Chapter 1

"I am unbelievably nervous," I sputter from the locker room.

"You don't have time to be nervous. Snap out of it! We're up against the Fire Ferrets, and yes, they have the Avatar and two highly experienced pro-benders, but remember this: The Avatar will only be water bending, so she's nowhere near as threatening in the rink as she is in person. And the whole team has been on hiatus for years now. They only recently got back into the gym. So we he have a chance! Now come on! Cat Owls on three! One, two, three!"

We break the huddle in a flurry of adrenaline and ready ourselves at the edge of the platform, ready to make an entrance into the arena.

"And now, introducing the well-known, much loved, increasingly famous FIRE FERRETS! MAKO! BOLIN! AND OF COURSE… AAAAAVAATAAAR KORRAAAA!" The crowd erupts into deafening applause in support of our opponents, and it's doing nothing to help my nerves. Outside of the arena, I am definitely fan-girling over the whole team: Bolin and his goofiness, Mako and his intensity, and of course, Avatar Korra herself (for so many reasons). But inside the arena, this admiration for the Fire Ferrets only fuels my intense need to beat them. Especially Korra. Republic City needs to know that she's not the only badass bender chick around.

"Finally, after a THREE MATCH WINNING SPREE, I introduce to you ZABEN, MILO, AND TAZMAH OF THE CAT OWLS!" I forget about the Avatar and launch into the theatrical entrance we rehearsed. Milo stands in the back and waterbends giant owl wings behind us as Zaben launches us across the platform on a fury of firey paws. We all leap upwards as I send earth discs into the air and Zaben explodes them with shots of fire, like fireworks without the gunpowder. We land in our fighting positions in the arena, ready for battle. Dramatic, I know, but the fans love it.

As corny as the entrance might be, the physical exertion has a calming effect on me. And the crowd's raving support for our team helps me perk up too. What can I say! I'm a people pleaser. But the time for theatrics has passed, and I am only focused on kicking the Fire Ferrets' asses. The bell rings and I launch into attack, targeting Mako.

In the last round of the match, I got exactly what I wanted (and feared): A one-on-one match up against the Avatar. I held my own for a grueling four or five minutes before Korra demolished any hope I had of making a comeback. With water up my nose, in my eyes, and lodged in my ears, the Avatar played a dirty trick and waterbent a pool behind me before blasting me backwards and sending me sliding off the edge of the rink. The smirk I caught a glimpse of as she sent me careening was enough to give me the impression that she was toying with me. As upset as I am about the loss, I can't help but laugh about it too. She knew I wanted to face her girl-to-girl, and I can only imagine the satisfaction she got from beating the Cat Owls with a strong tie-breaking win like that.

We relive the match as a team, lamenting our loss but not entirely disappointed. We played really well and gave one of the most popular teams around a run for their money; how could we be upset about that?

"That was killer. We almost had them. Taz, you were killing it in the last round against the Avatar! I thought you almost had her a few times!" Zaben encouraged.

"Hahaha! Did you see how she took you out though?! You looked so crazy!" Milo could hardly talk through his laughing. Zaben politely held his laughter until he saw me cracking up too. We all clutched our sides as we joked about it for several more minutes, including Milo's unflattering impression of how stupid I looked with water all over my face, slipping backwards on watery runway into the pool below. I was still giggling and fondly reminiscing about the match as I pushed open the door to the women's bath house.

"Ah," I sighed to myself, "Can't wait to wash off that embarrass- Oh shit! Sorry, didn't think you'd still be in here!" Why. Why does our first formal meeting have to be in the bathroom after getting my ass kicked?

"Haha, hey, good to see you too. Nice match!"

"I can't tell if you're mocking me."

Now Korra is blushing. "No, no! I don't mean it like that at all! I had fun fighting you, is all. I just… I was feeling pretty confident after our win in the second round and got a little vengeful after you guys knocked out Mako and Bolin so easily."

"Ha, yeah, tell Mako sorry about the brick to the gut. I really wanted to fight you myself though." Now I'm blushing again. "My name is Tazmah, by the way. Taz. I don't think we've ever formally met."

"I'd get out and shake your hand, but…" Korra shifted self-consciously in the foamy tub. Thank the Spirits she put some sudsy scented solution in before I even got there. I am not at all prepared to see the Avatar naked.

"Oh, right, we'll I'll leave you to your bath then. I guess you deserve it after waterbending my face like that," I laughed good-spiritedly. I turned to go wash off somewhere else, but realized there wasn't anywhere private in the bathroom for me to undress or bathe without being in full view of my nemesis. Ha, nemesis. More like idol.

"I didn't know you were an air bender," Korra joked.

"What? Oh… I…" I had been turning slowly in place as I looked around the room trying to figure a solution to my socially uncomfortable problem. I guess I looked like I was trying to spin myself like a propeller out of that situation. Which I kind of was.

"You can join me in here if you want! I don't mind the company."

"Oh!" Fuck. "Um, thanks for the offer, but I think I'm just gonna skip the bath today. I was gonna meet Zaben and Milo for some noodles in a few minutes, and after that dunk in the ring I think I'm rinsed off enough okaythanksthoughnicetomeetyoubye!"

I darted out of the bath house before I could be further embarrassed in front of the Avatar. She's so personable and down to Earth! It is incredibly intimidating.