Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its affiliated characters.


Chapter 1: Visitors

Four Years Later

"Katara? Wake up, Katara!" An aged, yet surprisingly firm hand shook Katara's shoulder as the young waterbender snuggled deeper into her warm bed.

"Just a little longer, Hama. The sun's barely up," Katara mumbled tiredly. She was right; the golden rays of the sun were only slightly peaking up from the horizon, draping the sky in a breathtaking gradient of blues and oranges.

Hama chuckled good-naturedly at her groggy apprentice. "I see you still haven't adjusted to Fire Nation sleeping habits. Remember, Katara, when you're in enemy territory you must do as the enemy does to prevent detection. If our enemies rise with the sun, so must we," the old woman stated in a solemn tone, as if reciting from a poem she knew by heart. "But I also need you to get up so you can buy some cabbages from the market. We're expecting new boarders at noon," the old woman added, the previous seriousness draining from her voice.

Katara grumbled something under her breath about "stupid Fire Nation early birds," but was abruptly cut off as she heard the familiar whizzing of ice claws aimed at her head. Without any conscious thought, or even the opening of her eyes, Katara swept an arm to the basin of water beside her bed and quickly brought up an ice shield. She heard the ice claws hit her shield as her eyes rapidly blinked open. Hama stood at the foot of her bed, wearing a pleased smile.

"Very good, Katara! Your reflexes have improved greatly!"

The waterbender flushed with delight at her mentor's praise. Oddly enough, it wasn't the first time the old woman had spontaneously flung deadly pieces of ice at her; last time, however, it was a water whip to the face when Katara had been brushing her teeth. The old master knew how to keep a training waterbender on her toes. "Now, how about those cabbages?" Hama reminded.

Stumbling out of bed, Katara bathed quickly before bending her hair dry and pulling the upper layer into a simple topknot secured with red ribbon. In her bureau she found a faded red tank-top that ended just before her navel and a gold pair of loose harem pants that she layered under a red skirt. A silk choker with a gold pendant was hastily tied around Katara's neck before she bolted down to the kitchen. After so many years of wearing her mother's necklace she couldn't stand to have her neck bare. Unfortunately not even the most expensive necklace in the Fire Nation could replace the treasured one she had left behind in the South Pole.

Hama was brewing a pot of tea and humming an old Water Tribe tune when Katara walked into the kitchen. The two moved around each other in a comfortable silence that was a product from years of living under the same roof. Their relationship was one of teacher and pupil, as well as parent and child. After taking Katara in as her own, Hama had begun teaching the young waterbender everything she knew. Through her mentor's teachings, Katara had learned to love the Moon Spirit again and had advanced into a formidable waterbender on the cusp of mastering her element.

With Hama's knowledge also came her influence. Late one night, shortly after she had taken in Katara, the old woman had told her the story of how she ended up in the Fire Nation. Hama's eyes had burned with contempt as she had spoken of the Fire Nation prison where she had been held against her will. And though the Hundred Year War had ended two years ago with the assassination of Fire Lord Ozai by his demented daughter, the old woman had hardly let go of this intense hatred. "Never forget and never forgive," she would remind Katara time and again. The young waterbender had grudges of her own to keep as well. The delicate green eyes of a fellow prisoner; the memory of her brother Sokka's laugh; remembering her father dragged in chains to a Fire Nation war vessel; all of these things filled a dark pit in Katara's heart that screamed for vengeance. Hama saw this in her young pupil and encouraged it; the War might have been over, but the old woman's plans had just begun.

After draining her cup of tea until only the dregs remained, Katara grabbed her waterskin and secured it around her waist, concealing it between her heavy skirt and pants. Hama had taught her to never leave the inn without it, as it was her greatest weapon. Tucking a few coins into her pockets she prepared to leave for the market.

"Don't forget your gold cuffs," Hama reminded, nodding to the thick bracelets that Katara left in a bowl near the door of the inn.

