Chapter 1: An Unexpected Arrival

Katara groaned as she slowly opened her eyes and groggily sat up, trying to remember all she could before she suddenly blacked out. She remembered waking up on an average morning with her friends Aang and Toph, and her brother Sokka and helping them clear out camp, then engaging Aang and Toph in a sparring match to keep her bending in shape before continuing their flight through the Fire Nation, courtesy of Aang's flying bison, Appa. But before the bison could take off, however, Katara suddenly felt herself freeze and saw only a white light. Then the next thing she saw was a woman with long yellow hair and in a white gown speaking in a strange language that she had never heard before in her life, and after that she blacked out. When she woke up, she felt like she just fought every round of Earth Rumble VI consecutively, as most of her strength seemed to have left her. The water-bender looked up and tried her best to survey her surroundings. From what she could tell, she was in the middle of a strange forest at night, and that she was apparently alone. As soon as she realized the latter, worry began to eat away at her like acid.

Oh no, what are the others going to do? Katara thought as she began to ponder the others' reaction to her sudden disappearance. Knowing Aang, the air-bender would most likely have the worst reaction, more than anything trying everything in his power to try and find her. Sokka would've initially tried to dismiss it, but eventually concern for his sister would overshadow his macho attitude and he'd start looking for her as well. Toph, on the other hand, would probably shrug it off entirely and more likely try to take a nap or something. Just as she was about to try and call out for, well… anyone, Katara saw something in the corner of her eye: a light.

Looks like a camp of some kind, the water-bender thought as she turned around and started walking in the direction of the light, maybe if I go over there, I can at least get some information on where I am. But as she continued walking in the direction of the light, she began to hear faint sounds in the distance… sounds that sounded like screams for help. Having gotten used to that ominous sound during her travels, Katara's warrior instincts went into overdrive, and she broke into a run toward the light. Once the water-bender got close enough to the source of the light, she hid behind a tree in hope that no one would be able to see her. After getting to cover, she heard voices among the pleading.

"Don't bother cookin' 'em," a voice said in a rather strange accent, "Let's just sit on 'em and squash 'em into jelly." Peeking out from behind the tree, Katara tried to get a look at the scene… and almost wished that she hadn't. In a clearing before her was a campfire with a crude-looking roasting spit with several struggling people on it, which was being tended to by three large and rather ugly creatures with thick grey skin. Her eyes widening with fear, Katara quickly hid back behind the tree and began hyperventilating.

"Okay Katara, that was probably the dumbest thing you've ever done," Katara muttered to herself, "How are you supposed to take on those things by yourself?" While Katara began weighing the risk of engaging the creatures in a fight, she suddenly heard a voice.

"Wait!" the voice said, "You are making a terrible mistake." Katara looked out from behind the tree and saw a rather small person tied up in a sack slowly manage to get to his feet and hobble over to the creatures, despite the protests of the others. Katara couldn't hear much at first, but then she began to make out what the small fellow was saying.

"Well, have you smelled them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up," the small person quipped, prompting a flurry of angry shouts from his companions. Katara was shocked by the small person's words. Why would he do something like that? Then it suddenly dawned on her: the small person was trying to stall for time. But what was he stalling for? Deciding to worry about the reason at a later time, Katara drew some water out of her pouch and prepared herself for combat, waiting for just the right opportunity to take the monsters by surprise. After a few moments of waiting, one of the creatures walked over to the small person and growled something she couldn't hear at him, giving the water-bender her opportunity to strike. Summoning all her courage, Katara sprang into action, releasing a water whip that tripped two of the creatures and startling the third. The creatures tried to turn around and see what was attacking them, only to be greeted with blasts of water that struck them in the face, sending them stumbling backward and away from their captives. Quickly recovering, the creatures stomped over and tried to fight back against the mysterious girl with magic over water.

"She's too quick!" the monster in the vest cried as he tried to swing his club-like arms at Katara, only for the water-bender to gracefully leap to the side and send him teetering with a water jet to the side of his head. Another of the monsters, this one wearing an apron and having a blind left eye, attempted to stomp on Katara and crush her, but once again Katara's superior agility won the bout and the creature ended up disoriented by an icy sphere encasing his head. The third monster, and notably bare-chested, charged over and tried to stab at her with a large (at least from her perspective) pocket knife, the blade barely missing her within mere inches.

…

Bilbo watched the spectacle before him with sheer amazement. The trolls had started to stop taking his stalling seriously and were about to cook him and his companions, when suddenly a girl came from seemingly nowhere and began battling the trolls with a strange magic that allowed her to control water itself like a liquid puppet, changing into different forms and attacks with just mere waves of her hands. The girl was also remarkably agile as well, moving gracefully between the trolls' attacks and landing direct hits on the beasts with her water magic. As the fight went on, the Hobbit couldn't help but wonder: was this maiden related to the Elves in any way? She moved like one, and she certainly fought like one, but something about her suggested otherwise.

…

Katara fought as hard as she could against the three horrid beasts as they began to encircle her to try and take her down in a gang attack. By this point, she thought they would tire, but she was impressed, and shocked, at their endurance, as they quickly got back up after being knocked over by her water-bending. The vested creature moved in and tried to grab her with his massive hands, only to see her swerve sideways and out of his reach. This, however, was just what the creature was hoping for, as the creature in the apron, who had managed to free his head from its icy prison, moved in and tried to smash her with a giant cooking spoon, which Katara leapt out of the way of before it hit the ground. The third monster made his move then and there. When Katara's back was turned and her attention focused on the other two creatures, the other beast lunged forward and grabbed the water-bender by her leg and hoisting her into the air, Katara giving out a startled cry in response. As the water-bender tried to use another attack in an attempt to make him to drop her, the creature caught her arm and held her at arm's length.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a witch, boys," the creature in the apron snarled with a malicious grin as he approached the struggling girl.

