HOUSEKEEPING!: Ahem -

- italics are thoughts

- bold and italicised is Greek

Chapter 1: Identity


Sirens we were called. Sea nymphs, Maidens of the sea, Poseidon's heavenly servants of the deep. Merrow. Mermaids. Mermen. Merfolk. All in all we were the same beings under different names.

Over thousands of years ago, in the time before Greece had been born, the world was full of the mystical and magic. The Merfolk swam rampant throughout the waters, unafraid of showing their scales to the fragile mortal species called humans. They looked upon us as gods and goddesses, beings of immense power worthy of their worship. Our knowledge was vast, our skills unlimited, our kindness never-ending. We gave of our knowledge of the mystical arts that they could master for themselves in exchange for the riches that our people were so very interested in. Humans and Mer were kindred spirits.

Or at least we were thought we were.

As centuries passed, the greed of humanity infected the mortals like a deadly disease until they turned their backs on us. We are nothing but fairy tales to them, stories to tell to children at night. History was rewritten as they carried on their wars, forgetting the immortal beings who pondered and pleaded with the same question: what they had done wrong?

Then the Purge came.

Whispers of Witches and Warlocks stealing the power of my kindred spread throughout the globe. For every death of each Mer, our skills, our knowledge and power were absorbed by the insatiable practitioners of magic. Their lust for power grew with each soul they'd taken from my people, and the members of our tribes dwindled each year. The merfolk were forced to abandon their dwellings throughout the world, left to scavenge about as nomadic creatures of society throughout the time continuum. Our way of life was gone, our culture nonexistent. Now we are nothing but myths and shadows to the world of the living.

This is the history of my people. A once great race now at the near point of extinction.

How did we get to this point?


Katara's P.O.V

The call of the waves was what rescued me from the nightmares. The screams of my comrades as they disappeared from my sight into a pit of fire . . .

I tugged at the hair on my scalp, letting the ends brush my wrist. No matter how many years would pass, my mind would not permit me to forget the deaths of those closest to me. My avia Kanna, her guardian Pakku. Papa being ripped away from me when I was young.

I got up off the queen-sized bed and crawled towards the gilded frame, looking at my reflection. For over a hundred years I've walked amongst the mortals, taken on different names. Irvette. Allae. Johanna. Bellatrix. Kya, after my mother. This time I'm taking on my original name.

Katara.

Skin like molten bronze, mocha brown hair that trailed down my back. Sad cerulean eyes with gold flecks in one eye and silver in the other, a slight teal tint in one eye and frozen in the other. My body was built like that of a powerful swimmer, with all the allure and beauty that our race inherited. The blue tunic I wore over my torso hung slightly off my shoulder, the hem swinging loosely above my knees. Despite the many decades I've spent dwelling on land, and the many more that I've yet to spend, I will never get use to these legs. Its against my very nature to spend more time on land than I do in water.

I kept my hand pressed against the walls as I moved throughout the vintage beach house. keeping the sound of my movements low to not wake up the other tenants. In one room slept the recent addition Hahn, a brash, arrogant Mer with a pompous attitude and fierce loyalty towards the Merfolk. Further along with snow white hair was my companion Yue, her face devoid of any emotion as she slept. She'd been with me since the aftermath of the JFK assassination, serving as a trustworthy woman at my back.

The lounge was large, with secondhand furniture set up around the room. Canvases of coastal landscapes attempted to embellish the bland, grey walls. I pulled up at the window seat bathed beneath the moonlight, leaning up against the frost-covered windows. Outside was a vast dirt road leading up to the main highway leading into town. Otherwise there was nothing to see but trees, long grass, and fireflies dancing about the flowers.

I tapped one long finger against the glass, pulling the frost flakes towards it. They slid across the plane, swirling about my finger in a cyclonic manner. I splayed my fingers out, watching the flakes burst outwards into a shifting lily-flower. Boredom can lead one to do so many pointless things.

I sighed. Tomorrow I would be starting off at the Arion Academy, along with Hahn who was to act as my rather estranged cousin. Yue had secured herself a job down at the docks with the Ferry Sunrise tourism company, and would act as Hahn's older sibling and our guardian. Despite her being a few years older than me in Merfolk age, her appearance gave the illusion that she was much more mature than her actual years. Not to mention that the amount of books she's read throughout her lifetime has increased her vocabulary exponentially, therefore she would sound much more mature in the presence of other adults.

The other Mermaid appeared on the window seat beside me, pressing her back up against the glass. Her silver hair fell across her shoulders like spun starlight, casting a celestial blue glow as it reflected back the light of the moon. She grasped her shoulders and pulled her legs close to her. Yue was a child of Lunar Royalty, containing the merged bloodlines of a Priestess of the Moon, and a Guardian of the Deep. Her tribal tattoo was imprinted on her left shoulder blade, partially obscured by her silver night gown. She was the last of a dying bloodline, just like the rest of us nomads that floated around the world, but hers was far more precious in more ways than one.

