Chapter 3 - There's no turning back

"I wished I could be like them. Now I wish- I had never wished it true. "

"Daddy!" Katara screamed, reaching for him as he was pulled away with Sokka. They were taken out of sight and into the actual building of The Arena. There were a few of the younger men who had been purposely left outside with them. The women watched them all as they were led onto the makeshift stage. The large crowd of Fire Nation civilians went mad, calling and shouting, pointing with bags of coins jangling nosily in their hands.

As the women watched, they did not notice the other small crowd of men slowly circling them. It wasn't until the remaining people at the stage fought to outbid each other over the few remaining earthbenders that it became obvious they were next.

Kanna pressed Katara closer to her chest as the women subconsciously stepped backwards into each other, forming a tight circle of protection, not quite unlike a herd of caribou fending off an attack by wolves back at home.

A man in maroon robes stitched with blood red trim stepped forward and motioned for the firebenders who kept the prisoners from escaping to listen to him. "Except for the four elders and those three," he pointed towards the women in the front who were maybe in their mid 40's or 50's, "I'll take them all."

The firebenders moved in and separated the tribe into two groups. There was much struggling and raised voices. It was obvious, even if their hands had not been bound, that they would not have won the small fight to stay together. One of the guards attempted to pull Katara from Kanna's arms, but the old woman turned and protected her as best she could. Katara clung tighter, nearly choking Kanna in the process; she screamed bloody murder and cried, tears streaming down her face.

"GranGran!" Katara cried as the firebender tried to wedge his hand between the two to pry the girl child off. The scene escaladed, and soon they gathered the attention of some of the other bidders. The buyer noticed the witnesses and called to the solider still working Katara from her grandmother's arms.

"Stop!" He called, waving him off the pair dismissively. "I don't need that one. She's too young anyway." The soldiers released Katara, and Kanna sunk to the ground in relief that her granddaughter would not be parted from her just yet. The old woman stroked Katara's hair, trying to settle her as well as calm her own racing heart. The child's sobs subsided but not before they were led as a group onto the same stage as the others before them.

Kanna watched the women who had been chosen as they had their bound hands tied to one another on a long rope and were led out of the arena after a large sum of gold had traded hands.

Directly below the remaining line of women stood the remainder of Fire Nation citizens watching them. Some counted the coins in their purses while others eyed each of the women in turn.

Eyes red rimmed and glistening with hot tears, Katara finally lifted her eyes from where she buried them in Kanna's parka. All the women still wore them, even though they were sweating unbearably.

Kanna and Katara stood near the edge of the platform. The single man who talked to the buyers stood nearest them, though he moved down their line and held out an open arm to gesture at them all. The few firebender guards stood behind them, watching their every move. The man gestured to the group of them again.

"Any takers?" He asked the crowd. A few men called out bids for the youngest of the remaining women on the far left. She was dragged off the stage when the numbers ran out. The next call was surprising though.

"Those two." A man, maybe in his mid-30's, pointed at Kanna and Katara. "How much for both?" A number was thrown out, but no one else fought the man's bid. Money was exchanged and a single piece of paper signed. Kanna was led off the stage to where the man waited. She eyed him as she shifted Katara's weight in her arms.

"Your granddaughter?" The man asked. Kanna nodded hesitantly; she was unsure of what to expect from this man. The fact that they had not been separated almost outweighed the notion that they had both been bought like meat at a market. "How old is she?"

"Six," Kana spoke, still cautious.

The man nodded. "Perfect." He turned, motioned for Kanna to follow, and began walking without even seeing if she bothered to listen. Kanna did.

"My daughter turns nine within the month. This one will make an excellent playmate. But more important than that, I'm in need of a nanny. My son is still young and needs someone to look after him. I can't be there, and the maid is no good with babies. I can't afford to replace another one."

"What about your wife?" Kanna asked slowly as the man guided them to a carriage pulled by two aging ostrich-horses. The driver held the door open for them, even offering Kanna a hand up the steps. When the door was shut and they were on their way, the man answered.

