That day it rained black snow. Black snow that had graced every tale since the dawn of the Hundred Year War.
"Listen to your parents or else the snow will fall black and the Fire Nation will take you away."
"Do that again and the black snow will burn you alive!"
Katara had heard these all before. Not directed at her of course, she was a rather well behaved child and loved it when every woman gushed about her being the splitting image of her grandmother. The only thing she had ever done wrong was move the snow without touching it. The adults hushed and pushed the other kids into their huts while her mother slapped her and told her to never do that again before sobbing uncontrollably. Ever since then, her mom, dad or Gran-Gran took her wherever they went. It was fun helping out, but Katara wanted to play with the other kids.
Sometimes Sokka would 'humor' his little sister, as he called it and play snow forts with her. Her snow fort always looked sturdier and her snowballs were always rounder, but Sokka took things in stride. On that day, they were playing snow forts and Katara was winning when the first flake of black snow hit Sokka's nose. He froze and slowly looked at the sky as more and more hit the ground. Katara did the same and broke the stunned silence first. "I'm going to find Mom," she said before running off as fast as her four year old legs could carry her. Sokka ran off to find Dad and Uncle Bato. They were big and strong enough to fight the Fire Nation monsters.
When Katara made it to the hut she shared with her family, there was already someone there with her mom. Someone huge and covered in the dark red of the Fire Nation. He made to say something, perhaps telling her to leave when her dad pushed into the hut behind her, Bato and Sokka in tow. "You have until the count of three to get out of my house and out of my village," her dad snarled, looking just as scary as the man in red. The Fire Nation man laughed and created fire in his palm, scaring Katara but also fascinating her. Maybe if she become big and strong she could create water in her palm too.
"How about you stay right there and listen to my demands or your village will burn to the ground. All I have to do is send up a little flame, just like this one, and your village is nothing but slush," he threatened. Hakoda and Bato bristled, but lowered their weapons slightly. "Good. Now I was just asking this fine lady here where would I be able to find the last waterbender. She said there weren't anymore but I don't believe her. Women are untrustworthy you see, so maybe you fine gentlemen will tell me."
Katara looked at her mother's face, which was furrowed in worry, fear and desperation. Her father had the same look on his face, but Bato was busy looking at her, Sokka and the man in red. Where was her Gran-Gran? Did the man hurt her? Did she run away? Her dad meant to say something but the man let the fire grow bigger and said, "Remember what happens if you lie. I will know and I will not hesitate." His eyes bore right into hers as he said that, and she saw cruelty and something sinister in those eyes.
Hakoda's face was lined with resignation. "Do you promise to let us be if you have the waterbender?" His words seemed to freeze Katara's blood as her mother looked horrified. The man in red nodded, giving a smile that looked straight out of a demon's face. "Alright, it's m-"
"It's the girl," Bato said. He was pointing right at her. "She's the waterbender." The air, which had grown warm from the fire in the man's palm, suddenly became frigid as he extinguished the flame. The world was heavy with Bato's words. The man smiled nastily as he pushed past Kya to grab Katara's arm. He easily pulled her out of the hut and once Hakoda felt the icy air, he was awakened out of the trance Bato's betrayal had caused. Without a glance to his son, wife or friend, he made his way towards the exit, but was stopped by a hand on his arm.
"Hakoda, I know you must hate me, but we have to let her go," Bato said. Hakoda was livid.
"You put my child in the hands of a monster! The enemy! What will they do to her?"
"Did you not see how he looked at her? He knew Katara was the waterbender the whole time, he was just testing us. If we failed who knows what he would have done." Bato's unspoken words were heavy in their minds. They couldn't hold off a platoon of fire bending soldiers. It was Katara or the village.
"How did he know? How would he know Bato?" asked Kya, so softly the men had to strain to hear her. It seemed everything had just drained the life out of her, leaving an empty shell.
"If he knew there was a waterbender here, he must have known more. Not even our brothers and sisters in the North know Katara is a waterbender. It was a secret. Only the villagers know."
"That means we have a traitor in our midst and that traitor cost me my daughter."
While the adults were talking, none of them noticed little Sokka sneaking out of the hut.
Katara yanked and yanked and yanked but no matter what, the man still had a strong grip on her arm. There was no-one outside, no-one but her, the man and the bird faced Fire soldiers. Katara wanted to cry out for help but who would save her? Her mom and dad stood there while he took her away and Bato told, Bato told! It was a secret and Bato told! The man had dragged her to the ship when a furious yell and the whistle of a snowball reached her ears. The man in red had gotten hit right in the back of the head with a poorly made snowball. He turned around furiously, expecting another waterbender but stopped when the culprit was just a little boy.
"Give me back my sister!" Sokka cried, tears streaming down his face as he made another shoddy snowball. He threw it, but it landed weakly at the man in red's feet. The soldiers moved to apprehend Sokka but the man held up his hand. Instead of looking outraged or angry, he looked amused, like what Sokka was doing was funny.
"Sokka! Sokka!" Katara cried, renewing her efforts to yank her arm out of the man's grasp
The man chuckled this time. "Look at this men! This child comes here and dares take on the Southern Raiders with snowballs!" The soldiers looked at each other in confusion, not sure if they were allowed to laugh or not. "Is this the best the Southern Water Tribe had to offer? This child with his snowballs? How hilarious!" He was laughing in earnest now, along with his men. Sokka felt the sting of humiliation, which caused even more tears to fall but he refused to stop. He made snowball after snowball, mostly missing but sometimes he would hit the man's shoes.
The man in red handed Katara over to a soldier and told him to take her onto the ship. "No! Noooo! Sokka, save me! Please!" Katara yelled, trying her hardest to fight but there was only so much a four year old girl could do. Sokka finally stopped making snowballs and in a fury, ran to the man in red and started pounding his fists into his gut as hard as he could. Which, considering he was only 6 himself, wasn't much. With barely any effort, the man roughly pushed Sokka into the snow and adjusted his gloves. He bent down so he was at Sokka's level and thrust a flame covered hand into his face. "You're a brave little boy aren't you?" he said as Sokka's eyes widened in fear but he did not flinch away. "I want you to become a man. Become strong so you can get your revenge. When that day comes, I, Yon Rha, will be waiting."
With that Yon Rha and the Southern Raiders left the Southern Water Tribe with their prize. Sokka stayed in the snow when they left. He sat while the tribe finally went outside and surveyed the damage. He refused to budge when his parents found him and only moved when his father and Gran-Gran dragged him home.