PROLOGUE

"I'm here! I'm here!" I announce, running into the dining room, where my parents and siblings are all sitting at the table, waiting — presumably — for me, the plates in front of them still untouched. "I'm sorry I'm late," I apologize. I bow respectfully to my parents, then drop my backpack on the floor and sit down next to Tenzin.

"Why are you late, Bumi?" Mom queries as she serves me my dinner. We're having five-flavor soup, a typical Water Tribe dish, and vegetable dumplings, a typical Air Nomad dish, for dinner tonight.

I accept the food with an appreciative nod, then frown. "I got in trouble and had to stay after school," I answer.

"Did you get in a fight again?" Kya asks, as inquisitive as ever.

"Well… I… uh…" I mumble.

"What happened, Bumi?" Dad asks. "You haven't gotten in trouble for fighting in a while — in months, in fact. Why are you fighting again all of a sudden?"

"Well, technically, I stopped the fight," I remark. "It wasn't much of a fight, though, now that I think about it…" I shake my head. "I didn't get in trouble for fighting, though. I got in trouble for having weapons on me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, while I was walking around the courtyard waiting for Haiyang to finish the exam and come out, I saw Kesuk bullying his little sister, Yukiko," I explain. "He wanted to teach her a lesson about wandering over to the older kids' side of the courtyard or something, I think, because he said something along the lines of 'if you want to be on this side so badly, stay here!' right before he trapped her feet in ice so she couldn't move…" I shake my head again. "Anyway, while she was trapped, he was throwing ice daggers at her. She kept trying to free herself, but she wasn't having much luck because she had to keep stopping to protect her face and the rest of her body from the daggers Kesuk was hurling towards her. When she finally broke the ice, Kesuk started doing… well, it looked like he was trying to freeze her in a sphere of ice."

"He can make an ice dome?" Mom interjects, her surprise evident in her voice.

"I guess," I shrug, a small scowl appearing on my face. "I don't know if it's true, but he's been bragging that his waterbending teacher says he'll be a master in a couple of months."

"Can Yukiko waterbend?" Dad inquires.

"No, she can't — that's why she was having such a hard time fighting Kesuk," I answer. "Anyway, I had to do something. If Kesuk succeeded in trapping her in an ice dome, I wouldn't be able to get her out, and I knew it — so I did what I could. I got one of my knives out of my sheath and I pinned his arm to the trunk of the nearest tree in the courtyard. He slammed into it, and all the snow on the branch above his head fell down onto him. It was hilarious." I chuckle as the image resurfaces in my mind, then continue. "He started screaming at me, which drew the attention of the teacher who was on courtyard duty. She came running over, and when Haiyang saw that the fight involved his sister, so did he, so he could melt the ice dome Kesuk had started forming. He was in the midst of thanking me for saving Yuki when the teacher interrupted him to tell Kesuk and me to go to the headmaster's office." I scowl, still frustrated that she sent me to the headmaster's office. "I had to stay after school for the day, and after I served detention I had to go pick up my knives, which the headmaster confiscated — and that made me miss the four o'clock ferry. I had to wait for the five o'clock one — which is why I just got home now."

"Okay, let me see if I got this straight," Dad says. "You didn't get in trouble for fighting, but rather for throwing a knife at Kesuk?"

"Yep," I confirm, nodding. "She said that we aren't allowed to have weapons on us and that I was in trouble for carrying them instead of keeping them in my locker." I pop a dumpling into my mouth, then cross my arms over my chest and scowl as best I can with my mouth full. "I argued with her for the entire hour I was in detention. I said that we should be allowed to carry whatever weapons we want on us so that we can protect ourselves against any benders who want to use their abilities as weapons, but I practically had to force her to even hear me out! She just said that since bending isn't allowed on the courtyard, weapons shouldn't be allowed either."

"Well, that makes sense," Dad shrugs.

"No, it doesn't," I argue. I can feel my eyebrows coming together into a V shape. "If she wanted things to be fair, the nonbenders would be allowed to have weapons on them, but would be forbidden from using them. I mean, that's how things are for the benders. They have their bending, but they're not allowed to use it — although they do… all the time…"

"Well, it's sort of impossible to take someone's bending away, Bumi," Dad reasons.

"No, it's not. You were able to take away Ozai's bending."

"I'm the Avatar. I'm the only one who can do that. It's impossible for everyone else," he insists. "And besides, I took away Ozai's bending permanently. You can't possibly be suggesting that we permanently take away every bender's bending ability…"

I can't help but glare at him. "You know, Dad, if you had said that with just a bit more horror in your voice, I'd think that you think that not being able to bend is worse than death."

