The Journey Continues

Everyone woke up early that morning, except for Korra that is. Aragorn, who had slept next to her, shook her from sleep.

"Tenzin, it's too early for training, go bother your kids or something," Korra mumbled sleepily, rolling over and going back to sleep.

The man, now looking thoroughly confused, gently shook her again.

"It's Aragorn, wake up, we've got to go," he said softly, wondering who Tenzin was.

Korra opened one eye before sitting bolt upright, narrowly missing the Ranger's head as she did so.

"Whoa. So it wasn't a dream?" she muttered to herself as she rubbed her head.

She looked around at everyone, they seemed to be waiting on her. She smiled sheepishly, got up and grabbed her glider.

"Ready."

They began to walk, hiking a steep hill. Questions about the end of the story were immediately fired at the Avatar, and she agreed to tell them the end.

"Okay, okay. Um, where was I up to again?" Korra asked, still a little sleepy.

"Aang was about to kill the Fire Lord when he found another way to restore balance, but you didn't tell us what he did."

Surprisingly enough, it was Pippin who immediately answered. The bender saw that everyone had fallen back in ear range to hear her.

"Right. Anyway, as Pippin said, Aang was about to kill the Fire Lord when he found another way to restore balance. He found a way to take the Fire lord's bending away."

"How?" Legolas and Gimli spoke at the same time, making them scowl at each other.

"Well, he bent the energy within the Fire lord and removed his ability to bend," Korra responded.

Everyone gaped.

Gandalf fell back to Korra's side.

"This Aang...he could bend the energy in other people?" Gandalf inquired, his tone impressed and yet fearful at the same time.

He wondered how a child of twelve could have such power. He pitied those that were unfortunate enough to cross paths with him.

"Yeah, cool right? Anyway, after that Ozai was thrown into prison, Zuko had become the new Fire Lord, and he and Aang helped rebuild the other nations and restore the honour of the Fire Nation. That's the end of my story," the Avatar concluded.

Most of them smiled, satisfied, but Pippin still had questions, obviously.

"That was supposed to be a summary?" Pippin asked incredulously.

"Yep," Korra replied, popping the 'p'.

"Are any of them still alive?" the Hobbit questioned again.

The others frowned at the question, they had not thought of that.

"Yes. Toph, Zuko and Katara are still alive, but Aang and Sokka, they passed away before I was born," Korra confessed solemnly.

Pippin, along with the others, bowed his head in sombre respect.

They all had grown to like Aang in this story and all felt genuinely sad for him.

"Does that mean, he was reincarnated?" The voice that spoke was soft, it was Frodo.

The bender nodded, though slightly shocked. She had never heard him talk before, he seemed shy and nervous. She didn't blame him, carrying such a burden, she realised how he often rubbed his chest.

With her metal bending, she could feel the ring on a chain around his neck and wondered if she could mould it with metal bending. She'd better not try though, just in case it made matters worse.

"Do you know who he was reincarnated into?" Aragorn probed after a moment of silence.

Aragorn and Legolas both noticed the woman grow tense. They wondered why.

Korra was internally berating herself. She'd completely forgotten to tell them! Oh well, better late than never.

"Well, yes... Actually, there's something that I've been meaning to tell you," the bender started nervously, "I guess I should introduce myself properly."

Her statement earned puzzled gazes. After a moment's hesitation, Korra breathed a sigh and bowed once again.

"I'm Avatar Korra, the Avatar after Aang."

Everyone stared at her, completely astonished.

"I did mean to tell you last night, but I guess it just slipped my mind," she explained, a sheepish expression playing on her features

Gandalf, slightly shaken, uttered, "You are the Avatar, the one that has mastery over the four elements?"

"I've had my fair share of bad people that have tried to throw the world into chaos. Emphasis on tried by the way. I can help you with your problem you know? I may not know my way around, but I can still fight," Korra stated confidently, determined to make a point.

The aged wizard considered her words.

Having a powerful ally against Sauron would certainly prove to be useful, but he needed her to be sure about joining their dangerous adventure.

"Are you sure? Don't you have to worry about finding your way home?" Gandalf questioned.

"Sometimes, the best way to solve your own problems is to first help someone else," the Avatar repeated the words spoken to her by Iroh, smiling fondly at the memory of the wizened old man.

'She's wiser than she looks,' the wizard thought pleasantly.

