Smellerbee wore yellow the day her city burned.
The village children frolicked about happily in the golden fields behind Tomohiro, their delighted peals of laughter reaching the high balconies of the mayor's house and the ears of the girl who sat there. Her pretty silk dress fluttered in the breeze, the flickering hems exposing her tiny feet. Melancholy gray eyes peeked out from behind a curtain of long brown curls, and the girl angrily plucked a flower from the vines at her feet.
"Why won't Mama let me play?"
Katsumi picked up her mandolin and stood, walking back into the foyer. The family's maid, Hana, appeared out of nowhere with a hairbrush and yanked it through the eight-year-old's curls. Katsumi yelped as Hana fussed over her, tugging at her dress and retying her sash, all while complaining about some sort of kitchen fiasco.
"Hana, Hana! Where's the fire?"
"No fire, Miss Katsumi. Your father is hosting that party today, did you forget? He wanted you there, the jewel in his treasury."
Truth be told, Katsumi did forget. It was just like her father to host these parties and flaunt her, his perfect little doll of a daughter. He claimed that she had inherited her looks from her mother and her ability to earthbend from her father, and his favorite story to tell was how her powers were discovered.
When Katsumi was a toddler, her mother had taken her to visit a friend in the center of the village. Her mother was talking the woman and Katsumi was standing next to her when an earthen mail cart derailed and barreled towards the trio. Katsumi, being only four, screamed and shoved her arms out in front of her, her tiny fists the only protection against the rocky projectile looming a short distance away. The cart shattered at her feet when it came in contact with her fist, and one bright gray eye blinked open warily. A small crowd had gathered around the three, and many of their faces were formed into gasps or calls to her. Katsumi braved a look at her mother, and as soon as she looked up into her mother's gray eyes, she was wrapped in an embrace.
"Oh, my little Beauty. My little earthbender."
Earthbender. The word struck a chord deep in Katsumi's heart, and the strum made her toes curl and her heart pound. She was an earthbender.
Everyone had coddled her that day, stroking her and petting her, offering her parents congratulations on having a bending child. The whole situation didn't seem right. Katsumi felt like people were cheering her on because she shook someone's hand. She felt wrong. Her father immediately threw her into lessons, trying to make her into a master before she could ride an ostrich-horse. Her muscles throbbed endlessly for what seemed like forever, but soon she was considered a master. Katsumi decided one day that she hated earthbending.
Hana pulled her out of her reverie by pushing her into the parlor. Katsumi stumbled into the room and over to where her parents stood. They turned to greet her, and she could tell by their tense smiles that something was up. She quirked an eyebrow and looked around the room, which was filled with sunlight and people dressed in Fire Nation armor. Wait, Fire Nation armor? She thought.
Her eyes flitted back to where her parents stood and rested on the man they had been speaking with. His smile was fixed on her and she repressed a shudder. Yep, something was up. She plastered a fake smile on her face as she walked smoothly over to her parents. Her father rested a ringed hand on her shoulder.
"This is Katsumi, my daughter. Quite the flower, is she not? Katsumi, this is General Lin of the Fire Nation. His regiment will be staying in our city."
"Why, hello, Katsumi." His oily smile made her insides turn.
She curtsied respectfully. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, General. I assume that our humble city is to your standards?"
He nodded. "More or less. Now, I must speak to your father about some things."
She nodded in return, and her mother pulled her to the wall across the room. They both tucked their hands into their sleeves and bowed their heads. When her mother's voice reached her ears, she thought it was a trick of the mind. But it wasn't.
"'Sumi, you cannot let them know you can earthbend. They will kill you. They're here on an extermination mission, please, don't tell them."
The panic in her mother's voice was obvious and Katsumi rested her fingers on her mother's arm to calm her.
"Absolutely not!" Her father's sudden outburst made her head snap up. His fists were clenched at his sides and a vein stood out in his neck. Her mother ran to his side and placed a slender hand on his arm. He ignored her and continued talking. "You will not take my daughter from me. She is eight-years-old! She will not be your son's bride!"
