You're in bed, dying. You can feel death coming onto you. You wish it would come sooner. It shall be such a relief to be freed from this terrenal prison. You know that when you die, you'll go exactly where you want to. Heaven, with your family, another world you long for, a universe where you can be perfectly happy. Thinking about this, a memory flashes through your mind. You are young, a teenager, a small girl. You dream about Waterbending. You dream about Aang, about Katara, about Sokka, Appa, Momo... and Zuko. You remember that Zuko was your love, your dream, your desperation. You remember why you always wanted to be with him. Right then and there, you resolve to "live" another life with Zuko. Of course, you won't remember deciding it, or remember all the Avatar information you gathered. But it won't matter, because it will turn out just as you want, anyway. With your last bits of energy, you say goodbye to your loved ones, and your remaining breath leaves you. Then... darkness. Floating, just floating. Nothing to see, hear, observe... you are all alone. However, you are not worried. You know this is a sort of time-out for you to plan out our next life just as you want it to slowly, as you start making plans, you can see the darkness around you changing.
Gradually, everything becomes a soft pink color, the most faint red lines crisscrossing it in a delicate spiderweb pattern. You no longer feel in nothingness. You feel like swimming. You can breathe, too, although not quite by taking breaths of air. You just... can. You can see a small bubble forming around you. You curl upon yourself, still hatching your plan. Now you can hear noises. Soft, muffled ones. A female voice cooing in a language you can't understand, and a male one accompanying the first. You start to see your body. It's changed. Now you are a small creature, curled into a soft ball, with the softest skin and most delicate body. As you grow and grow more, the space around you becomes tighter, and there is not much room to move around. You squirm a little, the female voice utters a soft exclamation, and you quiet down. As time passes, however, you become more uncomfortable in your warm prison. You shift again, and ignore the female voice when it exclaims again, louder and more insistent than before. You accommodate yourself in a comfy position, and you can feel gravity pulling you head first.
You can't move quite so much now, and you want to get out of wherever you are encased. You try a new movement: push. Push downwards. Push to freedom. Push to wherever your mind has created. Push to your new life. There is now more commotion than ever. The female voice now cries out with renewn energy. These cries attract the male voice, who exclaims and then grows quiet. The movement of your prison is now quite noticeable. It's heaving up and down, aiding you in your escape. You attempt to kick out, but your feet are tangled in a thin cord. So, you use your hands. You try to wriggle them out of the lock you had accommodated them in. Out of instinct, you try to open your little palms. You manage this slightly, and pump them downwards. Just as you wished, the water moves around you, propelling you forward. You can see a light. More voices. The anguished cries of the female voice, mixed with the anxious moans and incomprehensible words uttered by the male voice. There is a new voice, however. It's female. It sounds urging, but soothing. You feel a pair of hands take your head. They feel warm and strong. As you see more light, you can also see blurry shapes. Colors. New smells. And you also start to lose your consciousness. The plan starts to slip from your mind, but you're not worried. You know it will be carried out correctly.
The midwife holds up a small baby, just a little smaller than usual, but healthy and rosy nonetheless. "Well, well, well. Congratulations, Kanek and Akkita. You now have a healthy baby girl. What shall you name her?"
Akkita smiles, tired, her hair damp from labor. "Well, we were thinking of naming her Ailimek. Li for short". Kanek smiles, seeing that his wife is okay after a surprisingly easy birth. "Yes. Many thanks, midwife Kana. I'm sorry to have interrupted your sleep". Kana smiles, her eyes crinkling into a very usual position. "Think nothing of it", she says, "I was ready for this. After all, aren't most of our Waterbenders born at midnight?" She hands the baby over to the mother, who cradles her and starts breastfeeding her firstborn. "Hm. This little girl has a strong power. I can feel it. I suppose you felt it too, didn't you, Akkita? The way she pushed away the water around her? You should start training her immediately in Waterbending. I shall talk to master Shifu tomorrow. Meanwhile, Akkita, try to rest, move as little as possible, and feed Li frequently. You might want to give her some weight to gain!" She yawns wide, revealing a surprisingly well-cared for denture, and bows goodbye to the happy couple.
Safe in bed, Akkita gazes at the face of her precious baby, who is still suckling. When she finishes, she brushes a strand of soft dark hair off her infant's forehead and kisses her lightly on her button nose. Li smiles in dreams, happy in her mother's warm embrace, completely unaware of the life that is now laid out for her.
You grow up quite happily in a village located in the South Pole, away of civilization. That little town is full of Water Masters, who dominate Waterbending perfectly. The town is basically a huge chunk of ice flattened out in a few choice parts, with lots of houses, rivers and a great temple, all made of ice, snow and water. Provisions are mostly venison, but the people manage to get vegetables by trade.