"She's bedridden. She can't take care of herself, much less two children." There was a second of silence. "And your names."

"Kanna," the old woman replied, "and this is Katara." Katara sat placidly in her grandmother's lap now, intrigued by the passing scenery. Her eyes were still red from the tears, and her sleeve cuffs held evidence of where she had wiped her nose.

"The Water Tribe has such interesting names," the man stated, more to himself then to Kanna and Katara. His gaze hardened then, "speaking of such, I will tell you this once. You two are now mine by law. If you do what I have instructed you to do, we will not have any issues and your lives will be filled with comforts unimaginable to people of your station. But dare to cross me or try to escape and I promise to you, you have much more to lose then I do. Do I make myself clear?" Kanna looked down at Katara and stroked the girl's long brown hair. She absentmindedly noticed that it needed to be brushed and rebraided.

Kanna knew how to pick her battles. "How shall we address you?"

"Zu, my name is Oran Zu. You may call me Master or Master Zu."

"Yes, Master Zu. I understand." Her answer satisfied the man. Once they arrived at his modest home, they were greeted by his daughter. She ran into his arms once inside and noticed Kanna and Katara. Kanna set Katara down and held her hand now that her bonds were cut. The carriage driver had appeared the moment she stepped to the ground and cut them for her. He took the severed ropes and disappeared as quickly as he came.

"Papa, who-?"

"My dear," Oran Zu smiled. "This is your new nanny Kanna, and a playmate to keep you company." The child smiled at the two of them and then turned back to her father to regale him with the goings on of her day.

Kanna and Katara were led to the nursery and shown into the small bedroom, much the size of a closet. This single room with its single bed was theirs, Mr. Zu explained. The door led into the nursery where the three-year-old toddler slept. Food would be brought to their room by Mr. Zu's butler and they were told not to worry about their clothing for the time being. All would be provided for them in time.

They weren't the only two who served the Zu household. The house was large, so Kanna could see the master's justification for having many servants. There was a single chief and a butler, both who appeared to be Fire Nation men. The handful of other servants, the maids and the grounds keepers, all were from the Earth Kingdom. They were all in their forties at least and kept to themselves when Kanna and Katara were around. Luckily, watching the children was a fulltime job, so Kanna never felt inclined to get to know them.

Waking with the sun like the rest of the city was a struggle for Kanna. Members of the Water Tribe were accustomed to staying up in the night under the moon, thus rising late. For Katara, who typically was up anyway and full of all her childhood energy, it wasn't that big of a deal to adjust her schedule. Though, as Kanna dressed the child the next morning with the clothing she found just inside the door, she was met with a question.

"GranGran? I miss momma. I want to see her." The old women felt her heart break. Katara was apparently too young to understand the concept of death and the finality of it even after her father explained it yesterday. She didn't fault the child after all that happened for not recalling the conversation. It felt like ages ago, even to her.

"She's gone Katara." The old woman frowned and sighed, touching her granddaughter's forehead. "Your mother is watching over you with Tui and La." She tied the burgundy sash around Katara's waist in a loose knot.

"Why? I miss her. When is she coming back?"

"Katara, listen to me," Kanna said, holding the little one's shoulders. The room they shared was silent, slowly filling with sunlight as Kanna thought how to phrase her words. Innocent blue eyes stared up at her, waiting.

"Your mother is never coming back." Kanna said slowly, inwardly cringing the finality of the word never. "She can't, but she's watching over you, because she loves you very much." Kanna's gaze fell to the betrothal necklace Katara wore and smiled. She wiped the tears from the little girl's eyes and took her hand. The woman guided her small hand to the pendant.

"As long as you wear this necklace," she smiled. "You will carry a piece of her with you for when you most need strength. You must never take this off." Katara tried to smile up at her grandmother, but her sadness was still strong.

"And Dad? And Sokka? Are they with Tui and La too?"

