Water. Earth. Fire. Air.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.
Thirty-five years after the Avatar's disappearance, Baron Morgarath of Araluen Island, betrayed his countrymen and promised the Fire Nation an easy victory in Earth Kingdom territory.
The Avatar was gone, but heroes were not. Earthbenders, Waterbenders, warriors, and the Araluen Island Rangers and a mysterious new Ranger named Halt repelled the attack.
Araluen Island is at peace now, but Morgarath still lives, and he plots. His revenge is nearly ready.
Thirteen years after the Battle of Araluen Island, the only concern for a boy in the Redmont kitchens was to avoid notice. The boy, Will, was small and slim, a head shorter than other boys — and some girls — his age, and his eyes were fixed on a tray of hot buns. He hid while kitchen apprentices rushed, sweat on their foreheads, curses held between their lips, as they tried to keep up with the unyielding pace demanded by Kitchenmaster Chubb.
Chubb was a furnace, red faced and massive, his dark topknot making his head look like an onion. He darted between pots and pans, ovens and coldboxes, considering flavors and textures and whatever else it was that made the food from his kitchens legendary across Araluen Island. Pausing at one pot, Chubb twisted his wrist and fingers, bending a gulp of stew to his mouth.
"More garlic!" he boomed.
The white-clothed apprentices scurried this way and that, carrying hot foot out, bringing cold ingredients in, running away from the wooden ladle that Kitchenmaster Chubb wielded like a mace. When one lingered too long, they yelped and clutched their head where Chubb's ladle cracked down on them. From an outside view, the kitchen was a beehive of intensity with no breaks, but Will knew better. Every ten minutes, the kitchen emptied for a handful of seconds - long enough to steal a hot bun and escape out the open window. Will had observed the first lull and confirmed its existence ten minutes later. Now, he waited for the third and his opportunity for fresh hot buns.
Will remained deep in the shadows between a cabinet of dishes and the washbasin; he was still as a cricket-mouse. People rarely seemed to notice what they didn't expect, and who would expect a small, brown-haired boy in dark clothing hiding in the corner of the kitchen? Well, Chubb might, but his attention was consumed by his bumbling apprentices.
"You!" Chubb shouted, and Will bit his lip to remain still. Chubb hadn't seen him; the Kitchenmaster's attention was on a dark-haired apprentice who had dropped a rice ball and tried to replace it on the platter. Chubb sent them to mop until they learned to handle food with respect.
One apprentice, Jenny, escaped the ladle more than others. Jenny was a chubby, blonde girl with an irrepressible smile, despite her red cheeks and sweat-dampened clothes. She was three years old than will and had been a ward of Baron Arald alongside him, and she had cared for Will like an older sister. Jenny was gone from the ward two months now, after Chubb had selected her as an apprentice.
Will felt a lingering jealousy that he tried to muffle. Jenny had always wanted to work in the kitchens, and now she was. Will had always wanted to be an Earthbending warrior, like his father, and … he could still be an Earthbender. He had to be. He had yet to manifest that ability, but maybe he was a late bloomer. People sometimes talked about growing spurts, so maybe that applied to bending, too. Will still had two years before he requested a place in the Earthbending Battleschool. Two years before he could prove that he could live up to his father's memory, that of a mighty Earthbender.
The kitchen was empty. He didn't know how much time he'd lost thinking. He should have waited another ten minutes, but he wanted those hot buns before they became cold buns. Will shot from his hiding place and grabbed three.
"You there!" Kitchenmaster Chubb's voice shook the walls.
Will was steps away from the window. He could jump out, hide, and eat his food. Chubb would never have to know it was him. Will shivered with fear and faced Chubb.
"Will!" Chubb was blazing, and if Will hadn't witnessed him Waterbending, he would have thought Chubb the vanguard for the Fire Nation.
Minutes later, Will slumped out of the kitchens, rubbing the sore spot on his head. His stomach was still empty, and his ears rang with Chubb's voice. Every apprentice had hurried back into the kitchen to watch someone who wasn't them be the target of Chubb's rage. All of Redmont would know what happened by the end of the day. Horace would find out, and he would bully Will with the knowledge. Even worse, Alyss would find out; she would look at him with pity and offer to cook him a hot bun. Will didn't want Alyss' pity. Jenny's sympathetic look had been humiliating enough.
Back in the kitchens, Chubb had only needed to look at his apprentices before they scurried back to their work. Chubb tossed the stolen hot buns on the counter; they would feed the chicken-pigs later. His ladle rose and fell as he noticed apprentices not working hard enough.
He didn't notice the shadow within a shadow in the corner. Ten minutes later, a gray-and-green cloaked figure selected a hot bun and jumped out the window.