You were born with features that would otherwise be ordinary if it were not for the way they made your face looks. You have very dark, straight chocolate hair, which you like to wear in a simple but becoming hairdo: hair loose, parted through the middle, with two braided strands of hair from both sides of the head tied on the back with a baby-blue ribbon that ends in a bow at the back, but makes a simple tiara in the front, with a small Ying-Yang shaped pendant that your mother made for you. You also wear two small braids on the right side of your face, decorated with clay and ceramic beads and pendants. Your eyes are also dark chocolate, but almond-shaped and somehow always wide and sparkling. Your mouth is a perfect little gem: made for smiling, your lips are defined with a pinkish tone, the lower lip slightly fuller than the upper one, stretching into a gentle smile when you wish, or drawing into a tight line when angered. The most noticeable trait of your face is that spot on your right cheek. Like a huge freckle, only becoming. It's like your beauty mark. Like the black spot on Ying. It concentrates your personality. It's yours and only yours. Brown like your hair. You cannot bear to see a drawing of you with the mark missing. You love it.
Your parents are nice people, who teach kindness, loyalty, love, solidarity, firmness, strength and other fine qualities to you. Most of these qualities are necessary to make a great Water Master. Akkita and Kanek are cheerful parents, always being optimistic about any situation, and making the best of what is happening. Although you are also taught healing, Waterbending is your life.
"To Waterbend, you need gracefulness, smoothness, a sharp mind, imagination and firmness." Starts Master Shifu on your first day of Waterbending. "When you Waterbend, you need to move your whole body. Water is all about movements. It's the one where you manifest feelings. When you want to make ice barriers, you must be sharp. When you want to send a water whip, be quick. When you want to take water from one place to another, you need to be graceful but firm." You nod your head respectfully. You remember that you will not be given any preferential treatment just because of your gender. You will be treated just like any other apprentice during training. You will not have Master Shifu go easy on you. You must earn respect among your fellow pupils with toil, hardship... and excellent Waterbending abilities. You are determined to manage this. You know most of the boys here think you shouldn't be here with them. They think you should be home, cooking or practicing healing. The fact that they think they are better than you is infuriating. You know you are destined for great things. You don't know where this feeling comes from. It's always been there.
Still focused, you listen to Master Shifu explain the utter importance of gaining good Waterbending abilities. "Not only because Waterbending is a graceful, beautiful and delicate art, it must be used simply to entertain. It is also used during war. Yes, my pupils, Waterbending is a powerful weapon. You will learn when you are at your strongest. You will learn when to strike. You will learn how to make your enemy fall." Your eyes shine at these words. Imagine! To gain honor by fighting! Master Shifu continues "Now, let's all sit down in a meditating circle. I will teach you to be water. To feel water. To make water take life." You sit cross-legged across Master Shifu, making sure that you have the perfect posture: ramrod-straight back, perfect leg position, head tilted down just so, hands on top of your heart, sparkling eyes open and looking at Master Shifu anxiously. He notices your excited stare but does not answer. Just stares back. You refuse to drop your eyes, however, and he decides to shift his attention to his other pupils.
"Very well, students. Now, before we start... Mito, sit up and don't slouch. Keno, legs crossed. Neko, hands over heart. Yes, both. Well, now that everyone is seated correctly, let us start. I want you all to close your eyes and lose yourselves in my words, the sound of my voice. Take in every one of my words. They will be an important part of your training." You close your eyes and try to clear your mind, consciously timing your breathing until you hear Master Shifu speaking, "Water. I want you to think of that word. Water... What image comes into your mind? What color? What action or what sound? Lose yourself into that. Listen to the word: water... Focus on that color, make your mind smooth and wrap it around the color that comes to your brain."
'Water'... Hm... Well, you always thought of the word 'water' as blue. Nothing else. But now you think of water. A color comes into your mind: a quiet aqua tone. Green, like the sea, but also blue like a freshwater spring. You focus on it, almost growing dizzy with concentration. Suddenly something intrudes your thoughts: a gentle sound. It's not from outside. It comes from your mind. It's a sound that recalls the smoothness of the sea, making you think of a quiet ocean. You think of it even harder, rolling your eyes backwards and almost fainting. Unaware of what happens outside of that aqua vastness and revibrating sound. Utter calm. You hear a few voices breaking into your sound but pay no heed. Now they are louder, more insistent. You try to avoid them even harder. Now a persistently loud voice shatters your dream. "Ailimek!", it shouts, "Wake up, Ailimek! Wake UP!" Your eyes fly open to the spectacle you have created. The training area is an utter mess. The ice floor is cracked. Your friends are caked with heavy snow. Rivers are everywhere. Ice spikes have shot through the floor. Master Shifu is beside you, shaking your shoulder. "Ailimek! Thank goodness you're awake! What in the name of the Avatar were you thinking?! Do you see what you have done to the training grounds? You could have killed me and your classmates!" You hang your head in shame, eyes brimming with tears. Now Master Shifu will expel you for sure. He'll never let you step a toe into his pupil's circle."I'm sorry, Master Shifu! I don't know how I did it! I honestly don't! I..." You look up desperately to see Master Shifu's reaction, and to your surprise, you see him smiling. You halt surprisedly. You notice his hand now grabs your shoulder firmly but gently. "Ailimek," he says kindly, "You have an amazing potential I have never seen before. The abilities you have shown just now prove you are destined to be a great Waterbending master. I will gladly teach you the art" He helps you up, "Now," he says, glancing at the other students who are standing in the wrecked training area, "let's get practicing, shall we?"
