The sun took no mercy on the vibrant green leaves as they glistened and reflected what light there was down into eerie depths of the Foggy Swamp that morning. Maro's long, light brown hair made like the leaves in absorbing what light could, from the seemingly impenetrable canopy of the swamp.

It was meditation time for the tribe, and all the people gathered around the trunk of the Banyan grove tree and nested themselves on and about its roots. The idea is that the tribe can learn lessons from the swamp and ultimately try to reach enlightenment. Understanding that the entirety of the swamp is but one living organism can supposedly help us understand the illusion of separation. How all of humanity act separated, and yet, they are all one and the same people.

Maro however had trouble comprehending these thoughts, for you see, Maro, like anyone else from tribe had never seen any lands outside the swamp. Water bending was not even considered an art in the swamp. The people of the tribe were gifted in the ability, but none of it was ever taught between generations.

Maro did not have the patients for meditation today, so it was out of irony that she waited for the right moment to make her escape. Meditation is hard to start off; first you must block out all the noises around you, and especially in the swamp, this could prove to be a whole challenge on it's own since the swamp was constantly littered with the sounds of rustling leaves, chirping birds and other animals around. And so she waited for the perfect time, when everyone would have blocked all the background noise to make her move while still keeping her own wits on her. She could feel the water lacing around her crossed legs as she sat in between two thick roots. She could feel the moss on the small roots she sat on, vibrating to the rhythm of the breathing that was being done by the meditators. And as time passed and the vibrations eased Maro knew she could stand up and walk along out of the masses.

And as well as listening to the water and the roots she also listened to her stomach. 'I see no harm in passing by home to get something to eat' she thought as she ran merrily along the great roots of the Banyan, jumping and sliding over roots in her way. She dived into one of the water ways she needed to cross to get home and swam to the other side where there was earth encampments where people had beds. Privacy was a hard thing to find in the swamp for there were no walls and people had spread out all over.

Maro was rather tall for her age of 15, measuring up at more or less than 160 centimeters. Like the large majority of the tribe, she had a slim build, with skinny arms, legs and fingers. Her skin was white as snow, not that she had ever seen snow before, or anyone with any other skin colour for that matter. Her eyes glowed a vibrant and saturated shade of blue, and eye colour came in many forms in the tribe, unlike skin tone and the one feature that mainly distinctly separated her was her hair. It was golden brown and shimmered while others had dark, dull hair and everyone in the swamp had straight hair. No one in the swamp ever cut their hair.

She walked across the beds and chests made of leaves and extinguished campfires making sure not to tread on any youngsters who were sleeping, and made her way to the back where a cliff face awaited her. She climbed up over the cliff swiftly and precisely, using each roots different level of flexibility to her advantage while making sure the hair that went down just past her calves never interfered.

At the top the the cliff awaited her even more encampments, amongst which one of them was her own families. She shifted around until she saw the bush she always used to identify her encampment. An encampment featured a couple of beds, some chests made of leaves for storage and place for a controlled camp fire. There were never any tents and more than often it was difficult to tell where each encampment started and ended. Also, encampments were never placed on a two dimensional plane. They were also among the trees and the bushes and in holes and vines. Tribesmen were always taught at a young age how to navigate their way around the swamp by walking, climbing, jumping, swinging, swimming and by canoe, if you could get your hands on one.

Maro climbed upon the bush marker and reached her own encampment which was suspended in the air with upon vines. The vines swayed at her touch as she climbed upon them making her way to the chest where food was stored. But in Maro's cunning plan to evade meditation, there was one thing she forgot to take into account.

"Maro, what are you doing here, you fool." came a voice from behind. She jumped and swayed, a piece of mushroom sticking out of her mouth, turning to face her captor. It was her little 5 year old brother Tik. She must have woken him up when she shook the vines.

"You startled me" she said calmly after swallowing the mushroom.

"Why are you always so bad. Go meditate!"

Maro lost her cool. "Fuck off! You can't tell me what to do, your like half my size!"

"Fuck you, I'll tell mum"

"I'll kill you" she said in a threatening way, but regaining her cool.

"Then dad would kill you"

"Where is Wik?"

"Sleeping"

"And you should be too. That makes you just as bad as me!"

"Nah uh!"

"How then? You should be asleep"

"If you go back now, I won't tell mum and dad"

"Alright, deal. Now go back to sleep"

"Don't tell me what to do!" said Tik as he took his leave and climbed back onto his bed of vines. Wik lay in the bed directly under him, sound asleep despite the commotion.