"I apologize if it came across that way, Bumi. I don't think that at all," Dad says. "It's just that… well, there's a difference between being born a nonbender and being made into a nonbender. You see, son, bending is such a deep-rooted part of someone that to lose the ability… well, it's sort of like going completely blind after being able to see your entire life."

I stare at Dad for a couple of seconds, then, without a word, turn back towards the food in front of me and resume eating.

It's sort of like going completely blind…

"Okay, son, look," Dad continues. "I understand where you're coming from. I do. I agree with the headmaster, though. Weapons should not be allowed in school. You can — and should — carry them to and from school, but there's no need for them at school. It's safe there — and besides, weapons can be deadly. If your aim had been off even the slightest bit, you could have seriously hurt — or even killed — Kesuk."

"My aim is excellent, Dad," I retort. "I've been practicing ever since we came back from Ember Island. When Uncle Sokka isn't teaching me how to sword fight or making sure I haven't gotten rusty with my boomerang, I'm practicing my throwing skills. I surpassed Izumi's skills after a few weeks, and I'd bet all my yuans that I'm at least as good as Aunt Mai!"

"Yes, son, I know… but what about someone else who maybe isn't as proficient as you?" Dad counters. "You have to think about the potentially fatal consequences."

"You have to remember that bending can have fatal consequences, too!" I shout, standing up and slamming my fists down on the table. "Did you forget why you and Tenzin are the last airbenders, Dad? Did you forget that firebending was the method used to commit genocide against your entire race?"

"Bumi!" Mom exclaims.

I glance down at Tenzin, then, seeing that he's recoiled into himself, turn back towards Dad. He's staring at me with desolate gray eyes, his face wrought with the guilt he's never been able to get rid of. His expression tugs at my heart, but before I can apologize my anger returns.

"You don't get it," I declare indignantly. "You know as much about what it's like to be a nonbender as I do about what it's like to be a bender: nothing. I don't ever want to hear you say the words 'I understand' again because you don't," I continue, turning around so that my back is to them all. "I stopped a fight today. I might have even saved Yukiko's life. I didn't harm Kesuk at all." I stare down at the floor and bite my bottom lip so hard it starts bleeding. "I shouldn't have been punished because I didn't do anything wrong — but I still got detention. I've got a plan to rectify the situation, though. I'll start a petition and get students — and maybe even some regular, random people in the city — to sign it. Once the headmaster sees just how many people want equality, she'll have to let us carry weapons!"

"You're being ridiculous, Bumi," Mom opines. "You have less than six months left of school. Why are you so determined to fight for a change in the policy if you'll never see it implemented?"

"I'm determined to do this for the same reason you fought Master Pakku for the right of girls throughout the Northern Water Tribe to learn combat waterbending even though you had no intention of sticking around to see the policy change: because it's the right thing to do," I answer, turning around again to glare at Mom.

She doesn't respond, so I just shake my head again and continue. "I'm gonna go back to the city. I want to stop by Haiyang's and check on Yuki before class starts," I announce, picking my backpack up and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Class?"

"My boxing class, Mom," I explain, speaking as if I were talking to a child. "I've been boxing for five years this month, and Master Esen asked me to assist him in teaching a class for younger kids starting the first week of January, remember?"

She glances at Dad, but he just shrugs.

How do neither of them remember this? I wonder. I'd been so excited when Master Esen asked me to be his teaching assistant because it meant that I'm really, really good. He's well-known as one of the greatest hand-to-hand combat specialists in the United Republic — if not the entire world — and he asks only his best students to be his assistant trainers. It was an honor to be asked, and I readily agreed. I didn't stop bragging about it until the second-to-last day of our vacation to the South Pole for the Winter Solstice, when Uncle Sokka finally took me ice dodging. Do they really not remember? I muse.

I can't help but sigh.

"Oh, whatever. It doesn't matter," I say. It doesn't matter to you… but it matters to me. "I'm going back into the city. I've got to take a glider; since the last ferry here leaves when the class starts, I won't be able to catch one back."

"What if the wind dies down by then?" Dad asks. You'll be helpless. You can't airbend.

"I'll swim across the bay, then, Dad," I answer sarcastically. "I'll bring my backpack and a change of clothes along with my gear, and if there's not enough wind later, I'll crash at Haiyang's for the night. I'm sure his parents won't mind."

"Okay, but—."

"Stop." I glare at my parents. "My mind is made up."

I walk out of the dining room, then start in the direction of the boys' dormitory so that I can get a change of clothes and the duffel bag containing my boxing gear before I grab a glider from the bison stable. I already have one foot out the door when I stop to say one last thing.

"I'm not helpless — and I'd sooner die than agree to leave myself defenseless just to appease you, the headmaster, or anyone else!"