-Risa's point of view-

I know what you're thinking. The Fire Nation fleet, right? No. The flying bison landed with a large thud, carrying four passengers. A bald monk, a Water Nation girl- not from around here, though; A Water Nation boy, slightly older than the girl, and a blind young Earth Bender. Instead of being chased away, as the Ice Island citizens would normally do, they were welcomed. I felt out of the loop, though. Clearly these people were of importance. But I couldn't put my finger on why.

Just then, Lee, the leader of our island, stepped towards them with open arms. "Welcome, Avatar!" He cried. Some of the less ignorant cheered. Most of the islanders, like myself, were clueless.

However the group looked anything but happy to be here.

"We're being followed by the Fire Nation!" The Water Nation boy said in an urgent tone, "Is there any place we can hide?"

Lee looked troubled that the group was being followed. However he nodded. "You may all hide in our great hall until you are safe," he declared, pointing to our largest building on the island. "We do not have much food, as fishing has been not very prosperous this season. But there should be enough, that which will be brought to you at a later time."

"Why should we take them in if they're being followed by the Fire Nation?" Someone complained. I'd been wondering the same thing. They could have very well brought the Fire Nation straight here.

"Because, we must be hospitable," Lee said, "Especially towards the Avatar. Everyone must be on their best behavior."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him. Even in his old age, Lee caught it, and singled me out. He was always trying to find reasons to get me in trouble. "Risa. Why don't you escort this group to the Great Hall? And maybe you could also bring them some food, too. I know how much you enjoy cooking."

I groaned, but there was nothing I could do to get out of it. I stepped through the crowd, weaving in and out of people in heavy coats. I walked up to face the Avatar, who smiled at me, and held out his hand. "Hi! I'm Aang," he said brightly, "And this is Katara, Sokka, and Toph. And Appa and Momo too of course." A lemur came out of nowhere and perched on Aang's shoulder. Great. A little animal. And not the kind we were going to eat, either. No. Instead I was expected to provide food to it that we really didn't have.

"I'm Risa," I said, simply out of politeness. I ignored his hand, though. "Our Great Hall is, obviously, this way." I started to walk, and I heard the loud, heavy footsteps of the bison. We'd be lucky if he didn't crack our island in half. Except…I couldn't help picturing the bison as a big, juicy steak, either. We'd have enough meat and fur for the entire village for months.

Sokka, the boy, decided to catch up to me. "Hey. You know, back in my tribe, I was a warrior."

I could have laughed. "Well then you might want to go back, because here, you're a loser," I said, rolling my eyes again.

Aang and Katara laughed a little. I just started walking faster, to get away from the troublesome creep. I opened the two doors, measuring them with my eyes. With luck, if the bison could lower his head a little bit, he could fit through. I stepped out of the way, and let their little group worry about it. It took nearly ten minutes, but finally, the bison was in.

The main room of the hall was chilly, and I carefully studied the reactions of the group members as they took in the sheer beauty of it. Sometime back, just recently, an artist had been on the island. He had done a beautiful job creating huge mosaic designs in the floor, and of course the dome atop our heads. From the outside, our hall didn't look nearly as spectacular. But the inside was a piece of artwork to behold. Despite what you're thinking, the main room wasn't huge. It was hardly tall enough for Appa, who's only saving grace was the very top of the dome, where he could keep his head.

"Your bison will have to stay here," I was only imagining the threat of bison waste, ruining the beautiful mosaic floor. But it was the only place big enough.

"Come this way," I said, walking over to a side door. I opened it up, and walked into the eating area.

I noticed the disappointment the shrouded their faces when they saw it. Our cafeteria was small and plain, with only a seven foot tall ceiling. It was dark and cold, but dry. The walls were just plain wood, painted over poorly. They sat at a table for four, and I went into the kitchen. Chef noticed me, and spoke up, "Risa, you know we don't have enough food for you to be snacking.

I shook my head, "No, we have guests. T-the Avatar and his friends. Leader Lee told me to feed them."

Chef looked pleased at the prospect of the Avatar being here, but his face fell soon after. He knew we barely had enough food for our own people these days. Fishing was getting bad. "It's okay, Chef. I'll skip dinner tonight." My stomach growled, already hungry.

