Fellowship on Fire

Author's Note: This is an idea I've had floating around my head for a while. I've always wanted to write a 10th Walker type story, but it seemed a little cliché at this point. So then I thought well, Katniss could be my 10th Walker and this idea was born. You don't have to have read the Hunger Games or the Lord of the Rings to 'get' this story. The idea is that it will be accessible to anyone.

Some questions I expect will come up will be: what about Peeta and Gale and everyone else from the Hunger Games. At this point, don't expect them.

Another possible question: will Katniss find love? At this point I'm toying with some potential pairings, but Katniss will only fall in love with/end up with someone if the characters want it to happen. I'm not President Snow and won't dictate what happens to her that way.

Finally, this will be a blend of book and movie verse. It will be more book verse near the beginning and you can expect the Old Forest, Old Man Willow, Tom, and barrow-wrights.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE reviews. Seriously, I do. So if you read consider dropping a note. I am open to constructive criticism, but this is AU in the Tolkien universe and I've only read the book a couple of times so mistakes will crop up. Feel free to point them out; if they're correctible I will correct, if not, just consider it a change.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter One: Another Chance

Katniss only opened the door to stop the knocking. "Fascinating," the old man on her doorstep said. He was tall, much taller than even Peeta, but he was stooped over a long white staff with a large crystal at the knot on the staff. His hands were old and gnarled, but she could see the strength in them. He was dressed all in white. And his hair was a curtain of straight white locks. His bushy eyebrows extended in all directions and were also white. His eyes were a cold, calculating black. Much like a snake's eyes. Katniss took a step back. "Very fascinating," the man repeated. "Invite me in." It was not a request.

The dark-haired woman started to close the door in his face without a word, but he lodged his staff between the door and the frame. "Hear me out." Again, it wasn't a request.

"I just want to be left alone."

"That I truly doubt," the man said. He muttered a few words in a foreign tongue and the door burst open, sending Katniss stumbling back. She grabbed a vase full of dead flowers from a table and flung it at him. It exploded into dust-sized fragments inches from his face. The flowers hit the floor with a dull thwack. Glass dust drifted to the floor quietly.

"What do you want?" she asked warily. She thought he might be an assassin from the Capitol. But why they'd send someone now she didn't know. She had nothing left. Nothing to give. Nothing worth taking. Nothing worth protecting.

"To talk of course," he said. He crooked a finger at the door and is closed and locked even though no one touched it.

"How did you do that?"

"A mere thought," the man said. "Easy enough when one is a wizard."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I am not a Man nor am I an elf, dwarf, or hobbit. I am known as Saurman the White, Saurman the Wise and I have heard a great deal about you Katniss Everdeen. You are the Girl on Fire." His eyes flickered over her. She was wearing the same pajamas she had been wearing for the last three weeks and they rumpled and smelled for body odor. He moved forward, appraisingly looking around her house. A layer of dust clouded the furniture, the floor. There were cobwebs in the corners and a rank odor permeated the air.

She rubbed her shoulder with one hand, but said nothing. She'd never heard of Saurman. And the only thing she knew about wizards were that they were not real. Just like dwarves and elves weren't real. And hobbits, those weren't real, or she hadn't heard of them in any event.

Saurman used his finger to make a chair slide out for him and he sat down, motioning for her to do the same.

"I'll stand. Thank you," she said. He reminded her, she realized with a jolt, of the late President Snow. She folded her arms across her stomach. "What do you want?"

Saurman sighed. "I want the same thing that you do, Miss Everdeen. I want another chance." He stroked his beard, which incidentally, was white and long and tucked into the belt of his robes. "I have powers. Magics that I can do. Further, I know things. A great many things about the ways of this world. The languages of this earth. Those spoken in the open and those that exist in secluded areas only, although once they were widespread and known by many even if only a few had the skill of tongue to speak them all. The dwarfish language, the tongues of the Men and elves, both Sindarian and –"

"Elves?" Katniss interrupted. "Like what? Real elves?"

"Certainly," Saurman said. "Not that I expected you to have heard anything proper and true about elves. Or to have even seen an elf in your lifetime, even in passing. There are few left in this world and those that remain do not trouble themselves with Men. They stick to their glades and woods and rivers and contemplate the stars." He gazed at her shrewdly. "Although now that I have had a good look at you Miss Everdeen, I find that inasmuch as I presumed you had never laid eyes upon an elf I may have been mistaken. At the very least your mother has lain with an elf. That much is certain." He stood up abruptly, crossing the room and catching her chin with two fingers and tilting her face towards him. "Yes, I can see it in your eyes. What a strange twist of fate that brings me to your doorstep." He released her, turning away. "But no matter. Where are you manners, Miss Everdeen? It is polite and proper to offer a guest refreshments. Tea. Seedcakes. Wine, although I suspect that may be too much to ask for," he said running a finger along the mantle over the fireplace and then rubbing the dust loose.

"I wouldn't offer you anything even if you were a guest," she said slowly. "You're uninvited and you're wrong about what I want. I want to be left alone."

"Ah, but that's just it," Saurman said. "You are alone. All alone. Your suitors have moved on to less volatile women. Your mother has moved to a less depressing locale. Your mentor has fallen back into his bottle. And you haunt the halls of the house you hate like a ghost without a spirit. I know, you know," he added, "I know about Primrose and your complete and utter inability to save her. Your failure was rather crushing I suppose. Caused more tears than you thought you could shed and all that nonsense of grief and mourning."

