.[Chapter 1: The Girl That No One Cared About.

"Get away from there you street rat!" Yelled a woman from behind her.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Nuri protested.

"You were too! I know your type. Now, leave, before I call the guards on you!" The woman yelled. Nuri just kept walking until she came to the abandoned stable where she lived.

Just as she arrived, it began to rain.

"Stupid rain. Stupid Stable!" She complained as she walked inside.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" She yelled to no one at all.

The stable in witch she resided was very old and in desperate need of repairs. The roof could barely be called a roof, because it leaked so badly. She sat down on the wet ground and, after a while, fell asleep. When she woke she heard the sound of a man's deep, loud voice echoing through the town.

"Citizens of the Fire Nation, it is my duty to inform you that the leader of our great nation, Fire Lord Ozai, has requested some new recruits for the Fire Nation Military. Sign up, and defend our great nation!"

Nuri thought to herself, I am going to join, I mean, I can bend pretty well, and it would sure beat sleeping here.

She got up and stretched, noticing her wet clothes.

"Aww jeez."

She plodded over to a corner with a wooden box and opened it. Inside were her only change of clothes; wrinkled and smelly, but she took the dress out anyway. She put her wet dress into the box after she removed it from her shivering body. She sighed as she put on the dry dress; a plain robe with a red sash in the middle. After dressing she turned to the door and opened it with more force than was necessary, and closed it the same way.

As she walked down the ally, the sun shone on her tanned face and made her mood lighter. She passed a cart with fine ruby jewelry, and another with fresh fruit. She grabbed an apple out of the cart and placed a bronze coin in the merchant's hand.

"Bless you miss." He said.

She glanced over at him, noticing that he looked even poorer than her. She pitied the man, but she had nothing left to give. She had just spent her last bronze piece. The apple tasted sweet on her tongue and she enjoyed every last bit of it.

"Join the Fire Nation Army!" Boomed the deep voice she had awoken to, and she drifted toward it.

She saw a group of young men gathered together around a soldier who was probably a new recruit himself. They were boasting about what they were going to do when the got out on the battle field.

"One blast of fire from me and all those sissy waterbenders will go running back home to the poles where they belong!" One said arrogantly.

"Oh yeah? Well I won't even have to do anything; they'll just see me and go running." Said another.

"Because you're so ugly!" Returned the first.

"No, because of my awesomeness!" Snapped the second.

The first one scoffed and then turned to write his name on a piece of parchment the soldier held out to him. Nuri grabbed the quill from him and wrote her name under his.

"Be at the palace gates at dawn tomorrow, bright and early." Smiled the young soldier.

"Won't you be needed somewhere, like cleaning house, or maybe making supper?" Someone called from behind her.

Nuri just rolled her eyes and walked away from the crowd.

"Wait, doll face, you forgot your mop!"

The crowd erupted into roaring laughter. Nuri seethed.

"Hey doll face-"

Her brow furrowed as she whipped around and shot a ball of fire at the outspoken man. It caught him off guard and he fell backwards. It didn't burn him, but it knocked him backwards and singed his shirt.

"And don't expect me to clean your shirt for you."

She turned on her heel and started to walk towards the edge of town, but she had the strange sense she was being followed.

"You know, it's never wise to lose your temper."

Nuri whirled around only to see a clothesline bearing filthy clothes and the dusty street on which she stood. There was no one there.