Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or any of it's characters though I wish I did... Really...

Ok, in this chapter everybody's origins will be explained... It might confuse you a bit... Try and keep up... If you don't get any part of this chapter... PM me and I'll re-explain it...

Just so you guys know, this chapter might end up being the longest yet because I want to explain every one's origins in this chapter... So um yeah...

Chapter 10 (Day 4)

Origins

You know those situations that make you so confused that for a minute or two your brain can't handle it? It's like your brain has to restart?

That was exactly what was happening to Ty Lee.

It had been three minutes since the man had said her name. And Ty Lee was still standing there. Staring at him with unseeing eyes while her brain struggled furiously to process the situation.

It was Aang's voice or rather his groan of pain that brought her back to earth.

Ty Lee turned around and saw Aang on his stomach. And the woman that had been mixing by the table was now standing over him. And she was doing the glowing, healing thing that Aang had done for her. With the water on his back.

"But- Yo-You're not a wate-

The woman looked up from her healing and just like that, Ty Lee's sentence died.

The woman's hair was in a traditional Fire Nation top knot.

But that wasn't why Ty Lee had stopped talking.

It was her eyes.

The woman's eyes were a cool and calm shade of blue. Ty Lee blinked to be sure it wasn't a trick of the light.

It wasn't a trick of the light.

The woman's eyes were still blue.

Ty Lee blinked in shock. 'How are her eyes blue? Is she a-'. Halting her thought, Ty Lee whipped around and looked at the man's eyes. And blinked in shock. Again. His eyes were golden. Like Azula's. And those golden eyes, along with the man who owned them, were staring silently at her. Ty Lee unconsciously took a step back.

'Woah... His eyes look like exactly Azula's and-. Zaru came into view behind the golden-eyed man and Ty Lee's eyes of their own volition, flew to his eyes to see what colour they were.

His eyes were crystal green.

Ty Lee's heart began to beat faster and she was sure she could hear blood pounding in her ears. Panic began to curl around her and she began to sweat lightly. And all for no apparent reason. After all this people weren't going to hurt her. Right?

Karai cleared her throat and whispered, "Father." The man didn't seem to have heard her. But Ty Lee did. She glanced at Karai. Her eyes were a carbon copy of the man's.

'Is she a firebe-.

The man interrupted her. "I apologise, Ty Lee. I seem to have forgotten myself. Welcome to our home."

'Our home? Do they all live here?'

"It would be fair to assume that you have a lot of questions. I would like to answer them. But I'd rather we move to a more comfortable place."

As if on cue, Aang chose that moment to groan out loud. Ty Lee turned immediately. The woman was turning him so he was lying on his back. Ty Lee noticed that his chest and shoulders were now covered by clean bandages. And he was breathing easier. Ty Lee was moderately surprised. A few moments ago, Aang's chest had been exposed but now it wasn't. The woman must be pretty fast to have bandaged his chest neatly in such a short time.

"Is he going to be okay?", she asked.

The woman smiled kindly, "His wounds were infected because he didn't wash the wolfhound saliva out before healing himself. I have prepared something for him to drink that will help against the effects of the poisonous saliva." The woman raised Aang's head gingerly as she spoke and poured her mixture into his mouth meticulously. Ty Lee tensed up and her throat emitted an indiscernible sound.

Then the woman's smile fell.

Ty Lee noticed the change in her expression instantly. "What? What's wrong?", she asked.

"Well, because he still has werewolf saliva in his blood, in a few hours, he's going to develop a serious fever and he'll be in a lot of pain. There's nothing that can be done about that. But it'll pass. It's happened to Zaru before. He'll be weak and disoriented for a few days, but that'll be the end of it. But for now, he'll sleep."

As if to corroborate the woman's words, Aang let out a small breath and his features relaxed. His breathing evened out. He was sleeping.

Ty Lee let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. Relief washed over her and she felt like a big burden had been taken off her shoulders. Slowly she wheeled around to face the golden-eyed man.

He spoke as soon as she was facing him. "Shall we?", he motioned to the door. Ty Lee stood still for a minute. She inhaled deeply and began to walk. Karai and Zaru were already in front of her. They walked down the hallway and turned left.

It was late in the evening and the sun, from what she could see through gaps in the doors Karai had punched a while ago, was beginning to set. The hall was a bit dark and the wind was whistling lightly through a crevice in the door. They stopped right in the middle of the almost empty hall.

The man spoke, "That'll be all. You may go." Zaru and Karai nodded and walked out of the hall side by side.

Ty Lee turned and saw two seats on the ground. The man gestured, "Please, sit."

Ty Lee wordlessly sat down and assumed the lotus position. The man did the same. Then he spoke.

"Well Ty Lee, where'd would you like us to start?"

