A/N: There are two main points of divergence from canon in this story: 1. Aang died earlier than in canon and the Water Tribe Avatar died as a child. 2. Noatak died before he could get to Republic City.


Kuvira crept through the hallway, keeping an eye on the blanket-swaddled lump on the living room chair. If she could just make it to the front door–

From the edge of her eye she thought she saw a flicker of movement, but when she jerked her head to look, the lump was still. Finally, she was at the door, and she slowly pushed it open.

She stepped outside and, resisting the temptation to slam the door, she gently closed it. Only then did Kuvira allow her mask to slip, gasping in relief. But she had to go to school, so she opened her eyes, straightened her lips into a neutral expression, and set off.

Dust layered the road, though not as much as everything else in the run-down town. The stench of the trash piled on each house's section of the road overpowered the sea-salt breeze. Compared to that, even the clay that clung to her father's mining outfit when he came home in the evening was a relief. It was a rotten town.

When she arrived, she didn't see anyone else going into the school. That was half the reason she always came exactly on time - most of the other students arrived early. She could already hear the shrill tones of a teacher beginning a lesson, but she took her time shaking off her shoes at the threshold. She placed them in a neat row opposite to the other students' scattered footwear.

She slipped into the classroom unnoticed among the chatter and sat cross-legged in the empty back row. She realized her mistake a minute later when Ming arrived, dark pigtails bouncing, followed closely by Meilin. They sat to her right even though there were plenty of other empty seats in the room. Kuvira's left fist clenched against her leg. It was going to be one of those days.

The teacher arrived then, carrying a sheaf of quartered paper. He took his place in the only chair at the front of the room, and the students rose to bow and sat down again.

"Today you will be practicing your calligraphy again," the teacher said.

One of the boys groaned, and some of the others giggled. The teacher glared through his glasses in the direction of the noise, and they all became silent.

"Earth King Kuei, long may he reign in the kingdom of heaven, decreed that every citizen of the Earth Kingdom should know how to write and how to sign their names. So those of you who don't work will get the switch." He then passed the papers out along with the brushes.

"Like it matters. Who would want to go to the mainland anyway?" Ming said to Meilin, who giggled.

Kuvira focused on the task, drawing the brush along the paper in steady strokes. She didn't mind calligraphy lessons. They didn't have them often because the ink was expensive, and the writing took up all her concentration so she didn't have to think. She didn't even have the artistry to draw a house as anything but a collection of squares and triangles. Still, she had enough control to keep the frayed brushes they used from ruining each stroke. She finished writing her name while the other kids were still working, each character clearly drawn. It was better than most eight-year-olds she knew could manage. Her mother told her once that her name meant "courageous girl" and that her father had chosen it. Maybe if the accident hadn't happened, her father would have told her that himself.

"Do it again on the other side," was all the teacher said when his rounds brought him next to her.

"Of course she's good at this. I bet she paints those eyebrows on." Meilin said, and they laughed again.

Kuvira's cheeks burned, but she focused on the sheet of paper and began again. It was better not to react. Well, it would be better to do something, but her father would get angry. Not because he cared how she did in school, of course, but because he didn't want to look bad. She would still take a hundred insults rather than make him angry.

"Hey, Kuvira." Ming whispered. Kuvira didn't respond or stop drawing, but Ming continued anyway. "My daddy said that the Fire Lady did something with the tarries-"

"Tariffs." Meilin corrected.

"Yeah, that. And he said a lot of the miners are getting fired. I bet your dad's the first one on the list."

"Yeah, who would want him around?" Meilin said.

It took all of Kuvira's effort not to let her fingers slip. The worst part was that she couldn't deny it, not even to herself. Not anymore.


Kuvira didn't go home for lunch like the other kids. Instead, she walked to the shore and stood there, watching the waves collapse against the rocks. Somewhere on the opposite side of the sea was the mainland of the Earth Kingdom. Everyone else on Jiao insisted that life there was terrible. Most villages were poor and didn't even have a Fire Nation mine to work for or fish to catch. Kuvira was skeptical. She couldn't imagine any place worse for her than Jiao Island, and according to the pictures she'd seen the mainland was a beautiful place. Life there had to be better.

But she was just stalling, wasting a bit of her lunchtime so that she wouldn't have to go home yet. She couldn't do that forever. She took one last look at the sea before she began walking home.

