Reaya&& Zuko

Just to let you guys know… Zuko had now just turned 17. Just to clear up some confusion. Reaya is pronounced like (Ray- ua) Anything in italics is either someone's thoughts or a flashback.

Reaya-South Water Tribe

I remember my childhood. It had been happy and care-free. My parents were kind and loving. I had a brother and a sister. My life was wonderful at the age of 9. I had no worries, but this terrible war that had been raging on for a hundred years. But back then I was vaguely aware of the war. That all changed, the day the Fire Nation raided by village.

My sister had dark skin and blue eyes; which were common among our people; and long brown hair that was tied into a braid down her back, and was a year younger than myself. My hair on the other hand was dark black and a single pink streak on each side of my face and that was most unusual; in any nation to be born with such a feature. My skin was paler than my sisters' and my eyes were green almost grey. They would change from time to time; which was not usual among the water tribe people. I knew I was unusual. It really didn't bother me, not then anyways. I liked the fact that I was different from other people in my tribe. Mother told me to be proud of who I was and I was. She also told me not to always let other know about how special I was and never tell them about the marks that covered my body. My lower back wash sprinkled in the strangest birthmarks. They were small dots that would sometimes shine like little star. At least that's what they reminded me of. Mother said that they were special freckles and that the Spirits had blessed me with them. I didn't quite understand what she was talking about back then. They were everywhere; on my back, my hip bones, the top of my feet, and shoulders. The ones on my feet, the inside of my arms, and the two beside my eyes were not always visible. They would fade and glow at times. All of them would glow though, when there was a full moon or when I was upset. I had no idea what that meant or if it meant anything at all. I was also told to keep my birthmarks a secret from outsiders as well as some of our tribes' people.

My sister and I were close, being as we were so close in age, and she and I were the only two benders in our whole tribe. I think that too made the connection between us even stronger. We would try to practice bending together sometimes and make a game of whoever could hold water up for the longest. It was all in good fun.

One morning father and my brother had woken, at sunrise to load to boat, and go fishing. And mother had stayed inside to tidy things up and start making dinner. So she sent my sister and me out to play. That day we had gather up some of the other children in our tribe and brought them along with us to play. I remember we had hid in the snow and played freeze tag.

My friend Nichalias (Nick-ah-l-i-us) had come along with us that day because his father had taken is younger brother Dastan to one of the frozen ponds to teach him to ice fish. Nichalias was my best friend. He was 10 and I was 9 and we were almost as inseparable as my sister and I were. We would always get in and out of so much trouble together. He had looked like any other water tribe boy but he wasn't, not really. One day my brother had fallen in the icy cold water and I couldn't get him out. I thought that he would freeze to death and drown. But Nich had shown up and lifted him out of the water. I had no idea how he did it, at first, but then I figured it out. Nich was an air bender. I couldn't believe it. I thought like the rest of the world, that air benders no longer existed. But here he was air bending. That night when I asked my mother about Nich she explained to me how Nich came to be with us. He parents were decedents of the air nomads, that the fire nation thought they had wiped out. His grandparents had managed to escape the raids and moved into a small Earth Kingdom town. They kept their bending a secret and lived there with their children. Only one other person knew about whom they really were, a woman from the earth kingdom town. She kept their secret and often led fire nation soldiers astray when they came asking about any surviving air benders. They kept the secret hidden well for a long time, up to his grandparents passing. But somehow the fire nation soldiers heard of these surviving air benders and killed Nich's parents. He was only an infant at the time and was staying with the Earth kingdom woman that day. She heard a commotion coming from the air benders home and saw the fire nation soldiers. She knew Nich's parents had been killed and got on the next boat out of the Earth Kingdom. She was a good friend of his parents and made a promise to herself to hide the child and make sure he was kept safe. She made her way south and eventually came to the Southern Water Tribe. There she found a young water tribe couple and explained to them who she was, who the child was, and what had happened. They were amazed and she asked them to take the child in as their own. They promised to the woman to keep the child safe and love him as their own. They took Nich in under their roof and everyone in the water tribe acknowledged him as the son of the young couple. They dressed him in water tribe clothing and he looked just like any other water tribe child would. No outsider would ever know the difference.

After my mother told me this story I was sworn to secrecy. I wanted to protect my friends just as much as everyone else did. I never told a soul.