"The beginning?", she replied.

"Very well." Thunder boomed. And it began to rain. Wordlessly, the man lifted his hand and the hall was immediately illuminated. Ty Lee looked around and saw torches. Torches that had come to life at the movement of the man's hand.

"How did you-

"I'll get to that part. I'd like to start from the beginning."

"Okay", she squeaked.

"My name is *Lu Xen. I was born in Jang Hui though both of my parents were originally from Caldera. My father *Len Yu was a skilled firebender. My mother, *Minai died a few moments after my birth. The last thing she did was name me and place me in my father's arms."

" My father was a heartless man. So heartless that he would have given me away at birth. But two things stopped him. One, I was a boy. Two, I was a firebender."

"You see my father had once been in charge of training firebending prodigies to be assassins and elite guards for the firelord and to him, I was just another of his students. Not his son. He never even called me 'son' one day. He always called me Lu. Like he did not know me. After training, he would leave and I was to go to my room immediately. He never talked to me or came to see me. In fact, the only time he talked to me was during training and that was to bark sharp commands at me when I made mistakes. The only thing he did for me was feed me. I did everything else for myself. I pretty much raised myself and I was fair when I judged that he didn't care about me at all."

"I didn't experience a fun childhood. I didn't get to experience much of a childhood. My childhood was filled with rules, katas and training. I never got to play. I never left the house. I never got into any trouble like boys my age. My father denied me a proper childhood just so he could mold me into a perfect bender. Every day, after training, I would sit and look outside my window, wallowing in loneliness. No one was allowed to see me, let alone be my friend."

"But there was one person my father very reluctantly allowed access to see me. My maternal grandfather. He was a loving, easy-going man and I thought him strange at the time. He would, in the short time my father allowed him to spend with me, tell me stories. He would sit my thirteen year old body on his lap and tell me stories. Stories of war. Stories of adventurous journeys and mystical creatures. Stories of his short stay in the army. He told me how he was dismissed from the army because he refused to kill a rebel earthbender on his commanding officer's orders.

Whenever he was leaving, he would say to me in his old voice,"No matter what you are going through, no matter what is going to be done to you. You should always believe that your heart will steer you right and you should ensure that you foolishly follow it. If you do, it'll lead you to a beautiful place."

"Eventually, my father stopped my grandfather from coming to see me and not long after, my grandfather died. My father told me to forget about him.

But I couldn't. I wallowed in loneliness for long after that. I turned 16 and my life was still the same. Wake, train, eat and sleep. I was a lonely teenager, though I was a firebending prodigy. A sight to behold. Then one day, my father took me to the training yard in our huge compound. He told me to bend an arc of fire. I did. He told me not to use my hands, legs or mouth. I tried and failed and I told him it wasn't possible. He smiled an evil smile and stood still. Almost immediately, an arc appeared from in front of him and soared towards me. I tried to deflect it and I burnt my hands. He told me in his cold uncaring voice that 'fire was not from the limbs of the body, but of the limbs of the mind.' He told me not to move from that spot until I could bend an arc of fire without using my body. And then he went inside."

Xen stopped for a few seconds and Ty Lee could see the emotions swimming in his golden eyes. He took a deep breath and continued.

"I was on that spot for three days. At night, my father would sit in front of the house watching me with his cold uncaring eyes. During the day, he would go about the house chores while he watched me through open windows. Every twelve hours for the first two days, he would toss a small loaf of bread at my feet and drop a small pot of water to go with it. I would watch him, as he did these things and I would see no concern in his eyes for me. By the third day, I was dizzy from sleeplessness and half dead from starvation. On the third day, he did not give me anything to eat. He just sat there, in front of the door, watching with his cold heartless eyes. At first, I cried. Eventually my tears stopped. And I began to do something I had never done before.

I began to hate him. I hated him as he just sat there. And I stood there, my hatred for him multiplying as the sun slowly set."

Xen stopped again and took a longer pause than before. Ty Lee could see the pain and anguish in his eyes as he remembered something this unpleasant. He took another deep breath.

"By the time it was night, I was feeling an immeasurable amount of hatred for him. He had taken my childhood away from me. He had taken my grandfather away from me. He had taken my life away from me. And he had made me live like I was nothing. That was when it happened."

Xen paused again. Ty Lee fidgeted her hands impatiently until he resumed.

"I saw an arc of fire leave my body and soar at him."

Another pause.

"He deflected it effortlessly and rose. And without a word, entered the house."

"I stood there all night wondering. Wondering how this monster was my father. Wondering what I had done to deserve what was happening to me."

"I didn't sleep at all that night, and my father did not care at all. As usual."

