Chapter 10: Misogyny

As soon as I saw the gates, my heart stopped. Finally, I was at my destination, away from the Fire Nation and my past. However, actually being in front of the two gates made me think some things I hadn't thought about before. Did I tell them I was from the Fire Nation? Would they accept me into the city? Would I be a social outcast? Should I make up my past? Should I hide it? All these thoughts raced through my mind, as I sat on an iceberg a few hundred yards away from the gates. I had put on my thick parka from the Fire Nation; it was quite difficult to find a parka anywhere in the Fire Nation. I decided I would tell the truth to everyone, but only what they needed to know. If by some chance they pressed me so much that I needed to give away my whole past, I would. In this place, I would also have to lose my temperament, or else I would never be allowed to stay. With this in mind, I bent up my usual traveling wave and headed towards my homeland.

When I arrived at the gates of the Northern Water Tribe, I had no idea what to do. Some lock guards saw me and immediately slid down the wall and froze the water around me and inquired about me.

"State your name, nation, and purpose!" the guard barked at me.

"My name is Hiuoko. I am a Fire Nation refugee, and I want to live here," I replied.

"You're Fire Nation, huh. What makes you think you're going to stay here?" the guard laughed.

"Well, first of all, I'm a waterbender," I replied, unfreezing the water around me and froze the water beneath me so I could stand, "and if that isn't enough proof for you, look at my eyes."

The guard, awestruck, looked into my eyes. His even more shocked look told me that he noticed my blue eyes. My eyes are probably one of my only features that are Water Tribe in origin. Everything else is either Fire Nation or masked by Fire Nation culture.

"Now, may I please proceed into the village, so I can see the chief of this city and get permission to live here."

"NO, no you may not," the guard said, readying a water whip. "You're probably a Fire Nation spy, a captured waterbender working for the Fire Nation. You're a disgrace to our whole tribe, culture, and-!"

I couldn't here any more of it. How dare he call me an insult to this city? All I wanted was to get away from the Fire Nation, and now people treat me like I'm a part of it. Forgetting my whole "quick-temperament" ban, I turned the guard's water whip against him and hit him with it.

"HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A DISGRACE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH?" I shouted at the guard, crying, while entrapping him in a snowy vortex. "THE FIRE NATION KILLED MY MOTHER! MY FATHER TRIED TO KILL ME! ALL I WANTED WAS TO ESCAPE AND FIND A HOME WITH PEOPLE LIKE ME," I screamed, tears flying down my face, as I froze the guard in a huge iceberg. "BUT NOW THAT I'M HERE, I CAN'T COME IN. YOU CALL ME A SPY! YOU'RE A DISGRACE, FOR YOU CAN'T TELL ME APART FROM THE DREADED FIRE NATION!" I had now thrown the iceberg up in the air and threw it into the ocean. I thawed it and sent the guy crashing towards the gates in a giant wave of water, as I tried to control my tears and anger.

"Stop!" someone shouted above me. "Let the girl come in. There's no way a Fire Nation waterbender could learn to bend like that. She's not a spy."

I looked up and saw an old man with a white beard, defending me. As I shook my head in thanks, six more guards came out of nowhere and escorted me into the Northern Water Tribe. They all had pretty frightened looks on their faces, which kind of upset me, since I wanted to blend into the society.

The city was even more magnificent than I could have ever dreamt of. Everything was made of ice, and busy citizens hustled and bustled on the ice sidewalks. Gondolas were riding down the canals, with benders bending the boats. I saw a waterbending class waiting for their teacher to my left; I hoped soon I would gain a position as teacher. That would really be my ideal niche in this society; teaching young girls and boys to harness their waterbending prowess. Turtle seals were swimming in the water, and mini-waterfalls could be found almost anywhere. I had never felt so happy or nostalgic before.

The guards escorted me to a large palace, where another set of guards escorted me inside the palace. I was shown down a corridor to a room where a man busy at work sat on an ice chair.

"This girl wants to become a citizen here. I know this isn't normal, but Master Pakku says hear her case out," one of the guards told me, as he dropped me onto the floor.

"Thank you, Tomo. I'll take it from here," the man at the table sat, finishing writing something down. "Now, tell me about yourself: your name, where you come from, why you suddenly appeared at our doorstep."

"Thank you," I said, as I bowed my head. "My name is Hiuoko, and I come from the Fire Nation capital city. My father was a Fire Nation admiral, and my mother was a captured Southern Water Tribe peasant. When I was seven…" I told him my whole story, from when I discovered my ability to waterbend to my escape from my father all the way to my arrival here. I left out some trivial things, like my time in prison, my sais, my ability to bend liquid in the human body, and stabbing my father. But, I think I gave enough information.

"Wow," the man said, "that is quite some story. Now, from what I've heard, you have some waterbending skills. Care to demonstrate?"

Nodding my head, I took some ice from the floor and bent it into a water whip. Circling the whip around me, I changed it into ice and threw some ice spikes at the man. Before they hit him, I converted them to water vapor, so it brushed the man's parka. I then changed the vapor back to water, pulled it back to me and combined it with some water I had taken from the ice to make a vortex in the air. Finally, I spun the vortex so fast, water went flying everywhere; I then bent the water very fast back into the ice before it did any damage.

"Wow, I'm very impressed," the man said. "Your mom really did teach you a lot of waterbending. Now that I've heard from you, I've decided to let you stay in the village."

My heart jumped half a beat as I flew out my chair.

"However," the man said, "first let me explain to you how we're proceeding from here. We'll have a citizen-initiation ceremony next week at dusk. It is at that time you will get the mark on your head that signifies you are a full citizen of the Northern Water Tribe. Before then, you will attend a class on our history, culture, law, and politics. For now, you will be given a house towards the outskirts of a village; when you have made enough money, you will be able to buy your own house. You'll have to wait here for a little bit while we furnish up your house a bit, though. We will supply you with one long sleeved shirt, one pair of pants, shoes, gloves, and a parka. You will abide by our codes and customs and will be tried as a citizen would. Finally, we need to give you a job. Since you are quite a skilled waterbender, how about a healer/ Are you trained in the art of healing?"

"Yes, my mother taught me the basics of it."

"Good, starting tomorrow, you will report to the healing hut and help teach a healing class. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and one final thing. Here, you are not to use your waterbending to fight or show. Here, the men are the fighters and warriors and women are the healers. Since some women are waterbenders, they are trained in healing, but no fighting. Therefore, you will be forbidden to use any advanced techniques or any fighting techniques. Understood?"

"Wait, WHAT?" I asked, angrily. "So you mean, I can't fight in sparring matches or take any former lessons or create ice bridges?"

"Correct, anything past the water whip is considered an advanced move. You agreed to stick with our customs. It is very uncommon to have a female waterbender who can fight. Therefore, if you want to stay here, you will keep any waterbending aside from healing to a minimum. Now, I have to go fix up your house, so stay put."

As the man walked out of the room, anger swelled inside me. I could kick his ass in waterbending, and he's saying just because I'm a woman, I can't fight. I have to stick to my role in society and be a good lady. But what choice did I have? This was the only safe place from the Fire Nation. If I wanted to stay, I would just have to bite my lip and put on a façade. That didn't mean that I couldn't prove myself first though.