Chef looked as though he wanted to tell me not to sacrifice my own dinner, but instead, he nodded. He knew that there was no other option. These were the times we were living in, and choices had to be made. Like who was vital to the survival as our people as a whole. I wasn't vital. I wasn't a necessity. So I could go without a meal or two.

Chef was the one person who knew of my real origins, and of my bending. He'd seen me do it my very first time, by accident. I'd been almost brand new to the island, and Chef had chosen to take me in until I was old enough to live alone. I'd helped him cook through times of starvation and times of good fishing. However, that one winter was bad, and we ran out of wood near the end. More wood wouldn't be coming until spring, when the weather wasn't so severe. No one wanted to eat fish raw, but that's what it began to come down to. I was so scared, and wanted cooked fish so badly, that when I picked up a fish, my hands suddenly burst into a small flame, and left behind a badly charred fish. But it smelled good. So I had eaten it, without the head and tail of course. Chef had been standing in the doorway. Behind his anger that I had just eaten an entire fish without permission, was the fear of anyone discovering my little ability. Saying I was lucky to have Chef as a guardian would be an understatement. That winter without firewood, I was allowed to perfect my self-cooking ability, even though it took a while. I was only allowed to use fire bending in the kitchen. That's what he told me. Nowhere else.

So I grabbed four pieces of our best fish, and cooked them without a second thought. Even after all of these years, Chef still wasn't comfortable with it. It still unnerved him to see me using fire bending. But he accepted it, and he no longer saw fire as completely evil. So long as I didn't turn into a pyromaniac, that would be fine with him. With the Fire Nation possibly being so close, we couldn't risk our cooking smoke being seen. I placed each piece of fish on a plate. A plate that was large and meant for more than one type of food. A plate that had seen better days. The pieces of fish barely took up one plate alone. But there was no time to think about that now.

So I brought out the pieces of fish, and set them on the table in front of each person.

"Oh, I get it. You guys do like…dinner in courses, right? This is like an appetizer?" Sokka asked, eating the piece of fish in four bites. "Well bring. It. On!"

Toph just took the whole thing with her hands and shoved it in her mouth. I wasn't sure how to tell them that was probably all we could provide them with for now. Katara and Aang were eating more slowly, and I was grateful that at least half of the group had manners.

"Actually…that's all we have for food," I said softly.

Sokka looked both disappointed and apologetic. "Sorry. I didn't realize…"

"It's okay," I said, even though anger was boiling over, "Even if we had had enough to eat, you still would have been rude." I didn't yell it, I said it calmly, but I did storm out of the cafeteria, past the bison, and back outside. I was so tired of being treated like a little piece of dirt. Little, disposable Risa. But I wasn't disposable, that was the problem. Without me, more people might have been dead today.

I just had to deal with being the unsung hero all of the time. It was hard, but there wasn't much I could do.

I walked to the very edge of the island, as far away from the village as I could get. But the truth was, it wasn't far away enough. Here we were, on the brink of famine, and were just expected to provide our guests with food. It was the polite, well-mannered thing to do. But was it still right if other people would have to starve? Whoever Lee decided was disposable? I sat down and shut my eyes. Anyone could see me from the village, which was a problem. There were no trees or rocks or anything. Just flat ice, covered in snow so we weren't slipping and falling all the time.

A soft piece of snow landed on my face, light as air. But I realized that it didn't melt and slide down my cheek as it should of. Another one. They didn't melt. I opened my eyes, and brushed the snowflakes off of my cheeks and into my hands. My heart stopped as I realized that this "snow" was actually ash.

Even though I'd been waiting for this day, I was petrified, too. I glanced across the water, looking all over for the ship that wasn't in sight yet.

Prince Zuko was so close to the Avatar he could almost taste it. One of the crew had spotted Aang's stupid bison, and Zuko immediately chose to pursue it. They were close now. To that stupid little island that a ship had just discovered. An island that could potentially be a threat, as the rumors went. The rumors said that water benders lived by the dozens there. However he wasn't in the mood for taking prisoners today. Just the Avatar.

Wiping out some more water benders was just an unexpected little bonus.