Sighing heavily, she slipped the clunky jewelry on her wrists, immediately feeling weighed down and trapped by the pieces of metal. It was a necessary precaution though, Katara mused as she walked into her small village, headed for the market booths. As a slave in the mines she had been branded with the Fire Nation insignia on her left wrist. Since training with Hama she had learned a bit of healing through trial and error; Hama didn't possess that particular gift, but Katara had managed to teach herself after learning the basics of waterbending. Even so, the burn had been too old to completely heal. The pale, pinkish symbol stood out plainly against her deeply tanned skin. The cuffs seemed only to irritate the burn and make her wrists itch terribly, but what they lacked in comfort they made up for in covering the brand from prying Fire Nation eyes.

From the beginning, Katara had attracted too much attention in the small town. Her brown complexion and startling blue eyes had raised many eyebrows at first. To quell the rumors, Hama had told the villagers that her rebellious daughter had been lured away from home by a "Water Tribe scoundrel," and that Katara had been the unholy product of this partnership, shipped off to her grandmother's care when both of her parents had died.

As Katara had matured, her soft curves had begun to emerge, courtesy of her Water Tribe parentage. Her exotic body was a stark difference from the trim, lithe figures of Fire Nation girls, attracting the stares and catcalls of the village men, while also earning her rude whispers and biting remarks from the village women. Even now, as Katara picked her way around the produce booths searching for cabbages, she heard their hushed comments.

"There goes that Water Tribe bastard."

"Look at all the skin she's showing! Does she have no honor?"

"I heard she's going to turn her grandmother's inn into a whorehouse when the old woman dies!"

Katara fought against rolling her eyes. She'd never even been with a man and yet these lion vultures believed her a whore! Not to mention she was revealing much less skin than many of them! Taking a deep breath through her nose, she worked to calm her rising temper and focus on the task Hama had sent her to do. Besides, she knew that she could silence any one of those catty women with a simple flick of her wrist.

Finally locating the cabbage stand, Katara carefully picked through the selection, looking for the best ones. It was then that she detected an odd emotion running through the market. She felt eyes on her back, more so than usual. Glancing in her peripherals, she noticed some of the village men looking at her strangely. But instead of playful banter or light flirting, their gazes held resentment and an undercurrent of…fear?

Logically, Katara knew she would make a formidable opponent; her skill with her element was great, but she had never given any of the villagers a reason to fear her. No one in the small village knew she was a waterbender, save Hama herself. Unable to decipher what was amiss with those men, Katara quickly paid for her cabbages and left the market. She puzzled over the odd emotion her entire way back to the inn, unable to find a reason for their strange reaction to her.

Her mentor was in the middle of cleaning the inn when Katara arrived back from the market. The sun had fully come up now, washing the room in brilliant sunlight. Though, neither Hama nor Katara fully appreciated it; they both preferred the white light of a full moon to the golden rays of the sun.

"Katara, could you finish tidying up while I start the cabbage soup? I'm sure our boarders will be starving when they arrive!" Hama asked. "And when you're done I want you to go out to the garden and practice your Octopus Form stance. I want your motions perfect before you try it with water." Nodding, Katara got to work, busying herself with preparing their travelers' room.

At midday the sounds of heavy ostrich horse hooves sounded from outside the inn. From the garden, Katara saw two figures approaching: a man and a woman. They both had on large straw hats, shielding their eyes from the sun and their faces from Katara's eyes.

"Welcome!" Hama greeted, shuffling out of the inn towards the ostrich horses. "Katara, dear, come take our guests' bags," she called toward the waterbender. As Katara neared, she studied the new arrivals with keen interest. One of the first of things Hama had taught her was to never miss a detail. Both the man and the woman were wearing plain peasant clothing in shades of dull red and tan. The man was built brawny and Katara noticed he had thick, corded muscles, the kind one got from years of hard, physical exertion. Oddly, the woman was just as muscled as the man.

"Thank you," he replied graciously, handing his and the woman's bag to Katara before climbing off his ostrich horse. He bowed deeply in greeting to Hama. "My name is Lee, and this is my wife, Sun Ji."

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Hama and my granddaughter over there is Katara. I've just prepared some cabbage soup, if you'd like some. You must be hungry after traveling all day. Where did you say you were from, again?" the old woman inquired sweetly, ushering their guests into the inn. Privately, Katara stifled a smirk. Her mentor never missed a chance to interrogate someone.

