Author's Note: As you might know, if I have a new idea in my head, it has to come out. Thus, I'm writing this crossover. I think it has been years since I wrote something for LOTR/ the Hobbit, but I did love Beorn as a character since I first read the book. So, I'll portray him more or less like written in the book, a tall man with black hair and beard. This story will play with a few aspects of both franchises. First, we know that Beorn must've had a wife or something of the sort at some point, because he has descendants, the Beornings. Second, maybe I'm wrong, but we don't know that much about his past. Third, in the series, we don't know what happened to Zuko's mother after she vanished (I'll leave the comics out for this). And finally, fourth, you know, I have a knack with name meanings, and Ursa means 'female bear' in Latin. Also, I somehow found this pairing cute. So, let's get into it. We'll start a few years before the actual story of ATLA begins. I'll use ATLA time for orientation. Oh, and before I forget it, please review!
At the border of Mirkwood, 95 AC
The storm was going on for not only hours, but days at this point. The rain drenched a woman in a dark red cloak that was by now clenching on her features. She knew she would probably catch an illness, and maybe not that far in the future, out there and unprotected from the harsh conditions. But she simply didn't have any shelter, she had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. At this point she was merely stumbling through this dark forest, cold, hungry and alone, her hair clutched to her face and her vision blurred from the rain.
Suddenly she slipped and fell to the muddy ground. She laid there, struggling to breathe and unsure if she would ever get up again. Her last thoughts before she finally fell unconscious lasted on the faces of her children, the last thing she saw in front of her inner eye was the fear-filled face of her son Zuko.
Beorn wandered at the border of the dark forest. In his bear form there were hardly any weather conditions that would be a problem to him, but at this point the rain was really unpleasant. He had been on his usual patrol when he caught an unknown smell, weakened by the continuously falling rain. It was not unpleasant, nothing like orcs or wargs or something of the sort, but also not elf-like. Interested he followed it. It led him towards a body on the forest floor. He had to look twice to make it out as such. He walked around it, eyeing it from all sides. A human, definitely a human. Unconscious, but not dead yet. He recognized the emblems on the woman's cloak. Fire Nation. Anger began to well up inside him, but he fought it down. This person had most likely nothing to do with those back then.
He wondered what such a fragile woman did out here alone. And alone she was. There was nothing to be heard, seen or smelled that would indicate otherwise. Beorn stood in front of her, thinking about what he should do now. If he let her lay there, she would most likely die. From the cold, from starvation, or because another beast took advantage of her unconsciousness. Would it trouble him to do that?
With a long sigh he changed back into his human form. He hated that his clothing became wet this way. The skin changer picked up the unconscious woman and carried her towards his house, hopefully she wouldn't die on the way there. That would be really unfortunate.
At his house he was greeted by his dogs first. They were all excited about the new visitor. Quickly they helped him prepare a bed for her. He then undressed her, and Avon brought one of his shirts in which Beorn then dressed her. It fitted more like a dress on her. He also undid her hairstyle so she could lay more comfortable. Then he lit the fireplace in the room and asked one of the dogs to stay with her. Come and get me when you think she's waking up, so we can prepare a bath and a meal for her.
The dog didn't come until the next nightfall, and Beorn began to worry about his guest. So, before he went out on his usual patrol, he took a look into her room. She was sleeping soundly, way more so than when he had found her, Avon still rolled up at her feet. The dog raised its head when it noticed its master. Beorn smiled at the animal. All of his pets were loyal to him, but this dog might be the most loyal among them. Quickly he got down into the kitchen and filled a bowl with food for him. He brought it up to the guest room and sat it down in front of the bed, "Come here, you deserve this. I will take over your duty for a little while.", he sat down in a chair beside the bed as the dog happily began his meal. In the light of the fireplace, he watched his new guest.
She was beautiful. Slim, almost skinny and with a pale, almost white skin without any scars or bruises. Her hair was a very dark brown that had a warm shimmer in the fire's light. He wondered what her eyes looked like, how her expression, her character was. How old might she be? Maybe in her late twenties, early thirties, he was quite bad at guessing the age of humans. Or dwarves, or elves. Maybe he was just bad at guessing ages in general.