"No Katara," Kanna explained. She truthfully did not know where they had been taken, so she was unable to answer her granddaughter's question. "If you're lucky, you may get to see them someday." They shared a comforting hug and together walked into the nursery where the boy still slept. Ouran Zu's daughter met them in the room once the curtains were drawn.

"Papa says you're the new nanny," she stated when Kanna peered over the crib to check on the toddler. She had been told her duties would begin today and was given yesterday to settle into the room. "Have you ever been a nanny before? You look really old, so you must have been. Did you look after the Tunzon's kids? Or the two boys down the street? Or maybe even the royal-"

"Bai," Kanna interrupted the child's rambling, remembering her name from all the things the master had told her. "Why don't you get dressed so we can have breakfast?" The girl stood in the doorway in a pink silk nightgown with ruffles on the neckline and the hemline that came to her knees. Seeing that both her nanny and her supposed new playmate were dressed already, she gasped and disappeared into another room.

Kanna waved Katara after her. The child cautiously did as she was bid. Kanna changed the boy's diaper and dressed him in a loose tunic from the pile she assumed was clean next to his crib. The room would need to be cleaned and picked up; she nearly tripped over a pile of broken toys on the way out.

She found Bai eagerly explaining the merits of Fire Nation fashions to a starry eyed Katara in the girl's room minutes later. Toys littered the floor, clothing was hung halfway out of the drawers, and the bed was unmade.

Homes back in the southern Water Tribe were small, large spaces were not conducive for keeping warm. Thus, they did not have the luxary to be messy. Even Katara knew she had to pick up her toys when she was done playing with them in order to not be in someone else's way. Considering she only had a handful of toys- it wasn't too hard. Kanna added Bai's room to her mental to-do list.

Ouran Zu had not given her specific instructions aside from that both children needed to be well cared for. They needed to be feed, cleaned, and looked after at all times. She assumed cleaning the rooms came as part of the package. The old woman did not care about the work she had been given, as long as it kept Katara safe.

She realized they had fallen into a better situation then she could have wished for after everything that had already happened. As bad as they were, she knew things could be far worse.

They all headed down to breakfast and Kanna was happy to see that Bai seemed to have taken well to Katara.

And thus Kanna and Katara vanished into the normal schedule of the Fire Nation. For the first few months they both struggled to adjust to their new lives. Katara cried often about missing Sokka, her father, and her mother, but Bai kept her busy enough with play during the day.

Kanna cared for the lord's son and watched the girls when they would want to be outside. It was a thankless task, though she was able to learn much more about the land that they had been brought to that she had been previously unaware of.

The girls sat outside in the garden in the back of the house and played with Bai's dolls as Kanna watched nearby. The little boy was content to chase after dragonflies and butterflies in the garden on his own. It was spring, and the weather had yet to become too hot for Kanna to enjoy. Katara seemed to have adapted well to the drastic change in climate. She no longer had trouble falling asleep in the heat as her grandmother still did. Kanna knew children never truly felt heat or cold until their preteen years, but it was still a good step.

Out at the far end of the enclosed yard, a trio of grounds keepers worked to repair the stone fence and build a pond. The idea of a pond seemed unusual in the Fire Nation at first, but Bai explained to Katara once construction began that it would be the new home of the three butterfly koi fish her father had been given as a get-well gift for her mother. She was also excited about the ruby salamanders her teacher had spoken about in class during their short wildlife lesson that might make an appearance in a pond environment.

The Earth Kingdom men argued loudly for a moment, then fell into harsh whispers. They were all waist deep in the ditch that was going to be the pond. Two of them held shovels and the third was gesturing wildly at the bottom of the hole. Bai and Katara looked up when one man flung his shovel down and it clanged loudly off what sounded like a large rock. The men stopped and stared at the girls until they turned away. Katara turned back to the dolls entirely, but Bai snuck glances at the workers. Kanna turned to watch the little boy for a moment before noticing the eldest child's attempts to spy.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the next several minutes and Kanna realized lunch would be ready shortly. After that, she would need to get Bai ready for her lessons. She called the girls in and gathered up the blanket with the dolls. The little boy followed after his older sister and Katara, leaving only Kanna outside for a moment.