"Very well. We humbly accept your help," Gandalf stated, bowing in appreciation.

Korra immediately jumped up and pumped a fist in the air. "Yes!"

The men laughed at her childish but endearing behaviour, causing the young adult to grin sheepishly at them.

"Oh, I mean, thank you," the bender bowed, trying to sound at least a little bit mature.

Later onwards, Korra asked them a few questions about their enemy Sauron and these 'orcs,' which they gladly explained more thoroughly. In return, she answered all their questions.

"Is that a staff? What do you use it for?" Legolas queried.

"It's my glider. I use it to fly," Korra corrected with a grin.

"Prove it," Boromir challenged haughtily.

The Avatar cast the Gondorian a flat look.

'Don't believe me do you?'

"Gladly," Korra accepted.

And with that, she opened her glider, and took off in the air, keeping in mind to stay reasonably close to the ground.

Everyone looked bewildered. She could fly. What other talents did she have hidden up her sleeve?

The bender purposely flew right by Boromir and knocked him off his balance, then hit him in the back with a strong air blast with her free hand. He landed square on his face.

She landed next to him and held out her hand, laughing.

"I wonder where that sudden gust of wind came from. How strange," the Avatar spoke sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

Boromir scowled lightly at her before he laughed himself, much to the surprise of the others.

"You're a strong young lady, I'll give you that... I'm sorry for being rude," the man apologised sincerely while looking down, genuinely ashamed of his actions.

"It's all right. I've had to cop a lot of stuff before, I'm used to it," Korra said, waving a dismissive hand. "Now are you going to let me help you up or would you rather sit in the dirt all day."

Her kindness shocked the Gondorian, leaving him momentarily frozen before he smiled gratefully at her and took her hand.

The woman had a surprisingly firm grip, hefting Boromir to his feet with relative ease.

He had been serious when he said she was strong. Though he didn't want to admit it out loud, he knew she could easily take him down.

Once he recovered from his little tumble he asked Korra, "How did you fly?"

"I control the air currents around my glider and fly. I'm also an air bender, remember?" the woman teasingly responded, causing Boromir to huff and cross his arms.

Out of curiosity, Korra had asked how old they all were.

"I'm twenty-seven, and Merry's thirty-two," Pippin said enthusiastically.

"I'm thirty-six. Master Frodo's fifty-three," Sam said.

"I'm eighty-seven," Aragorn answered softly, earning incredulous looks from the Hobbits, Korra, as well as Boromir.

Gimli puffed out his chest and grinned widely, saying, "I'm only one hundred and twenty-seven."

"I'm two thousand six hundred and fifty-four," Legolas answered Korra, rolling his eyes at the Dwarf.

Gandalf had to think a little before answering, "Boromir, I believe, is forty and I'm nearing the age of two thousand years on Middle Earth. Henceforth, Legolas is the oldest out of the Fellowship."

Korra noted that the Istari had said that he was two-thousand years on Middle Earth, which indicated that he could be much older.

She decided to let the matter drop and instead gave Legolas a surprised look.

"That old? Sheesh, you look like you're in your twenties," the bender commented, disbelief in her voice.

"Actually, young one, Legolas is considered quite young among the race of the elves," Gandalf informed, chuckling softly when Korra did a double-take.

"Young?!" the Avatar shouted.

"Indeed I am. See, elves are immortal, and as for why I look young, we never physically age either," Legolas's stated in a mirthful tone, clearly amused by Korra's outburst.

The woman looked taken aback when he mentioned immortality.

"However, elves can die either by being slain in battle or from a broken heart," the elf added, all signs of humour disappearing from his voice.

Korra noticed that Aragorn flinched at those words and reached for his neck.

'Probably a necklace.'

She then saw that all of them were looking at her questioningly.

"Oh right. I'm only twenty-five," the Avatar stated, drawing a bark of laughter out of Pippin.

"I have to admit, I thought you were older because of the wisdom that your eyes held, but I suppose that is because you are the Avatar," admitted Gandalf as he cast her a side glance.

"Yeah, maybe," Korra shrugged, a little miffed that she was the youngest and that Pippin was still giggling like a little girl.

"But, that means you're still the youngest," the mischievous Hobbit jeered in a sing-song voice.

Giving Pippin an unimpressed look, the bender shifted the earth beneath his feet. A chorus of laughter could be heard as said Hobbit fell flat on his face.

