_Tara_

I awoke with a contented smile on my face. I sat up slowly, looking around the tiny room. Anya was still asleep, and judging from the light in the window, that was because it was still very early in the morning. I got up and went into the small bathroom. The sight of the bathtub made me so excited I couldn't stop smiling; I wasn't even sure when the last time I'd taken a bath had been.

As I soaked in the warm water, I replayed that day I'd first met Jia and Toph.

"Jia and I have been living here together for a couple years," Toph remarked, making a soup on the stove. Jia was sitting next to me, staring at me curiously.

"Jia's real mother died when she was just a baby, and only a couple years later her father was arrested for being an earthbender," she told me, pulling the soup off of the stove, "That's when I took her in. And I've raised her ever since."

Toph gave Jia a loving smile before turning back to pouring the hot soup into three bowls. Finally, whatever was bothering Jia became too much.

"What's wrong with your hair?" she blurted, cocking her head to the side.

"Jia, nothing's wrong with it!" Toph scolded, bringing Jia's and my bowls over, "But I'm curious, too; silver hair and eyes, that's pretty special. What's the story?"

I bit my lip and brought a hand up to my wet silver hair. I wasn't sure if I could tell the truth, if they would even believe me if I did.

"I—" I started, hesitating. I tried to decide what to do.

"My—my aunts think I was blessed by a spirit when I was a baby," I lied finally, looking down at the ground.

"Well, that's pretty cool," she remarked, believing me, "Listen, do you want to stay here? You don't have any place to go."

I blinked, not expecting that, and nodded.

"I'd love to, very much," I replied. She smiled kindly at me.

"Great, I'll get a bed set up for you," She said, getting up and bringing her soup with her into the other room. I happily took another spoonful of the warm soup and then Jia threw her arms around me.

"This is gonna be so awesome! We're gonna be like sisters!" her excitement and Toph's kindness made me happier than I'd been in over ten thousand years.

A sharp knock at the bathroom door snapped me out of the memory.

"Hurry up, Tara; you're not the only one who needs a bath!" Anya yelled. I quickly got out of the bathtub and dried, pulling on my traditional timebender clothes as quickly as possible. I hurried into our room, where Anya stood, glowering at me.

"Oh, calm down, I'm out!" I hissed, but I was too content to sound even a little intimidating. She smiled and went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, and I went out to the main room, wringing my hair out as I went. I investigated the food supply a little more before making myself breakfast and sitting down to eat it.

When I finished my breakfast, I stood up and walked over to the window. I looked out at the earth tent belonging to the little earthbender who shared the same name as the woman who had raised me, and a contented smile formed on my face.

"Whatcha staring at?" I started when Anya asked the question; I hadn't heard her come in.

"Nothing," I replied, sitting down in one of the chairs. Anya shrugged and began looking through the food. Finally, I sighed, making a decision I'd never made before.

"So… the woman who raised me from the time I was six…"

Anya looked up quickly from the can of ground and roasted tiger-worm meat that she had been staring at disgustedly. Her eyes were wide with interest as she set down the can full of the repulsive meat and came over to sit across from me.

"Her name was Toph," I finished.

"Wow, really? No wonder you're so nice to Toph," Anya replied, "She has the same name as your mom."

I started to shake my head, ready to point out that she hadn't been my mom, but she cut me off before I could say anything.

"Well, the woman who raised you, but that's close enough to a mom, right?"

After a pause, I nodded. Anya continued staring at me, wide-eyed, and I began to feel like telling her had been the wrong decision. I shifted uncomfortably, not looking at Anya. Finally, she asked, "Do you ever visit her, or check up on her?"

It was just the kind of question I'd been dreading. I bit my lip, not sure how I wanted phrase my response, wondering just how much I wanted to tell her. Luckily, before I needed to answer, Dai and An Ming came in from their room, laughing.

"Morning," An Ming greeted, coming over to sit next to me while Dai walked over to the kitchen area, "I've assigned Dai to kitchen duty. She's going to be our personal chef for breakfast!"

"I still think rock beats water," Dai said, faking sullenness.

"Well, in real life, sure, but in the game Rock Water Fire, water covers rock, rock smashes out fire, and fire evaporates water. I called water, so I win!" An Ming replied with a grin. Dai stuck her tongue out at her. Just then, Sonset walked in.

"Hey, Sonset. I've been forced into being the cook for today, so if there's anything you want, just tell me," Dai greeted.

"What?" Sonset asked angrily, "What's wrong with you people? You can't put an earthbender in charge of cooking once we've finally got a real kitchen!"

"Hey, I take offense to that!" An Ming protested. Dai crossed her arms.

"Me too."

Sonset rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't saying it to be mean, it's just that it's true," she started, "Do you even get how central of a component water is to cooking? Water and fire; those are the only two elements that should be involved in cooking. You don't rub mud into food; you add water and heat. Now shoo!"

She began shooing Dai, who held her hands up in the air in surrender and backed away from the kitchen. After crossing her arms and staring at Sonset for a few seconds, she shrugged and smiled.

"Whatever, as long as I get out of cooking duty," she said as she came over to sit next to Anya. Sonset asked us all what we wanted to eat, and after getting Anya, An Ming, and Dai's orders, she got busy making breakfast for everyone. The delicious smells wafting through the room were making me upset that I'd already made breakfast for myself, and I was quickly becoming jealous of the others' breakfasts. Especially after Sonset finished all the dishes and placed them in front of the others, at which point I was forced to watch them eat their delicious-smelling breakfasts.

When everyone was almost done with their eating, Katara walked out of her room, her hair damp, just as someone knocked on the door. Katara, being the only one standing, went to get it. She opened it to reveal a couple of young low-level Earth Kingdom soldiers standing just outside.

"Good morning, ma'am," said the one who looked a little older, "We're here to tell you that the ship to the Fire Nation is ready, and to escort you there."

Katara thanked them, waterbended the excess water out of her hair, and went to the kitchen area to wrap some leopard-cow jerky in wax paper. Sonset and I both went into our rooms to grab our bags, and then we came back out into the main room, Sonset also holding Katara's bag.

"Thanks, " Katara said, taking her bag from Sonset. The two soldiers, who had gone to sit at the table, stood up. Dai waved goodbye to them flirtatiously, and they both blushed furiously. I knew that Dai was doing her best not to burst out laughing; her 'flirting' was just a way of teasing them and most of the other soldiers that usually escort us around. She, well, most of us, actually, would prefer it if we were left alone; we can handle ourselves, after all. In fact, just as I had expected, as soon as the group left the building and I shut the door behind us, I heard the muffled sound of the girls inside cracking up, probably thinking about the expressions on the guards' faces.

| .Press the pretty button!. |
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