"You ready for tomorrow?" She whispered politely in the darkness.

I shrugged. "I've been through this charade over a hundred times, and yet you would think that I would be feeling immune to all those 'high-school jitters' that mortals always talk about on their films. But the truth is, I don't know. I don't know if I am prepared, or if I've just lost touch with my emotional side with things like this." I pulled back my hand and pushed my hair over my scalp. "I've grown use to cutting my emotions off for so long, that I don't know how to feel again.."

Yue reached over and held one of my hands in her soft palms. There were obvious differences between us. Yue was a more delicate individual, better in the field of battle as a medic and a healer rather than a warrior. Her hands were smooth against my rough calloused hands, light white scars etched into the skin. "It'll be okay, Katara. We'll get through this somehow."

I smiled back wryly at her. Her optimism was her only form of defense when she had no advice to give in hopeless situations. And this truly was a circumstance where even the word hope is banned from our minds.


"This place looks like a dump."

I narrowed my eyes as I watched Hahn sneer at the place with such distaste and vile. Black hair fell around his face, framing pale skin and dark indigo blue eyes. He wore a tight-fitting green shirt and beige cargo pants tucked into a pair of italian work boots, with a dark grey scarf wrapped around his neck.

He had the mannerisms of a spoilt princeling.

I looked over at the school grounds and couldn't but agree that yes, the place had very little appeal for the eyes. Despite the grades and programmes that were boasted about in the brochures for the school, Arion Academy seemed to be a bit reminiscent of a boarding school to the outsiders. Tall buildings made from bricks, styled into early pre-columbian features. To the far west of the campus was an obstacle course, available only for the use of those in physical education from my observation. However some of the areas we saw were in desperate need of a makeover as we moved to the administration office.

"Whoever the architect was that designed this place did a poor job," Hahn continued to mutter. "Clearly they had no artistic taste whatsoever. Wouldn't you agree Katara?"

I gave a him a steely gaze. "As always Hahn, your opinion is highly... irrelevant," I answered coldly. "The last thing we need now is for you to go ahead and start blabbing about how everything doesn't meet your standards."

Hahn glared at my back as I moved up to the desk, acting out the role of a confused high school girl. The woman behind the desk looked up from her workload and peered at us behind thin-framed glasses. I could feel her judging my attire; the large blue jumper that I wore was beginning to undo at the seams along the wrist, and there was a threadbare hole on the right sleeve, my elbow poking out from beneath clad in grey. The jeans I wore fitted the length and shape of my legs, slightly frayed in the knees. Needless to say I probably looked like a right sorry mess in the eyes of the youth these days. But I didn't care; I was going to live out my time here being invisible, so why should I bother impressing people? The woman pursed her lips as she gazed at the pair of us. "You the newbies?" She croaked, exhaling a breath that stunk of gum and cigarettes.

I nodded obligingly and watched as she pulled out several folders from beneath the desk. "There's your timetable, map and other course requirements in there," she said in a drone tone. "If you have any problems talk with your teachers before bothering me."

I arched one eyebrow and handed Hahn his folder, walking down the halls. Hahn sneered at anyone that looked at him for too long, scaring them away with his malicious smirk.

"Stupid old hag," he spoke. I noticed that he'd switched to Greek, catching the admiring glances of other teenage girls.

"Enough with the pretense," I said harshly to him in the mothertongue. "We're here to blend in, not stand out like a sore thumb." I caught a few other glances of some of the other girls and gave a firm nod.

"You're so uptight," Hahn replied in a lofty tone, reverting back to the english tongue. "You have the attitude of an old prudish spinster."

A delicate eyebrow arched up as I watched him saunter ahead of me. I daresay that the boy never learnt any manners during his upbringing. He was an inch away from being knocked down a few inches, and I can't promise that I won't hold back against him.

We moved into a room half-filled with students and sat at opposite ends of the room. While Hahn had moved to a seat right by the door, which was strategically centred beside a group of girls wearing short skirts and cotton shirts - I volunteered for a corner seat right in the back. No one else had claimed any of the surrounding seats around me leaving me to my own thoughts for a few mere moments. I played about with the yin-yang charm on my silver chain necklace. One side made from lapis lazuli, the other from turquoise stone. Two complementary colours that reflected the mood of the ocean.

"That's a nice charm. Your boyfriend get that for you?"

I twisted my head around and saw a young teenage girl waving a gold fan on herself. She wore a modest pale green summer dress with a belt tied around her waist, and the skirt flared around her knees. She had a red-brown shoulder-length bob cut, and violet eyes that sparked with mischief and ferocity. The tanned girl seemed to have an easy-going attitude as she appraised me with her intelligent eyes, looking at me as if I was a newly discovered species rather than a threat to her ranking in the social hierarchy.

"It was a birthday gift from my older brother," I answered her softly. The memory of my brother lingered in my mind; a kind, cheeky, hilarious boy who was part genius yet part madman when it came to his crazy tactics. The big cheesy smile he wore in the presence of beautiful girls, and those he held close to his heart.

