Lost in her thoughts Anna was paying little attention as they made their way back, just as the group entered the village they heard a scream tear through the air from the direction of the west field. Heads snapped around everywhere and the one thing that caught every eye was the rising column of smoke slowly staining the sky black.
The earthbenders turned as one and ran towards the noise. Anna streaked ahead, easily the fastest in the group, she crested the raised ridge of earth that surrounded the village and saw what had caused such fear. The entire western field was in flames, smoke billowing on the breeze as the crops burned. A small figure was stumbling towards the village. Starting out of her shock at the scene Anna darted down the bank to help. It was Ashleigh, coughing from the smoke and clutching her left arm, which was bright red with fresh burns.
"Fire nation." She spluttered, "There's a whole troop of fire nation."
By this time the rest of the benders had caught up. The head of the Village, a man in his forties called Gansu, heard what Ashleigh has said and turned his attention back to the field. Sure enough through the smoke the vague figures of many soldiers could be seen.
"Back to the village." Gansu barked, "We can't stop this many firebenders." Ignoring the shouts of protest from those around him he gathered Ashleigh into his arms and began to race back to the village. People were already gathering whatever belongings they could carry, it took them only a glance to see that Gansu had no intention of fighting. "Take only what you must, we have to abandon the village." He handed Ashleigh over to her mother before returning to the village gates where the benders were still standing. "We have to give them time. You lot," he gestured to the younger benders, "You go with the rest of the village, keep them as safe as you can, we'll catch up with you later."
"No!" Exclaimed Basra, one of the young boys of the village, "We want to help too, we can bend, we can fight." The other children that had been learning to bend joined in the clamor.
"Quiet!" Bellowed Gansu. He was instantly obeyed, his eyes softened as he looked into the stubborn faces of the children, "You have to understand, we cannot win this fight, they are too many and we are too few." He raised his hand as Basra tried to speak again. "Even if you did stay and fight you would only be hurt or captured too. No matter what we do all we will be able to achieve is buying you time." He smiled sadly as the children took this in. Looking Basra straight in the eye he continued. "I need you and the others to keep the rest of the village safe. You can head for the next village round the mountain, they'll take you in." Basra looked ready to keep arguing but a loud explosion rattled the main gate. The wooden beams buckled and the earthbenders rushed to strengthen it. "Go! Run!" Gansu yelled over his shoulder. "We can't hold them for long." Blinking back tears Basra turned and ran after the fleeing families, the rest followed right behind him, helping stragglers where they could. Anna stayed where she was, frozen in place, eyes wide as she took in the burning houses around her and the abandoned possessions lying in the dust. "Anna, get moving!" Gansu shouted to her.
"How can I!" Anna's voice rang out, startling the benders and causing Gansu to turn to her. "How can I stand here and watch everything be taken away from me again." Tears began to spill as she balled her hands into fists. "How can I just…" Words failed her and her heart felt like it would burst. The fire nation was taking everything away from her all over again. Just as she had started to build a home again it was burning away before her eyes. Gansu left the gate and knelt by her side.
"I know it's hard for you little one. I saw the pain in you when you first arrived here and I have watched you grow and find yourself again, even in just these few short months. I know that it will be difficult but whether we see it or not this nation is at war." The gates trembled again, even with the earth barriers strengthening it. "All I wish, right now, is for my family and for the people I care about to make it through this war. You are one of those people Anna. I've never seen such a naturally gifted earth-bender even if it did come to you late. Use that power, that strength, once you have learnt to use it protect the people that matter to you. Until then, let me protect you." The pure kindness that shone out of Gansu's face broke Anna's resolve.
"Just promise you won't die. If you are taken prisoner you can still be free one day. Don't let me lose anyone else."
"I promise little one. Now go." His words were almost a whisper but Anna heard them. She hurtled out of the village, following the forest track that wound around the mountain. As she reached the last crest that the village could be seen from an almighty crash resonated through the air. Turning back she saw the great wooden gates fall in flames as fire nation soldiers flowed into the village. At the head of the soldiers was what looked to be only a teenager, but even from the distance she was at Anna could see that the men obeyed his every command. He stood in the centre of the village, surveying the area as the troops rounded up anyone left in the village. His eyes fell on the path out of the village and he stared straight at Anna. Motioning to his men the boy pointed to her and they started making their way towards her. She stood tall and locked eyes with the boy, the sun was behind her now so it was unlikely he could see her face but she could make out every detail of his. He had long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail at the back of his head but the rest was bald. The most noticeable trait was the red burn scar across his left eye. Moving in one swift motion Anna bent the mountain at her side with all the pain and anger that was flowing in her and sent a landslide across the path, blocking any chance of getting through. Raw rage burnt through her as she saw the men that had stayed dragged away, sparing one last glance at the village she had already thought of as home Anna turned on her heel and sped off after the others.
It was pitch black by the time the group of worn out refugees arrived at the next village. The journey had been terrible for them all. Constant fear of the soldiers following them meant no one had dared suggest stopping to rest. There was no explanation needed as they stumbled up to the houses. The people here had clearly already been hit by the war. A number of houses were badly burnt and rebuilding had only just begun. The refugees were guided to the middle of the village and given food and blankets. As they huddled round small fires the head of the village came over. It seemed that their story was not an unusual one.
Anna sat out of the way with Ashleigh, gently rubbing salve into her burns and wrapping them in cool linen. She barely listened as the adults talked.
