I'm gonna be honest and say that the reason why I've dipped from this collection again is because I've kind of run out of ideas. But the idea that I got for this piece was something that I got while writing one of my other stories. And it's a good thing that I've just finished two stories and have plans on adding collections of them into here as well. As for this piece, it doesn't have a set timeline since it jumps a few years and it doesn't really focus on the Gaang either since it focuses on the original puppetmaster: Hama.
Power Corrupts
Being locked away for as long as she was hadn't done Hama any favours. For a while, the waterbender had feared that she would never have freedom again. That was, until she discovered her newfound ability. Years had been spent mastering the technique that would lead to Hama's long-awaited escape. She had sauntered through the corridors of that wretched Fire Nation prison after making her escape thanks to the very guards that were assigned to keep her in. Now, Hama was free to live her life like she'd dreamt of doing ever since her imprisonment.
For over two decades Hama had dreamt about being reunited with her brothers and sisters at the South Pole, but in recent years Hama realised that perhaps returning to her old home wasn't the best idea. Hama had heard how the Fire Nation had practically destroyed the South Pole, which enraged her to no end. But Hama knew that the Fire Nation could return there in search of her, and Hama didn't think that her tribe would welcome her back with open arms if they ever learned about her technique.
Bloodbending was something that Hama had never heard of before, let alone considered doing on her own free will. It was something that she had never thought of doing until the days became longer and Hama had more time to think. The realisation that humans were nothing but skins filled with liquid had come to her when the rats continued to scurry down the chains holding her cell above the ground. Hama had tried doing it without the full moon, but she couldn't do it so Hama had waited for the next full moon before she started practicing her technique.
Five years had been spent perfecting the art of her technique, and it hadn't been an easy task. At first, Hama could barely get the rats moving but she could feel the water inside of them so she knew that it was working. Months had passed before Hama had successfully been able to get control of the rats, even if it was just a ligament. Then five years after first trying it, Hama had mastered control of the rats and knew that she was ready for the men. At first, Hama had felt disturbed by how much she had relished in having control of the guards and putting them at her mercy, but Hama pushed those thoughts of weakness aside by rationalising it since they deserved it. They deserved to lose control like they took her control away. It was sweet justice if you asked Hama.
Since going back to the South Pole wasn't an option, Hama reluctantly decided to take up residence in the Fire Nation. She didn't do it lying down though, since Hama made use of her newfound ability by making a mess of whatever she could. At forty-six-years-old, Hama had spent half of her life in captivity by being captured when she was twenty-two before escaping at forty-four. Most people her age had settled down and had their own family, but Hama knew that nobody in the Fire Nation would want to settle down with her and she certainly didn't want to settle down with any of them after what they had done to her people.
So it was just her luck that Hama managed to meet a man from the North Pole who all-too willingly allowed himself to be weaved around in her web so that he was entranced by her. Two years had been spent working him up before Hama worked him out and she ended up carrying his child, something that Hama had never expected at her age. The man hadn't wanted to stay for his child, so he had returned to the North without a second thought. Hama hadn't expected anything less from them, since she knew from her friend Kanna just how sleazy those Northern folk could be. She missed her friend sometimes, but Hama knew that she could never go back to her.
To Hama's delight, she ended up giving birth to a daughter whom she named Umiko. Her daughter displayed the ability to waterbend at an early age, which Hama was thrilled for since it meant that the Southern tradition wouldn't die with her. When her daughter was six, Hama started teaching her the basics of waterbending so by the time Umiko turned ten, she was well on her way to becoming a master. At the age of twelve, Hama started teaching her daughter bloodbending. She had moulded her daughter into thinking that bloodbending was a necessary skill that she was required to learn in order to be a fully-fledged waterbender, but it didn't stop the questions that came from a curious girl.
"Momma, why do I need to know this? I'm a perfectly good waterbender without it," her daughter had said when Hama first introduced the technique to her.
"Because, my red moon, bloodbending is the most powerful technique of all the bending arts. It gives you full control of someone, allowing you to enforce your own will over theirs. Without it, you are vulnerable and allow yourself to be subjected to the manipulation of others. With it, you could be the most powerful bender to exist and show those ash makers just how powerful a waterbender can be. You can avenge my fallen brothers and sisters in a way that I was unable to do," Hama replied.
A look of anger and determination had morphed onto her daughter's face. Hama had also raised her daughter to despise the Fire Nation and made her well aware of what these despicable people had done to their people and their civilisation. Hama would dare say that her daughter hated the Fire Nation even more than she did, and that was saying something. Umiko often took joy in using her waterbending to overpower unsuspecting bystanders, something that Hama also relished in. So her daughter had willingly learned the technique and by the time she had turned sixteen, Hama had taught her daughter everything she needed to know.
