"Fighting with metal weapons is the most difficult thing of all. They require one to be as cold as the metal they fight with. If you throw your emotions into your swings, you will go astray and hurt yourself just as bad as your opponent. You must trust yourself, and your weapon. You must feel no fear, no anger, no compassion. You must enter the flow of the battle like the flow of the river. Let the flow carry you and your steel to the end."

-Master Piandao, Art of Battle

The sunset falls down over the horizon. Somewhere, someone is watching it rise. Perhaps in the Earth Kingdom, someone is standing on the top of a palace and admiring the bright light of day as it slowly rises into the sky.

I admire the darkness as it intensifies around me. At one point in my childhood, I was absolutely afraid of the dark. On a deep primal level, I do not think I stopped being afraid of it, but merely repressed the fear deep within me. When I began to Energybend, the darkness was never a required thing for me to deal with. Whenever I was scared, I could just create a light that would float above my hand and give me comfort.

The cold night wraps around my bare arms. All I am wearing is my long white pants from earlier and a loose vest. I had expected the climate near the Fire Nation to be warmer than it is. Perhaps we are still too far away from the Fire Nation for it to make any impact on the temperature. On the other hand, maybe the warmth just does not want to have anything to do with me. It would not be the only thing.

I close my eyes and let out a long sigh. Cathra is upset with me about something. That is obvious. What it is, however, is not as obvious. I wish I could read people like my sister can. Iulia would be able to tell me immediately what is bothering Cathra if I asked her. But I will not, because then my twin sister will then think I am foolish for know knowing and too weak to ask Cathra myself.

I listen to the roll of waves hitting the metal hull of the ship. I am all alone on the deck of the ship at this time of night, which means I can practice my forbidden arts without fear.

I open my eyes, lean down, and grab the black bag I retrieved earlier from the bottom of my duffel bag. The black bag is made of a very hard fabric that is not easily cut, burnt, and it is completely airtight and waterproof. To be even more certain that no one can get into the bag, it has a very complicated padlock on the clips holding the bag shut.

A very complicated padlock that has a very uncomplicated combination. I thumb the numbers into place, feeling the imprints under my finger. 12345. With a click, I take off the lock and open the bag.

I ruffle though the bag for a few moments. Iulia had not been joking when she said I had brought half my armory. The only weapons I had not brought were my spears and bows. I push aside the chains linking my meteor hammers together, slide my collection of knife sheaths to the side, and find what I am looking for.

I pull a long white sheath out of my portable armory. The moon shines from over the conning tower of the ship and gently caresses the ivory symbols running up and down the white leather. I admire the engraving.

Through difficulty to the stars.

I stand up and hold the sheath in my left hand. With a sharp pull on the light grey hilt, I pull the sword from it's sheath. The ivory blade meets the air and immediately begins to glow in the moonlight. Once it is all the way out of it's sheath, I clip the sheath to my belt.

Then I begin.

I turn around and throw two quick stabs into the body of an imaginary enemy. The blade hisses through the air as it stabs my foe in the neck and the abdomen. I then duck under an invisible blade as it flies towards my neck. With a series of slashes I sever the arm that was holding that blade.

In my minds eye, I see two men running towards me. Then they shoot metal chains at me from their wrists, and I slide under the chains. I throw my right leg around me in a circle, and I picture the swipe knocking the Metalbenders off their feet. With my left hand, I push myself off the metal deck.

I do not, or at least my imaginary foes do not, give myself any time to catch my breath. Already my enemies are shooting long streams of scalding flames at my back. I jump in the air as high as I can go. My jump takes me over and behind my imaginary Firebending opponents, and when my feet touch the metal decking the first thing I use them for is to kick both Firebenders in the back.

With a final swipe of my ivory blade, I cut off both of my opponent's heads. They really should wear neck protection.

As soon as the thought comes to me, I begin to laugh at the irony of it. My laughter breaks the nighttime silence, and the waves buffet the ship as if telling me to be silent. I do not care. I want to laugh, so I will laugh. Laughter is good. It is like a release of energy; it feels good to let it out.

I look over the right side of the ship when I finish laughing. The two ships that had been escorting us had left us once we left Republic City waters. I did not see why they accompanied us in the first place. Who would attack us in guarded waters? Fire Nation battleships and Earth Nation airships patrol their waters on a regular basis anyways. No Confederacy ships could possibly get past the blockade.

I watch in silence as the waves roll past us. The water has always been a beautiful thing to me. It has a mystery to it, a simple elegance that comes from merely the existence of the waves that traverse its surface.

A large shadow, probably belonging to a large sea animal, comes near the surface of the moonlit water. I look at it longingly. It must be a simple life to live underwater. All you have to do is find food, sleep, and swim all day. It seems to me like the sea creatures have figured out the best way to live.

The shadow pierces the surface of the water. I see a large blue fin that shines in the moonlight, but before I can examine it further, the creature has dived back under the surface of the ocean. I lean back and turn around.

I take a few steps. I hear a large splash of water, and I turn around just in time to see the huge sea creature jumping at least thirty feet up into the air. It's an interesting beast. It has large transparent holes along it's sides, and each hole has a dark bump below it. The scales of the fish are a dark blue, and they look so hard they could be made out of metal-

The large creature lands on the middle of the ship's deck. It's midsection is the only thing that can fit on the deck, so the front and tail portions of the fish hang off the sides. The ship trembles and creaks from the force of the fall, and I swear I hear metal breaking under the huge fish. The hull seems to hold the weight, which surprises me.