Let's just say, he didn't bother the Avatar about her age again.

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They set up camp in a small clearing. Sam had started a fire and began to cook. He was an awesome cook, almost as good as Lin's cook in Zoa Fu.

She sat in between Aragorn and Gandalf.

"You know, I really wish my friends were here, they'd like you guys," Korra said fondly.

This reminded the Ranger of the morning when she had called him 'Tenzin.'

"When I woke you this morning, you called me Tenzin," he stumbled over saying the name.

"Tenzin is my mentor. He taught me air bending," the Avatar answered, a little embarrassed that she had called him Tenzin.

Confused, the man asked, "Air bending? But how, wasn't Aang the last air bender?"

"Well, yes, but Aang had three kids with Katara. Bumi, an air bender, Kaiya, a water bender, and Tenzin, an air bender. Tenzin had three kids, who are all air benders. Jinora, Ikki and Meelo," Korra explained.

"What were some of the enemies you had to face if you don't mind me asking?" the Ranger said the last bit quickly, not wanting to offend her.

Leaning on a rock, the Avatar placed her hands on her head, speaking calmly as she listed her enemies.

"Well, there was Amon, a crazy blood bender who could take away peoples bending. There was Tarrlok, who merged with the dark spirit Vatu and became a giant dark avatar and threw the world into darkness. There was Za'heer, a guy who obtained the ability to air bend when I opened the spirit portals and forced me into my strongest state with poison that would end the reincarnation cycle for good. And there was Kuvira, who harvested spirit vines and created this huge spirit beam canon and a platinum giant the stood over a hundred feet tall and tried to take over the Earth Kingdom. Fortunately, my friends and I were able to take them down... in that order too."

Aragorn and the others looked completely horrified. They were still deciding whether to be more shocked about her powerful enemies or her calm tone.

"How did you defeat them?" Aragorn had asked, gaping at her.

"That's a long story," Korra laughed.

"We have a long night. Besides, we'd like to know your story... Please," Gandalf half begged.

The bender conceded with a playful roll of her eyes.

Everyone edged in closer as they did the previous night. They liked her stories.

'She and Bilbo would get along rather well,' the wizard thought.

"Well, I was seventeen and I had just arrived in Republic City to master my last element, air. I had always excelled at the other three elements but I couldn't even produce a single measly puff of air. I never excelled at the spiritual side of bending either. Air-bending was a...challenge. Amon led a group called the equalist's, who believed that equality was the only path to peace. They hated benders basically. Amon had said that the spirits granted him the power to take people's bending away, and of course I thought he was nuts. That was until I saw it with my own eyes."

Everyone gaped.

"I thought only the Avatar possessed that ability. Why would the spirits of your world grant that power? Aren't they supposed to be on your side?" Legolas questioned.

Korra couldn't decide whether to frown or laugh.

"One, even though the spirits are impossible to negotiate with, they are good... most of the times anyways. Two, Amon was secretly a water bender, who somehow used blood bending to take people's bending away," Korra answered, involuntarily shivering at the memory of the creepy water bender.

The elf and the others looked terrified.

'Did she just say blood bending?'

"But, I thought you said there were only four elements," Aragorn probed as he raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"They are the four main elements," Korra sighed.

"So there are other elements?" Gandalf asked, wording it as if he suspected that there were other elements to begin with.

"Yes, the other elements are called base elements, because they are, well, they're based off the four elements," the Avatar affirmed.

The wizard raised a questioning eyebrow in response.

"Would you be so kind as to name some of them?" he asked.

"Well, there are common ones like sand bending, then there are the rare ones like lightning bending, and then there are the ultra-rare ones like blood bending," the bender said.

"I see," Gandalf murmured, nodding in understanding. "So this Amon is a water bending prodigy? Like how, er, what was her name...Toph? Yes, yes, that must be her. Like how Toph was with earth bending?"

The old man's inquiry earned a hum of affirmation.

Seemingly satisfied for now, Gandalf gestured a hand and said, "Please continue."

"Right, well anyway..." The story went on for a couple of hours.

Korra introduced Mako, Bolin, Asami and everyone else.

The company was glad to find out that Toph had children. Not to mention, all were thoroughly impressed by the power which the Avatar's enemies possessed and even more so when they'd discovered out how she defeated them.

Unaware to Korra, she gave them all hope for their own adventure. All of her situations seemed impossible to overcome and yet she found a way around it.

