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Year of the Hawk


My sister, Naiya, was bragging again.

It wasn't fair. She was great beauty of our family; being courted by dozens of men by the day, while I was the ill-favored child. I had no bending powers that I was aware of, I had no way of charming boys.

There came the fact that I was 13; there were only 2 or fewer more years of my life before I was to be thrown into the world of courtship and engagements, betrothals and marriages, weddings and beddings, children and pregnancies.

It was the eve of the next year and my sister had sent for me.

As I approached the steps of the Ice Palace, it seemed that my nerves were struck. My sister had sent a messenger to tell me to come to the palace.

At first I wondered what this was all about, but knowing my older sister, it was always an affair of her doing. She was the family beauty while I, at the age of 13, had next to nothing appearance-wise. I was determined to show her that I was not a child anymore. That I was not the same Kana who shied around everyone, had trouble talking, and was constantly clumsy. I was a blossoming woman in maturity, and I would prove to her that she was wrong about me being the ill-favored girl who would get nowhere in life.

Summoning up all of the courage I had, I began to climb the steps. The moment I set foot on the flat grounds of the entrance, my sister, who was then 20, caught my eye and in a single glance, all of the confidence I had obtained disappeared.

My sister sat upon the high table held for nobility within the palace; next to Prince Meinan (Quick A/N: the Father of Arnook, according to me) himself.

She rested upon an embroidered cushion, sipping a bit of hot water with bits of flavor mixed into it. I looked at her closely, examining her.

Through a form-fitting parka and clothes, everyone could see her body; an envy of many women. She had an ample bosom, broad yet figured hips, and a slender waist, her brown hair rubbed in oils and grease so it shined within the light given to this room, her cerulean eyes gave off a deep reflection to them; holding intrigue. Her brows, thanks to mother who patiently removed the excess hairs with a method of healing she had invented, were arched in a delicate manner no one else could obtain, her lips were of a pleasing bow shape.

What I would have given to run away on the spot and never face her again; I knew that she would still be the apple of my parents' eyes and I was still ill-favored. It was too late; she had spotted me and rose up from her cushion.

"Dearest sister!" she cried dramatically and rushed forth to me.

We embraced, or at least she swept me into her arms without letting me touch any other part of her, and as usual, I felt no real affection from her, not even one for family. When she released, me, she inspected me at arm's length. I was thankful for my Parka since she wouldn't be able to remove it without me catching someone's eye.

Though, with my lack of any kind of originality, I doubt I would catch anyone's eye; not even one of a young boy's. She smiled at me.

"You look very beautiful." She whispered softly to me.

I was shocked at her compliment to me. Usually, all she said to me was critical of any aspect of myself or she was just going to brag about whose eyes she caught in our tribe.

"Come, come." She said to me hastily; guiding me over to the high table and beckoning me to sit on her cushion.

Feeling numbed by her unusual treatment of me, I sat down on the cushion and folded my hands in my lap; not saying a word. Many conversations went on at the time, and most were too trite to remember. I barely ate any of the fish and other delicacies that were laid on the table.

I could never stand Sea Prunes; they were too sour and bitter and after consuming them, I have a huge urge to use the piss pots and usually spray out slops with unbearable smells into it. A bit of tea and meat, preserved from when the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom traded resources with us, was served and I was more than glad to have a chunk of Platypus Bear and sip hot Jasmine tea with a bit of sugar in it. The tea always gave me a small lick to my taste buds and warmed my body in a way nothing else could.

It was strange; I was born here, but was an outcast.

Instead of rising with the moon, I feel compelled and energetic as soon as the sun rises and hits my face. I almost detest all kinds of the food the Water Tribe serves; most of the time the prunes, plain water, and blubber seal jerky, but seem to always have a soft spot for hot, spiced foods that were more common in the Fire Nation than anywhere else in the world. Furs, feathers and fat, stuffed within and lining a parka, seem itchy and bulky to me but I wear it anyways for the sake of my warmth. Although once my father had given me a small cloth of white silk woven from the Earth Kingdom and I instantly fell in love with the softness and smooth texture.