My next surprise comes from the weird pattern on the fish's blue fin. It is shaped like a moon and has something that looks like a spiral inside the crescent.

It is the symbol of the Water and Air Confederacy.

We are under attack.

The "fish" stops moving, and I hear several puffs of air as I see the transparent holes on the fish open up. Two men pour out of each hole. They all wear clothing that seems to be made out of dark blue scales. It covers their entire body, and fishtail helmets that seem to be made of the same material cover their faces.

Ten men form an arc in front of me. I take a few steps back, desperately hoping that the men have yet to see my black bag. I inch closer to it, and the men slowly take a few steps towards me. I look at each of the men. They all have the same bending stance: one foot forward, one arm above their heads, one arm near their waists, and one foot behind them. They look like dancers.

I feel my foot bump against the hard fabric of my armory bag. At that moment, the grey bumps under the portholes in the sides of the "fish" open, and large streams of water pour out. The ten men immediately wave their arms, and the water forms a circle around each of them.

I use the time to grab the thin silver chain that links my meteor hammers together. I pull them out of my bag as fast as I can, and I immediately begin to spin them above my head.

The Waterbenders move as one. They make swipes with the hands they hold above their heads. Long tendrils of water fly at me, but I twist and break all of the attacks with the chain of my weapon.

Meteor hammers are one of the most difficult weapons to use. They consist of two heavy metal balls connected to each other by a long chain. They are meant to be spun in circles in order to gather momentum, and then they can be thrown, slammed into things, or used to wrap around objects. Like all of my weapons, my meteor hammers are made of pure platinum so they can not be controlled by Metalbenders.

I spin the hammer head on my right side in a quick circle. I am spinning it underhanded, meaning the metal weight flies behind my body before it makes a full circle. One of the Waterbenders pushes a hand towards me and sends a torrent of water in my direction. Not worried by the situation, I quickly release the chain with my right hand, sending the metal weight through the torrent of water before it can reach me.

The Waterbender seems to release what is about to happen, and quickly tries to freeze the water. Before he can freeze it completely, the metal weight flying like a arrow through the water hits his hand with a sickening crack.

I pull on the chain with my right hand and retrieve the metal weight. As the Waterbender with the now-broken hand shouts in pain, two Waterbenders to either side of me begin shooting icicles at my sides. I spin the meteor hammer hands in circles to either side of my body, and the icicles break harmlessly on the metal chain.

Using the momentum from the spinning weights, I swing one the left ball over my head in a massive arc. I bring the weight right down on the helmet of one of the Waterbenders in front of me, and I hear the crunch of breaking bone. I retrieve the left hammer and spin both ends of my meteor hammers in front of me like I am wielding a staff. The icicles that four of the remaining Waterbenders shot at me break harmlessly against the platinum.

I hear loud whooshes from the other side of the metal fish, and bright orange and red light blazes into existence. The Imperial Firebenders must now be realizing that they should have been patrolling at all times, and should have kept our naval escorts. I also hear shouting, and I am unsure if it belongs to the Waterbenders or the Firebenders.

A cold feeling running up my legs brings my attention back to this side of the battle. I twirl my meteor hammers in a large circle above my head, and I hold on to the left side of the chain as I whip the right side around in a blurry arc towards the four Waterbenders. I knock two of them off of their feet with the chain, but the last two are smart and jump over it.

I pull on the left side of the chain and the right weight comes back to me. I take a step to my left so that I am not hit with the heavy platinum ball, and then I begin spinning both sides again.

I realize the cold running up my legs is still creeping up my body. I quickly look around for the source of the water, and then I see one Waterbender moving his hands in a circular upward motion. Without a second thought, I cast the metal weight on my left side towards his chest. I hear the screech of breaking metal, and then the sickening squelch as the metal ball enters his torso.

It takes me a few firm tugs on the chain before the ball leaves his chest and returns to me. In the faint moonlight, I can barely make out the new red blood coating the left head. Lovely.

Two down, one with a broken hand, two on their backs, five to go.

I swing the right meteor head in another arc and break the helmet of one of the Waterbenders on their back. After the crunch of his skull breaking, I recount.

Three down, one with a broken hand, one on his back, but still five to go.

I spin the right weight in a circle over my head and then swing it around to wrap around the neck of one of the Waterbenders. I pull him towards me with my left hand and left go of the chain with my right hand long enough to pull my sword from it's sheath.

When he gets close enough, I stab the platinum blade through his heart.

Four down, one with a broken hand, one struggling to his feet, and four to go.

A/N: The chapters from this point forward should (hopefully) be about the size of the last two. What I was doing before, I felt, was too long and tedious for y'all to read. I've gotten some really good feedback from people PMing me about this story, and I am so grateful for it. You guys are the reason I write this, and hearing that you enjoy it makes me smile!

This chapter marks the beginning of the action. Be prepared! And please, let me know if the content (from this point forward in the story) is too mature for the story to be rated T. I would really rather not upgrade it to Mature, but if I have to, I will.

Feel free to review or PM me with ideas you have for the story, questions you may have, or just anything! I like constructive feedback just as much as I love hearing new ideas and trying to cryptically answer people's questions! And, in answer to a reader who PM'ed me and ask who the Avatar is, I only have one response:

It's not Korra.

-August