Chapter 1: The Golden Eyed Waterbender
Not until we are lost
Do we begin to find ourselves.
-Henry David Thoreau
I run through the small village that is slowly being rebuilt with the help of our sister tribe. My heart is pounding and I'm breathing heavily as I burst through the door to see Katara in a water bending position.
"You're late, as always, Zura," she says and I slightly smile as I take off my jacket. I have the weirdest name in the water tribe. Nobody has ever heard of it before. Not even my parents have, well at least that's what they say, and it's pretty surprising that I'm a water bender while my parents are both non benders.
"Sorry, I had to help my mom sew some clothes for the new babies," I say as I take on the stance of the other benders in the room.
"Now, I want you all to feel the energy flow through your body like a calm river," Katara says as she slowly breathes out and moves her right arm down the side of her left arm and lets her right arm move gracefully out towards the side and fully extend.
I try my best to copy her and I do so on the very first try. She smiles at me and nods.
"Good job everyone, now I want you all to try a little harder move." We all watch as Katara bends a small amount of water into the air and freezes it quickly into a thick shard of ice. "Freezing water is harder than it looks," she says as she now holds the shard in her hand, "don't get discouraged if you don't get it on your first try."
I take in a deep breath and bend the same amount of water out of the bowl beside me. I quickly move it in front of me and hold it in the air. I move my right hand up and my left hand down. I close my eyes as I do this, and when I open them I'm holding a shard of ice in the air.
"Nicely done Zura! It looks like these lessons are finally paying off now aren't they?" Katara says and all I can do is smile. I've made my first real step as a water bender.
*6 years later*
"Zura! Watch out for the crevice in the ice!" I hear Kya yell from behind me, but I don't stop running from Kan. We were playing water whip tag, and I quickly dodge the water whip that Kan tries to throw at me. My legs keep taking me further down the ice when my foot catches in the ice and I fall into the large crevice that Kya was talking about.
My body is quickly shoved between two large pallets of ice and my arms are pressed against my chest.
"What I would give to be a fire bender right now," I sigh. I roll my eyes and put my forehead on the pallet of ice in front of me.
"Zura, are you ok?!" I hear Kan yell from the surface as I begin bending the ice away from me.
"Yeah, I'm alright!" I yell back and force the ice apart. I grab a hold of the side of the ice before I fall through the bigger crevice that I just made.
"Here let me help you," Kan says and stretches out his arm towards me. I grab a hold of his arm with my free hand and he easily lifts me out of the crevice.
"Thanks for the help," I smile at Kan and I watch as he blushes and scratches the back of his head.
"Oh, it was nothing." I smile at him again and turn to see Kya glaring at me.
"Look I know I'm younger than you and I'm not your mother, but seriously you should watch where you're going next time. You could have been seriously injured," she snaps as I dust excess ice off of my jacket.
"Kya, I'm fine. There's no reason to worry about me. I can handle myself," I say as I roll my eyes and fix the bottom of my jacket so it fits better around my waist.
"I get that Zura, but come on next time can't we be a little bit more…" Kan quickly bends a small amount of snow into a snowball, throws it at Kya and it hits her in the face. I put my hand over my mouth to try to keep from laughing so hard, but it doesn't help as the snow slides down her face and hits the ground, "careful." She says as Kan and I start running back towards the village.
"Zura wait! You and I are going to miss our healing lessons if we don't hurry up!" She yells and begins running behind us waving her right hand at me.
"Lighten up Kya! That's where I'm running to!" I yell back and continue running towards the village. It's amazing how much can be done to one village in the matter of a couple decades.
We no longer live in small tents or in snow huts, Sokka has become the Chief of our tribe, and we have many more water benders than we had during the 100 year war.
Everything is finally being restored, and I get to be a part of that restoration.
Kan and I burst into Master Mikka's healing hut with our lungs about to burst from all the air we are trying to take in.
"Zura? Kan? Where is Kya? You all are late!" She says with aggravation laced in her usually sweet tone of voice.
"Sorry Master Mikka. Zura got herself caught in a crevice, but we got her out," Kan says all too proudly and I smack my right hand against my fore head.