Then it happened.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the one Earth Kingdom man take a wide stance. The other two moved out of the hole. After a second of straining, the large rock was flung from the hole and landed on the discarded shovels, causing all the men to flinch with the clatter. Kanna turned away to make sure the children were inside so she could start lunch. It didn't occur to her that seeing an unpracticed earthbender move a rock was a big deal until she was met with three sets of eyes, two brown and one blue. All of them stared in awe.

"Bending," the boy cooed, reaching out with his fingers as if to take the magic from the air. Kanna scoped him up and moved for Bai who looked like she was going to bolt. Kanna originally mistook her expression for fear. The girl child had her eyebrows furrowed and lips set in a confused frown. Katara stood confused beside her.

"Inside Bai." Kanna began, filling the doorway with her form. "It's ok."

"I'm telling Father," she stated and rushed off. Kanna held her brother tighter once he squirmed to get free at the mention of his father. The men seemed to have noticed the commotion in the doorway; the bender's face was white with fear.

"Let's go inside Katara." She guided the child inside, wondering what fate the man outside faced once Bai told her father what she had seen. When she learned the answer, she was horrified.

A full year passed, and as birthday gift to his son, Oran Zu took them all to The Arena to watch the fights. Kanna had fallen into her role of child sitter-now-teacher almost naturally. She had even impressed Master Zu when his son greeted him with the proper Fire Nation salute. The old woman had picked up more than she let on.

Katara, still a quiet child, was finally beginning to open up. Spending time with the bubbly Bai seemed to keep a smile on her face. She learned almost as much as Kanna did watching the servants and guests to the house by simply talking and playing with Bai. Bai loved answering Katara's questions about simple things any Fire Nation child should know. If Kanna didn't know any better, she would have thought that the Fire Nation girl saw Katara as more than a servant and instead as a friend.

The day they went to The Arena was sunny but cool. The weather never shifted cooler than warm in the capital, but that day had a pleasant crosswind. They: master Zu, his son and daughter, and Kanna and Katara, took their seats on the lowest platform. They were only a few rows from the ground where the warriors fought. Currently two men in gray tunics with green belts hurled boulders at the other, trying to pound the other to dust.

"Papa!" The boy shouted over the applause and cheers when one bender finally defeated the other. "When are the tiger-oxs coming out?"

"After a few more earth bending matches," Mr. Zu smiled. The boy grinned like a fool while Bai chatted at Katara. The young Water Tribe girl watched the next two rounds in silence. Finally, there was an intermission after the earthbending was over. The stands only grew more crowded as the sun rose.

After watching the events, Katara turned to Bai with questions. She seemed not to associate the location with her dreadful first experience there a year and some previous.

"Why were they fighting Bai?" Katara questioned.

"For us to watch." Bai explained without skipping a beat. "I wish they did firebending matches, but all the good benders are off at the war. Papa says they used to fight here when he was really little. So now all we have are earth and water benders. And they have to fight, Papa wasn't so happy when he heard that no one could have benders since they have to go to The Arena. I'm not sure why though. But he says he'd get in trouble if the city guard found him with a bender. That's why we have to be on the lookout for anyone who can bend so they can be sent back here and we don't get in trouble."

Katara nodded and thought about the earthbender in the yard. Kanna had kept them inside the rest of the day, and she had not seen him at the house since.

"Tiger-oxes! Tiger-oxes!" Screamed Bai's brother happily. Two large creatures were released into the arena with three men with spears. It didn't take long before one of the warriors stabbed the smaller ox with his spear. Bai cried out.

"He's hurting the tiger-ox!" She sobbed. Katara did not respond as she watched the wounded animal attack, pinning the man to the ground and mauling him. Bai felt no sympathy for the human.

"Why aren't they bending?" asked Katara.

