A girl with black hair stood beside a river, Bending the water. Her pack lent against a nearby tree. A rustling sounded behind her and she looked around but saw nothing. The water she had been Bending had rejoined the river but she began to Bend it again. A snake of water rose from the river and the girl Bent it this way and that.
Suddenly there was another rustling but much later. The girl spun around and in doing so accidentally knocking the source of the noise right of its feet with the water. With a frustrated yell, a boy leapt up, soaking. Then, before the girl had time to explain, the boy shot fire at her. She gasped and jumped out of the way just in time. He was a Fire Bender! He continued to attack her with fire so she swiftly sent whips of water at him. His flames evaporated the water and a lick of flame burnt the girl's cheek as she failed to duck fast enough. She had fallen to the ground but as she stood up the boy shot a huge fire at her. There was no time to defend herself nor to get out of its path. She didn't know what to do but it didn't seem to matter. Her arms flew up and as if she were Bending water away from her, she Bent the fire! It swerved and headed to the boy, who narrowly avoided it. But he did not attack again. They both stood there, panting. The girl was in utter shock. She looked down at her hands as if looking for some explanation.
"What is going on here?" a deep, slow voice asked. The girl looked up and saw an older looking man with a big stomach and a small grey beard. "Who might you be?" He directed this question towards the girl. She looked suspiciously at both of them before answering,
"My name is Ana. Are you both with the Fire Navy?" The old man chuckled.
"Oh no, we aren't Fire Navy!"
"Who are you then?" Ana asked, half accusingly, half curiously. The boy made a hissing noise, warning the man not to tell her.
"Now now Zuko," the man said. "I do not think she is our enemy."
"She attacked me!" yelled the boy, Zuko. Ana stepped forward but was careful to keep her distance. Fire Navy or not, they were still Fire Benders and in her experience all Fire Benders were bad.
"It was an accident. You startled me," she told him. Her eyes fell upon a scar on the left side of his face. Zuko... The name sounded familiar... "You're Prince Zuko!" she suddenly exclaimed. She looked at the old man. "And you must be Iroh, the Fire Lord's brother!"
Iroh smiled. "Correct. But now you know we are not your enemies." Ana frowned as she decided whether she would trust them; she was travelling alone and thought perhaps she would safer with these two. But she also knew that the Prince and his Uncle were wanted men. Her thoughts, however, were quickly interrupted.
"Uncle, she Bent fire!" Zuko exclaimed. The old man's eyes widened.
"You're a Fire Bender?" he asked slowly. Every time he spoke it was in the same slow voice but now he also sounded confused.
"No," replied Ana uncertainly. "I'm a Water Bender."
"I saw you!" Zuko yelled. Iroh stepped forward, him hands held up.
"Calm down Zuko. You must be mistaken. Only the Avatar can Bend more than one element."
"I'm telling you, I saw it! I saw her Fire Bend! I'll prove it!" He made to attack her again but his uncle yelled,
"No, Zuko!" and he reluctantly lowered his stance. "Now, it is nearing nightfall. I understand if you would not want to, but it would be our pleasure for you to join us for dinner, Ana."
"We barely have enough food for ourselves," grumbled Zuko. Ana did not wish to spend any more time around Zuko and she was not raised with such manners to not turn down a dinner invitation, yet she thought, at the back of her mind, that she may have Fire Bended before and couldn't help finding out if she could. But she would need help to do so and it would be as impossible as being able to Bend two elements to find another Fire Bender who could help her. So she answered,
"I will thank you. I have some food I can share too." Zuko scowled and Iroh cried,
"Lovely! Do you have any tea?"
Ana hoisted her pack onto her back and guided the others to a good spot to camp. She had been living in this forest for a while and knew it better than the travellers. As she ked them along, keeping close to the river, she realised that, although she was curious whether she had really Fire Bended, she also did not want to be a Fire Bender. Several traumatic experiences in her past resulted in a hatred of the Fire Nation. However, these two, Zuko and his uncle, seemed different somehow. Ana tried to believe that the fact that Zuko was handsome was not a factor in this.
"Are we almost there?" growled Zuko. He looked particularly surly that his uncle had trusted this Water Bender who he was sure had Bended fire.
"We're here," Ana announced as they walked into a clearing. It was surrounded with wide and tall trees. There was a large, flat rock in the middle of the clearing and a stream which ran down one side. The remains of a fire were visible on the ground. Determined to find fault, despite it being perfect, Zuko gestured to the fire remains and said,
"Someone has been here recently. They could return and we could be attacked."
