A/N: So I forgot to tell you that I may have kinda-sorta slept through parts of BotFA the second time I saw it. Sorry, it just wasn't one of my favorite Hobbit movies. I did see most of it, though, and I looked up the parts I missed online. So while I know how the movie (and the book; I really enjoyed the book) ended (Thorin and Fili and Kili dying, for example), I want to try and take some of my own liberties with this. Some parts after this chapter (maybe this chapter included) will be filler. Just until we get to Fellowship.

I want to say this for the record: Once I decided to go with the draft where Thorin was killed off (aka the previous chapter), I was stuck deciding if I wanted to keep Kili and/or Fili alive. That chapter went through several drafts, but I ultimately decided to stick to the book/movie in that regard. They were two of my favorite characters (even if they were just there to be comic relief) in The Hobbit and I hated that they were killed in the book and movie.

PLEASE let me know if Yue is becoming a Mary Sue. Sues are funny when they're intentional. When they're not intentional, they're not funny. And I'm trying to avoid making her a Mary Sue. This part of my A/N will be in probably every chapter until I'm somehow convinced enough that Yue isn't a Mary Sue.

In this chapter, we'll be exploring Yue's heritage a little bit. I'll explain why I wrote what I did at the end of the chapter.

Time for review responses!

Victoria: I wish I could come up with funny phrases like that! If you had an account, I'd be contacting you nonstop (well, almost nonstop) for comedy; you're so funny!

kanna does not own A Warrior's Heart or Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. You know who they belong to!

It was only a couple of hours or so later the next day (probably the middle of the afternoon) when Thorin, Fili, and Kili's funerals (well, it was actually one joint funeral) ended. To me, however, it felt like it had been more. I still felt responsible. Even though I had taken a bath and changed clothes (I had been forced to get rid of my dress and beanie, as the dress was covered in blood, and Tauriel told me that I should be proud to be an elf and not hide my ears, so I now wore grey funeral attire with flowers in my hair), I still felt as if there was blood on my hands.

I walked away from the graves of the fallen dwarves who grew to be like family to me and walked into a forest. I called for TaiYang and he came right up to me. "Take me into the forest, my friend," I whispered before I climbed on his back. The other dwarves had gone back to Erebor, and I told them I would return to Erebor before sundown. TaiYang trotted along while I silently wondered about what my connection was with these animals. First TaiYang, then the hawks attacking Thranduil, then a giant eagle obeying my commands without a second thought.

TaiYang soon stopped and let out what sounded like a growl. "What's wrong?" I asked in Mandarin worriedly. Then, I saw it. There was a black bear on its hind legs. It growled when it saw TaiYang and I immediately tensed up. I closed my eyes. I felt frozen. I couldn't say anything to TaiYang, let alone scream for help.

I heard the bear growl, but when I opened my eyes, the bear wasn't there. A tall, muscular man with black, shaggy hair that probably hadn't seen water or soap in quite some time stood in its place. "No one has been able to do that," he said in a voice filled with awe.

"Who are you? Where is the bear?" I asked fearfully. "Dead?" I didn't see a dead body, so I had a feeling that asking if the bear was dead was probably a stupid question.

The man barked a laugh. "Dear child, I am the bear you saw." My eyes widened in confusion. Was anything possible in this world? I was waiting for someone to tell me about talking trees next. I mean, that was pretty unlikely, right? The man continued. "I am a Skin-changer, child. And you are the first person to force me back into my human form." He walked forward and caressed my cheek. "What are you?" He noticed my ears. "An elf? How? No elf has this kind of power."

"I always in tune with animals," I tried to explain. I was relieved this bear...man...Skin-changer (or whatever he was called) wouldn't eat me or TaiYang. My English was coming out brokenly again. I climbed off of TaiYang and reached out a hand, "Name Yue."

"Yue? How unique. Does it mean something?" He put his hand in mine and shook my hand.

"Moon." The man broke the handshake.

"Interesting," he mused. "I am known as Beorn." He took a sniff. "You smell like dwarves, yet you are an elf. Why?"

I perked up. Did he know Thorin and the others? "You know Thorin?" I asked hopefully.

"Thorin? Yes, he and his company passed through my woods some time ago. Why?" I told him what happened, about what was called 'The Battle of the Five Armies.' He stood in silence as he processed the information. "So he is dead."

I nodded ruefully. "My fault."

"Dear child, you must not blame yourself. I doubt that Thorin would want to see you blaming yourself."

"If I had just—"

"What is done is done. There is nothing we can do to change the past." TaiYang whinnied. "Your horse is right." I was about to ask how he knew what my horse was saying, before I realized that if he could become a bear, Beorn could probably become any animal and understand what they were saying.

I sighed. "You are right. Thorin not want me blame myself." I looked at the sky and saw that the sun was starting to go down. "Thank you, Beorn. Must return Erebor. Meet again?" I hoped I would see Beorn again. Hopefully he would help me understand my connection with animals.

"We shall see, child, we shall see."

"So, you met Beorn," Dain, the king of Erebor, said after I told him what took me so long to return to Erebor. "What will you do now?"

I hadn't thought of that. I had wanted to go home, but that just seemed like a childish fever dream at this point and I had honestly given up any and all hope of going home. "Stay...will you let me stay?" I asked hopefully.

Dain laughed loudly and it echoed all around us. "Dear Lady Yue, of course. Thorin considered you a daughter, and you are a sister to us all. Blood or not, you are our sister." I smiled.

"Thank you, Dain."

I was about to walk out and see what Balin was doing before Dain called me back. "The elf prince left you something before he left with his father and Tauriel and their troops," he said as he held out my dizi bag and a scroll. I looked curiously at the scroll before I took both it and my dizi bag.