Maro closed both her eyes and pressed her hands on her chest as she took a deep breath to regain her equilibrium. Swiftly and silently, she grabbed some cranberries and taro from of the leaf chests and jumped down from the vines, running back to the cliff edge while nesting the food in her left arm. Taking caution of the food and her hair, she made her way down the cliff and to the waterway bank where she walked along in the opposite way from which she came until she found a little nook in which she sat down and feasted. The water way was only about 10-15 metres wide but it was very, very deep, and was home to a variety of flora and fauna. There were no lakes or rivers in the swamp. The waterways where simply passages where roots and non-water plants had failed to muster, and so water took their place. Occasionally, the waterways would flow with the pull of the moon, and today according to Maro's calculations, was one of those days.

Maro walked along the bank as the waterway began to flow, faster and faster."Water flows" she said to herself as she pressed onwards. "And so must I".

After a decent walk along the banks and a bit of swimming she made it to the point where she recognised she must deviate from her path to reach her destination. She turned and walked deep into the swamp where another waterway, much more modest than the last, was waiting. She followed it along to her final destination. It was a waterfall. A waterfall that led down to a big, calm, shallow pool despite the crashing of the water. Perfect for waterbending practice. The pool was deepest where the water fell onto it, and so Maro would jump from the waterfall and swim in the pool.

She arose from the water and turned to face the harsh beating sounds of the water from above crash down from the roots holding the water way down the the tranquil pool.

Maro did a froggy stroke to the bank; beams of light came down from the edges of the hole in the canopy.

She placed her arms over each other on the bank of the water and pulled herself up so she was lying with her chest to the on the roots and her legs in the water. She pulled one leg up and the other followed, as then she lay along the bank on her side.

She looked down into the water, the crashing of the fall could be heard as she did so. As she looked, another Maro was facing her from the pool and returning the look. Such a phenomenon was not really noticeable in the main parts of the swamp due to the lack of light.

Soon, Maro found that the face of the other Maro was slowly transitioning into another female face that eventually poked it's head out of the water.

"You're so predictable" it said its warm female voice.

Maro stood up, ready to flee. She examined the face before only to realise it was indeed Ora.

"Damnit, what is it with everyone startling me today" said Maro. Ora put her hands over the bank like Maro did previously, but this time Maro have Ora a hand out of the water as well as a hug.

"Let's practice together!" exclaimed Ora with a sparkle in her eye.

Unlike Maro, Ora was already sixteen, but a fair bit shorter than her. She had blue eyes too and long black hair which also carried the unique trait of shining in the sun.

The pool was special to the girls for many reasons, and one of those is that it was so large and round, that the swamp could not keep it covered. And today they could see the moon in all it's glory, despite it being day time. The fact that the pool was uncovered meant that it let the light in, which was cherished by the girls. The water would sparkle and glisten in the soft sunlight, or at least, when the fog was absent. Today was particularly special, because it was one of those rare occasions where there was not a single cloud to be seen, and the sky with it's strong blue struck down the young girls with awe. It was a sight to be seen by too few from the tribe. None of them even knew this place existed. The girls took their stances by the banks, majestically pushing and pulling the water like a tide.

The girls got op on the bank of the pool, where they swayed their bodies, shifting their weightes, pushing and pulling along the water, acting like the moon creating the tides.

"I've been thinking…" said Ora lightly. Maro tensed up in fear of what Ora would say. "If the waterfall flows but the pool does not, where does the water in the pool go?". This put Maro at ease.

"I don't know… but we don't have to follow it. We can create out own flow. That is why we are waterbenders" she said with pride emphasising the last word.

"But who says the flow we create is better than the flow offered to us?"

Maro took a deep breath. "You will come with me to the Northern Water Tribe when I turn sixteen tomorrow. Right?"

"Of course. I will follow you to earth's end and back" said Ora calmly, reaching her left hand to press her palm below Maro's right cheek so that the rest of her hand covered it.

"And so, a new chapter in our life will begin. Tomorrow!" Returned Maro by putting her left hand on Ora's shoulder for a brief time before they returned to their routine.

