Strange Encounters

Korra woke up from her unconscious state and rubbed her back as shooting pain crawl up her spine.

"What the?" she mused in confusion while she surveyed her surroundings. "How did I get here?"

Getting up, the young Avatar dusted herself off and grabbed her glider that was lying by her side.

By the position of the sun, it was about five in the afternoon, indicating that it would grow dark in less than two hour's time.

'This is bad,' Korra thought grimly.

She seemed to be in a small clearing, with several trees surrounding her.

'Hmm, a forest maybe?'

Her musings were abruptly interrupted as, suddenly, a group of what seemed to be five men and four children appeared from behind a thick shrub.

All nine people looked up at the strange women in blue and couldn't help but to let their mouths fall.

She carried what looked like a staff. The outline of muscles was seen on her tight blue singlet and her bare arms exposed her large biceps. Wearing foreign attire - long baggy pants and warm boots - she appeared out of place, akin to a fish out of water.

None of these baffled men knew what to say to the surprisingly muscular women.

Korra, however, looked just as surprised as the men.

From her perspective, they were dressed in clothes that seemed highly... outlandish.

An old man wearing grey robes led the strange party and leaned on a strange staff as he levelled the bender with a calculating, almost all-knowing gaze. His companions appeared equally, if not more bizarre than him.

One of them had pointy ears with long blonde hair, while another seemed short and stubby, with heavy armour.

Now that Korra had a closer look, the four people she had thought to be children, were actually very short men with large, hairy feet and also had pointy ears, though not as pointy as the blonde guy.

The two men who, to the Avatar's relief, were normal men, both held impressive statures with hair that reached their shoulders; one with dark brown hair and the other auburn coloured.

As strange as these men were, they were all visibly armed, Korra noted. However, if need be, she knew she could easily use her metal bending to disarm them. It was best not to resort to violence immediately, however.

"...If you don't mind me asking, what is a young woman like yourself doing out in the middle of nowhere?" the old man inquired, clearing his throat.

His question immediately snapped her, and the other men, out of their trances.

It baffled Korra that the man hadn't recognised her as the Avatar.

She didn't know whether to trust him, but with not much choice, she complied.

"I don't know," Korra answered lamely.

Seeing the doubtful expressions which crossed the men's faces, the young Avatar continued.

"I just... woke up here, and then you guys came along," she elaborated unsurely.

All of the men considered this strange statement and raised sceptical eyebrows at her.

The auburn-haired man narrowed his eyes at her remained silent.

"Hmm, do you recall anything before you woke up? Maybe you can figure out how you got here," the old man asked while stroking his rather impressive beard.

Korra frowned and pressed her lips into a straight line – 'concentrating' the old man thought.

"Well, I do remember entering a spirit portal," the bender recalled.

"I'm sorry, spirit portal?" the elderly man interjected.

The stranger's genuine lack of knowledge of the spirit world caused a look of alarm to cross Korra's face.

"W-what is this nation called?" the woman asked, praying to any and all spirits that someone would answer earth kingdom or something of the like.

"...You are in Middle-Earth, milady. We are in Eriador, just outside the borders of Rivendell," the brown-haired man gently informed her.

No recognition showed on her face. The man frowned at this implication.

'Where is this girl from?' he pondered.

Meanwhile, the Avatar seemed to be suffering from an existential crisis as she inwardly tried to make sense of the situation.

The foreign clothes, strange people and no knowledge of something as widely known as the spirit world were all indicating to one thing... something which Korra didn't think was in the realm of possibility. Of course, the alternative explanation was that she'd finally gone crazy, but, if the Avatar had to hazard a guess, she'd say that she was in... another world.

Now, Korra's only problems were figuring out how to return, and also what to do with those present.

She contemplated, for a moment, leaving the strangers and somehow finding her own way back home, but considering she had no knowledge of the possible dangers which this world presented...

'Oh spirits, I hope they believe me.'

"I know this might sound crazy," Korra slowly conceded with a sigh, "but... I think I'm in another world. I've travelled the world many times and I've never come across any place called Rivendell, Eriador or Middle-Earth. You see, I'm from the Southern Water Tribe."