"Thank you, King."

Dain smiled sadly before he said, "Please, just Dain. You are a sister to us all. I don't want formalities used between us unless absolutely needed."

I nodded and Bofur escorted me to a room with a bed and a window. "You will stay here," Bofur said. It was not a question. I thanked Bofur for escorting me to my room and closed the door. I put my dizi bag down and unrolled the scroll. It was a letter from Prince Legolas. While I didn't understand the meaning of all the words that were used, I was able to read and pronounce what was on the paper (save for the little bit of whatever language was at the bottom). It read:

Lady Yue,

My apologies for not staying after the funeral. My father had urgent matters to attend to and could not wait any longer to return to our home, Mirkwood.

I realized that I still held your flute bag and wanted to give it back to you, but when you rode your horse into the forest after the funeral, I knew you needed time to be alone. So I asked one of the dwarves to hold it until you returned.

There is something interesting about you, my lady. The way you are so in tune with animals...no elf has this kind of power. There are those who will want it for themselves who can and more than likely will come after you. Please be prepared. I fear my father may be one of them.

I realized that I wished to see you again. Meet me on the night of the full moon just outside of Dale in three days time.

Ninion ned i vened 'win, I cry upon our leaving,

Legolas

I smiled to myself. I missed him, for some reason. Were we friends? I guess; it was a little hard to say. I appreciated that he returned my flute to me. The one thing to remind me of my family back home. I resolved to work harder on English so that I would be able to fluently converse with the prince, as well as the other dwarves.

Speaking of the prince, I longed to drop formalities with him. None of this 'prince' and 'my lady' business between us. However, would his father allow a friendship between us? Doubtful; the guy didn't seem to like me very much. He seemed pretty power-hungry, too. Prince Legolas had mentioned that there were people who would want my connection with animals, and from what I knew of his father, I had a feeling he would be one of the people after me.

I had to find out who my parents were in order to figure all of this out. My thoughts then turned to my talk with Beorn. If no other elves held the power I had, the power to be in tune with animals, then what did that make me? I needed answers. I could feel my eyes starting to get heavy and I fell asleep on the bed. Sleep first. I could figure things out. After all, elves were immortal. I had all the time in the world.

I woke up groggily and realized I slept in my clothes the whole night. I'd have to get new clothes at some point; I couldn't just wear the same stuff for days on end. I looked outside and the sun was high in the sky. Was it the afternoon already? I ran my hands through my hair in an attempt to make myself look somewhat decent before I went in search of Balin.

"Can I help you, Lady Yue?" a dwarf with reddish-brown hair asked after I had walked around for a while and was unsuccessful in my search. I looked at him and recognized him as Gloin. He had a son, Gimli.

I wondered what Gloin was still doing in Erebor before I spoke. "Find Balin," I said. "Where is he?"

"Looking for you," Balin said as he came up to me. "Fili told me before he died that you wanted this made." He held up the picture of the sword with a slit in it that I drew. I gasped. I didn't realize that they still had that. "I wished to be the one to give you the sword. Follow me." He walked down the hall and I followed him in silence.

It wasn't long until we arrived at what looked like an armory. There were swords and shields and suits of armor everywhere. I noticed my sword lying on a table and it looked exactly like the picture I had drawn. I picked it up. It was lightweight and seemed easy enough to wield. "Thank you," I said. I looked around for a sheath and found a black one. I put the sword in the sheath and resolved only to use it if I had to.

I began to walk out of the armory before Balin called me back. "I did some research, my lady," he started. "No elf has the kind of power that you do. Nor does any man or dwarf. But..." he trailed off.

"'But?'" I pressed.

Balin sighed. "I came across something interesting in my research. There was one wizard who had a connection to animals like what you have: Radagast the Brown."

"And...?"

"I think he is your father."

I gasped. A wizard? Like Gandalf the Grey? My father? "How?"

Balin sighed. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. You are an elf, so if Radagast the Brown is your father, then your mother must be an elf. Who, I cannot say. It is as if the pages of him ever having romantic involvement were burned out." I sighed. I could only read a little, and I couldn't comprehend everything I read in English. I sat down against the wall of the armory. My distress must have been all over my face, because Balin placed a hand on my shoulder. "Do not worry, Lady Yue. This is just a mystery that needs to be solved."

I nodded. "Thank you, Balin." I took the sword and walked out.

A/N: I realize how short this chapter is, but the length seemed just right, so I decided to end it where I did. I'm hopeful next chapter will be longer.

As for Yue's father being Radagast the Brown (get ready for a lengthy explanation):

Originally, I was going to create two elves as OCs, but then I remembered how much I wished Radagast had a bigger role in the movies (I don't remember how big his role was in the book). So I became curious and went on Google to do some research to back up my thought process. And I learned that while Maiar (wizards) could marry and have children, it was unlikely they would ever want to. This was actually something that Tolkien changed his mind about. In the original draft of The Silmarillion, as well as when Tolkien began writing LotR, both wizards and the Valar were perfectly capable of having children. This idea was later scrapped, as Tolkien felt it was "too pagan" to have the gods he created marry and have kids. He envisioned the Valar more as Christian angels and less as Aesir (Norse mythology) or Olympians (Greek mythology).

There was, however, ONE EXCEPTION to this: the character, Melian, one of the Ainur (the first beings created by Iluvatar, the Valar and the Maiar). She and her husband, an elf named Thingol, had a daughter, Lúthien (as in Beren and Luthien). So, Melian was the exception to the rule. So, theoretically, any Ainu could marry and have kids. It just wasn't exactly that way in the stories Tolkien wanted to tell.

WOW that was a mouthful. If you have any questions regarding this, PLEASE send me a message or leave a review with your questions. I have multiple sources for my information.