"No tears, Terumi, let us go after her," Boromir urged, and led me along the way our little one had run. We hurried past so many ruined homes, empty chairs at broken tables, with shattered windows...door hanging unevenly upon their hinges.
"She could be anywhere!" I worried, "What if one of those ruffians find her?"
"Yue will be all right, we will find her," Boromir assured me, squeezing my hand.
We went all through the village until we came upon a great hill with a grand oak tree growing above the hobbit hole. An aged sign was tacked to the gate, and I smiled when I read, "No admittance except on party business."
"Bag End," I concluded softly, and my head snapped up when I saw a small face peering out at me from one of the windows.
"Go away!" Yue ordered.
"Yue," I called out, "Come out."
"Leave me alone!"
Boromir stilled me with a raised hand, and quietly went up to the house. "Yue, it's Boromir...why did you run away? It isn't safe here."
"Naneth will hurt me- like she did the bad man!"
"You know that isn't true, little one, your mother loves you very much," Boromir argued knowingly, "She was trying to protect you from the bad man."
Her little head peeked out from the doorway, and she asked him, "Promise?"
"I swear it, little one."
Yue hurtled down the front path of through the garden and crashed into me. She buried her head in the crook of my neck, and my tears were lost in her thick curtain of hair. "I am sorry," she mumbled, "I love you, Naneth."
"I love you most," I whispered thickly, and wrapped my arms around her.
Much repair was needed for the little place of Hobbiton, and Bag End was saved for last. Frodo did not think it right to fix his own home before others, and we all agreed- the hobbits of the Shire had suffered long enough. At first, the hobbits were fearful of Boromir and me, but as we proved our quality- they graciously accepted us into their lives.
"Look, Naneth!" Yue cried out as I attempted to make sense of the scattered papers and the like on the floors of Bag End, "She's like you!"
"What's this I hear?" Boromir announced.
"She's beautiful like Naneth, too!" Yue quipped, holding a frayed roll of parchment aloft, "Look- look!"
I took the scroll from Yue's hand, and beheld a most startling sight. It was another bender. She was incredibly small in stature, and I almost mistook her for a child, but her eyes possessed a hard-earned maturity. Her hair shone like a raven's wing, her eyes glittered like peridot jewels, and her skin glowed like mithril. Her riotous curls fell to the small of her back, save for a plait that drew some of the wild mass out of her face along her head and was fastened with a strange bead. She was in what earthbenders called a "horse stance," and her strong arms were captured in a tense swing. The artist depicted the result of the action- a jutting line of earth erupted before her.
"I can't believe it," I breathed, clapping a hand to my forehead, "I am not the first!"
"What's this?" Frodo asked as he and the other hobbits came into the library. Frodo took in the painting I presented to them, and mused, "My uncle knew her- called her Earthshaker...though I did not think it so literal- until I met you."
"How did an earthbender end up here?"
"I do not know- I forget what my uncle has said about her..." Frodo confessed.
"She's...small- like a hobbit," Merry quipped.
"Quite strange," Pippin agreed.
"Yue, where did you find this?" Boromir asked warmly.
"In the book!" Yue answered readily, and dug through the scrolls to reveal a blue journal embossed in strange ruins.
"What does it say?" I pressed, tenderly taking hold of the book from her.
"It's all in Dwarfish- only Uncle could read it," Frodo explained sadly, "I can still see the special smile he would get when he would pour over it.
I ran my fingers over the soft covers, and my fingertips dragged over a shard of a rare stone. Even though it was no bigger than the nail of my smallest finger, it shone as bright as a thousand stars. "May I hold onto it- until I can speak with Bilbo?" I asked.
"Of course- her tale was meant to be heard, I reckon."
It was three years later, and at the end of the Third Age that I finally learned more of the woman I only knew as Earthshaker. Boromir and I, now married and with child, and Yue traveled with our old companions to the Grey Havens. Due to my current condition, Boromir insisted I ride in the covered wagon with our daughter, along with Bilbo and Frodo.
"Mister Bilbo, will you tell Naneth and me what is written in the book about Earthshaker?" Yue asked eagerly.
"Now there is a name I have not heard in quite some time," Bilbo laughed fondly, though his eyes grew sad. "Your mother was not the first bender to aid in a quest on this good earth, Yue... When I traveled with King Thorin- Thorin Oakenshield, at the time- and his company, an Avatar came to Rivendell and joined us in the reclaiming of Erebor."
