Chapter 1 Part 1
水水水
Is this ever going to stop?
For ten days the pain in Kita's hands had plagued her, and it was only getting worse. The torture she was enduring could only mean one thing—something terrible was going to happen and soon.
Chewing on her worries, she continued to strain her gaze seaward. The frigid ocean wind whipped a few strands of her auburn hair about that had escaped the hood of her cobalt anorak, interrupting her watch. She tucked them away as she stood atop the massive sea wall that protected her frozen city. Each day she had stood upon that icy wall for hours scanning the horizon, anxiously awaiting the return of her brother and the other warriors of the Northern Water Tribe.
They were out there somewhere. Out on that cold vast sea that separated the frozen Northern Water Tribe Lands at the North Pole, and the sprawling Earth Kingdom Continent to the south. Out there battling the Fire Nation Navy in this wretched Hundred Year War between the Fire Nation and the rest of the world.
The warriors had been away for many months now with no promise of return in sight. Thanks to the increased numbers of Fire Navy ships patrolling the northern waters, residents at the North Pole had not had any sort of contact with the Earth Kingdom since spring, which in turn meant no news as to how the war was faring. No Earth Kingdom ship was rash enough to cross those waters now to give any kind of information for fear of being sunk without remorse.
News was not worth risking your life over, and the news probably wouldn't be good anyway. The news most likely would be of more Earth Kingdom cities lost to the Fire Nation, which in turn meant more imprisonments, injuries, and deaths. People were losing their lives daily to this war, and Kita feared a member of her tribe might be next.
She took a calming breath to try to ease her physical and emotional suffering before she made her way down the steps from the sea wall towards Capital City. She couldn't allow herself to worry just yet over her brother. It could be somebody else who was causing her hands to ache as if a million white-hot needles were stabbing into them all at once.
When she reached the bottom step, she cast an admiring glance towards her city as it glistened in the sunlight. Every structure within it had been carved out of the very ice cliffs that towered over it. From the small domed huts that served as homes to the majority of the tribal folk to the huge palace the tribe's royalty dwelt in, her city boasted just about every amenity a typical Earth Kingdom one did, with a few exceptions.
The seawall happened to be Kita's favorite, which she had frequented all throughout her twenty-six winters. She enjoyed the view it gave her—one of a nearly endless panorama of waves and ice. It had been built, not only to protect the tribe from an assault from the elements, but also as a barrier from attacks, and her people had been able to hold off nearly every Fire Nation raid since the war's beginning thanks to the immense and nearly impervious wall.
She entered the main gates of her city and headed down the main canal towards the city hospital. Instead of streets, water-filled channels functioned as the preferred routes to travel the large capital, with gondolas powered by waterbenders as the mode of transport. For those who did not wish to float to their destination, sidewalks lined each canal on either side, which Kita usual used. She preferred walking, and had rarely taken a gondola ride unless she happened to be with a royal.
As she neared the hospital where she worked, she saw a familiar female face leave the three-story building—her best friend, Mina. They had grown up next door to each other and have always been close like sisters. Now, as adults, they both worked as healers together in the hospital. Mina as an assistant healer to the Tribe's midwife, and Kita as a flesh wound healer.
Kita waved as she approached her friend. "Going home already?"
Mina gave her a quick hug, her hood falling down in the process to expose her long raven hair, which looked a complete mess. "You mean finally. We had two women go into labor within hours of each other. I am absolutely exhausted."
"Please tell me at least one boy was born?" Kita asked, bracing herself for the repercussions if Mina's answer was no.
"Of course not!" Mina barked back. "If the women of this tribe keep having baby girls like they have been, it won't be too long before the women outnumber the men two to one!"
Mina sure did keep her records straight. "Somehow, I think the men will be just fine with that arrangement, Mina," she shot back with a coy smile.
"And I'm sure they would too. Meanwhile, half the Northern Water Tribe's women will grow old with no man to care for them. With no children. Alone. I bet if the mukluk was on the other foot and the men had no women to carry on their names, they might pay more attention the issue." Mina continued delivering a lecture Kita had heard dozens of times.
Both she and Mina still remained unmarried because of the shortage of bachelor men, and the situation frustrated them both, along with the ever-increasing number of single women in the city.
"Men!" Mina added crossly to cap her sermon.
Men indeed, thought Kita. Even if there were some that were available in Capital City, she was certain she'd never be married. The men from the Northern Water Tribe wanted women who would pick up after them, warm their beds, and bear their children without any fuss or complaint. They wanted wives who where compliant and submissive and who never spoke their minds. That was something Kita could not be.
Growing up without a mother, her father and brother—inadvertently, of course—taught her to be strong-willed and independent. Although those posed as desired traits in a male, the very same characteristics doomed a female's chances for a husband at the North Pole.
"How are the new mommies? Are they recovering okay?" Kita asked, trying to change the subject that always caused Mina's mind, and Kita's ears, such grief.
"Oh yeah, they're fine. Both women have had children before, so neither required much healing after their deliveries."
Kita tried not to look as disappointed as she felt. "Any new patients come in?"
"No. You asked that question yesterday, too. What's going on, Kita?" Mina stepped closer to put her hand on Kita's shoulder in concern.
