Flo opened her eyes and two arms grabbed her. The owner of the arms was running with her. It was her brother, Terwin.
She clung to him, sensing danger around her. She heard screaming and a burning heat swam around her. With a lurch of fear, she realised her home was burning. Terwin placed her on her feet and pushed her towards a gap in the flames.
'Go outside - hide and don't come out.'
He turned and ran into the burning house, shouting for their parents. Flo did as she was told and was immediately caught up in a terrified knot of men, women, children, hobbits and other Middle Earth dwellers.
Lost for a moment, she felt a prod in her side and fell with a yelp of pain. She was dragged up again and shaken.
An orc grinned at her. Terrified she struggled against him, but a hobbit, nothing more than a baby had no chance against his strong grip.
'Let her go!'
Flo looked up. Terwin, their mother and their father were running towards them. Her father took a knife and with an angry yell, sliced the orc's wrist off. The orc screamed and picked up its own blade. Her father dodged it, but it still hit his leg. He fell - then the orc rounded on Flo again, but her mother intervined.
'Terwin - take Flo - go, quickly - GO!!' she yelled. 'Keep her safe.'
Terwin grabbed Flo and ran. The screams of pain were the last they heard of their parents.
For many years, Flo was raised by Terwin. When she was twelve, they moved from Bree to Buckleberry in The Shire -leaving the darkened past behind them, living in a comfortable hole called Bramble Rock, tucked away in peace and safety.
Flo grew up happilly in Buckleberry, not sensing the haunted shadows that hung over Terwin. She did not remember that terrible night when orcs attacked Bree.
When she was nineteen, Flo woke to find Terwin outside, his travelling cloak around his shoulders and his pack on his back. She went outside to him and he turned to her sadly and crouched down, brushing her hair from her eyes.
'Where are you going?' she asked.
'I've seen to it that the Bumbleroots will keep an eye on you - just being nineteen - not even in your tweens yet.' he smiled.
'But ... where ...'
'Where my heart guides me. Goodbye Flo.'
He turned away quickly. Flo looked down at her feet and then looked up again - Terwin had stood still. 'Will I ever see you again?' she asked.
Terwin turned, his heart breaking to see his child-sister with tears in her eyes. He opened his mouth, blinking back his own tears.
'We shall see.' he muttered. 'We shall see.'
They stared at each other for a moment, then Flo ran forwards and he opened his arms. Lifting her up, her held her tightly in a fatherly embrace.
'I did not want this - I wanted you to stay asleep as I left - it would not be as hard to bare that way.' he whispered.
'Then stay.' she answered.
'I cannot stay - I promised them I would take care of you for as long as I could. I have done so for I cannot suffer the torment in my heart any longer. You were too young that night to remember - but he gave me a pain and anger I cannot bear any longer, Flo. They live while many others suffer and fall. There is only one way to stop it. Stop my hatred and seek avengance.'
'You mean you're ....' the truth sank in.
'You cannot remember how they died - cannot remember what it felt like to hear them scream. I cannot forgive it - will not forgive it.'
He set her back on the ground, wiped his eyes and nodded comfortingly at her, then mounted his pony. He set off without a backward look. Flo watched him - even when he had gone - she watched.