With that in mind, Hama allowed her daughter to break free from her and seek her own vengeance. That didn't mean Hama no longer heard from her daughter, since Umiko often sent her letters and visited her every once in a while. Two decades had passed since Hama had escaped from prison, and the waterbender had grown sick and tired of living amongst ash makers and not doing anything productive about it. So, Hama had gone house hunting (or target hunting) and found the perfect village with a cave nearby which allowed her to execute her plan. Her first target had been the owner of an inn near the village, so Hama snuck into it on the night of a full moon and got the man under her control. She had relished in seeing the way he suffered under her control and found it difficult to control her cackling as she lead him to the cave in the mountains.
Nobody seemed to take the mans disappearance seriously, since Hama had made it out as though the man had simply left instead of him being kidnapped. So Hama easily took over his home and made it her own, and she used it to plot her devious plans that her younger self would've been disgusted of. But Hama had changed since she was a young girl. She was no longer full of the innocence that she once had. Now she was old and bitter, and determined to seek revenge on those who had wronged her. In Hama's eyes, anyone from the Fire Nation was just as bad as the people who had captured her and held her prisoner for those two decades.
In the coming years after her first capture, Hama made her next moves with extreme caution. She didn't want anyone to connect these disappearances to the cycle of the full moon, so Hama reluctantly held back on capturing as many people as she could. A few months after her first capture, Hama managed to get two for the price of one as a brother and sister duo were trying to find somewhere to stay. Sometimes Hama would resort to capturing people from other towns nearby so that nobody would connect the dots. Finally, after almost five years of her plans tacking place, people started to notice the patterns. Hama had covered her tracks well so that nobody would suspect her, because to the outside world she was a kind hearted woman. Nobody would be able to see the evil inside of her until it was too late.
People in her village started to fear the full moon as the disappearances escalated. Especially after that brut referred to as 'Old Man Ding' managed to escape her grip before Hama could force him into the cave. So for about a year Hama held back from her revenge seeking and the panic surrounding the full moon seemed to dwindle. In that time, Hama still sought out unsuspecting people from other villages to add to her collection. Sometimes on the full moons Hama wouldn't even capture anyone. She'd just give her prisoners false hope of escaping and then when they got free, Hama would play with them like the puppets she had in her inn. Hama relished in seeing them struggle, just like their people had made her struggle.
"Why are you doing this to us?" they would ask.
"Because filthy scum like you ash makers deserve it!" Hama would sneer in response.
"Please, stop it! Just let us go and we won't tell anyone about what happened!" they would beg.
"Oh, of course you won't," Hama would cackle. "Because you won't live to have the chance!"
A year after the panic settled down, Hama resumed her activities and this time, she didn't care about what happened. She relentlessly captured unsuspecting people who were foolish enough to go out in broad moonlight under the full moon. Sometimes when her daughter would visit, Hama allowed her to get in on the fun as well. Her village soon feared the full moon and people were even terrified to go outside without it. Hama thought that was exactly what they deserved, to live in fear like they had made her people do. This was revenge at its finest.
When news broke out about the Avatar's return, Hama did nothing but continue her revenge seeking ways. After spending almost a decade capturing people, her prison cave was beginning to get overcrowded so Hama had held back on taking care of them since she hoped that death would help free up some space down there. Hama also knew that her time was dwindling, she was in her early seventies and she knew that she wasn't as strong and powerful as she once was. She would have to find someone to continue her work, but Hama couldn't ask her daughter to do so, not when her daughter now had a son of her own to look after. It was time someone else took after Hama and continued her work.
For months Hama searched for hopeful waterbenders so that she could pass her teachings onto someone else, but finding the right candidate proved to be easier said than done. It was difficult to find a waterbender in the Fire Nation, since those who were in the land of the ash makers were only there because of captivity. But then one night before the full moon, Hama found the perfect candidate. She'd been on her way back from the cave after giving her prisoners their daily feeding when she heard a group of teenagers telling ghost stories in the forest. They clearly weren't from the area if they were foolish enough to camp out in the notorious forest. That was made even more clear when one of them told a story that was supposedly from the South Pole.
Knowing that this was a perfect opportunity, Hama gave them residence in her inn. She didn't immediately introduce herself as one of them, since Hama knew that she'd need to establish some sort of trust with the teenagers before revealing her heritage to them. When she caught them snooping through her stuff, Hama figured that it was the perfect moment to let them in on her secret even if she would have preferred to wait before doing so. Hama then revealed herself as a waterbender to them and was overcome with joy for the first time in a long time when the girl revealed herself to be a waterbender as well. Katara had been all too willing to learn some of Hama's techniques, which gave Hama the confidence that she would be the perfect candidate to pass her ways onto.