"They aren't benders," Kanna answered. Her knuckles were white as she watched the remaining two men prod at the small tiger ox, sending him scurrying back to his cage. Both men were dressed in grey pants without shirts. From high in the stands, there was only one way to accurately tell them apart. They each wore a tattered sash tied as a belt in a different color. The two men still fighting each had on a different shade of green; the body forgotten on the ground had a blue one.

"What are the colors for?" Katara asked. The remaining tiger-ox charged and grabbed one of the man's arms in its jaws. His screams were drowned out by the crowd. Bai shrugged, ignoring the fight.

"Papa?" Bai asked, pulling on his sleeve. "Why do the men wear the colored belts?"

"To tell them apart," her father answered, eyes never leaving the fight.

"Why?" asked Bai. She cheered with others when the tiger-ox avoided being stabbed and knocked the remaining fighter to his back on the ground.

"For betting," her father explained again. "If you pick the correct color and that color is the last one standing, you win."

"Oh," Bai nodded. She turned to Katara. "Who'd you pick?"

"No one," Katara answered honestly. "I didn't know I was supposed to pick one."

"Well, I picked the tiger-ox," Bai smiled. "So I win." Katara giggled halfheartedly with her as the animals were herded back into the cages by several brightly dressed firebenders. The bodies were dragged off in the direction opposite. Kanna quietly wiped away gathering tears and turned her attention back to the children as more matches began.

They took a break for lunch; Mr. Zu took his two children to the open café overlooking the arena on the top floor and left Kanna and Katara to save their seats. The open seating was sparse now, something big must be happening soon.

Even without Mr. Zu around, Kanna made no move to take Katara and run. An old woman could never get far enough from the Fire Nation before someone caught them. As much as she hated where they ended up, she knew they were lucky. She would not risk Katara's future more than it already was unless she was sure it would work.

Even though they were dressed in comparable outfits to the Zus on their outing, it would not be enough. Besides, she noticed that their master had spoken with the security patrols wandering the stands about leaving them there. There was nothing the old woman missed these days.

Firebenders down on the arena floor pulled into place large troughs of water. The announcers called out the next fight and two men entered. They each wore blue belts over their grey tunics, one light and the other dark blue.

"GranGran!" Katara gasped in awe as the match began, "they're waterbenders!" While the two opponents were unevenly skilled, the fight was beautiful to watch. Katara was spellbound.

The older man was obviously a master. The younger bender made an impressive display of bending with multiple water whips but missed several openings. The master knocked the boy off his stance and delivered the finishing blow with clean efficiency. The crowd cheered once he left the arena as the victor.

"Did you see that GranGran? He was amazing!" Katara asked, turning away from the arena. The fact that one of the fighters lay dead did not seem to register in her mind. "I wish I was a waterbender."

Kanna turned on the child with more force then necessary. "No, you don't. Not anymore. If you were a waterbender, you'd be taken away and made to fight to your death- or worse. You're safer this way." Katara looked back to the arena where the dead man was dragged off. The child let a strange look cross her face and looked back up at her grandmother.

"What's worse than dying, GranGran?" Katara asked, her big blue eyes full of childhood innocence. Her question brought memories of Kya to the forefront of her mind.

"I'll tell you when you're older, Katara," Kanna sighed.

A handful of matches passed until Mr. Zu and his children returned. They sat back down and he handed Kanna a folded cloth napkin. Unwrapping it, she pulled out a simple sandwich cut into two pieces. She passed Katara one and ate the other.

"Look!" Bai pointed. The announcer called out the next match, drowning out anything she said afterwards.

"It's time for the last two matches, and you should enjoy them today! First up we have 'Fists of Fire'. He chooses for his opponent, an earthbender!" A man dressed in shiny red robes with a yellow mask stepped into the arena. He raised his hands, clenched into fists, and shot bursts of fire into the air. The crowd went wild. The earthbender appeared and the fight began.

"That's not his real name right?" Katara asked Bai as she licked her fingers from the sandwich, "Fists of Fire?" Bai giggled.