Now, I seem to like tea more than any other drink I've ever had in the world. I didn't understand why I was like this and, no matter how many times I tried, couldn't force myself to give those things up and try to be accepted in my tribe by liking what they liked as far as I knew.

"Kana, my sister." Naiya's voice rang to me; bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Yes, Naiya?" I asked; setting down my teacup onto the ice table without even the barest of a tinkle sound to be heard.

A few people stared, and I assumed that I had done something wrong. Again, as Naiya would gladly tell me once we were home.

"You are 13 now, so young but not too young to hear about engagements, are you not?" Naiya asked me.

Something WAS going to happen, I knew it.

"I am old and mature enough to know, Naiya. If the reason you have asked for my presence here was to only ask if I knew about engagements, then I should say congratulations on your new one, unless…?" I asked her; letting the question hang.

Naiya laughed her signature laugh. To others, it might sound light and amusing but to me it sounded loud and obnoxious.

"Oh, no little one. It's just that I have received an engagement offer, but as you know, Meinan has taken an interest in me." She said with a wink.

Ocean and Moon Spirits above, my sister was shameless.

I smiled a bit at her; trying my best to disguise my grimace.

"I should think that the entire tribe knows." I said coolly; picking up my teacup again and pressing the tip to my lips.

"Well, after a long discussion with mother and father along with the council, it is decided that you will take my place in the engagement." Naiya said excitedly.

I nearly spat out the tea. Choking down the tea leaves that had been swept past my teeth and swallowing suddenly bitter-tasting liquid in my mouth, I looked up at her.

"And who shall I have the honor to be engaged to?" I asked sarcastically, but as usual in the presence of Naiya, my sarcasm lost its way to her.

"Pakku." She replied simply.

That couldn't be! Pakku was 21; 8 years my senior! Naiya, a year his junior, would have fared much better. But, then again, I don't know how Pakku would feel about being in a marriage with what we, even in this tribe, should call a common slut.

I recognized his name in many ways; the Waterbending Master of our tribe, Yoshiro, always praised him; saying that Pakku was always brimming with great abilities, superb skills, along with a good way with words and wit. In my definition, just another man who thinks he can push around others without a care.

I didn't want to! I wanted to scream never and that I would have preferred death over marriage, but bit it all down; holding my breath. Naiya smiled at me and never more in my entire life had I wanted to hit her.

"It is all arranged but of course, we must respect the laws of our tribe and you won't wed until your 16th birthday." She told me.

A warm bubble of relief burst and expanded through my body. At least courtship was many years away. I bowed my head; nodding in understanding.

"It will do me a great honor to wed." I said; trying my hardest to not let the spite within my soul show or spill out from my lips. Naiya, suddenly becoming intensely distracted with Meinan's hair, seemed to ignore my comment. The meal was dismissed and the moment I walked out of sight to the high noblemen, an arm grabbed me and whipped me around.

"I can't believe you'd do that!" Naiya hissed at me.

I flinched; pulling away from her and swatting her hand away.

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"Embarrass me in front of everyone!" Naiya snapped, though very quietly.

"How did I—?" I began, but was cut off when Naiya grabbed my hair; pulling it. I refused to give in to the sadism she was inflicting on me and did not cry out. This time, she did not even wait until we were at home before starting her lecture on manners, I thought.

"You know just as well; pushing away your food, helping yourself to tea, all but showing that you eat very little and keeps a skinny body!" Naiya snapped.

I was at a loss for words. So what if I did not eat? I did not like the food and it made my body sick. And not to mention the countless nights I spent on the piss pots spewing out the most disgusting slops and unbearable smells, or my face to it; choking out what was my meal and feeling all of what I ate come back up my throat. Naiya herself taunted me over it: "Oh, Kana; why do we even bother to feed you if you do not even eat it?" she would ask scornfully as I bent over the piss pot.

"And I am forced to try and starve myself and match you, but my stomach was so loud, Meinan heard it and laughed at me!" Naiya hissed; gripping my arm. I could feel her nails through my parka and they were starting to hurt.

I tried to turn away and ignore her, but she held onto me like ice.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing. The moment I am weakened, you will push me away and out of the eyes of the noblemen; proclaiming that YOU are the favorite!" she spat bitterly.