"The next morning, he came out of the house with a bag and a letter. He told me that he had enlisted me in the army and I was to leave immediately. I stood there in disbelief. Then my disbelief spun into even more hatred than I had felt the previous night. The carriage arrived and I was all but dragged into it and my father did not bat an eyelash."

"It was strange that the first time I left my house was to be shipped to Gaoling to join the army. My stay in the army itself was strange. I did not fit in. At all."

I stayed away from everyone and I was nicknamed the 'lone wolf' by the other soldiers. I did not care. I did not let their sneers affect me. No. I was too busy carrying the hatred I had for my father with me and it was consuming me from within."

"One day, my **company was given a mission. I was barely nineteen and it was almost my third year in the army. We were ordered to attack a rebel earthbending village not too far from Gaoling where we were stationed. We were given specific orders to take no prisoners. In other words, we were asked to kill everyone, even the ones who surrendered."

"We marched off into the night. While we marched, I felt uneasy at what we had been ordered to do. Sure, we had faced rebel earthbenders before and we had knocked a few unconscious but we had usually withdrawn before we got the chance to kill. But that wasn't the case this time. This time our orders stated clearly that we kill."

"By morning, it began. Every one of my comrades killed someone that day. Yet I, somehow managed not to. Sure, I knocked a few heads and rendered a few earthbenders unconscious, but I did not kill any one of them. A fact I remain proud of to this day."

"By the time it was over, I was sick. All around me were charred bodies, burnt by the hands of my comrades. It was then that I realized that the fire nation was just as heartless as my father. I ran into a corner and threw up. It was there while I expelled the contents of my stomach that I first saw him."

Xen paused again. But this time, there was a hint of a small smile playing on his lips.

"Zaru. He was barely a year old at the time. He was warmly wrapped and very well hidden. I knew his parents were dead, sizzling somewhere. I did not once think about killing him. As gently as I could, I carried him into my arms. I looked into his eyes and saw something of my grandfather in those green eyes. And I heard my grandfather's voice urging me to listen to my heart. But my moment did not last."

"My commanding officer, Captain Jiao had come looking for me, most probably to mock me for being so weak and feminine. He saw the child. He asked me to give him the child, while stating that our orders were to be followed to the letter. My grandfather's situation flashed across my mind and I boldly refused."

"I was asked again. I refused again. Jiao got angry and called the rest of the men. He told them what I had done. I was asked again for the child. I looked around and saw myself outnumbered. Fear took over for a moment and I panicked and gave him the child."

"As soon as I gave him the child, I felt this feeling in my chest. Like I had done the wrong thing. The child made matters worse and started to cry."

A small smile spread across Xen's face. "As soon as I heard that cry, I just couldn't help myself. I punched Jiao in the face and he threw the child up in the air in shock. My grandfather's words ran through my mind and I dove after the child, foolishly following my heart. I caught him and landed on my feet. And like that I began to bend arcs of fire at the rest of the men. Without my hands. I somehow managed to fight fight my way out, mostly because of their surprise at my unnatural ability and many years of intense training on my part."

"I ran. I ran back to camp and took my things. My books, scrolls, a large sack of gold that had accummulated over the years from me not spending anything at all and my spare set of clothes. I ran until I got to a stream. I sat there. With the child in my arms and wondered briefly if I had made a mistake. One look into his crystal green eyes convinced me otherwise. I took off my armor, changed into my other clothes and ran until I ran into a man on a cart heading for Ba Sing Se. I paid my way onto his cart and was smuggled into the great Earth Kingdom capital."

Xen paused and took a deep breath, like he was opening the next chapter. Ty Lee waited patiently this time.

"There I moved from place to place, hiding myself with the little baby in my arms. I didn't want anyone to know I was from the fire nation, so I refused to bend unnecessarily. I only used my firebending to keep the child warm at nights while we slept in cold alleys in the lower ring of the city."

"On my eighth day in the city, I was attacked by robbers. I couldn't risk firebending else I'd be discovered. Yet I had to ensure the child's safety. I remember slinging him across my chest as soon as the four robbers surrounded me. I fought. With my hands. Without firebending. For the first time in my life."

"It was not surprising that I lost. I was stabbed in the back twice. Yet somehow, I chose to fall on my back and not my chest where the child lay sleeping."

Ty Lee watched as Xen smiled at the memory.

"I woke up two days later in an inn. A young lady was dabbing my head with a wet cloth when I jerked back to life. I surprised myself when the first thing I did was ask where my child was. The lady pointed to a cot a few feet away and I jumped to it, relieved to see him sleeping peacefully."

"The lady explained that the attack had taken place in front of her inn. She had bravely drug me into her inn and dressed my wounds. She told me that the knife that I was stabbed with was laced with poison. Then she asked me to sleep. I looked into her blue eyes and fell back into the bed. And that night, I slept the best sleep I had slept in years."

