We lasted one whole day before we fell.
The Northern Water Tribe is strong, and the very image of elegance. Then...the avatar came, along with the two from our sister tribe. The girl was a waterbender, and 14, pretty old to be in need of training. Then there was her brother, who was brilliant, but angry, so very angry. They spoke nothing of the Southern Tribe, but we just assumed that the tribe was as it had been.
The avatar looked young for someone so old. It was only his eyes that reflected his age.
We rise with the moon, but we fall with the sun.
The girl was ambitious, talented. She was a waterbending prodigy. Nobody asked her why she was only just learning waterbending. It wasn't important.
The ocean spirit did not touch even one of the Northern Water Tribe citizens. It fought off the troops of Fire, saving many, but for others, it was too late. More importantly, it was too late for the tribe. The once elegant citadel lay in ruin.
Our mother, our goddess, died, and with her, we went.
The girl fought, even when almost all hope was gone, when others had given up. Nobody went to her aid as she fought off firebenders. Later on though, when we found her after the troops had been driven away, she had been crumpled into herself on the ground, bleeding, and quiet. Healers rushed to her aid, but she refused the help and told us to go help the others. She could handle it until necessary. Nobody questioned her why she was able to tolerate the pain.
Her blue eyes were lifeless, and glazed over. She wandered all over the village helping out where she could. The Avatar was a major part of the clean-up, while the girl's brother was mournfully helping us rebuild our defenses.
The only people who could have told us what happened to her during the attack were dead, or in the spirit land. Though they could have asked her, but nobody questioned her. It wasn't important. We had all suffered tragedies in the attack, she wasn't special.
The rest of the avatars visit was relatively quiet…except for one day when an elder female member of the tribe asked her a question when she finally went in for treatment. A deep gash on her back. The question had been quite innocent in nature.
"How are things in our sister tribe? Must be in a bit better condition than ours is right now."
The healer had been slightly offended by the silence in response to her query. So, she asked again just in case the young girl had not heard her. Then, suddenly she had turned to look the woman in the eyes. Lifeless as her eyes, the words came out of her mouth.
"The Southern Water Tribe is quiet, and there are only three adults in our whole population. Many left on the warrior ships, and left an elder, heavily pregnant woman, and a depressed spinster to take care of everyone. I was the only waterbender left. Nobody talks much because we're all too busy mourning the fire nations attack that took the lives of three fourths of the tribe. So, in answer to your question, no the tribe is not in better condition, and it never will be because everyone is too haunted to fix anything."
Our tribe learned about the attack that very day, and we realized that maybe, nothing would ever be okay again because we lost many lives, but we could never touch close to the tragedy of our sister tribe, who had nothing left. In the end, we were just lost and bitter souls putting our hopes onto three children who were more broken than any of us.
We lasted one whole day before we fell.
The Northern Water Tribe used to be strong, and the very image of elegance. Then...the avatar came, along with the two from our sister tribe. The girl was an untrained waterbender, lost, and lonely. Then there was her brother, who was brilliant, sarcastic, and bitter. They spoke nothing of our sister tribe, because there was nothing to say about a broken family, with no obligations left.