It took Kita a few moments to say the words. She hated worrying her friend with this. "My hands hurt. And this time it's bad."
"For how long? Mina took her comforting hand off Kita's shoulder to smack it instead. "And why didn't you tell me?"
"Sorry, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but I guess it is. They've hurt for over a week now and the pain just worsens with each passing day. I don't know what to do." Kita looked down at her hands. "They haven't hurt like this since..." She trailed off, not wanting to remember last winter.
"...right before your father was killed." Mina finished in a whisper. Then her eyes widened in fear. "You don't think that your brother..."
"No. Kenji's still alive. He has to be. I'm positive I would know if he wasn't," Kita tried to reassure Mina, and herself, but it wasn't working. "I am still afraid for him, though, and everyone else out there with him."
"Until you know more, you should be afraid for us all. Check the hospital again today. Maybe your patient is someone you missed yesterday." She tried to stifle a yawn. "Listen, I really need to head home and get some rest. Come over tomorrow and we can talk about this some more, okay?"
"Sounds good. I'll bring the tea."
"You better. You know I can't brew worth a darn. I'll make those little cakes you like so much."
Kita said goodbye to her best friend and then trudged towards the hospital, praying to the Spirits that maybe this day her hands could find relief.
水水水
"All hail the Avatar! The Hundred Year War is finally over!"
Applause erupted all around Chief Hakoda as he sat with his allies—and former enemies—in the formal dining hall at the Fire Nation Royal Palace. Everyone who had a hand in ending the drawn out war sat in attendance at the newly crowned Fire Lord Iroh's coronation banquet in celebration of the momentous event.
Hakoda had dressed in the finest Fire Nation clothes he could find, but still felt awkward and out of place socializing amongst all the Fire Nation royalty present as if he were one of them. He wasn't, and didn't ever want to be. All he desired right now was to board his ship and head home.
Home. It had been over two years since he'd last seen what was left of his home. His people. The Southern Water Tribe.
Hakoda's heart still ached at the memory of leaving his son and daughter behind and alone without their only parent. They had their grandmother to care for them, but she could never take the place of the mother that was lost eight years ago.
No, not lost… murdered!
He closed his eyes as the agonizing memory of that Fire Nation raid came flooding back. On a clear summer's day, the Fire Navy had attacked with the goal of killing the last of the waterbenders. Most of them—women. The very heart of their tribe.
Hakoda knew why they had executed such a ruthless maneuver. The Fire Nation had known that, unlike their sister tribe at the North Pole, the tribe at the opposite end of the world allowed females to become waterbenders and fight alongside their men. And they'd also known how to strike the tribe where it hurt the most—by killing the female benders. This cruel tactic ensured no more waterbenders would be born again at the South Pole, leaving the non-benders nearly helpless to future invasions. Essentially, the Fire Nation had planned an extinction of the Southern Water Tribe.
It was nearly there already. Hakoda couldn't let that happen to his people, and that's why he'd left his children behind to fight. He needed to protect what little he had left.
A coy feminine giggle roused him from his homeward thoughts, towards something he'd not witnessed in a long while.
"Does it hurt? It looks like it does."
"Over here, Bato. Let me see, too," another female voice demanded.
Bato, his second in command and best friend, was seated across from him showing two pretty Fire Nation aristocrats the burn scars on his left arm, which he had gotten almost a year ago courtesy of a Fire Nation ambush. Bato grinned wickedly at Hakoda as the two ladies ran their fingers along the faint red marks. The sly dog was even flexing his muscles for them!
Hakoda smiled at seeing his friend so jubilant again. Bato had also lost his wife in the same Fire Nation raid that took his own. How Bato could flirt carefree, Hakoda had no idea. He sure couldn't. Even after all these years, he wasn't ready to have another woman share his life. The damage to his heart had been done and he feared no woman could ever mend it.
Despite his qualms, his body had wanted. Needed. During his years at sea, he'd been tempted by the charms of the courtesans who frequented the docks at night in the various ports he'd visited. Occasionally, when his hunger became too great, Hakoda would give in to these urges, each time feeling more lonely and hollow than he had before the impersonal liaison. But even a quick romp with a prostitute couldn't erase the past.
The clink of silverware on crystal cut through the conversations, indicating that the new Fire Lord wanted to make a toast. As Hakoda grabbed his wine goblet, the dining hall fell silent as Fire Lord Iroh began.
"Thank you all for coming tonight. I am very humbled, for you are not here to honor me, but it is I who am here to honor you. Without all of you..." he waved his free hand around in demonstration, "...and your kind support, I would never have my birthright back. As your Fire Lord, I would like to show to you and to the rest of world that I am dedicated to peace and prosperity. As I speak to you now, Fire Nation messengers are traveling to all the nation capitals of the world with an invitation for a Gathering of Leaders. One that is long overdue."
Hakoda listened as the new Fire Lord continued with his speech, and it was a quite noble one. He and the rest of the world leaders would soon be together to sign peace treaties. They would talk about how to rebuild their nations and how to restore the fallen ones. Iroh wanted to try to fix the wrong his grandfather had caused by starting the war a century ago. The world would at long last come into balance.
But as the guests all raised their goblets and drank to the Fire Lord's speech, Hakoda wondered why he didn't feel as happy as he thought that he should.
水水水