"Yeah, and maybe if we cook her along with the dwarves and the burglar-hobbit, maybe we can get her magic for ourselves," the vested creature said with a sinister chuckle. Katara gasped and widened her eyes, knowing that this may just be the end for her. A million thoughts seemed to rush through her head at once. What would happen to her home if she wasn't back to stop the Fire Nation? How would Aang stop the Fire Lord? Who would keep Sokka and Toph in line? Before she could think of anything else, everyone heard a voice booming out of nowhere.

"The dawn will take you all!" the voice cried as everyone turned to see where the voice came from. Katara saw an old man with a long grey beard, wearing a grey cloak and carrying a long staff, standing on a rocky ledge.

"Who's that?" the bare-chested monster asked.

"No idea," the monster in the apron replied.

"Can we eat him, too?" the vested monster inquired as he licked his lips. The old man raised his staff in response and slammed it down onto the rock, breaking a chunk of it off and revealing a blast of blinding sunshine behind it. As Katara tried to shield her eyes from the intense light with her free arm, she suddenly felt herself dropping to the ground as she heard the creatures crying out in pain. When she looked back up, all she saw were three large statues of what the monsters used to be. As the water-bender shakily rose to her feet, Katara heard the sounds of cheering and laughter from behind her. Katara turned around and saw the dwarves that were still on the spit looking at her and the old man, cheering happily.

"Oh, get your foot out of my back!" one of the dwarves cried out.

…

After a few minutes of using her water-bending to cut through the ropes and burlap sacks, Katara managed to free the dwarves and their smaller companion. Before she could ask any questions about where she was, however, the old man from before approached her.

"I must say, young lady, you were very brave to take on three trolls at once on your own, especially with magic like yours," the old man said, "But may I ask, who are you and where are you from?"

"Well, my name is Katara," Katara replied, "And I'm actually not from around here. My home is somewhere really far away from here. I don't even know how I got here in the first place." This piqued the old man's interest. However, he remembered something before he could ask another question.

"Oh, forgive me. I've forgotten my manners," the old man said, "My name is Gandalf the Grey, although most simply refer to me as Gandalf."

"Pleasure to meet you, Gandalf," Katara politely replied before she turned to the dwarves, who were still stretching out the soreness from being tied up, "So who are your friends?"

"This, my dear Katara, is the company of Thorin Oakenshield," Gandalf replied as he gestured to the dwarf in name. "These are his companions: Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Glóin, Oin, Dori, Nori, Ori; and our Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins," the wizard said as he introduced Katara to each member of the company.

"And I must say, lass, that magic you were using against those trolls was amazing," Bofur complimented, "Where did you learn to do that?"

"I learned the art of water-bending from my master, Pakku," Katara answered, "It wasn't easy, but my friend Aang and I both managed to persuade him to take us both under his wing."

"Why didn't he train you when you first asked him?" Bilbo asked.

"Because Pakku didn't normally take girls as students," Katara explained, "Pakku trained the boys to become warriors to defend to Northern Water Tribe, while girls were trained to become healers. I did receive training in the art of healing, but what I wanted was to become a master water-bender so I could contribute to the war my home is currently in. It took a duel with him and a reminder of his past relationship with my grandmother to make Pakku remember that in times of war, some traditions have to be broken, and he allowed me to become his student alongside Aang."

"And it seems your training paid off, as you were able to fight three mountain trolls by yourself," Thorin said, obviously impressed with Katara's combat prowess. As Katara explained her story to the company, Gandalf was inspecting the stone statues that used to be trolls.

"They must've come down from the Ettenmoors," Gandalf muttered as he tapped the end of his staff on one of the statue's heads.

"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?" Thorin asked, having heard the wizard.

"Oh, not for an age," Gandalf replied as he turned to Thorin, "Not since a darker power ruled these lands." Upon hearing those words, Katara couldn't help but wonder what Gandalf meant by a "darker power." "They could not have moved in daylight," Gandalf observed, seeing as there were hardly any places that the trolls could've used as proper cover from sunlight.

"There must be a cave nearby," Thorin concluded. As the company prepared to head out and search, Gandalf turned to Katara.

"I believe that this may seem too soon to ask, young Katara," Gandalf said as Katara looked over at him, "but I was hoping to ask you to join our company. Our quest will require allies, and your magic over water could certainly help us greatly." Katara's eyes widened for a moment before turning around slightly to think about Gandalf's offer. If she accepted, then maybe she would be able to get some answers to where she was and how she got there. It might even give her an opportunity to try and find a way home. With her decision reached, Katara turned back around to face Gandalf.

"Yes," she said, "if it means that I can find a way home, I'll help you on your quest."

…

Before anything else, I just have to say that the idea for this story has been eating away at me for a while, but there were so many ideas that I went through for the beginning. For this story, I will be mostly sticking to the movie version of The Hobbit, while Katara arrives in Middle-Earth just before the Day of Black Sun, so she'll be wearing her usual outfit instead of her Fire Nation disguise. As always, read, enjoy, and review!