"No. Papa told me that the fighters in masks are other noblemen. They don't show their faces or go by their real names to keep them a secret. They only have to reveal their faces if they lose," Bai explained. Katara nodded. They watched the fight until the earthbender yielded.

The firebender had only one good move, no doubt the reason for his name. He was close range fighter, jabbing and punching with flaming fists, leaving nasty burn marks. He was declared the winner and walked out of the stadium, yielding the arena with next man. The earthbender was led back to the opening in the arena wall, happy to still be standing.

"Up next, and the last match of the day is 'The Blue Spirit'. He chooses as his opponent, two nonbenders!" There was a slight confusion in the crowd about the choice of opponents as a young man with a slight frame walked onto the arena wearing a blue demon mask. A sheath held a sword across his back. The nonbenders stumbled onto the field. Kanna gasped as she recognized a man from their village.

The fight began, the three men pulled out their weapons: the Blue Spirit held two swords and the warriors had Fire Nation pikes with steal reinforcements on the wooden poles. They danced around each other until one of the warriors charged. The Blue Spirit avoided the attack and put a clean set of shallow slices into the man's left thigh. The other man's pike was chopped in half by the dual swords and he ended up on the ground with a boot on his chest.

The second warrior threw his spear at the men under the blue spirit mask and charged behind it. The Blue Spirit hacked the pike away and sliced into the running warrior's chest before he could stop his momentum. The two slashes across his torso welled with blood, and he stumbled backwards onto the ground as well. The noble held up a single one of his swords into the air and the crowd went wild.

"That was cool Papa!" Bai's brother shouted. "He beat two men without firebending!" Katara was just as awestruck.

They went to the arena four more times in the next two years. Only once did the Blue Spirit fight while they were there. He won against an earth bender and nonbender. Bai loved watching him fight, and in turn Katara grew to idolize him as well.

...

As the children aged, Kanna became more and more of a tutor instead of simply a nanny. The boy began learning his letters, something Kanna could teach easily. It was more difficult with Bai.

Her father had her schooling with a private instructor on all manners of proper ladylike etiquette. To be able to help her, Kanna had to sit in the back of her lessons and remember what Bai was learning. Luckily, the little girl liked playing teacher and bossing Katara around in her own little-girl way. The amount of tea parties they held doubled. Together, they would practice the proper mannerisms and whatnot that a good society lady should possess with Kanna watching over them.

...

Everything seemed to be flowing smoothly until Katara turned eight. Shortly after her birthday, Katara locked herself in the bathing room halfway through a bath and refused to come out. Mr. Zu had taken Bai and her brother out that day and no one but Kanna had been home to notice. It took two hours for Kanna to finally get the child to unlock the door.

"Katara, what's wrong? Are you ok?"

Katara shook her head. "You won't be happy." Looking around the room, Kanna noticed that almost every surface was soaked with soapy bathwater. She knew her granddaughter wanted to take a bath, but she wasn't sure why she was crying and still fully dressed.

"What were you doing?"

"GranGran," Katara sobbed. Tears burning on her cheeks.

"Tell me Katara, what's wrong?"

"I'm- I'm a-" She whispered the word, "a waterbender." Kanna scooped Katara into her arms and hugged her as the soap dripped from the walls, ceiling, and decorations onto the floor. They stood like that for a long time, both tearful.

"I'm sorry GranGran."

"You have nothing to be sorry for Katara," she smiled. No child should be fearful of being a bender. It was a blessing in any other part of the world.

"But you said-"

"I know," GranGran nodded. "You must never tell anyone of your gift. I won't let anyone take you away from me Katara." Katara froze as she heard those same words her mother promised years ago. Kanna seemed to realize what she had said and smiled.

"Your mother would be proud of you Katara." Katara smiled and released her grandmother from her hug, touching the blue necklace.

"Now, let's get this place cleaned up before they get back. Katara nodded and grabbed several towels. As they cleaned, Katara showed Kana what had happened and how the room became covered in bubbles. Her waterbending was weak, but it was the simple fact that she could which worried Kanna. At least she had no fear that her granddaughter would tell anyone. Katara was too frightened to utter a word of her new ability.