Suddenly she stirred in her sleep. First her hand moved, then her face. She looked like the dream was rather unpleasant. Her face grimaced further, and he wondered if she was having a nightmare or if she relived a bad memory. Either way he stood up and walked over to the bed, sitting down on its side. Carefully he took one of her hands in his and touched her forehead with his other hand, calmly he said, "Don't worry. You are safe here.", this seemed to really calm her down.
He quickly lifted his hand from her forehead when her eyes fluttered and opened. Her eyes were a golden, amber color he saw as she stared at him, shock clearly visible over all her features. Ursa looked at him, then her gaze wandered around the room, down on her body and back to the tall black-haired man in front of her. What was going on? Who was this guy? Where was she? And what was she wearing?
The man eyed her carefully, taking in every detail of her face and body. Then he crossed his arms and looked into her amber eyes. His were of a very rich dark brown as she noticed. "Who are you?", she jumped at the sound, his voice was like tumbling thunder, and she wasn't sure if he was friendly.
"Ursa", she said, "daughter of Jinzuk. Wife of Fire Lord Ozai.", she was unsure how he would react, but she tried to say it with as much dignity as she could bring. Maybe it would impress this man.
It did not. He nodded his head slightly, "Hello Ursa, my name is Beorn. What are you doing on my lands?"
She stopped for a moment, hesitating, "Well, I-I wasn't aware I was on anybody's lands. I just walked and then there was this storm and…", she trailed off, not knowing herself exactly what happened.
Beorn chuckled slightly, "I found you a day ago near the border of the forest, passed out on the ground. I picked you up and carried you here. Judging from your clothes and everything else, you're Fire Nation, so forgive me, but I don't believe that you just took a stroll."
"I didn't say I took a stroll.", Ursa said defiantly, then her tone shifted, calmer, sadder, "I was banished. I was walking because I have nowhere to go."
She seemed truthful to Beorn; he awarded her with the slightest hint of a smile. "What did you do to deserve banishment?", he had to ask. He didn't want an assassin under his roof, "and stay truthful. I'm good at spotting lies."
Ursa hesitated again, but then she told him everything, how she helped her husband to kill his father, but that she only did it to save her children, because Ozai would've killed Zuko otherwise. And that she was then banished, and couldn't go anywhere, since the other nations would all be too happy to have her as a prisoner, so she stayed moving, until she fell unconscious at the forest floor.
Compassion lit up behind Beorn's dark eyes. Raising an eyebrow at something at the ground, he seemed to exchange a glance with someone. Ursa couldn't see it from her place on the bed. The tall man reached out to it and said, "You believe her too, don't you? Good, then go and get the others. Prepare a bath for her, I'll take care of dinner."
To Ursa's surprise a dog went out the door. Seeing her expression, Beorn chuckled, "That is Avon. He was guarding you for the whole time until I came to look after you. You've been out in the wilderness for some time, so I guess, a warm bath will be good for you. Meanwhile, I'll fix you something to eat."
"Wait!", she called out for him as he was about to leave her be, "Mr. Beorn, you haven't told me much about anything. Where am I?"
Calmly he turned towards her, "You're at my house. I'm living near Eryn Galen, which your people call Mirkwood."
As he had left, Ursa sat on the bed, trying to cope with everything she had just learned. She was in a stranger's house, and though he seemed to be friendly, she also caught the glimmer of hate in his eyes when he said, 'Fire Nation', so she wasn't sure he had pure intentions. On the other hand, a bath, something to eat and a warm bed was more than she could ask for. In her current state, she was more or less at his mercy. Pictures of her children appeared before her inner eye. Two lonely tears ran down her cheeks.
Almost silently the door opened, and Avon came in. The dog jumped on the bed and laid down beside her, his head on her thigh, as if to comfort her. Smiling sadly, she petted him and felt a little better. After a little while the animal stood up and waited for her at the door, waving its tail. "Are you going to show me the way?", Ursa asked him playfully and the dog gave a short bark. Wondering, she followed him out the door and into another room, where a warm bath was indeed prepared. Next to the warm water was a small table with soap and brushes and on the other end of the room, a paravent secluded a small space where towels and fresh clothes waited for her.