Something snapped inside Katniss. It was as if he'd flung kerosene at her and then lit a match. She launched forward, fingers curved into claws, screaming. He shoved his staff at her, and even though it didn't touch her she was flung backward and into the wall with a bone-jarring thump.

"Dear child, I am a wizard. The highest and most powerful of my Order and you mean to attack me with fingernails. Do not make me for some simpleton that can be beaten with thoughtless blunt force. Obviously I have anticipated your anger, but even had I not, even Radagast could have stopped you with such a primitive and unplanned attack. You clearly have not inherited your father's disposition nor the disposition of his kind."

Katniss, pinned to the wall, seethed, but stopped screaming and thrashing as soon as she realized how pointless it was. He wanted clever? She would wait until he left and then race upstairs and shoot him with an arrow from a window. She pictured the arrowhead lodging into his heart and a crimson stain blossoming from his chest. Rather suddenly she slumped, sick to her core at the thought of violence. Who was she to take someone's life? He released his hold on her as she slumped. He was still lecturing her. She lifted her head. "What do you want?"

He rolled his eyes, eyelids flickering rapidly at the same time. "Have you not been listening?"

"I've heard enough," she said. "You want another chance and you're well-educated with elves and hobbits and such. You've got magic. You've studied me and are fascinated by me." She paused, then pushed away from the wall, straightening. For a second he could see her father in her, the straight shoulders, the lifted chin and the effervescent glow of her spirit. Yes, he could see why they called her the Girl on Fire. "Saurman the White," she said. "What do you want from me?"

He smiled, flashing crooked white teeth at her. "Why Miss Everdeen that is simple. I want to give you another chance."

"Another chance at what?"

"At what you want most."

"I want to be alone –"

Saurman held up his hand. "That is a lie. Search your heart and you will recognize it as such. Is there not something more you want? Something that you cannot dare want for fear that the longing for it will drive you insane? I am a wizard as you must realize by now. I am unbound by the laws of Man. Even if you were to shoot me with one of your arrows – and no wonder you are such a skilled shot now that I have seen you – you would be unable to slay me. Time is linear to be certain, but moving forward is not the only direction. There are others if one has the will to risk the future and the past. Change the past. There are a great many mistakes that one makes in one lifetime and it is quite impractical to change every last one for that would be an endless cycle and risky at that. How is one to know that if she goes to Minas Tirith she will die but if she goes to Oscilliath her sister will die? Quite impossible. Every stone casts ripples off course. And ripples effect things seen and unseen." Saurman kept rambling.

Katniss digested what he'd already said and in a flash she understood. He wanted another chance to do something right. She wanted another chance to save Prim. No matter what it cost. Even if it was her life, or if the ripples destroyed everything else, she had to try. Even if she failed again, even if Prim died again, she'd have her for at least a little longer. And she wouldn't make the same mistakes this time. This time she'd just eat the nightlock. Peeta would be the victor and Gale would take care of her family and everyone would be enslaved to the Capitol, but at least Prim would be alive.

"Yes, yes," she said. This time she got within Saurman's defenses, catching his hands, clutching his hands. Hers were trembling. "Yes. I want that," she said. She was crying and smiling. "Please. I'll do anything."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Anything?"

She nodded quickly. "Anything. Anything at all." The tears left tracks along her dirty cheeks. She smelled as if she had never bathed.

He wet his lips. Now that he had her he wasn't sure he wanted her. "There is a Ring. You must bring it to me no matter the cost. I do not have the power to send you back to Primrose at this time and that would be pointless. Too many ways for her to die. But with the Ring I would have power enough to give her back to you and take you away from District 12. You will not have to experience the Hunger Games. You will not have to watch your sister die." He looked at her hard, briefly debating if he should just try and find someone else. From his studies he knew that she was, at heart, a "good" person. Someone always trying to do the right thing. Save everyone. It was quite annoying. And for what he had in mind, it had its risks. He had to pick the Vessel carefully because once he sent her into the past he could not control her anymore. He could send his past self the information about her, but there was no guarantee his past self would be able to manipulate her properly. He'd been overly confident back then. And Miss Everdeen had proven herself to be the type of person who didn't tolerate those who sought power over simpletons. She would not understand that he needed the Ring in order to rule Middle Earth and stop all the foolishness. He would propel Middle Earth to a future shaped by his wise hands. No more elves and meddling grey wizards. No, this time he would get the Ring.

Katniss was professing all the things she would do to get her sister back. A ring? No problem. She'd give him a million if it would bring Prim back. Even if it cost her life.

Saurman held up a hand. "Your life should not be necessary," he said. "But it may be necessary to kill others. Even those that would seem to be virtuous, good-natured children with a love of food and weed. Could you do that?" Best see if she could kill a hobbit before he sent her. If she couldn't then his plan would be all but useless and he'd have to seek out someone else in this day and age capable of surviving in the Middle Earth of his glory days.

Katniss's eyes blazed with conviction. She didn't even hesitate. "I would kill anyone if it would bring Prim back."

He believed her. "Then allow me to tell you about the One Ring and what you must do to get it to me so that I can bring Primrose back to you . . ."