"Masao, calm down. I will take her with me, and when she is of marrying age, she will marry my son. She will be taken care of, not to mention rich."
"She will not marry your son!" As he spoke, Masao hurled large chunks of stone at the General, unleashing the fury of his earthbending on him. His opponent quickly retaliated with a burst of flames. Seeing no other option, Katsumi kicked a chunk of stone at the general's head.
Lin dropped his fist and looked at her. His oily smile stretched across his face and he raised the first three fingers on his left hand.
"Destroy the city."
"No!" Katsumi shrieked. Those three words broke her heart and she furiously launched stone after stone at the soldiers. In vain she tried to staunch the flow of crimson leaking towards the doors and windows. Her parents were nowhere to be seen, and what had once been their parlor was now a flaming prison. Katsumi looked around the now empty room frantically for a way to escape. A ray of sunlight shone through a shattered window and she dove through it, the shards cutting into her stomach as she landed on the soft grass outside. She jumped up and looked around.
"Mama! Papa! Where are you?" The eight-year-old's cries faded in with the cacophony of screams from down below, and a hand reached out from behind and snatched her by the hair. She shrieked in agony as she was lifted into the air, and she found herself face-to-face with the white mask of a Fire Nation soldier.
"Worthless girl, our general is dead because of you!" He barked into her face.
She spit at him. "Fire Nation scum."
Katsumi was suddenly knocked to the ground. Reeling, she brought a hand to where he had punched her. He kicked her in the side and she doubled over.
"Hey fellas, this one's still alive!" Four other soldiers surrounded her and her vision was clouded with red. She bit down on her lip as they proceeded to beat her, refusing to give them the satisfaction of hearing her cry. Katsumi could feel the burns covering her body, but when the knives carved into her back she could only knot her fingers into the grass. Hot tears leaked into the dirt under her face, and she tried to ignore the comments being made by the monsters above her. But one slipped past her barrier.
"You're parents are gone too. No one's coming for you." He laughed.
"You're lying!" She screamed. "My parents aren't gone! You'll be sorry you said that!"
Katsumi pulled herself shakily from the dirt and took an earthbending stance. With all of the remaining strength she could muster she pulled the earth beneath their feet apart, letting them fall into the crevice. She heard their screams for her to let them out before she pulled the earth back together, crushing them. She fell back into the grass and wept exhaustedly, falling into a slumber filled with nightmares.
When she woke the moon was low in the sky. She pushed herself off of the ground, mindful of every aching wound on her body. She walked around her charred city, taking in the carnage of her beautiful home. She made a silent promise to return and bury the bodies. After a while she reached the remains of her home, and she picked her way through the rubble. In what used to be the hallway, Katsumi found the remains of her parents. Though obviously burned, their features were still recognizable. Her eyes trailed down to their hands, which were intertwined, their matching bracelets gleaming in the moonlight. Katsumi fell to her knees between their bodies, the sobs she had kept bottled in all day wracking her body. She shook with each wail, her grief sounding in the night. After what seemed like forever, the eight-year-old stood up and wiped her nose. Katsumi earthbended a decent-sized hole into the ground overlooking the city, big enough to fit her parents comfortably. She carried first her mother, then her father to the hole and said goodbye. She took their bracelets and clasped one on each of her wrists. Her tears landed on her parents faces as she kissed them one last time. Katsumi intertwined their hands and jumped out of the hole before sweeping the soil over the bodies of her parents. Her feet carried her back to her house, and Katsumi was now fully aware of the warm blood seeping through what was left of her dress. She sifted through the charred rubble, looking for anything to replace the blood-soaked material. After a bit of searching she came across her father's dagger and clutched it in her left fist. Katsumi finally found a burned curtain and tied the blue material loosely around her scorched torso. She devoted the rest of the night to burying the bodies she could find, although she was positive that she missed a few. She looked back at her home on the hill one last time before turning and continuing into the forest.