She froze the instant she saw her father sitting in the chair, eyes open and a near-empty whiskey bottle uncorked on the ground next to him. The clay that lined his skin's creases and hung from strands of hair made him a fearsome sight. But he didn't move, staring at the wall as though he hadn't noticed her. When he'd first started acting like this after the accident, like the world around him didn't even exist, it had frightened her. But now she was relieved. When this happened, it usually took an hour or two for him to become active again.

Her mother was stirring a pot of fish curry when Kuvira arrived, and she put down the ladle to give her a silent hug. Still making very little noise, she scooped rice and curry onto a plate and handed it to Kuvira. It was just spicy enough to tickle her tongue with heat, and the fish was juicy and fresh. Kuvira longed to slurp it down. It probably wouldn't have made much noise, but she didn't want to risk it, and ate quietly. She was good at being quiet, even though she hated it.

"Go back to school," her mother whispered once she finished. "I'm going to wake up your father for lunch."

"Just let him sleep." Kuvira whispered back. Sometimes, she wished he would never wake up.

Her mother shook her head. "That would make it worse later. Go to school."

Her mother prepared another plate of curry and then Kuvira followed her to the hall. Her mother got closer to the chair and turned to face Kuvira, letting go of the plate with one hand to point at the door. Kuvira opened the door and stepped outside, but she turned back once her mother stopped looking. She wouldn't leave her mother alone. This time, she would do something. She'd been practicing her earthbending. She wasn't very good yet, but she could move a small piece of earth, which was more than her father could do.

The instant her mother touched her father's shoulder to wake him, his arm jerked and knocked the plate out of her hands. It fell and clattered on the floor. Curry spilled onto his lap, staining his pants. Kuvira shuddered, but she couldn't look away.

There was a moment of stillness. Her mother raised a hand to her mouth and her father looked down at his lap with a blank expression. Then he got up and slapped her mother backhanded across the face.

"Stop it!" Kuvira said and, as he raised his hand for another blow, she reached for her connection with the earth.

She was part of the earth, immovable and unshakeable. She swept her foot across the ground in a semicircle, and the ground that her father was standing on turned, and he tripped. He wouldn't do this again. She could fight back now.

Then he got up, and his eyes focused on her, narrowed. She didn't feel immovable anymore. She took a step back, but he was already lunging at her. He lifted her off the ground with both hands around her neck and squeezed.

It didn't hurt that much at first, but his grip was strong enough. He didn't yell or curse. His eyes just shone with cold anger. Kuvira tried not to react at first, keeping her face still in an expressionless mask, anything to not provoke him further. But when her lungs started to burn, she began to gurgle, desperately trying to force air in. Tears flowed down her cheeks. She looked into his eyes, trying to beg him to stop.

"Shun, you're killing her!" her mother said as Kuvira's vision began to dim, and the pressure eased. She landed hard and gasped, taking in as much air as possible.

"Look what you made me do!" Her father said. "You used your bending against me, your own father!"

Kuvira didn't look up. She didn't want to face him. He grunted and, a minute later, she heard the stairs thump as he marched upstairs. Not long after, the tinkling sound of breaking glass followed it.

Her mother knelt and stroked her back in circles while she caught her breath, and without thinking, Kuvira allowed herself to lean into its warmth. Then she remembered what had just happened, and leapt up and pushed her mother's hand away.

"Why don't you do anything!" Kuvira whispered. She held her mother's gaze, but her face twisted with some unreadable expression. No matter how old or how good at reading people Kuvira got, she would never understand, and nothing would change. She sighed and went to the bathroom.

She washed her face, brushed her hair, and checked her neck for bruises. There weren't any marks that would last this time, so she wouldn't need to cover it up. She felt a little bit better once she finished. She had control over this, at least. She wouldn't let anyone see her be as weak as her mother.


The rest of the school day passed without incident. Behind a mask of indifference, Kuvira stewed in anger at her parents for hurting her and at herself for not being able to do anything about it. Meilin opened her mouth once to say something to her, but shut it again after one glare from Kuvira. She was sure no one else noticed anything different about her.

When Kuvira got back home, her mother was crouched on the floor, packing clothes into a suitcase. Two more suitcases leaned against the wall next to her, stuffed near to bursting.

"What are you doing?" she asked. They'd never gone on a vacation, so this was very surprising. Kuvira hated surprises.

"We're moving," her father answered instead, wheeling another suitcase into the room. He didn't look drunk anymore, but Kuvira didn't move any closer.

"Why? And where are we going?"

"Stop asking questions and pack. We're leaving in the morning."