"Do you remember when I first found this place?" Said Ora. She had now stopped bending the water again and was staring coldly into the distance. "I once spotted it while I was on top of the canopy, trying to see if I could see the other parts of the world. But all I could see was swamp and fog" Maro stopped bending the water and started staring at Ora. Ora turned her head to look at her. "And this place"

"I fear the journey." Said Ora, finally. "I want to see the world, yes. But I also wanna survive"

"I don't wanna survive" said Maro starting to gain energy. She dramatically took a step forward towards the pool. "I wanna live!" She exclaimed, looking dead into the sky while opening her arms as though the sky would give her freedom and that she was ready to embrace it. Ora looked down into the pool. "Shall we move on to the next form?" asked Maro while turning around to face Ora.

Ora nodded. They both stepped into the pool towards the center, for this part of it was an easy slope, and they found where they would begin to practice the next technique, and the one after that and the one after that, and eventually the sun would go down, and the girls would lose track of time. They would go back to the encampments, and everyone would be sleeping. And they would silently crawl into bed fall asleep.

"Wake up sleepyhead!". Maro opened her eyes. The swamp came into formation around her. Rain could be heard beating down upon the branches and the leaves of the canopy, but the inhabitants on the swamp would never be blessed with raindrops because the rain would just flow along the branches and down the trunks. The swamp came into focus and so did her mum as she stood over her. Her dad could be seen in the background as well as many other encampments above and below all waking up getting ready for a hard day of doing nothing but being spiritual.

"Happy birthday!" They said together as Maro sat up, now smiling as mum passed a plate of gecko meet, water chestnuts and lotus leaves to Maro.

"You stayed up late last night. Didn't you?" asked dad. But mum did not give time for a reply.

"We had some cranberries prepared for you too. But they seem to have disappeared"

Maro took the plate of her and ate some of the lotus leaves.

"Thanks mum and dad!" she said.

"Tik… Wik… you wouldn't happen to know anything about that… would you?" asked dad as the twins got out of their separate beds.

"No" Said Wik. But Tik was quick to intervene.

"I'll bet Maro took them when she came here yesterday when she should have meditating!"

"TRAITOR!" shouted Maro. "We had a deal!"

"So that's why I didn't see you after meditation.." said dad.

"HA! See! You didn't even go back!" said Tik. Wik slyly stole some meat of Maros plate and made off with it.

"You didn't know that! You're still a traitor!"

"Am not!"

"QUIET!" shouted dad. "You did go back on your word, if this is true, Tik"

Maro pointed at Tik. "See!"

"We'll discuss your punishment later" said mum as Tik started laughing devilishly.

But Maro smiled back even more devilishly. "You can't punish me. I'm sixteen. I'm an adult. I have independence"

"That is true. Well in that case, from tomorrow onwards enjoy living in you own encampment by yourself" said mum.

"And don't bother coming to us for food…" said dad.

"That's ok. By tomorrow, I won't even be here any more"

"Oh, you still have that imbecilic idea about going to the North Pole?" said mum.

"You realise when you nearly die and decide to come home, we won't be here for you" said dad.

Maro remained calm and kept her wits upon herself. "That's ok because I won't be coming back". And that statement marked the end of that conversation as silence took it's place for the rest of the morning.

Maro finished her food and was about to leave to pay Ora a visit at her encampment, when Maro's mother put her arm on her shoulder.

"I know I can't stop you from trying to go. But please, I beg you. Try and make your way to the Southern Water tribe instead. It's much shorter, you're much more likely to survive…" but Maro cut off her mother as she saw Ora coming in the distance.

"Oh look, there's Ora. We'll be off now. Bye!" she said as she ran off, so as not to give her mother a chance to reply.

Maro jumped down the vines and onto the earth where she ran towards Ora. Ora smiled and hugged her.

"Happy birth…" but Ora was cut off as Maro grabbed her arm.

"Come now, we are going to see Briche" she said as she ran off still grabbing Ora.

"Listen, Maro, I've been thinking" she said as she ran trying to catch her breath.

"Again? What about this time?"

"Let's go to the South Pole instead!"

Maro stopped running.

"It's so much closer, we could actually survive that journey!"

"Huh… Have you been in cahoots with… Oh never mind"

"Why not?" whined Ora.

"Because there are no waterbenders there. Because there is no society there. Because there is nothing for us there!" She paused. "Listen, I never thought I would say this about anything, but we're better off staying here than going there…"

"Alright" said Ora as the girls continued to walk to Briche's encampment.

Mr Briche was a wise old man. His face was deformed and wrinkled of age, his wife left long ago. Throughout his lifetime he had come into possession of many trinkets from the outside world, but there was only one in particular that Maro was currently interested in.