"Over the course of three weeks, the lady innkeeper and I became close friends. I would lie in bed and talk. And she would sit at my side, listening." A small smile graced Xen's face.

"For no apparent reason, I told her my story and explained who I was and to my surprise, it didn't seem to bother her. Instead, She told me her own story."

"Her name was Lin Qhu and she was an orphan. A servant from the Northern Water Tribe. She was a waterbender and had been taught to heal. But she did not feel at home living there, so she left and came to the Earth Kingdom. There she settled and set up an inn."

"I stayed with Lin Qhu and the child for two months as I couldn't bear to leave him. In those two months, I fell in love with her. But being my first experience with love, I was too scared to tell her."

"The police of the Earth Kingdom, the Dai Li somehow discovered my identity and came after me. I didn't want to leave her, but I couldn't stay. She made the choice for me and came with me, leaving her inn behind. We literally ran together out of the city. I remember pulling the cart I bought for days while Lin and the child sat in it, as we left Ba Sing Se. We arrived near Lake Laogai and I used the last of my gold to buy a small boat. We didn't have plans or anywhere to go, but with the Dai Li on our heels, we had to keep running. So we set sail."

"For two weeks, our small boat sailed the seas until our supplies began to run out. There we were, hungry, in the middle of the sea. It suddenly occured to me to ask Lin why she had left her life to join me."

Xen was smiling clearly now. " I remember mindlessly rambling about my feelings for her before asking her why she had followed me and left her life behind. She answered me not with words, but with a kiss. And from that kiss I knew that she loved me as much as I loved her."

"Our little boat struck land a few hours later. As I stepped on the ground, I just couldn't help myself. I knelt down on the sandy beach in the setting sun and asked Lin to marry me and she readily agreed. It was there, on that same beach that she gave the child the name Zaru."

"For two weeks, my new wife, Zaru and I lived under the canopy of large leaves and tall trees. We didn't know how we were going to survive or for how long but it didn't seem to matter. We were happy."

Xen paused for a second.

"One day, I was gathering fruits for my family when I heard Lin shout. I ran over and saw Lin and Zaru being growled at by a wolfhound. I naturally stepped in front of my family to protect them. But I didn't need to."

Xen stopped and he seemed to be looking at something that wasn't there. Ty Lee waited impatiently but he didn't resume his story so she blurted out, "Why didn't you need to? What happened?"

He answered her question with a small smile, "Kuruk happened."

"From nowhere, this creature flew out and landed in front of me. The wolfhound took off immediately in fear. I trembled where I stood but I was determined to protect my family, but like I said before, there was no need to."

"The large werewolf, I knew it was a werewolf thanks to my grandfather, actually talked to me and introduced himself."

"He offered to take us to a place where our child would be safe. At first Lin and I almost turned him away. But for some strange reason, we trusted him and didn't. I still remember me, Lin and Zaru climbing on his back. I remember the speed with which he ran. He brought us here, to this abandoned mansion."

"Kuruk later explained that the wealthy inhabitants of the mansion had fled when the wolfhounds had attacked their children and servants. Lin, Zaru and I turned this place into our home. A year later, Karai was born."

"Kuruk introduced us to the rest of the pack and they, in respect of our ordeal and in honor of our marriage renamed this island Xen Qhu Island", he finished with a small smile.

Ty Lee just sat there with her mouth slightly open and a broken fingernail bit between her teeth. The rain had trickled to a stop, bringing an eerie silence with it. Xen's chuckle startled her and she blinked.

"How many years ago did this happen?", she blurted out.

"Sixteen years ago", he replied.

"Wow."

"So you see Ty Lee-

Ty Lee cut in. "Wait, how did you know my name?"

"Zaru told me when the werewolves brought you all here. He told me everything, about you and the avatar."

Ty Lee's features dulled. "Oh."

Then she brightened as a question flew into her head. "How was it, when you met them?"

"Met who?", Xen questioned.

"The werewolves."

Xen smiled and started to speak but approaching footsteps stopped him.

Ty Lee cocked her head to the side to see who the footsteps belonged to. Xen did not even turn, like he knew who it was. It was Lin.

Ty Lee's eyes flicked to Lin's face. Her face was grim, like she was bearing bad news.

She took a breath before she spoke. "It's begun."

*My characters...

**It's supposed to be a military unit , typically consisting of 80-250 soldiers and is usually commanded by a captain or a major... At least that what Wikipedia™ says...

Words can't explain how sorry I am for this horrendously late update... I enrolled in a 2 week program and it's sucking all the time out of my life..

I'm also sorry for this crappy chapter... My consistent running around has me with little energy and very little inspiration... On the bright side, I'm halfway through my program...

I look forward to your reviews... Or not...

Chapter 11 will be up soon... Bear with me...