Hot-headed

The other warriors and I crept behind the trees. I watched our prey, breathing slowly and steadily. I made the gesture that told the girls to attack and within seconds, the deed was done. The three we caught were a vulnerable bunch—a bald young boy with a tattoo on his head, a girl with blue clothes on and her brown hair in a braid, and a young teenage boy with blue warrior's clothing, but obviously lacking a warrior's heart and skills. Once tied up, he said,

"Or, we could stay a while," to his friends. I smiled to myself. What an easy catch. The other warriors tied all of them to our town's Avatar Kyoshi statue while I went to get our master.

"You three," he grumbled to them, "have some explaining to do."

"And if you don't answer all our questions, we're throwing you back in the water with the Unagi," I finished, narrowing my eyes at them.

"Show yourselves cowards!" the adolescent warrior cried. I swiped his blindfold off quickly and he said, "Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?"

"There were no men, we ambushed you," I explained. "Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Wait a second, there's no way a bunch of girls took us down," he said, his expression skeptical and smug.

"A bunch of girls, huh?" I asked, grabbing his furry white coat threateningly, "The Unagi is gonna eat well tonight."

The girl with the braid was quick to reply, "No, don't hurt him!" I looked at her questioningly. "He didn't mean it. My brother is just an idiot sometimes." I looked at her brother and let go.

"It's my fault," the bald boy said suddenly, looking a bit guilty, "I'm sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant coy."

"How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" our master asked. "Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

"This island is named for Kyoshi?" the bald boy asked, smiling a little. "I know Kyoshi!"

"Ha! How could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here four hundred years ago. She's been dead for centuries!" our master laughed. The boy looked at our statue of Kyoshi, my idol. He thought for a minute.

"I know her because I'm the Avatar."

"That's impossible!" I exclaimed. "The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago."

The boy smiled widely. "That's me!"

"Throw the imposter to the Unagi," our master growled. The other Kyoshi warriors and I whipped out our gold fans and walked towards our three captives. I heard the girl said quietly to the bald boy,

"Aang, do some airbending…" Suddenly he flew into the air, over the statue of Kyoshi and slowly to the ground. I heard some townspeople come forward and some of the other Kyoshi warriors say,

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"It's true," our master marveled. "You are the Avatar."

"Now, check this out!" the Avatar said, pulling out some marbles and doing a little trick with them. The crowd was screaming and brimming with excitement. All over our island, the news spread like wildfire, and soon everyone knew. The warriors and I introduced ourselves to the Avatar and his friends, then retreated to the house where we all lived together.

"To think, the Avatar, visiting our island," Jade, one of my close friends and the second best warrior after me, mused.

"He's very spry for being over one-hundred years old, isn't he?" laughed Yori. We laughed with her.

"What do you think of his companions, Suki?" one of the warriors asked me.

"Yes, they're from one of the Water Tribes, aren't they?" asked another.

"I believe so," I said slowly.

"What's the girl's name?" Yori asked. "Kara?"

"Katara," Jade answered. "And her brother is Sokka."

"And the Avatar is Aang," I said.

"Well, Suki? What do you think of them?"

"The Avatar seems a bit young, possibly more ignorant than I'd imagine an Avatar to be," I said. "Katara seemed nice—not the warrior type like us, but she seems intelligent and a bit stubborn. Sokka, however, appears to be a bit—"

"Sokka is kind of cute," Yori chirped. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Actually, I would call him—"

"But he's really stubborn," she broke in again. She and the other warriors got into a deep conversation about his pros and cons, while I took off my makeup and thought to myself. I didn't need to say it aloud. Sokka was a hot-headed, sexist jerk who needed an attitude change. Cute? What did that have to do with anything? I looked at my fans and my green-and-black armor thoughtfully. These girls are supposed to be the warriors of Kyoshi. I joined this group because I believed in girl power, and that most men are pigs. Unfortunately, ever since Yori joined she's been changing the other warriors, making them think about silly things, like boys and relationships. What was so special about men? They didn't believe in our power, and that was their loss, especially when they mistook us for shy, defenseless wimps who didn't know how to throw a punch, or block a hit.