I sat calmly on my sleeping bag, hidden away in the earth tent Toph had made me. We got along better and better now, but I guess that's because I'm more her style. Well, opposed to Katara that is. I pulled out The History of Bi-benders and flipped through the pages.

The first bi-bender was created at the beginning of the Fire Nation war. Part of a military experiment, Fire Nation scientists attempted to create an "all-powerful" bender that could master all four elements, similar to the Avatar. They soon found out that other than the Avatar, it was impossible for all four elements to be controllable by one person. There was an exception though in the chi flow in certain individuals that allowed a second, opposing element to be mastered.

The scientists soon used this to their advantage, but with much trial and error. The first problem they encountered was that the mother and father must be two different, opposing benders. And even with that, the child must have the unique chi flow. It is a one in 5,000 chance that the baby will be born with the unique chi flow. It is even rarer that the child will be able to master both elements fully.

Usually one element is more dominant, leaving the child with a great difficulty in mastering the opposite element. There are cases where the child could even die because the two opposing elements cannot find a balance in the body.

The first successful bi-bender the Fire Nation scientists trained was named Jun. Though he was weak as a child, he steadily became stronger. The army was never able to use him though, because he was too fragile.

After the eradication of the Air Nomads, the Fire Nation scientists relied on a steady stream of water benders from the South Pole. The combination of water and fire seemed to work better and became more appealing than the air and earth combination.

Following this discovery, several successful bi-benders were produced. Though they were efficient in eliminating enemies, fatigue came to them too quickly. The scientists worked diligently to remove this unfortunate side-effect, but found nothing.

Years after, a new team of scientists began using noble Fire Nation men in their studies. The bi-benders they produced steadily became more powerful, and soon were being sent into war.

Special techniques have been formulated for training bi-benders, several of which involve living practice dummies.

I jumped as I heard rustling outside my tent. Sokka peaked past the blanket I kept at the entrance. He slipped inside nonchalantly.

"What the hell? Why are you here?" I demanded, like usual.

He gave me a cocky grin. "Just couldn't stay away, I guess."

I rolled my eyes. "What about Suki?"

"She had to go check on the pregnant lady."

I swatted him.

"Ow!"

It was quiet for a moment.

"What's that?" I followed Sokka's finger, which was pointing at the necklace Zuko had made for me.

I gulped. "It's a…necklace."

Sokka raised his eyebrows. "It looks like a betrothal necklace to me."

I stared at its ivory curves forming a fire lily. I remember the day Zuko presented it to me, stating how it was part of my heritage. It was laced on a red silk ribbon, which complimented the beautiful ivory flower. The fire lily was my favorite.

"Hikari? Is it? Did you have…someone in the Fire Nation?" Sokka questioned hesitantly.

I fingered the necklace. "Yes. He was my everything."

"What happened?"

"He went away. I haven't seen or heard from him since."

Sokka looked away. "What are you thinking?" I asked.

"Do you still love him?"

"I'll always love him."