They all looked at her with newfound respect, even Boromir.

They were especially intrigued by her story about her poisoning, and how she went to the swamp where she found Toph and got the poison out with metal bending, which, to their delight, the young woman had mastered.

'Metal bending will be useful,' they all thought.

"Then, the spirit beam caused a spirit portal to be created in the middle of Republic City when I saved Koovira and she told her men to stand down. Asami and I went on a vacation in the spirit world and yeah, that's it," Korra finished.

By now everyone was huddled close.

Pippin was the first to break the silence by saying, "Wow."

The others just nodded in agreement, still a little flabbergasted.

"What happened after?" Frodo asked.

"Well, I spent two years mastering a few more base elements, and another two years going around the world helping out where I could. Actually, I was helping a family find their missing pet when I stumbled in a spirit portal and was somehow transported here. That's the end of my story," the bender replied, happy that Frodo was comfortable enough to freely ask her questions.

Now everyone looked satisfied.

"Have you got any more surprising talents that we need to know about?" Aragorn asked with a raised brow.

"Yep, but I'll leave those as a...last resort," Korra answered.

"Will you tell us what they are?" Pippin probed hopefully.

The Avatar shook her head promptly, a smile playing on her lips.

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p' and winking at them, "I'll leave it as a surprise."

Everyone else looked slightly disheartened, Merry and Pippin the most.

"What do you mean by last resort?" Boromir spoke for the first time that night.

"Well, when I say last resort, I mean my most powerful... state," Korra answered cryptically.

"Most powerful? You mean you have stronger abilities than the four elements?" Aragorn asked, shock crossing his scruffy features.

Everyone looked at her with questioning eyes.

"Yes," came the benders short answer.

"You mean like the one Z-Za," Frodo stuttered over the foreign name.

"Za'heer," Korra finished for him.

"Yes. Do you mean like the one he forced you into? Your strongest state did you say?" the Ring-bearer questioned.

"Yes like that. That state is called the Avatar State, where I'm at my most powerful," the young bender described.

"Do you think we'll be able to see you in this Avatar State?" the Ranger queried.

"Well, it depends," Korra confessed, frowning in concentration.

Aragorn shifted slightly closer.

"On what?" he probed.

"It depends on whether I need to use it. Like if the enemy is too overwhelming," the young woman clarified.

Gandalf leaned back on a rock and puffed on pipeweed which seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Well, I guess there's a good chance we'll see this Avatar State," the old man stated surely.

'Well, I hope I'm in control when you do,' the bender mused, nodding absently.

Pippin shook her from her thoughts with another question.

"How can we tell if you're in the Avatar State, I mean you could be in it now for all we know?" the Hobbit playfully shook an accusing finger in front of Korra's face.

"No I'm not in the Avatar State, and trust me, you'll know it when it happens," she assured, shooing away Pippin's little finger.

The Hobbit crossed his arms at the undetailed response.

"How?" he asked.

"You'll see," Korra replied, a mysterious smirk making its way across her face.

With that, she leaned back on the rock behind her and quickly fell asleep. The others soon followed as they slumbered around the campfire, leaving only three awake.

Legolas, Aragorn and Gandalf were silent for a few minutes before the Ranger spoke.

"What do you think she meant by you'll know it when it happens?"

"I don't know. But we must trust the girl if we want her to trust us in return," the wizard answered, placing his smoking pipe back within the confines of his grey robes.

"Yes, I agree. She is strong considering her age, and her..." Legolas hesitated

Gandalf chuckled and finished off the Elf's sentence, "Gender? Yes, I was quite surprised myself."

Aragorn nodded and gazed down at Korra who was sleeping to his left.

"You two should get some rest, I'll take first watch," the man said, making sure his tone left no room for argument.

The old man and the elf complied and drifted off to sleep, leaving the Ranger to contemplate their situation.

'So, we met a young lady, who can control all elements. Thank Eru she's on our side.'

Aragorn shook his head.

'If Sauron had her as an ally, we'd be doomed.'

He looked from her to Frodo's neck where the ring lay.

'I wonder if she hears its whispering. I'll have to discuss this with Gandalf.'

He jumped as he looked at the moon and saw that his time was up.

'That was quick.'

He went over to Legolas and shook him from his sleep. The elf immediately awoke.

"It's your watch," he informed before returning to his place next to Korra and Pippin and fell asleep.