Khione's first memory was of being held in the arms of her mother as she screamed and cried. Tears not of childbirth, but of loss.
"Don't hurt my daughter!" Princess Hina screamed.
Rui, her best friend at the time, stood at the edge of a cliff, holding a baby in her arms.
"Rui." Seki said. Seki was the current Queen, and Khione's Grandmother. "There is no need for pity. Pity the princess if you must, for giving birth to such a creature."
Rui held the kit in her arms. "She is just a baby. If she is an abomination, why not her twin?"
"Sometimes this happens." Seki said sympathetically. "One child is born normal, beautiful, a true Queen. And another is born a monster."
"I don't understand, my Queen." Rui said. "Why must I do this?"
"If you do not do as we say, Princess Hina and Khione will be slaughtered for her betrayal." Seki said threateningly.
"What has she done that is so bad?" Rui asked, still looking in the fragile infant's green eyes, face framed by bright red hair.
"She mated with one of them." Seki spat. "The enemy. She is lucky that she and her other daughter are to be spared."
Khione could hear every word. She wondered if her twin could hear them. She was just a baby, in her mothers arms, but she was born of water and ice, and her sister—something else.
"What exactly is this child?" Rui asked.
"She is a child of fire." Seki said it as if it was a curse word. "She will grow into a Firebender, planning to kill us all."
Khione remembered crying then. She didn't like the cruel words they were saying about her sister. She wanted her back.
Princess Hina didn't shush her. She screamed and cried as well.
But still, Khione could hear Rui's final words to her sister.
Rui put the child's hoshi in her hands. "Come back to us alive...And when you do, kill me first, would you? That will be all I can do to make this up to your mother. I'm sorry."
And with those words, Khione's twin sister, an innocent baby, was dropped into the misty abyss.
That was the last time Khione could remember ever crying. After that, it seemed nothing would ever match her sorrow on that day.
Xxx
"So your mother was with a Firebender." Aang reasoned. "And your Grandmother thought your sister would become a Firebender. Why?"
"She was born looking more like the fire. Bright red hair, green eyes, tanned skin." Khione said. "She looked different. But...she's alive. And I will find her."
"How do you know she is alive?" Aang asked.
Khione took off her fur cape and dropped it to the ground. Dotting her bare arms were...scales.
"What...is that?" Aang traced them. The scales roused her Avatar spirit, the same way it had been when she had taught him waterbending.
"Avatar Aang, the Firebender is my natural state." Khione admitted. "It is being a Waterbender that is unnatural to my body."
"That...makes no sense." Aang said, but he couldn't help it; his Avatar Spirit believed her.
"My mother knew the Queen would try to execute us." Khione continued. "So she took precations. Hina was a priestess of the Lotis. She knew how to commune with the spirits. She couldn't actually speak with them like you can, or go into the Spirit World, but she prayed to them, begged for protection. Two spirits responded.
"La, the Water Spirit, poured his power into my body, and I gained the power of a water bender, and my hair and eyes turned blue. I also gained scales, as La's true form is either a fish, or as I believe, an ice dragon." She indicated her dragon tattoo. "This was enough to convince the Queen that I was a true Water Tribe child. My sister Reiko was not so lucky.
"Inari, spirit of the harvest, responded to her. This spirit poured her power into Reiko, turning her hair red, her eyes green, and giving her animalistic whisker marks, as Inari's true form is that of the fox.
"Rui used to tell me that when fell, bright lights like stars caught her and spirited her away to the mainland. I know she is still out there Aang."
"Then why not come with us?" Aang asked. "Go and find your sister? You can read the Fire; I saw you!"
Khione shook her head. "I cannot leave here. My duty is to lead my people, and even if I wanted to leave, La would not let me abandon them. My life belongs to him."
"Let me try to reason with—"
Khione held up her hand. "No. For now we have to warn the tribe of the invasion. You can tell your friends the truth about me but no one else."
"I promise." Aang said sadly, wishing he could help her.
"Relax, Aang." Khione grinned, the first time he saw her smile. "The time for secrets is nearing an end!"