"One of the lost Avatars," I whispered in awe, "Please, tell me about her."
"She was as compassionate as she was merciless...she was willing to sacrifice all that she could give for Thorin- and nearly did, too. Oh, Terumi, she was magnificent to behold... She had the discipline to take blow after blow until she suddenly struck with extraordinary power- crippling or killing her foe with almost one blow."
"Did she enter the Avatar State?"
"Oh yes...the first time she entered that remarkable realm of power was the first time we beheld her bending at all. She kept it unknown until the time was right, as she was wont to do. She did it to save Thorin- all of us, she claimed- and it took a great toll on her. Entering the Avatar State in this world taxed her greatly- and she only did it one more time at the Battle of Five Armies."
"Did...Did she survive the battle?" I asked, knowing all too well how even the mightiest fell in this world.
"I am certain if she hadn't, Thorin would have dragged her spirit back," Bilbo mused, "If you think a dragon loves its hoard, you should have seen Thorin with Lyra." I did not get much from the aged hobbit, for he fell asleep shortly thereafter.
"Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shore of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-Earth. Go in peace! I will not say do not weep- for not all tears are an evil," Gandalf announced tenderly, leaning on his staff.
I raced down the stone dock to the Lady of Light. "You cannot leave me, please," I beseeched tremulously, eyes already full of tears. Galadriel pulled me into her arms and ran a gentle hand down the back of my head. "You can't go- I will never be able to see you again," I wept.
"Hush, my brave maiden, or you will frighten Yue. We both knew this day would come...do not cry, Terumi, I will always be with you."
I held her even tighter, memorising all that I could. The sound of her ageless, beating heart- the scent of the Golden Wood permeating from her person- the softness of her skin- the melody of her gentle voice. She was my mother- and like my true one, I could not bear to lose her.
Her hand rested over my heart, and she repeated surely, "I will always be with you, Terumi, and remember that we will meet again."
"How much you have grown since I first brought you here, Terumi," Gandalf murmured behind me, "Until we meet again, my dear."
"Did you know her? Earthshaker, I mean," I wondered.
"Even in the end- so many questions," the dear wizard chuckled, and cupped the side of my face, "Aye, I did...she would have loved to meet you, I know it." His own eyes began to reflect the sadness and he spoke softly, "Look after them for me, will you?"
"With my last breath," I vowed, "All of them."
"Terumi," Frodo began, but could say little else when I pulled him into a fierce embrace.
His shoulders quivered as I held him, and his arms wrapped around me fiercely. "I am sorry that I could heal you through the years, Frodo Baggins, but I will cherish our friendship to the end of all days," I whispered fervently.
"And I you, Terumi… Take care of Sam, I do not think he will understand..."
"I gave my word to Gandalf, and I will not fail either of you. May you find peace, Frodo, you have carried a burden no one else could...farewell, and until we meet again."
"Master Burglar!" Gandalf called in strange humour, eyes upon Bilbo.
"I think I am quite ready for another adventure," Bilbo quipped, but gave pause when he came up to me. "She asked me to translate into the Common tongue, in case anyone else from your world came to Middle-Earth. She said I would know when the time was right, and I can think of no better chance. May you live long, Lady Terumi of Gondor," he explained, and held out a journal almost identical to the one I had in my possession since my first visit to the Shire.
I bowed in the ways of my people, and a nostalgic smile flickered across the old hobbit's face. "May the spirits watch over you and your kin, Bilbo Baggins."
"A phrase I have long missed," Bilbo remarked, and tottered onto the boat.
I returned to Boromir and Yue, falling to the arms of the former and the latter came into my own. Tears fell freely from my gaze, but my heart was peaceful with the understanding that I would see them again someday in another world. Boromir's hand fell over the swell of my abdomen, and I felt our child flutter beneath his touch; Galadriel's gaze met mine just as a smile curled our lips. This indeed was a strange land, filled with many strange and marvelous people, but this world was now my own...
"Naneth, will you read the story now?" Yue inquired when the three of us had returned from our long journey to Minas Tirith.
"Yes, my darling," I answered softly. My fingers gently carded through the many pages, bearing the tale of one of the Avatars that our homeworld knew nothing of after her brief existence in it. "I pray the first eyes aside from the scribe that read this tale is of my homeland- where ice poles bear waterbenders, the mountains are filled with the children of the earth, and firebenders fuel their internal fires. This is the tale of me, Avatar Lyra, and how I found fire..."
Fin.