During the time that Hama showed Katara her moves, Hama remained observant of the younger girl to see if she could get a good read of her. Katara seemed to have taken the brunt of the war, since her mother had been murdered at the hands of the Fire Nation and her father was fighting in the war as well. It enraged Hama to hear that what was once her home was hardly a home at all after it had been destroyed by those Fire Nation scum. To Hama's surprise, Katara didn't seem to share her exact rage towards the Fire Nation.
"Doesn't it anger you about what they have done to our people?" Hama asked.
"Of course it does," Katara replied. "But I'm not inclined to think that all people from the Fire Nation are bad. I know that because I've met people from there who aren't complete monsters. So, they can't all be bad even if majority of them are, right?"
"How could you say that? Everyone from the Fire Nation are cruel monsters. They have all turned a blind eye to this war and allow their people to commit unspeakable acts. That alone makes them all just as despicable as those who commit those acts!" Hama exclaimed.
Seeing the look of hesitance on Katara's face made Hama think twice about letting Katara in on her dark secret. But Hama ended up deciding to throw caution to the wind and teach it to her anyways. If Katara refused, them Hama could just take her to where the prisoners were and make up some story about her being captured by the spirit to her friends. She'd just have to make sure that they never found out that it was her who did that to Katara, since if they did then the jig would be up. Hama already knew that they were still suspicious of her despite Katara's trust, and they had every reason to be wary of her.
On the night of the full moon, Hama took Katara to the forest where she recounted the story of how she discovered bloodbending and used it to make her escape. By that point, it didn't surprise Hama that Katara didn't want to learn the technique, so Hama took it upon herself to have some fun with Katara. What did surprise Hama though, was that Katara's bending was more powerful than her own, which allowed the young waterbender to break free of her grip. This was not how Hama had anticipated the night going. She had expected Katara to be difficult, but not difficult to the point where she would have to duel her.
When Katara's friends showed up, Hama knew that the jig was up but that was only if she allowed them to get away from her, which she wasn't going to let happen. Since bloodbending Katara wasn't an option, Hama resorted to bloodbending her own friends. Since letting her friends get away wasn't something that she could let happen, Hama took the opportunity to finish them off with each other. Only that wasn't what happened.
Even though being manipulated by her own technique wasn't something that Hama wanted, the action had meant that Katara was following after her. At that point, Hama wasn't even disappointed when her prisoners had been freed and were taking her away to face their form of retribution. That didn't matter to Hama in the slightest way. Her days of bloodbending might have been over, but Hama had done her duty as the longest reigning waterbender of the Southern Tribe by passing on her teachings to those beneath her.
"Congratulations, Katara. You're a bloodbender," Hama called back to the young waterbender as she was led away in chains.
It was clear to Hama that she would be spending the rest of her life locked away in prison once again, but that didn't matter to Hama anymore. Her work there was done, and there was no need for her to be an issue anymore. Hama knew that the chances were that Katara would never use bloodbending again, but it was something that was still a part of her and would never go away. Every full moon, Katara would feel the power surging through her. That was when the madness would begin just like it had started for Hama.
As Hama rotted away, the old woman was content with everything that she had done. Despite spending her last days in prison, Hama wasn't phased the slightest. She had done her duty to the Southern Tribe by avenging her fallen brothers and sisters and passing the tradition onto her daughter and Katara. Hama might have died with darkness, but she knew that the Southern tradition and bloodbending wouldn't die with her. Not only did it exist in Katara, but it was apart of her daughter and now her grandson as well. Her teachings would never cease to exist, not when her offspring were the exact product of it. Hama knew that she would forever go down as a legend for being the inventor of the greatest form of bending there was. People would forever fear the wicked old woman and the full moon. That was more than enough for her.
While I was writing the Puppetmaster chapter for Flying Embers, I started to wonder what it must have been like for Hama following her years of imprisonment so that was what gave me the inspiration to write this piece. This wasn't something that I could bring myself to write at night without freaking myself out, since the Puppetmaster always had that effect on me when I was younger. If you guys are smart enough, you'll realise that Hama's grandson is Yakone from the Legend of Korra. I know I'm not the only one who has that as their headcannon, but I think that it's a very likely possibility. Speaking of other fics that I have, I've just completed two of them so the chances are that companion pieces related to them will pop up occasionally. And if you guys have any requests for me, let me know cause I could really use some ideas for stuff to write here.