"But, Master Shifu," one boy speaks up hesitantly,"how are we to practice in this?" he gestures desperately at the wrecked ground behind him.
"My boy," says Shifu,"aren't we Water Masters?" And with a few sweeping motions of his hands, body and arms, the spikes melt, the rivers solidify and the cracks disappear. He smiles at his pupils. "This demonstration of such an amazing potential has set me in a surprisingly good mood. So! The first movement you shall learn is how to make waves" He sets his legs apart about the length of his torso and slightly bends the front leg, stretches his arms in front of his body and about on top of the bent leg, palms down. He starts a sweeping motion: backwards with palms down, forward with palms up. Suddenly but gently, you can see little waves start moving on the surface of the practicing pool. Shifu does this five more times and then returns to a normal position. He gestures to the pool. "Who wants to go first? Ah, Akar. Yes boy, you. Come forward. Now, copy my motions" He repeats them. Akar tries but fails to make waves. He tries again and succeeds, but the waves are nowhere near as the strong, confident ones of his teacher. "Who can tell me what is Akar doing wrong?" You raise your hand tentatively. "Yes, Ailimek?" Hesitantly, you say, "Well... Akar doesn't have the right feet position. The movements also need to be more fluent and graceful. And... this may sound silly, but... he needs to be connected with water." You look at Shifu uncertainly. When you lift your eyes, you see he is smiling. "Well done, Ailimek!" He nods to the rest of the class. "I want you all to keep in mind what your friend just said. It's very important to remember that. Especially the part about fluent movements. Water is all about gracefulness and smoothness. To have great power over the untamable water, you must learn to bend with it, to move your body much in the way water would. Now, all of you come forward and practice." You stand up nervously next to the other boys, but try to step confidently nonetheless. When you reach the pool, you take a deep breath to calm yourself down. You carefully position your feet and hands, and start doing what you hope are smooth and graceful movements. You remember what Master Shifu said and try to bend with your actions and with the illusion of water. You close your eyes for a while, and when you open them, you see some pretty big waves lapping the shore at your feet. You're so startled you almost break your pace, but manage to keep it up until Master Shifu walks by your place.
"Well, well, well. The younguest girl in the group surpasses all of my pupils by far!" You look around you to see what are the other students doing. Mito looks as though he is charming a snake, the twins Keno and Neko are bending so low when they drag the water that they look as if they wanted to dive into the ice, and Akar looks stiff as a board. The others are hardly doing any better. You barely supress a smile. You continue practicing different inclinations to the waves: to you, away from you, smooth or rolling. Finally, Shifu says "Right. Now I want you all to make the biggest wave you can muster. Don't worry about getting wet, now!"
You take a deep breath and start doing the wave movements. When you feel like you've gathered impulse, you push forward and go up in a smooth curve, projecting your whole body outwards like a cat stretching. You hear a gasp from the other pupils and open your eyes (you had closed them). A huge wave is frothing before you. You slowly make it recede downwards, and look at master Shifu. He is looking at you, eyes shining, a smile playing on his lips. After a few seconds, he says "Seeing that Ailimek has already mastered the first two techniques I have taught her, she will move on to different tactics while the rest of you learn how to make waves. It seems pointless to keep her in this level. Come, child." You follow Shifu, failing miserably at trying to hide you pleasure.
When you are a good way away from the other boys, Shifu continues, "I will now teach you how to throw a ball of water. First, place your feet apart... Good. Now set your arms and fingers like this, close to you. That's the starting position for any duel. Whenever we practice in class you must begin like this until I say 'go!'. Now, stretch your arms out to a water source ( for example, that pool over here). Slowly, now. That's it. Now drag the water near you, holding it level with you hips. Perfect! Now lift your arms slowly and..." He made a strong and fast push outwards and chest level, quickly propelling the water sphere forward until it slammed into an ice vase. "Now you try it. Return the ball to the pool, and start from the dueling position." You do as instructed, and start forming the water ball. You try to hold it and shape it with your hands, as if cradling it in safety. Then you suddenly change your attitude and shoot the ball forward, with firm arms and steady posture. You miss the vase by an inch. Without looking at Shifu, you do it again, this time hitting the vase. You try a third time, and this time you manage to slam the sphere into the vase with such force that it shatters and attracts the attention of the other pupils. You turn to Master Shifu and hold your fists together in the customary salute, bowing. When you look up, Shifu is clapping softly. You ill-conceal a triumphant smile that plays on your lips. This was going to be an interesting instruction.