Kuvira turned to her mother, but she didn't make eye contact. There was definitely something strange going on. Was her father really getting fired? He hadn't gone to work, either, and she wouldn't have been surprised if it was true. No one liked people who drank and got angry. The other kids weren't the only people who said things about him.

Kuvira was still folding her clothes when she heard her father's voice drifting up the stairs. He was talking to her mother, and obviously trying to be quiet, though failing at it. Kuvira crept halfway down the stairs, where the steps turned and she could listen without being seen.

She still couldn't make out everything, but she could hear most of what her father said.

"…can't make the rent...too many mouths to feed, and we never planned on having her anyway. We have to do something. It's all Izumi's fault, and those bastards at the mine…"

He paused, and Kuvira barely heard her mother respond.

"If you know what's good for you, you will listen to me!" her father shouted, and then she heard him coming up the stairs. She ran to her room as quietly as she could, her heart pounding. She managed to close the door halfway before he reached the top of the stairs. She didn't dare close the door entirely – he didn't like that. He passed her room without noticing anything. She'd been right about him getting fired, but the rest of the conversation didn't make sense to her. She didn't have any choice but to wait and see.

Kuvira finished packing her clothes and then spent the rest of the day helping her mother sort out the less essential items. They would ship those ahead of them. To what address, she didn't know, and her mother barely spoke to her throughout except to give her instructions. Something was wrong, but she didn't know what. She'd always dreamed of leaving Jiao, but this wasn't the way she'd imagined it happening.

She was shaken awake by her father early in the morning and told to get moving. She was still half-asleep while he bought ferry tickets at the port at the northern tip of the island. Her eyelids fluttered with the threat of sending her back to sleep while still standing.

But she woke fully the moment the ferry left port. The sea breeze smelled fresher away from town, and the water sparkled differently with the swaying of the ship. Her parents looked less impressed. Her mother looked out over the railings at the sea with scrunched-up eyebrows.

Kuvira managed to maintain her balance despite the swaying, but she couldn't keep a grin off of her face. She walked to the front of the ship to squint into the distance, where the mainland was.

In less than an hour, it was within sight. A town with rows of houses set in the hillside and interspersed with trees. A long harbor stretched out toward the sea. The first thing that Kuvira noticed was that it was so green. She'd never seen so many trees in one place before.

She'd already gotten in line to disembark when she realized that her parents weren't in it, and she stepped back out to join them.

"We're not getting off?" she asked.

"No, not this stop," her father said, looking surprisingly cheerful. His hair was combed for once and he was actually smiling. "But why don't you get something to eat? Your mother will get you when it's time to leave." He dropped a copper piece into her hand.

Kuvira stared at the coin, and then took another long, suspicious look at her father. He was smiling, though, like he used to before the accident. Maybe this move would be a good thing after all. She grinned and followed the crowd down the ship's ramp.

The town wasn't much larger than Jiao, but it was a lot busier. Workers loaded and unloaded cargo from ships, and fishermen hauled their catches onto shore. Further in, people bought groceries and vendors sold food and miscellany from carts. Kuvira spent too long looking through one of the street vendor's snacks. No store in Jiao had so many choices. Just as the salesman's lips began to curl into an impatient expression, she chose a red bean bun. She started eating it while walking back.

Kuvira was within viewing distance of the ferry when the sailors began to draw the ramp up. She dropped the bun and sprinted toward the harbor. She could make it. They just hadn't realized that they'd left her behind, and her parents would tell them to wait. But her stomach churned with fear.

"Wait! I haven't gotten back on yet!" she yelled. She saw the captain of the ship turn toward the passengers and say something, but none of them responded. Why weren't her parents telling him to stop?

By the time she reached the end of the harbor, the ship had already begun to drift away.

"Mom! Dad! I'm right here!" she screamed, looking for them among the people onboard. She finally spotted them, and shouted again, but her father didn't turn to look at her. Her mother made eye contact, but then she looked away.

Kuvira felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. It couldn't be real. Her mother hadn't seen her after all. Her father might have seen her and done nothing, but her mother wouldn't. She wouldn't.

"Mom! Dad! Don't leave me!" she screamed again and again as the ship drew further away, until her throat stung.

Finally, the ship was out of sight. Kuvira just stood there for a minute after, not understanding what had happened. Then she collapsed to her knees, choking as each sob came before the last one ended, because she couldn't deny it anymore. Her parents had abandoned her.