"You what?!" Mikka shouts and I sit with my legs crossed on the ground in front of the life sized dummy with the chi paths marked on it so water can flow through. I pull off my parka, sit it on the ground next to me, and put my hands on my lap. "Zura talk to me." I lift my eyes to meet hers and I just hold her stare. "Why were you stuck in a crevice?"
I take a deep breath, look at Kan, and he gives me a sympathetic look. I don't know what to do, but I know that I'm not someone who can tell a lie.
"We were playing water whip tag on the outskirts of the village. That's all," I say sternly and I watch as she scowls at me.
"You know you are not supposed to be on the outskirts of the village!" Mikka shouts at us and I nearly jump when she says the word 'village.'
Not too soon after, Kya bursts through the curtain, acting as a door, and puts her hands on her knees as she leans over to try to catch her breath.
"We were just playing," I say as I look back down at the ground trying not to look at Mikka in any way.
"You are Sixteen Zura. You don't play anymore. This is the time that you begin to learn you training as a water bender. You don't venture any further outside of the village do you understand me?"
"You're not my mother," I say beneath my breath. I hope with all my might that she didn't hear me, but I know for sure that she did.
"Excuse me Zura? What was that?"
"It was nothing Master Mikka she was only trying to…"
"Be quiet Kya!" she snaps. "I was not speaking to you, was I?" I turn to see that Kya barely shakes her head no.
"I said that you are not my mother. You can't tell me where I can and cannot go!" I scream, but all that does is make my healing master angrier.
"I am one of your water bending master's Zura! I will not be spoken to this way again!" She says and I slouch further into my siting position so I don't say anything else stupid. "Now that we are all in a much calmer mood let's begin our healing session." Mikka now says as calm as she possibly can. I see Kya and Kan sit down next to me with their legs crossed. They both take off their parkas and we begin.
"You want to feel the bad energy flow through the body like a flowing river," she says as she bends the water from the moat into the body of the dummy. I watch as it flows through the crevices in the wood, but today is a day where I can't concentrate to save my life.
"Kya, would you like to demonstrate?" Kan and I both turn our heads to look at Kya. She slowly stands up and walks over to the small platform. She sits in the same position as before and begins to move the water through the dummy without hesitation.
"Move the water around the chest area and begin the healing process," Mikka says and Kya does as she is told. The water moves at her command around the chest area. As she begins the process the water begins to glow and one of the wooden planks simulating a blockage is moved and the 'wound' restored to normal.
"Good job Kya! You are becoming a Master water bender very quickly." Kya smiles at our Master, gets up and walks back towards us. She sits back down next to me and I put my hand on her shoulder to congratulate her for making a huge step in water bending.
"Zura," Mikka demands and I turn my head to face her. She gestures towards the dummy lying on the platform. I slowly force myself to stand and walk over towards the platform.
I sit down on the same place that Kya was sitting at not five seconds ago. I fold my hands in front of me and look up at Mikka.
"Heal the injury in the leg." She moves the wooden plank inside the dummy across its leg and tells me to begin. I slowly move my hands, pull water from the moat and move it into the body. It flows through the paths carved and I move it down to where I need it. I try my best to focus all of my energy on the exact place of harm, but I can feel my mind beginning to wander.
"Concentrate Zura," Mikka half yells at me.
"I'm trying!" Everything in me refuses to move the plank. I know I'm a healer, but today I'm too infuriated to do this.
"Focus!" She shouts again.
"I am!" I pull my hands back and move them quickly back out. However, this time something happens. The water begins to boil and suddenly explodes throwing me backwards and blowing shards of wood everywhere. I stare wide eyed at the now destroyed dummy while everyone else looks at me with a dumbfounded look on their face.
"Zura? How did you do that?" Kan asks from beside me.
"I honestly don't know."
"Kya, Kan. The lessons are over today. Please go back to your normal activities," Mikka says as she begins to move the now destroyed dummy out of the way. Kya and Kan both grab their parkas and walk out. I'm about to get up and grab mine when Mikka stops me.
"Do you understand exactly what you have done Zura?" I look up at her then slowly sit back down on the platform.
"I'm sorry about your healing dummy," I slowly say under my breath. When she doesn't respond I look up at her and she doesn't look disappointed she looks sympathetic.
"That's not what I'm talking about Zura. Boiling water usually means you are the offspring of more than one element. Even your eyes show it. You're not who you think you are."