Chapter Four:

It was dawn, and in the village life was going just as it did every day. The men had gone out fishing for Giant Sea Penguins and Lobster Fish, and the women stayed in the village doing day to day tasks. They prepared for meals, made pottery, weaved, and especially looked after the children. The young children, being children, ran around with each other, played different games, and hurt one another. However, this was just for fun. Nanook and Saamee, on the other hand, went to the Ice Cave and started talking about each other, about waterbending, and about their new relationship.

"What should we do about, you know, it?" asked Nanook.

"I don't know, what do you think?"

"I think we should tell the village, and perform the ritual. Do you?"

"I don't know…" she paused, "Isn't it a little early?"

"It's up to you, I just think we could. I mean, we…"

Nanook was interrupted as Saamee leaned close to him. Their lips locked, and their eyes closed. They were both full of happiness, and both wanted the moment to last forever. It would have, if they hadn't heard screams of terror coming from the village. They opened their eyes, and simultaneously got up to run to the village.

There was black snow falling from the sky, and as they got closer to the village there was more and more of it. They ran as fast as they could and finally reached the village. They immediately found their parents and asked them what was wrong. They said that the black snow had started a little while ago, and it had been picking up ever since. They also pointed out to sea, where four faint black dots were starting to get closer.

"What are those?" said Saamee, with a wavering tone.

"I think they're…"

With no more warning than that, a huge fireball was flung down upon the village. Everybody screamed and ran in separate directions. Saamee's eyes met Nanook's, and they ran off to the shore.

"One, two, three!" shouted Nanook.

A huge wall of ice formed in a fraction of a second just as another fireball hit it. The impact was so great that the wall exploded into tiny shards of ice that went everywhere. More fireballs came flying from every direction possible, and the villagers were cowering in fear. Saamee and Nanook were the only ones who could do anything about them, even though some of the men tried to stop them with their swords.

"Stop Nsasai!" shouted Saamee, as he ran towards one of the flying infernos.

Unfortunately for him, it simply hit him, set him on fire, and knocked him unconscious in the process. His wife ran up to him crying and screaming, covered his burning body in water, and picked him up. On her way back she was hit in the back by another fireball, and was sent flying. The rest of the villagers whimpered back even further into the town, and prayed to the Moon that they would make it out alive. While they did this, the waterbenders gave it everything they had, shooting out wave after wave of water and ice. As they did the amount of fireballs increased, and the black dots had turned into the distinct shape of firenation ships.

"I don't think we can hold this for much longer!" said Nanook.

"I don't think we can either, but we don't really have a choice, do we?"

Saamee then did something she had never done before. She concentrated as hard as she could on the nearest iceberg and started to melt it. When Nanook saw what she was doing, he quickly joined her, and the water heated up into one big mass of boiling water. They propelled it at one of the oncoming ships, and could vaguely hear the screams of the passengers onboard.

"I guess that works!" said Nanook.

"Yeah! Let's do it again!"

"But Saamee, while you do that, I'm going to try something else." He walked away.

"Nanook! No! I need your help!"

What she said was useless, as he had already run away. She was so angry at him, she couldn't even believe it. What could he have needed to do that was more important than helping her save the village? All of a sudden three ships were on shore, and the firebenders got off in full armor. Saamee asked them what they wanted, and they all just laughed at her. Before she could demand a response from them the leader pulled lava out of the air and chucked it at her. She was mesmerized at what the bender had just done, and would have been hit, were it not for Nanook. He came out from the fort and moved his arms. A big shadow of black surrounded the lava. The glow of the red was diminished, the shadow lifted, and there was nothing left.

"What in the Firelord's name just happened?" said the firebender.

"Nanook, what did you do?" Saamee inquired.

"Who cares, just fight!"

They both attacked with full strength, sending ice and water at their opponents. Nanook also sent shadow, which really seemed to hurt them. Saamee asked herself nervously what he was doing, when a voice called on her.

"Saamee, he is dealing with darkbending, like I told you. He burns the water in the air, sending a wave of burning water towards whatever he wishes. Technically, it is water bending, but it is basically the same as firebending."

"But how does that even work? How can you firebend water?"

"I am not quite sure, something isn't right about Nanook. But you do have to let him do it for now, it is stopping the firebenders. Now go!"

Saamee went back to fighting using all of the advanced bending moves she had learned, but Nanook didn't even seem to be trying and the benders were being pushed back. She was angry that he was so much better at bending than she was, but she knew that what he was doing was wrong. She was planning to talk to him after this battle was over, and she could see the benders retreating to their ships at that very moment. Saamee and Nanook didn't stop bending until they could see the ships cross the horizon. Then they turned around.

The village was in ashes, burnt corpses were everywhere, and there was a note left on the melting ice sculpture in the town square. On it was a note from the firebenders saying that there is more to life than what is directly in front of you. As Nanook read it he saw Saamee immediately run to her hut where her parents were when she left to fight.

It was still smoldering, but she went in anyway. She fell to her knees when she entered, as she saw her dad protecting her mother from harm. Apparently it hadn't worked, they were both charcoal. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and then the anger kicked in. She knew there was nothing that she could do, but she couldn't imagine burning innocent people. She covered her face with her palms, and started shaking uncontrollably. Nanook came in a minute later, but said nothing. He just stayed there for comfort. A few hours passed before she turned around and hugged Nanook. He embraced her and held her for many minutes. No one said anything, but they both knew that they had to eventually pack up and set sail. The only thing both of them didn't know was that they would be sailing in different directions, and Saamee had convinced herself it was the right thing to do. She leaned on Nanook, and waited until he fell asleep before she slowly got up, and ran to the shore.