Prologue
Water, earth, fire, and air. The four nations and the bending that came with them. The words that everyone knew. But for well-known fact, there are also well-kept secrets. The best of all, perhaps, is us. The lesser-known benders of the planet, masters of stone and ice. Ice bending is nowhere near the same as waterbending, and stonebending just begins where an earthbender's powers end. The stonebenders are the strongest of the six, but with the war came the separation between the vital powers provided by the Earth and Fire Nations, and the stonebender population diminished.
We icebenders have the most mysterious power. Our energy seems to come from nowhere. We have the ability to create ice, not just shape it like waterbenders do. Our parents must be each a waterbender and an airbender, or and icebender and a waterbender or airbender. Like the stonebenders, the war brought partial destruction to our people. The newest generation is believed to be the last. Still, my parents tell me to have hope. But what is hope? What are dreams? What does it mean to long? Does it make things different? Do things change? And what does anyone do when hope is lost, when dreams turn into nightmares?
It is hard to have hope under such bleak circumstances, but who knows? If we just keep trying maybe somehow everything will be all right.