The first in a series of oneshot about the various lives the spirits of Oma and Shu endured.

"She said that we were doomed to be star-crossed lovers; destined to wonder what might have been."

David Rossi, Criminal Minds

The era of Raava was over and the time of the Avatar had begun.

Yingtai was from the Lion Turtle of Water. She was not gifted with the power of water, but she was an excellent healer. Kind hearted, she tended to any sick or injured that found their way to her regardless of which Lion Turtle they hailed from. She thought the fighting between the four tribes was senseless and she wished things would go back to how things were in the stories her grandmother told her. Before they knew there were other Lion Turtles, when there was only your town and the Spirit Wilds.

Shanbo was a soldier from the Lion Turtle of Fire. He had been on the battlefield only a few days when he was injured in an attack and left to die with the others. By a stroke of luck he was discovered and brought to the nearest healing facility. His wounds were so bad it was impossible to tell which city he belonged to. Shanbo didn't wake for days while the healer who tended to him rarely left his side, determined that he would live.

Finally Shanbo awoke and looked into warm blue eyes and instantly fell in love.

Even though Shanbo had awoken Yingtai still tended to him every moment she could. She knew that with the war if anyone found out he wasn't one of them he would be killed. She needed to get him strong enough so he could leave before he was discovered. They took to pretending he slept for most of the day and at night Yingtai would change his bandages, help him to eat and drink and they would talk in hushed tones.

She was a good healer and Shanbo was soon well enough that he could travel, but he refused to leave Yingtai's side.

And after so many months together, bonding in the quiet of the night, she couldn't bear to see him go either. Yingtai had fallen in love with him in return.

The pair made plans to run away, try to make it to the Air cities, the place they had the greatest chance of finding refuge.

But their escape would not come soon enough.

Shanbo's identity was discovered one morning when Yingtai was called away to tend to another patient. Yingtai rushed back to his tent the moment she heard, hoping she could plead for their mercy and her love's life, but it was too late. His sentence had already been carried out.

The devastated Yingtai could see no future for herself in a world without Shanbo. She mixed herself a sleeping draught so strong that she would not wake again.

Before her eyelids fluttered closed for the last time she let out a prayer that she and Shanbo would meet again in the next life.

For Fire Edge