Chapter One

In The Dark of The Night

"Water with moon's glow, let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, return what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the spirits' design. Restore the balance lost; return what once was mine, what once was mine."

Azula murmured the song as she dipped her hands into the Spirit Oasis, inhaling deeply as its powers fueled her. After tonight, she'd be able to fire bend for another few months.

If things had gone her way five years ago, she wouldn't have any need of the water.

Five years ago, her kingdom of the Fire Nation was at war, and was winning. The Fire nation had raided all of the three kingdoms, nearly conquering the entire world. Azula had been in charge of an attack on the Earth Kingdom and failed. She'd been banished because of her failure. She was fifteen at the time.

Before her humiliating failure, The Fire Nation had attacked the North Pole, forcing the Northern Water tribe to flee to the south. The North was now empty, save for a few animals and a few water bending stragglers. Azula had been sent there as her punishment, and as a result of the cold, and being away from home for so long, Azula lost her ability to fire bend.

But about a year ago, she'd come across the hidden Spirit Oasis. She'd heard of the healing powers the Oasis, and decided to try it out for herself. It had worked, but with a cost. Every time she used water from the Oasis, it would disappear bit by bit. The moment she began to realize it, she decided to start rationing out her water use. She had to save as much of it as possible to keep her bending going.

But little did she know, far across the sea in the South Pole, someone else needed the water just as much as she did. The Queen of the Water Tribe, Kya, was with child, and had grown very ill. Both she and her unborn child were at risk. Not even their tribe's most skilled healers could help cure the sickness.

King Hakoda, wanting desperately to help his wife, sent his best water benders to the North to collect what remained of the Spirit Oasis, and transport the Water and Moon spirits to the South Pole.

That had been four weeks ago, and the water benders had landed on the shore of the North Pole ten minutes before Azula had come to the Oasis.

Azula had barely begun to absorb the water's healing magic before she heard footsteps ahead of her. Keeping quiet, she listened, and heard four men coming in her direction. She'd barely gotten enough water to cast a single lightning bolt!

Powerless and outnumbered, Azula quickly stood up and hid behind a tree.

A few moments later, the water benders had found their way into the Oasis.

"We found it!" a man shouted. "We found the Oasis!"

"Bend the water into our barrels!" a woman shouted back. "And keep the spirit's safe! We don't want anything happening to them!"

The benders took their stance, and began to bend the water. Soon, the Oasis was empty.

"That should be enough." The male bender from before had said. "Let's get these back to the Queen."

The water had filled two barrels, and it took two water benders to get the water and spirits safely out of the Oasis. When that task was finished, they began to trek the barrels to their ship on the coast.

Azula clenched a fist. She wasn't giving up her water without a fight. She emerged from her hiding place and ran after the benders.

By the time she'd caught up with them, the benders were loading the barrels onto the ship's hold. Before the ship pulled out, Azula had snuck her way onto it.

There were about six more water benders on the ship then there were that took the water. Azula found herself outnumbered again, and being forced to hide out again. She crouched down behind some barrels out of the benders sights. The next time they docked, she would steal the water back, and escape in one of their life boats.

But her plan was never put into action. The benders had reached the South Pole within three weeks without stopping once. When they had docked in the South Pole harbor, they took the barrels and trekked their way to the royal palace.

From there, the healers took one of the barrels up to the Queen's bedchambers to being their healing.

The King paced the hallway outside his room for a day on end, frantic with worry. He was unsure what to think of at this moment, and unsure whether his wife lived or not.

But when one of the healers emerged from the room, Hakoda's heart leapt in his chest. "Does she live?" he asked.

The healer nodded, and smiled. "She's been healed my lord. That, and much more."

"What do you mean?" Hakoda asked.

The healer gestured towards the door. "Go see for yourself."

Hakoda quickly made his way into his room, seeing his wife sitting up in bed, holding a bundle of blankets. She looked up at her husband and smiled. "Hakoda, come say hello to your daughter." A day after she'd been healed, Queen Kya had given birth to a beautiful baby girl, whom she'd named Katara.

The King and Queen had found something odd about Katara. Her brown hair had been unusually long for a newborn baby, and her hair seemed to have a bluish tinge to it. But nonetheless, they loved her all the same.

Unknown to the King and Queen, that bluish tinge to Katara's hair, contained the power of the Spirit Water. Azula had soon learned this, and quickly made her way to the royal palace.

Stealthily, she'd made her way into the royal bedchambers where the King, Queen, and baby Katara slept.

Azula drew her dagger, and strode over to Katara's crib. Her hair seemed to have a blue glow in the moonlight. Azula gently placed two fingers on a lock of hair, and murmured the healing song.

A small shock of lightning began to form ad her fingertips. Azula smiled, and cut the lock of hair away with her dagger. But the power quickly faded, and the hair lost its blue glow.

Azula gasped, and clenched her fist. She couldn't cut the hair away from the child without losing the healing powers.

Then, a thought came to mind, and she smiled. "No matter." She thought. "If the healing power thrive off of this child, then so be it."

With that thought, she picked up the sleeping baby, and made her way to the window.

The Queen had awoken an hour later to check on her child. Sleepily, she stood up, and walked over to the crib.

To her dismay, she found the crib empty! Panicking, she looked around to see if Katara had somehow gotten out. Her eyes then fell on the open window, and the lock of Katara's hair that had fallen to the floor.

"Hakoda!" she cried, awaking the King. "It's Katara! She's been taken!"

"Guards!" the King called. "Sound the alarms; let no one leave the palace! Our princess is missing!"

But by the time the alarms had sounded, Azula had made off with the child on a life boat returning to the North Pole. The baby had slept through the entire trip.

Years had passed, and Katara grew up knowing Azula as her mother. They'd lived in the empty palace together, where Katara had practically everything she'd ever wanted. And every month, Azula would brush Katara's hair while singing the song of healing, absorbing her healing powers, and regaining her bending. The one rule Azula had given Katara, was that she could never go outside the palace.

But every year, on Katara's birthday, she would look into the night sky, and see blue paper lanterns floating over head. She'd never had an idea where they'd come from, or why they were set off to begin with. But she knew, some day, she would find out.

A/N: So I hope you guys enjoyed my first chapter! And remember, reviews make the world go round. :D