"We left from our small village a month ago. We're traveling to the coast for our honeymoon," Lee answered.

"Ah, newlyweds! Such an exciting time!" Hama exclaimed. The old woman's voice faded out as Katara left the group, heading to the second level of the inn to deposit the couple's bags in their room. After that, she went outside and led the ostrich horses to the small stable on the side of the inn. She and Hama didn't own any animals of their own, except a few komodo chickens they raised for food, but often times their travelers arrived riding on the back of beasts.

Katara took her time brushing down the ostrich horses, and eventually curled down into the hay beside one, letting it nuzzle her hand affectionately. She hated having to hide from people in her own home, but she couldn't bring herself to socialize with their guests. One thing Katara hadn't been able to overcome since her imprisonment was her distrust of other people, even simple peasants; it had taken her nearly a year before she truly trusted Hama. She couldn't understand how the old woman could bear to paint a smile on her face and chatter with them, as if they weren't part of the very nation that had herded their tribe up like cattle and shipped them away from their homeland. Katara knew; she had been there.

The sight of black snow had been their only warning. Images of it still haunted her dreams at night. The Fire Nation soldiers with their bone-white skeleton masks had swarmed her small village, raiding and pillaging. Katara had been forced to watch as her icy home melted under the blaze of firebender fists. Her father and the few other men in the tribe had tried to fight back, but they were outnumbered. Shackled, they were all led to Fire Nation vessels where they spent the next month living in squalor. When the ships finally docked in the Fire Nation the soldiers split them up into groups to be sent to different work camps. Katara could remember herself crying and begging to stay with her father and her brother. The soldiers had laughed at her tear-stained cheeks. That was the last time she had seen her family.

Now, six years later, Katara couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her father and Sokka. Had they survived wherever the soldiers sent them? Did they ever think about her? She hated that she didn't have answers to these questions. Maybe one day, though, after she'd fixed the deep, black hole in her heart, she'd track them down. They could be a family again, or at least something resembling a family. Katara wasn't naïve enough to think that things would ever go back to normal, before the Fire Nation had killed her mother all those years ago, but she would try.

Back in the present, the hay Katara was lying on suddenly felt softer than a polar bear's fur, and the gentle shuffle of the ostrich horses' feet became a tranquilizing lullaby. Her eyes began to droop lazily. Finally, her mind filled with thoughts of her family, she fell asleep in the stable.


Katara awoke to darkness. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead and tremors still racked her body from the nightmare; her heart pounded a wild staccato beat, like a tribal drum from the South Pole. Her mind had transported her back to the Fire Nation ship, the one she and her tribe had journeyed on. Only this time, the ship had been empty of soldiers and prisoners. The only other person on board was her mother. As the ship had sailed closer and closer to the Fire Nation her mother had begun to sob.

"Mom! What's wrong, mom? Stop crying!" her dream-self had pleaded to no avail. The ship had rocked violently as her mother's tears turned to oozing black sludge. The windows of the ship cracked and seawater had flooded the belly of the ship. Katara had tried to bend the water away and save her mother but her bending was suddenly gone. The last thing she remembered was watching herself and her mother drown, choked by her own element.

Picking herself up from the stable floor, Katara stretched out her cramped muscles and tried to vanquish the fleeting memories of her nightmare from her mind. Dreams like this were nothing new to Katara, but no matter how many she had each one still left her raw and vulnerable. Still feeling slightly out of sorts, Katara decided to head back to the inn to spend the rest of the night in the comfort of a real bed. Briefly, she wondered why Hama hadn't found her in the stable and woken her. Just as she put a hand on the stable's large wooden door, the loud tip tap of footsteps sounded from just outside.

"What are you doing?" a voice hoarsely whispered. It sounded familiar, but as Katara stood, trying to puzzle out who it belonged to, a second voice rang out.

"We're going to need our ostrich horses." All at once the realization hit her. It was the couple, Lee and Sun Ji. Suspicion crept up her spine; what were they doing out here in the middle of the night?

"No, we can't take the ostrich horses. I don't want us alerting any of the neighbors. For all we know, the old woman has accomplices. Not to mention the granddaughter's disappeared," Lee responded. Katara shrank back from the door as the meaning of their words sank in. They were looking for her, and if "the old woman" referred to Hama, then her mentor was in trouble too.

