her. “How it lifts my heart to see you alive, Sigrid.” Her eyes were quick to scan for injuries. “Tell me, are you hurt?”