The door closed behind her, apparently Avon had pushed it close on his way out, leaving her some privacy. Ursa wondered about this house and those who lived here. Beorn had told her not that much at all. Did he have any family living with him here? A wife? Children? After all, someone must've prepared that bath.
In the kitchen, Beorn prepared a small plate for her. It wasn't good to eat too much right after you starved for some time. Smiling to himself he also heated some milk and added a bit of honey to it. It would hopefully stay warm long enough for Ursa to finish her meal. His gaze wandered outside the window; it was about time that he started his usual night patrol. But he'd have to make sure that his new guest would know what to do, and more importantly, what not to do.
After a while, the sound of small, careful steps told him that she had finished bathing. With the friendliest smile the skin changer could muster, he went out of the kitchen and wordlessly guided Ursa to the dinner table. He sat down her plate in front of her, and before she could say anything, he began to speak, "I don't have much time, so listen closely. What I'll tell you now is very important for your safety and wellbeing. I'll go on my usual night patrol tonight, actually, I'm already late. You will stay in this house. Don't go out. Don't open the door. If you need anything, just tell Avon. I'll be back in the morning."
Ursa sat still for a moment and just blinked. Accepting this, Beorn was about to walk out the door, when she held him back, "Wait! Mr. Beorn, sir, uhm, what about your family? Are there not more people living here? I-I want to thank whoever readied the bath for me."
Beorn raised an eyebrow at this. "Other people? My family? I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there is no-one except us both and the animals in this house. My family is all but gone, thanks mainly to your people. If you want to thank the one who prepared your bath, thank Avon and the other dogs. It was all their work.", then he added, "Now, remember: Don't go out. Don't open the door. I'll be back in the morning.", and with that he went out into the night.
Ursa stared for a moment at the place where her host had just been. What on earth was going on here? The dogs should've prepared her bath? And what was Beorn doing at this late hour in the woods? She shuddered at the thought that he had no family and the reason, apparently, was her homeland. If that was true, he must hate them. Maybe he hated her as well, and just didn't show it yet. Would he do something to her as retaliation? In the end, she was no ordinary citizen, but had been the Fire Lord's wife. It would have symbolic character to do something to her.
Something cuddled against her leg. When she looked down, she saw Avon curling up beside her. That animal was really a loyal one. For the moment, she decided that someone who raised a dog like this, couldn't be that bad of a person, and began to eat what he had prepared for her.
As he walked through the outskirts of the forest, Beorn thought about the woman he had found not far from there. He didn't know why, but he found himself caring for her fate. It surprised him. All the other folks of her nation, he had hated with his whole heart, and with good reason. He could still, after all this time, hear his father's screams as their burning house had collapsed on top of him and some Fire Nation soldiers. The skin changer remembered how he, a small boy of thirteen years back then, had hurried away, tears and blood clouding his vision. At some point he had collapsed and hid in the thick Earth Kingdom forest. He had no clue, how long he had lived there, just barely making it, living more like the animal he would sometimes change into, craving every next meal, always anxious about every movement he heard or saw. They had been following him, with some distance, but still, hunting him. At some point, he knew, he wouldn't be able to hide from them much longer. And suddenly there was somebody else. A friendly voice. A young man in blue clothing, reaching out to him. Beorn smiled at the memory. Hakoda had taken him on board of the Water Tribe ships without many questions. He had taken care of him and saved him from the hunters. Beorn would forever remember this.
He shook himself out of his memories. While on patrol, he couldn't afford being carried away by them. What if there was an orc or a spider all of sudden?
The next morning was clear and sunny. Ursa was awoken by a noise; she couldn't really grasp what it was. It seemed to come regularly and originate from the outside. She remembered what Beorn had told her, don't open the door. But it was already the next morning, wasn't it? So, she quietly went down to the first floor and towards the back door, where the noise seemed to come from. Hesitantly, she opened the heavy door, just enough to peek through it. For a moment, she just stood there and stared.
Beorn stood in front of the door, his bare back facing her. He held a large ax and was chopping wood, that was the noise she had heard. The front part of his black hair was held back behind his head while the rest reached down onto his sweat-gleaming shoulders.
Suddenly she shrieked back as he spoke in a bright, up-beat tone, "Are you done staring now?"