I was stunned; my sister, of all people, had declared me a rival; an equal, of all things.

"I have no interest in the high councilmen. And I have no interest in being a favorite." I said back to her with an even tone.

Just then, she grabbed my throat; pushing her fingers into my neck.

"Hear this, Kana. You are the younger sister. You are the other girl. You will never exceed me and mother and father will never love you as much." She hissed venomously at me.

Her words incensed and angered me.

A strange warmth built up within the pit of my lungs; contradicting to my hands and a powerful surge rush through my veins as something inside of me let go. The moment I opened my eyes, I found lightning within my palms and striking out at Naiya. It was only one blow, but it was all it took for her hair to catch on fire, her parka to singe, and her grip to let go of me. She fell over because of water on the ground. Water which I found out I was responsible from melting the ice of the ground.

At that moment, unluckily for me, the council walked out; witnessing me strike my sister with lightning. Within a moment, a loud boom was heard from the empty air and, hearing tales from the warmer climates of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, assumed that it was thunder; an occurrence after lightning. For the people here who had never heard of a thunderstorm, nor any other storm except for a snowstorm and a blizzard, they'd assumed that Thunder and Lightning was something Tui and La made to punish people for our so called perversions.

I regained my composure; closing my hands and the lightning disappeared into fire, and then into nothing. I looked at my hands; a small burn had appeared on the back of my hand; it was red and shiny. I stared for a moment and then noticed the council's eyes upon me. With a glance at them, I knew that they'd witnessed my assault. I couldn't turn back time nor wipe away their memories; they'd seen. Now, I would never be able to fit into my society.

Slowly, I backed away. When my foot felt the edge of a step, I turned and ran down the steps and when I reached the base, kept running throughout the streets of my tribe; wanting to get away. Wanting to make them all forget what they'd seen and, hoping if I ran fast enough, I would fast forward time until all who saw me were dead.


They found me.

My father and mother found me and brought me home.

I'd gone to the icy shores of the North Pole; wanting to throw myself into the depths of the ocean and let the spirits take me, but just as I did, my father, a waterbender, pulled me out and carried me home.

My clothes were still wet and I shivered; clinging onto them and not wanting to let go. When we reached inside, the Fire Pit in the corner was empty.

"Kana, could you please light it?" my mother asked kindly.

I obliged; sending a spark into the wood and setting it alight. I saw my family cringe at the sight and felt myself do the same. In time, I changed out of my wet clothes and into a cotton sleeping shirt; the only thing left in my Wardrobe chest save for my sister's outgrown, altered clothes for me.

As I lay within my sleeping bag, I heard whispers from the closed door. Crawling with my sleeping bag to the small crack, I listened in. It was the voices of my mother, father, and sister.

"No one will marry her now, she has those powers!" my sister whined.

"No one will marry her for her powers, but maybe to her wit. I find Kana's intelligence far superior to yours, Naiya." My mother said plainly.

I smiled at that; for once, I wasn't in my sister's shadow.

"Did Pakku see?" Naiya asked.

"I know not. But he has already been promised to Kana. Whether or not he likes it, he is betrothed. At least, then, our family name is not disgraced by her." My father said stonily.

My father always looked down on me and I should have expected this, but was too caught up to take that into consideration. That blow to my heart led to my decision in later life. A decision which would, despite it all, be a fond memory for the rest of my life.

"Athimos." My mother addressed my father.

"Hanako, I will not acknowledge her as one of my children. She has traitor powers!" My father shouted loudly. I whimpered into my sleeping bag; not believing that I had been brought this low.

First I had to marry my sister's betrothed, then I discovered my new powers, and now my father wants to push me away and refuses to acknowledge me as his own kin.

"I agree." Naiya said. My hatred for my sister deepened, if possible.

"She is still my daughter." Mother said simply. My heart lightened a bit at that comment.

"But it will be hard to love her." My mother added.

I had hit the lowest point in my life. I wriggled out of my sleeping bag, dragged it back to its original resting, and walked slowly across the cold ice floor to the ajar door of my house.