The looks of confusion which the bender received were confirmation enough that her speculation was correct.

"I've never heard of that place. Such a strange name, Water Tribe did you say, odd. What is your name, lassie?" the short, stubby man questioned, his accent the strangest Korra had ever heard.

"I'm Korra," the water-bender responded kindly before doing a traditional Water Tribe bow, much to the other's confusion.

However, they brushed off the matter, assuming it was just the way people from her homeland greeted.

"Formalities don't matter since you guys probably won't have an idea what I'm talking about. What are your names?" she questioned, resolving not to tell them that she was the Avatar.

It's not like they know who or what that is. She'd at least tell them later.

All of them, she noticed, looked questioningly at the old man who still leaned on his staff considering this strange girl.

Despite her rather outrageous statement, all of her words had been spoken with such sincerity that it was hard not to believe her.

She had a trusting face, he thought.

After a few more seconds of contemplation, he nodded to his companions and smiled at this Korra. It was a strange name, to say the least.

'A strange name for a strange girl,' he thought humorously.

"I am the wizard, Gandalf the Grey," the newly dubbed, Gandalf, spoke kindly, bowing slightly as he introduced himself.

'Wizard?' Korra repeated in her head dubiously. 'As in magic?'

Korra eyed the elderly man curiously, bowing in return. The blonde guy stepped up.

"I am Prince Legolas Greenleaf of Mirkwood," he greeted, eyes surveying Korra with interest before adding, "I'm an elf," in an unsure tone, wondering whether she knew what an elf was.

"And I'm Gimli son of Gloin, a dwarf," the short man said in a slightly competitive and proud tone, shooting the 'elf' a challenging glare.

The Avatar could see they were rivals, which amused her. Both the elf and dwarf �� whatever the heck those were, Korra thought – bowed, and Korra returned it as she did with Gandalf.

"I'm Boromir of Gondor. The steward's son," the auburn-haired man stated his name, after a moment of hesitation of course, and bowed rather stiffly.

The bender wasn't quite fond of this 'Boromir,' but returned his bow nonetheless.

The curly-haired man bowed before saying his own name.

"My name is Stri-" he was interrupted by a quick "ahem" from Gandalf. Looking as though he was restraining himself from rolling his eyes, the man continued.

"I'm Aragorn. Though I am also known as Strider, Ranger of the North," he said, giving Gandalf a slightly pointed looked as he said 'also'.

The man glanced at the four 'men' hiding behind the others.

"I think we should also introduce our four hobbits. That is Frodo Baggins," the Ranger said, pointing at the young 'hobbit' with short curly brown hair who seemed to wince slightly at his sudden introduction.

"That is Samwise Gamgee," indicating to the rather plump little hobbit whose cheeks turned bright red under her gaze.

The young Avatar couldn't help but let out a chuckle at this, leading to Sam's whole face turning into a seemingly impossible shade of red. Aragorn failed to hide his own smirk but continued the introductions.

"And those two are Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrine Took. Otherwise known as Merry and Pippin," the Ranger stated as he directed my gaze to the remaining hobbits in turn.

Both hobbits smirked and bowed deeply - a little too deeply. Korra smiled at the two hobbits and imitated their bow, which made them chuckle.

"That's all of us. Now I believe we should make camp here," Aragorn half glanced at Gandalf, who nodded in agreement.

The sun was now setting and darkness slowly crept across the sky.

"You all have really weird names," the bender stated quite bluntly.

"Our names are strange? What about your name, Korra? Your name is also strange, is it not?" Aragorn inquired bemusedly, raising a curious eyebrow.

The woman laughed but didn't respond.

"Anyways, after we set up camp, we will tell you of Middle-Earth and in turn, you could probably tell us of your world?" Aragorn offered.

Everyone glanced at her with curious eyes, they were all eager to know more about her world.

"Well, it sounds fair to me. Besides, I'm dying to know more about this world," Korra said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"We are also curious of your world," Aragorn admitted with a small smile, crouching down in the middle of the clearing as he began to gather little twigs to start a fire.