"Fine. We'll walk to the village and bring back reinforcements." Tonight was the first time Katara had heard Sun Ji speak and the woman's voice sent shivers down her back. It was hard and cold, just like Lee's. The newlywed-peasant-act had been just that, an act.

Katara let out a relieved sigh as she watched the two figures disappear down the dirt road towards town. Racing out of the stable, she hurried to the inn, throwing the door open and nearly running into Hama. Katara grabbed the old woman's shoulders to steady her so she didn't fall.

"Hama!―Lee―Sun Ji―they're not who―" Katara struggled to find the words, but Hama beat her to it.

"I know. They're Fire Nation soldiers." Katara's eyebrows hit her hairline in an expression of disbelief and puzzlement. "I'm old, but not daft, Katara. The man, Lee, he has the mark of the Interior Guard on his forearm. He's been trying to cover it with his sleeve, but I saw it when I showed them to their room," Hama revealed.

"I overheard them on their way into the village. They said they were bringing in reinforcements. What were they talking about? Even if they know who we are, the war's been over for two years! It's not a crime to be a waterbender anymore! We haven't done anything wrong!" Katara's eyes blazed with contempt. She looked towards Hama for reassurance but found that the old woman couldn't meet her eyes. "Did…did you do something, Hama? Did you break the law?" Katara questioned, suddenly unsure.

"It was to avenge our people, Katara―" Hama began.

"What did you do?" Katara accused, her eyes narrowing.

"I was only using the powers that the Spirits gave me!" Hama yelled vehemently. Her long white hair was disheveled, falling around her wrinkled face in wispy strands. The deep grey color of her eyes seemed like liquid silver, ablaze with anger.

"You bloodbended," Katara whispered. The word felt funny on her tongue. Even after mastering and advancing the technique under Hama's tutelage, a small part of her still felt disgusted with herself, and her mentor, for ever having used it.

"Yes," Hama answered coldly, "I needed information from a Fire Nation soldier."

"For what?" Katara interrogated.

"You know, in all the years you've stayed with me, you never once asked me where I go during the full moon," the old woman began, ignoring her pupil's question. "When my powers are at their greatest, when the moon is full and the Spirits guide my every move, I work for the one thing that has ruled my existence since I was taken from the South Pole: revenge. I know the same desire lies in your heart, Katara. I see it when you train. Your thirst for vengeance is clear."

"Maybe you're right, but the Interior Guard is here, Hama. They're coming back and they're going to arrest you!" Katara snapped. "We need to get ready to fight!"

"No, Katara. No fighting." The young waterbender looked at her mentor with disbelief. "Maybe they know we're waterbenders, or maybe it was luck, but they chose to attack on the new moon. Our powers are too weak to fight," Hama explained.

"Then what do we do?"

"You must finish my work for me, Katara." Hama declared solemnly.

"You mean leave you here?"

"Yes, leave me and go to Capital City and avenge the Southern Water Tribe!" the old woman raved.

"How, Hama? Fire Lord Ozai died two years ago. The war is over," Katara countered.

"But his son lives! The world must be purged entirely of the family that began this devastating war, the family responsible for our tribe's demise!"

Desperation. It was the only word to describe the look in the old woman's eyes. Carefully, Katara asked one more question: "What exactly are you asking me to do, Hama?"

"I want you to kill the Fire Lord, Katara."


Author's Note: So that's it! The second installment of The Bloodbender's Tale! Now we see how Zuko plays into the story. Hopefully you understood what was going on with the Fire Nation soldiers and Hama and all that jazz. Also, the "Interior Guard" is just something I made up. It's basically just the police force, but I didn't want to say "police" because that didn't sound very Avatar-y. They're in charge of policing the homeland. So anyways, if you didn't understand parts of this chapter, let me know because that means I need to add in more parts to clarify. Sometimes things make total sense in my brain but when I write it out some of it gets lost in translation, of sorts. Also: just want to say thanks to Eleventy7 who gave me some good feedback! And for anyone else, reviews are welcome :)