"Good morn' youn' ladies. Now who d'we 'ave here…" asked Briche as they arrived at his encampment. He bent over to take a closer look, for his eyes were starting to fail him. "Why if it ain't Ora n' Maro! Been years since I've seen ya Maro. How old are ya now?"

Maro smiled. "Sixteen".

"What!? Since when then?"

Maro now blushed. "Since today sir" she said softly.

"Wow! Happy birthday t' ya!" he said with a gigantic grin. "Now how can I be helpin' ya ladies today?"

"We would like to take a look at your world map sir" said Maro.

"Map? Hmmmm…. I… ahhh..."

"You told me Beeka gave it to you" said Ora.

"Why yes indeed! Hang on a sec…" He opened up a chest full of scrolls and pulled one out tied by a red ribbon. He gently took the ribbon off and rolled it out on the earth, his hands trembling as he did so.

The ladies leant in to take a close look at the frail old but bright and colourful parchment paper presented before them.

[inset map picture here]

"Look, here is the plan" started Maro. "We follow the coast and swim across passages every now and then to save time. By the time we reach here we will have to go north without the help of the coast. We just need to make sure we walk in the right direction for the north coast of… this place" She pointed to The Rift and Namal respectively, but she could not name them for she did not know how to read.

"But how will we get to the North Pole from the coast to the pole? We can't swim that far"

"We can work a bit and pay someone to take us by boat from that city on the coast. I'm sure there is a port there… Right?"

And then Briche's voice interrupted them: "Listen, Maro, since it's ya birthday, and since I may end up gone any day now, I want you to 'ave the map"

Maro lit up with joy. "What!? Really sir?"

"Why ya! It's is a birthday present from for you!" he said with a smile. Maro hugged him. "Feel free to come and see me any time you like"

"Thank you so much sir" Said Maro.

"Yes, thank you indeed, sir!" Said Ora.

And Ora rolled up the map and placed the ribbon back on as they walked away. Fate was on the two young ladies' doorstep, and nothing would make it wait.

"Come now" Said Maro. "There's something I wanna to show you".

The ladies walked far through the swamp, to where there was no more encampments and no people to be found. Maro found the bush she was looking for after a short while.

Ora could not help but see something in this bush. It was different from the others, it seemed to have a different colour. Such an occurrence was very strange and very rare in the swamp. Upon further examination, Ora realised that the bush was dead. Perhaps it had severed itself from the rest of the banyan? In any case, Maro lifted the branches to reveal 2 backpacks made from twigs and leaves and well as 2 wide brim hats also made from leaves. The leaves of the swamp are large thick and sturdy. Many things in the swamp are made from them. Maro opened one backpack and put the map inside.

"You stay here. I'll bring the blankets" Said maro.

"No, let me go please. I insist"

"Alright then"

Soon after, Ora returned with 2 blankets. They each packed them in their bags, as well as some food that Maro was hoarding and began the walk to the hills which surrounded the swamp.
But the walk was cut short by Ora.

"Stop" said Ora.

"What's up?"

"I'm… I'm not coming with you. I… I can't." She started to tremble. Her eyes shut.

"Can't what?"

"I… I… I don't want to die! I won't do it! I won't walk to my doom! I can't stand to never see my family again!" She fell down on her knees. Teers were now falling down her body.

"Fine then! Your pessimism will probably just slow me down anyway!" Said Maro as Ora started to cry.

Maro turned quickly away from her, and ran off, trembling as she ran. Tears started to come down from her own eyes as the sound of the rain felt like it was surrounding her. It felt like she was going to going to suffocate from the world closing in on her. And then… bam!

She tripped. Quickly using her arm to protect her head, she softened the blow, but suffered a gash going all the way down her upper arm. Blood drizzled down her arm falling onto the roots like little droplets of rain. Maro stood up angrily. 'My first test' she thought to herself. 'Onwards' she thought as she whiped the blood but still it ran down her mouth and forearm now.

And before she got to the hills with her sense given to her from the swamp vines, she cleaned herself up and made herself presentable. The hills looked big and daunting. Like guardians of the swamp. They were brown and wet, for the swamp did not climb on them. Coated in mud and sticks and rocks, Maro did not waste time before climbing them, as though was was the conqueror of these great guardians.

But alas, the guardians would fight back. Maro kept slipping as she tried to scale the hill, getting muddier and muddier. She would fall on rocks and they would dig into her. Nonetheless, she could now see the peak, and the sunlight coming over it. She placed her hand over the peak and said "Now is the next chapter in my life!" a tear falling down her face.