But that day while we were out playing, for some reason I was anxious to get home. Nich was going to walk my back to the village but I assured him that I would make it back just fine. He of course said that said that I was stubborn and not to come crying to him if I got eaten by a polar-bear. But I knew that he was only kidding, and plus everyone knew that there was no such thing as a polar bear. So I made my way home crunching through the thick snow. I was almost home when I noticed what I thought was black snow fall from the sky. I scooped up some of the stuff that had fallen to the ground and rubbed it in my hands. It stained my glove-clad hands. It was ash; like what came from our fire pit. I began to worry more. I had never seen or heard of ash falling from the sky. I ran the rest of the way to my village but stopped when I saw a huge, metal ships docked at our port. There were fire nation soldiers everywhere. I ran and hid behind a large bank of snow. I rounded the back of our village and found our hut. I saw a man in a fire nation uniform enter our tent. Mom was in there! I ran to our hut, making sure no one saw me. My mother faced me from the other side of the room and I stared into the back of the soldier. I saw my mom's eyes flash with fear and I hid myself, before the man noticed my presence. I watched and listened to the two of them. The man questioned her about there being water benders in our tribe. She told him there were none. He frowned and then struck her on the cheek. I covered my mouth to suppress the gasp that came from my lips. She stood her ground against him and he told her he knew there were benders here. She said nothing.

The man said they would either leave with the benders or wipe out the entire village to rid of them. I watched as her eyes widened. Just then I saw my sister appear in the door way. I caught her eye before the man saw her, and motioned for her to leave. She needed to hide. When she left I felt my body easy slightly. Then I turned my attention back to my mother and the man. His voice was low now and I couldn't make out what he was saying. Then I heard a blast from the room mother was in. I rush from my hiding place and found my mother lying on the floor. She pushed herself up off the floor and charged at the man. He blasted more fire at her and she dodged most of it, but not all of it. Fire had began to burn thought one of the sleeves of her parka. She quickly put it out and turned back to the man. He charged at her and grasped her by the throat. Then I came out of my silence and yelled for him to stop. He turned his head to look at me and I ran at him. I hit and clawed at him but to no avail. He didn't even seem to be phased. He looked down at me and laughed and I didn't like it one bit. I kicked him in the shin. It hurt my foot but I didn't let him see that. He pushed me off to the side and I fell down hard. My mother tried to go to me but the man tightened his grip around her neck. He looked at me then to my mother. I was so angry that I didn't notice I was making the water in jars around us shake. He smiled and I felt my stomach turn. "This must be one of the benders. She has to be; to have enough courage to face me on her own. And look…" He turned his face to one of the open jars mother had left open while cooking. Then I realized what I'd done. He had come here for water benders and he had found one of them.

He turned loose his grip on my mother and came after me. My mother stumbled back and shouted. "She is not the one you want… I am. I am a Water bender. I am the only water bender in this village." The soldier turned on his heel and stared at my mom. Then he spoke. "What about the other?"

"There are no other benders here."

"Well you see, in my reports, I was informed that there ARE two Water Benders in this village."

"There was… but the other died years ago." What was she doing? Why was she lying? He was silent for a minute. I watched him. I got up and tried to inch my way to my mother. That's when he grabbed me. He held me by the hood of my parka and pulled me to him. I struggled again him and tried to wiggle myself free. He spoke again, "I do not think you are that last water bender in this village. I think that you were, but then you had this little thing here" he said, holding me up as to show off a trophy. I searched my mother's face to find some ray of hope in her eyes but there was none. She shook her head. "Woman, you did not honestly think I hadn't noticed her a moment ago. How stupid do you think I am?" He dropped me on the opposite side of my mother and stared at us.

He turned his attention back to my mother and sneered. She reached out to me, to take my hand, but the soldier warned her not to. "Now that I have found you I must carry out my orders." I felt my heart beating in my chest. What orders? All I saw was the man raise his fist and blur of fire in the air. I heard a blood curling scream that I thought was mine, but it was my mothers. I screamed when I realized what had just happened and I stared at the charred body on the floor. I dropped to my knees at my mother's side and let the tears fall. My face was hot and I couldn't breathe. I let out wrenched sobs and shook violently. My mother had just been murdered in front of me. The man then grabbed my hood again and yanked me back by my hair and I yelped.

I saw him raise his fist and closed my eyes to await the fatal blow. I would join mother soon. But no blow came. I opened my eyes and found the soldier staring down at me. I stood still; afraid that if I moved he would strike. He brought his face closer to mine and stared at me. "What are these things on your face?" I didn't answer at first because I wasn't sure that I could. He shook me and waited for a answer.

"Don't play dumb. These glowing marks on your face, what are they?"

"Thh-they are jus-just birthmarks." He glared and waited for a better answer. "The sp-spirits gave th-them to me. Let me go and I fell to the floor. He looked as if he were contemplating something with himself and turned back to me. He grabbed me by the arm and jerked me up off the ground. He pulled me out of the hut and was making his way to the dock. I fought against his grip and looked around. The Fire Nation soldiers held back the few who tried to come to my aid; Nichalias one of them. I pulled harder to get my wrist free of the hot hand that held it. I stopped walking and the man simply lifted me into on arm and carried me onto one of the ships. I lashed out at him and he did nothing. The soldiers left their posts and loaded onto the ships. The last thing I saw before the door of the ship closed, was Nich running toward us, and then the door closed.

Well here it the first chapter. I hope you liked it. Please let me know. Reviews would be nice.:)