She was a water bender at the age of fifteen, and her name was Mae Rose. She stood at a tall five feet eight inches and was ready to face the world, or so she thought. Her water bending robe and some food was all she had, and to be honest, it was all she needed. She found that water was in anything, and that an ice hut could keep you warm even in the bitter cold, and she had enough money to get her through. She was a fit young girl, so walking wasn't a trouble.
It was nearing the end of the fall when her mother was taken, so Mae Rose decided to spend a few months gathering up supplies and set out early spring. She had been traveling for about a week when she came upon an old campsite outside a village. She decided to stay on the old site for a day or two before actually entering the small village. She noted the lake that ran right past the campsite, and decided to practice her bending, for she needed all the practice she could get if she was going to take out the small rebellion that took her mother.
She stepped into the cool lake up to her ankles, and then she raised her hands and felt the coolness of the water seep through her, making her blood pound within her veins. She inhaled and the mist coming from atop the lake filled her nostrils with that clean scent she had come to love over the years. She moved her hands in an almost fluid motion, their paths never crossing, yet she seemed to create a ball of water and then, she stopped and created stiff fingers. The ball that was once water was now ice.
She made a fist and the ice became a fluid once again, and she exhaled before moving her feet one hundred eighty degrees and flicked her wrist to bring forth water tendrils, letting them encase her arms. She controlled them, and let the power that came with the bending flow through her. She flung her fingers outward and the tendrils then became shards of ice, penetrating the bark of a nearby tree.
Happy with her small water bending practice, she sat down on the hard earth and pulled out a hunk of bread from within her pouch. Biting into the now crusty loaf, she groaned, noticing that her food supply had already diminished. Mae quickly decided to visit that village a little earlier than planned.
As the sun set, she sat at the edge of the lake and started to just play around with the water, creating small ripples in the waves and just playing in general before she heard a twig snap.
She turned and pulled water tendrils to her arms just as she had in her bending practice earlier. She was in her ready stance as she looked around with a fierce expression on her face, asking for someone to step up and become a threat or a challenge. She walked around the small bush off to the side of camp and saw a child of about the age of seven or eight crouched down.
She pushed the water back to the lake before crouching down next to the young girl. The first thing that Mae noticed was the color of the child's eyes. Grey. Her black hair rippled down her back, and she was still chubby. Fear showed within her grey orbs and Mae saw the girl's hands shaking.
"I-I saw you w-w-water bending, you were good." The little girl spoke with a trembling voice. Mae didn't know how it happened, but there was both fear and appreciation in the child's eyes. The younger girl stood up and walked over to the water, letting it go up about knee high, where Mae noticed her robe began.
"I wish I could bend the water, it would be AMAZING!" the little girl exclaimed. Mae chuckled and offered the girl a small smile before asking, "What's your name?" The small girl pulled her hair back into a braid with astonishing speed before answering, "Tai Lynn."
"That's a beautiful name, Tai Lynn. My name is Mae Rose, and may I ask what exactly are you doing out here?" Mae asked patiently, suddenly realizing how dark the clouds had become within the past few moments. Tai Lynn shrugged and said, "I don't feel like going home." Tai Lynn turned her back to Mae and started to play around in the water, splashing up little puddles with her feet.
"Why not? I'm sure your family misses you very much. How long have you been gone?" Mae persisted. "I was just getting out here when you arrive, so I can only have been gone for a little while. I was going to come and swim, but then I wanted to watch you bend." She gave Mae a sheepish smile before twirling her fingers in the water.
Mae stood up and started to walk into the water, deciding to show Tai Lynn a little more water bending. She picked up a long tendril of water and started spinning it around, slowly thinning it out so it became a shield-like thing. Mae twirled it more and started shaping something that Tai Lynn couldn't quite figure out. When Mae stepped away, Tai Lynn saw herself etched in the ice. It was life size in fact, and she could outline every one of her features and it was almost scary. "Wow," was all Tai Lynn could muster up. She was so amazed.
"This is so amazing Mae Rose! I love it! Too bad I can't keep it." Tai Lynn said with sadness. Another roll of thunder sounded and Mae decided it was best if she got the little girl to a shelter, and soon too. She decided to bend an ice fortress for the little girl. She picked up water and bent it over into the shape of a small house, even with a roof. It's only for tonight, she told herself.
Tai Lynn inched closer to Mae as the sky darkened and the rain started to pelt the ice fort the two girls were inside of. The rain gave Mae strength, she could feel each and every drop hitting the ground, and as she inhaled her head cleared up and she realized that Tai Lynn had fallen asleep on her lap. Out of her backpack she produced a pillow, and laid the young girl's head on it before joining her in slumber.
Mae woke up early and decided to start packing everything back up, because she needed to get the little girl back into the village as soon as possible. She bent some water into her pouches and looped them through her belt before snacking on an apple and checking in on Tai Lynn. She'd grown fond of the young girl, so she felt guilty about having to leave so early. She also suddenly remembered what she was doing, and she felt guilty about delaying the search for her mother.
"Mae Rose?" A drowsy Tai Lynn said. She came out of the make shift home rubbing her eye lids, and a sudden growling stomach. Mae smiled and handed the girl a slice of bread and a little hunk of cheese to snack on while she melted the ice to put back into the lake. "Mae, did you ever think there could be another war? Like the One Hundred Years war?"
Her sudden question startled Mae Rose, and she could only answer truthfully, "Yes, Tai Lynn; all the time." She sighed before packing the left over food into her sack and looking back at the little girl. "Do you ever think that the fire nation will just . . . attack? Like all the leftover soldiers who are still bitter about Avatar Aang defeating Firelord Ozai in the final battle? And Firelord Zuko and Master Katara chaining up Princess Azula?"
Mae Rose contemplated what the child was insinuating; had her village been attacked by the rebellion just as her tribe had? Mae didn't respond for a few minutes, trying to gather her thoughts and her words well enough not to scare the child. Tai Lynn beat her to the punch line by saying, "My village was attacked by the rebellion."