"I lit that fire," said Ana coolly. She dropped her pack to the ground and took from it some vegetables. "I don't like to visit the villages too often so I usually catch fish to eat. I can catch us some."
"That would be great," Iroh said. Zuko looked even surlier. Ana left the clearing alongside the stream. "Gather up some firewood," Iroh told Zuko, who did so unwillingly. Ana arrived back when Zuko had finished gathering the wood.
"Would you like to start the fire?" asked Zuko innocently. His uncle growled warningly but Ana just smiled and pulled out some Spark Rocks from her pack. She started the fire then began to gut the fish. Zuko looked impressed at her ability to do so but he quickly checked himself and continued looking sour.
After dinner the three sat round the fire feeling full. The night had fallen and the fire lit up their faces. Ana couldn't stop her eyes from flickering to Zuko's scar every so often. It looked far more terrible in the firelight.
"So... Ana, will you tell us your story?" asked Iroh. Ana paused before saying,
"I'm not sure that I should."
"I assure you that we would not repeat any of your story to anyone, especially to someone who would put you in danger," Iroh assured her.
"Okay," Ana agreed. And so she began, "I come from the Southern Water Tribe in the South Pole. My mother was a
Water Bender. About a year before I was born, a small Fire Navy ship came and invaded my village. The men of our village were all at war and so we were an easy target. The Fire Navy ship had been damaged in a storm and so they raided our stores for supplies for building and for food. The Fire Navy remained for three months, repairing their ship. They most likely stayed longer than necessary as to abuse our village for as long as possible. But then the men of our village came back for they had heard what was happening. They forced the ship to leave." Ana paused to gather her thoughts for a moment then continued. "All of the Fire Navy soldiers were horrible but one was slightly less horrible. This soldier fell in love with my mother and she fell in love with him too." With the fire dancing on her face and Ana's sweet voice, the story suddenly appeared beautiful. "My mother told me that he was still, at times, not a very nice man – he was Fire Nation after all – no offense."
"None taken," Iroh told her.
"Anyway, he was always sweet to her when they were alone." Zuko made an impatient noise but Ana ignored him. Iroh seemed to be enjoying the story. "Whenever they could they snuck away together. When the ship was forced away, they never got to say goodbye. Then, a few months after they left, my mother realised she was pregnant. But her mother, my grandmother, forbade her to tell anyone who the father was. One of the men of the village was to pretend to be the father. Of course he was at war so he didn't have to help raise me.
"Now when I was nine, the Fire Navy came back, this time with three ships. Amongst the soldiers returning was my father and I was introduced to him. We spent the whole day together as a family. But that night we were caught. Another soldier had seen us and rushed to tell the Captain and the other soldiers. We were cornered and they were going to kill all three of us. My father tried to take the blame but they wouldn't listen. A fight began. There were two other women in the tribe who could Water Bend. Together, the three Water Benders and the Fire Bender fought a whole crowd of Fire Benders." Ana looked away and said quietly, "My mother was the first to be killed. My father was the second." She stopped talking and gathered herself. "The other two women saved me. One managed to hold the soldiers off while the other, the mother of my best friend, took me and ran. She put me on a block of ice and made huge waves that sent me away. I managed to Water Bend myself to safety but not before I saw my saviours killed." She allowed a moment of silence for the women then carried on. "After a long time I ended up here, in the Earth Kingdom, and I've been travelling around ever since. I've nearly been caught several times, when I've been caught Water Bending or when I've tried to help imprisoned Earth Kingdom people. As a Water Bender I can catch fish easily and I sometimes sell them in villages for money for food and supplies. And that's really my whole story," she finished.
"Wow, that's quite a story," said Iroh. "I see now why you especially have no reason to trust Fire Benders. However, I do see a way that you could possibly Bend fire." Ana looked blank. "Your father was a Fire Bender," he explained. "You get Water Bending from your mother so you could get Fire Bending from your father. Perhaps you can only do so when you are in danger or perhaps you just haven't discovered you could do so until now." Ana stood up suddenly.
"I do not want to be a Fire Bender," she said curtly and then, "I'm going to bed." She unclipped her sleeping bag from her pack and rolled it out on a particularly soft patch of ground. Only now did she realise that her cheek that Zuko had burnt was stinging painfully and so she knelt beside the stream and healed it with Water Bending. Then she hopped into her sleeping bag, noticing that Zuko and Iroh had also lain down on sleeping mats. Ana faced away from them. She didn't fall asleep until much later however because she couldn't help thinking what Iroh had said.