I had been forced to sleep in the outer room since my sister had gotten many possessions from her lovers and had no room to put them.

Slipping out, I walked slowly along the street until I came upon a turn. Flicking my wrist, a small stream of fire flew from my finger and into the ocean. I stared at my reflection and sighed; this is who I was. I had no way of getting rid of my powers and no longer could I hide them since the word was bound to spread throughout the entire tribe by daybreak.

Silently crawling back into my home and to my sleeping bag, I wrapped myself as tightly as possible but could not get warm all night.


The next day, my father took me back to the Palace.

I was silent; not wanting him to know that I had heard him. There was no council there, only a bunch of healers with 2 jars; one large and one small. The large one was filled with water and the smaller one held a liquid that was solid; I was unable to see through it. The liquid was a light shade of blue; like the color of my parka.

My father pushed me forth to them and I only watched as they scrubbed my hair with water, and dropped the smaller jar with the liquid onto my head; rubbing it and drying it. When they were finished, I stared at my reflection. Nothing about me had changed, but my hair, my long brown hair, had been colored.

That was what the liquid was; blue ink from the Earth Kingdom. I had been officially marked and changed.

Walking out, I saw everyone skirting around me; avoiding me as if I would conjure fire at any moment and attack them. The irony of it all was laughable if I was only able to laugh at the time. It didn't matter as much anyway.

"Kana!" a voice shouted.

Turning, I saw my friend, Yugoda. Yugoda was one of the best friends I've ever had, despite that she was 5 years my senior. She had always seemed to me like a person who would rather be friends with Naiya, but she surprised me when she befriended me instead of her. Either of us liked my older sister too much and that was an instant bond between us. I met her when I was 7; at my sister's 13th birthday party. We introduced ourselves and began talking. Soon afterwards, we became good friends and were together very often.

"Good morrow." I said to her.

She stared at my hair for a second, and looked into my eyes.

"It's that bad?" she asked.

"You know?" I asked in a steady tone.

"The entire tribe knows, Kana." She whispered.

I sighed and continued walking.

"There's no way to reverse this." I murmured.

"Kana." Yugoda said to me.

"It's no use, Yugoda." I said bluntly.

"True, but there is a way to escape this. You were born with powers of a traitor. But you can help us." Yugoda said.

I snorted in laughter at that comment; how could I help?

"I'm serious; the Fire Nation doesn't know that you can bend their element and if we use you as our secret weapon, we can be victorious." Yugoda said excitedly.

I was deeply stung by that comment. Her father, Tomo, was the Military Commander of our tribe and, as I knew from experience and interaction with him, was a sexist towards woman; there have been rumors that he had violated and abused not only his wife, but also many other women, out of contempt. I knew that even if I were in the Military, I would still discriminated and not only because of my powers, but also of the fact that I was female and females were forbidden to learn any kind of fighting in this tribe. I rounded on her.

"So I'm supposed to just be a worthless weapon?" I snapped at her.

She looked at me with aghast eyes.

"No, Kana—!" she began, but words spewed from my lips like a blizzard of ice and freezing water.

"I'm just a weapon to be used and then discarded when something better comes along? And when I do die, everyone who knew me for my powers will just dress up in joy and dance on my grave?" I spat.

She stared back with her bright eyes; bewildered.

"I was born with these powers here, but I swear by the Moon spirit, I will NOT die alone, isolated, and miserable! One day, I WILL use my powers to gain a high status and victory somewhere and everyone, my sister, father, everyone who has insulted me here, will be at my feet begging for mercy." I vowed aloud to her.

Turning my heel, I had nothing left to say to her, I marched away; fuming and so angry that smoke lightly came from my flared nostrils and people avoided me even more.


Suffice to say, my friendship with Yugoda was never the same again.

It was never repaired and restored in the way it used to be. We became somewhat friends again, but kept our distances.

I know not of what she thought of this topic of marriage, but within days word spread of my betrothal to Pakku.

The necklace originally meant for Naiya was passed to me just as her clothes had been; second-rate and once used before.

As I walked, the words I said to Yugoda repeated in my head.

Within that time, I had made the only vow, or in this way promise, that I, in my entire life, would keep.


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