That smile that turned to a grimace as he burned.

The girl snapped the fan and extended a slender hand towards me. "Suki Kyoshi," she introduced, wearing a cheerful smile.

I reached out and shook it. "Katara Quarius. Just moved in from Hawaii with my cousins." I pointed out to Hahn who was enjoying the attention from the girls surrounding him. "That's one of them, Hahns Manor. I apologize in advance for his pigheadedness."

Suki tilted her head as she looked at him. "He has good looks, but I can already tell that he seems to be a kid who has everything handed to him on a silver plate. Doesn't seem like a hard worker." She switched her eyes back on me. "I'm guessing he's the one who leaves the dishes on the table and goes around complaining about how much work he has to do."

I allowed myself to smirk at her analysis. She was pleasant enough to converse with, but I can't allow myself to indulge in pursuing further relationships.

The bell rang and the last of the students stumbled into the classroom. Our teacher, Xan Piandao engaged the classroom in his lecture on classical english works by William Shakespeare, and how some storyline today parallel the plots told within his numerous plays. For english, he gave the class a task to write an excerpt from his numerous plays and compare it to a modern film. He briefly visited me to give me a rundown on the english curriculum for the term, and gave Hahn's the same lecture.

When the bell rang, I slung my bag across my shoulder. Suki came up beside me and read my schedule out aloud. "You've got Drama next with me and then Music afterwards. Nice."

I looked at the young mortal and smiled. "Care to show me the ropes around here?"

She smirked and threw an arm over my shoulder. "Gladly."

We wound our way through the halls, with Suki directing me to different areas. It was refreshing to have someone take the reigns from me for once. It was tempting, to slip back into the ways of the mortals, forgetting about having to be on my toes all around the clock.

"And over here is the cafeteria, which you distinguish by the smell of death," Suki teased.

My smile grew brighter at her mocking attitude. "I'm beginning to like you already Kyoshi."

"Please - just Suki. You don't need to be so formal girl, otherwise you start sounding like some old woman from the early nineteen hundre-"

Thwack!

I smacked my head into another and backed away in pain, cringing at the mistake i made. "I'm sorry about that," I apologised fervently.

"You should be," a low bass tone growled.

My anger flared momentarily at the passive aggression within his tone. I looked up and was about to make a comment on his behaviour but froze in my movements. For a moment I was pushed back in time, to another place, in a different situation. The male teen was just as tall as him, with the exact same body posture and build; strong, regal, controlled movements. He even had the exact same face as him. Lightly tanned skin, with strong cheekbones and a chiseled jawline. Sharp amber gold eyes that flared up with golden flames of fury beneath thick lashes. Were it not for the scar across his left eye or the dark tousled hair that strayed and stopped along the tips of his shoulders the top of his shoulders, it would be as if time had never taken it's toll on the Hunter.

Ozai.

The boy's eyes narrowed in annoyance and fury. "Something wrong with what you see?" Apparently my eyes had lingered too long on his face for his comfort. I stepped back and shook my head. "Sorry, you just resemble this person I met long ago."

"Well, quit it alright?" he snapped back, his face inching closer. The boy's outfit consisted of dark denim jeans and a red flannel shirt the was propped open slightly around the collarbones.

"Zuko, stop being such an asshole, will ya?" Suki defended. Zuko. Not Ozai, Zuko. " Geez, did you like wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something? She's just a new transfer student so stop trying to bite her head off. You were the one that crashed into her first, so I think you're the one that owes her an apology."

"I'll apologize when I know I'm in the wrong, okay Kyoshi?" The boy snapped back at the younger girl, towering over her like a pillar of fire and shadow.

"That's enough," I said cooly, cancelling out his fiery temper with an ice cold wrath of my own. I gave the boy Zuko a small apologetic smile whilst maintaining the cool anger within my voice. "I'm the one in the wrong, so please - don't worry about it."

"C'mon Katara," Suki said, pulling me along by the hand. "I'll introduce you to people with some better manners."

I gave Zuko a bitter nod and followed the young red brunnette down the hall. The minute I was out of his presence my heartbeat sped up, my chest heaving with each breath. Memories crashed down upon me, my mind reliving moments that I'd thought were locked away for all time and eternity. My thoughts reflected back on Zuko, so many questions pouring through my head like water filling up a tub. Calm down Katara, I thought rationally. Just take everything one step at a time. Just stay out of the spotlight and observe.

One step at a time.


Be not afraid, good readers. This is what I call a test story - hit it up and review what you think of it so far. If it seems to be good enough for your eyes then I'll continue with the storyline. This is just one of those stories that I've had sitting on googled drive for a while. Review and comment on your thoughts so I know if its worthy or not.

Don't worry, I'm still writing Art Of War Clace fans. I just need to take a step back for a bit. Future chapter for that is under way.

-Violentkitsune