...

Over the next year, things fell back into place after the bath mishap. Master Zu even enjoyed the knowledge that his wife had taken a turn for the better. Her condition had improved markedly, and she enjoyed taking short walks with her two children in the small yard that surrounded the house.

It was a saddening and a sudden event when Kanna fell ill. It started with the basic symptoms of a cold but then evolved into something more. Two days after she displayed symptoms, Kanna was confined to bed when she could no longer walk without help. When she showed no signs of recovering on her own, Master Zu called in the local doctor. While the two children were steadily on their way to not needing a nanny, he liked having something to keep an eye on them and out of trouble while his wife grew stronger.

The doctor saw to Kanna for several hours straight when he arrived, trying to get her fever to break. He told the family that while what she was sick with was strong, if they showed no symptoms by now than they had not caught it and would be fine.

The bad news came for the diagnosis though. Kanna had begun to cough up blood in the last hour and showed no signs of improvement. The doctor told Master Zu he assumed she'd be gone by morning. Katara heard his words through the partway open door. Tears streaming down her face, Katara stood at her grandmother's bedside.

Kana offered the child her hand. Katara took it between her own.

"GranGran," Katara sobbed. "The doctor-"

"Shh Katara. I know what he said. Listen carefully." The child nodded, leaning onto the bed to get closer. The doors to the kitchen swung open and through the open windows Katara heard a women's voice with Bai and her brother. They laughed together, as if nothing was wrong with the world.

Kanna choked. "You need to be careful Katara. This isn't the Southern Water Tribe, this place is dangerous, especially for you. I wish I knew where your father and brother were. You'd be safest with them."

"I'm safe here GranGran, with Mr. Zu and Bai and-"

"I fear our time with them is numbered." She knew that soon Bai would out-grow a need for a younger playmate, and she worried what Oran would do with Katara then. For as nice as he was, he was still their master, and he could do what he wished to them without penalty.

"Why?" Her grandmother's breathing grew more labored and she closed her eyes. "Please GranGran, I don't understand. Don't leave me alone. I need you!" She threw herself on top of her grandmother's chest.

Kanna smiled. "You're a big girl Katara, a waterbender. Make your mother even more proud then she already is as she watches over you with the spirits."

Kanna touched the necklace at Katara's throat. The child never took it off, even at night. Bai had asked about it, even made fun of Katara for wearing it with her red clothing she had been given when they arrived. Katara cared not that it didn't match her outfits, it was the only thing she had of her mother. After a while, even Bai seemed to respect that reasoning.

Kanna smiled, we voice weak. "We both love you very much Katara." Katara blinked away tears and tried to smile back.

"I love you too," she whispered. She rested her head on the bed and cried. She fell asleep and only woke hours later after the sun went down. Someone had draped a blanket over her shoulders while she slept.

Katara pulled the blanket tighter and stood. She had no one now, and GranGran said it wasn't safe anymore, not even here. Though she herself did not know why, she would take her grandmother's word. The child stood stiff with indecision as she contemplated her options. There weren't many.

After a single kiss on GranGran's cool cheek, the room was empty. Katara changed into her day cloths and stole into the kitchen, the blanket tied around her neck like a cape. She grabbed the first thing she could and left out the backdoor. She ended up with half a loaf of spiced bread, not her favorite, but what did a 9-year-old know about running away. The darkness of the city swallowed her.

(Original Author Notes) And I've killed off another one of our little Water Tribe family. How was the chapter otherwise? You should all pretty much have a solid understanding of The Arena and how that works by now. And now we see why Katara's not so safe in the Fire Nation with her ability to bend. Kinda sad right?

I hoped you liked the chapter though! I'm interested to hear what you thought about it, where you think its going, and anything you want to add. I can already guess what some of you will be questioning, and all I can do is smile and say look forward to the next few chapters!

*The chapter title comes from Hillary Duff's song 'Metamorphosis.'*