"This makes six villages attacked in a week. We thought the fire nation was bad before but after the Avatar showed up at the prison…" Anna dropped the tin of medicine with a loud clang, staring at the man who had spoken.
"The Avatar?" She repeated. "The Avatar was here?"
"Well yes," the man looked confused. "Everyone heard about it. But I suppose your village is the most remote around here. There have been rumours coming in from all over about him, from Kyoshi, Omashu and some place down south. Most don't like to get their hopes up but the menfolk from the villages around here got rounded up and locked away a while back. They came back not two days ago swearing blind they had been set free by two water tribe and the Avatar riding a giant flying Bison." Anna's eyes never left his face as he spoke. "That's why the fire nation struck back, they think he's still in the area."
"Is he?" Asked Anna, "Is he still here?" The man shook his head.
"No he left the other benders at the prison and went off somewhere. Maybe if he had stayed it wouldn't be so bad here. Maybe he could have done something for us." He sounded bitter now but shook himself. "Still at least he's out there somewhere. Perhaps things will turn out better now."
"Yeah, maybe." The adults instantly forgot about Anna as she turned away.
The refugees gradually spread throughout neighboring villages in small family groups. With the persecution and the war a single village couldn't support so many new people. Anna was breaking inside at seeing her friends all go different ways, how long could people survive this war when in every direction there was just more pain. She was standing at the village gates watching the latest family wind their way down the path when Basra sought her out.
"Hey." Anna stayed silent. "They say there's a bender in a village a few days walk away who might be willing to keep teaching us." He faltered a little as Anna still didn't even turn to him. "Most people are staying with their families but a few of the guys are going to come with me. We thought you might want to join us." The departing family finally disappeared from sight. Once you have learnt to use it protect the people that matter to you. Until then, let me protect you. She turned to Basra, wiping away the tears she stubbornly refused to let fall.
"Let's go."
Anna carefully moved her body through the katas that Haru and his father had shown the villagers. The style here was very different from what Gansu had taught them and Anna found it much easier, a softer, more flowing style that allowed much finer manipulation of the soil. They had only arrived a fortnight ago but already the group of refugees could feel their bending improving. She finished the movement set and went to find Basra to practice together. As she reached the centre of the village she heard a commotion. Running towards the noise she found almost all the people of the village kneeling in the square before a squad of fire nation soldiers. Turning she realised that any people not already present were being rounded up, following the lead of those around her she knelt too, not wanting to give the soldiers reason to burn another village to the ground. The captain stepped forward.
"Two days ago a group of rebels blew up a dam, nearly killing everyone in the village below it." He began to walk through the kneeling crowd. "These terrorists have not yet been found. We believe that someone is hiding them." He stopped walking. "If anyone is hiding him we will be forced to make an example. However our aim is not to punish you, we are trying to help you. The sooner these dangerous criminals are stopped the sooner we can all return to a peaceful coexistence." He looked around expectantly. No one made a sound, no one moved an inch. He drew a bag from his waistband that clinked as he moved the fabric. "If anyone was able to tell me something useful it would be looked on… favourably." Still no one spoke up. "Very well, perhaps no-body does know about them. Can anyone tell me about the earthbenders that escaped from prison recently, or the rumours that one of these filthy little villages is in fact training benders against the laws put in place by the Fire Lord." He opened the pouch and began to toss the coins in his hand. The gold glinted in the sunlight and more than one pair of eyes flicked to it before returning to the ground. The captain waited patiently for someone to speak, but was disappointed. He dropped the friendly charade. "Fine." With a swift movement of his arm a spout of flame flew at the nearest house. The wood and straw went up in moments. "We will leave for now but if we find out that this village is in the slightest way connected to these events the entire village will burn, not just one house. " He motioned to the other soldiers and they left. The moment the last soldier had passed the village boundary everyone rushed to douse the fire. Just as the last flame was put out a group of men, including Haru and his father arrived. Basra rushed over to them.
"Where were you? We thought the soldiers were going to find you and recognize you from the prison." Haru just smiled.
"The mines behind the village go for miles and most of us have explored them since we were kids." Hearing this an idea began to form in Anna's mind.
"Are there other entrances to the mines?" She asked. Haru looked confused at the question.
"A few around the village, and there's one point where the tunnels collapsed into another villages mine so technically we could get in and out there I suppose." Anna's eyes lit up in a way Basra hadn't seen since before the village burned.
"Are there other villages around the mountain with mines, could we link the tunnels?" Haru caught on to her idea.
"You want to make a network throughout the whole mountain?"
"Why not? We have plenty of benders now and there would be no way to catch us once we got underground, not when we can open and close tunnels as fast as they can follow."
"But what would be the point, okay it might make a good hiding place but most people won't want to travel underground to get to the other villages?" Anna turned to face Basra.
"It wouldn't be to hide. It would be to fight." Basra's mouth fell open.
"You want to start a resistance."
"Don't be foolish" It was Haru's father that spoke now. The three young benders turned and saw they had gathered quite an audience from the older men of the village. "You saw what just happened, and you'd hardly be the first to try to fight the Fire Nation head on and see how well that worked out for the group that took on the dam. They're on the run and alone, they won't last a week."
"Maybe not," said Anna "But we'd have an advantage that none of the other groups have had." Haru pitched in.
"The mines, you want to use the mines to gather fighters from every village in the area."
"Exactly, any resistance efforts till now have been too independent, too small. If we coorordinate and work together then why shouldn't we have a chance. It worked in the prison didn't it." She turned full on to the older men who still looked skeptical. "You were all there but you thought you were alone, that it was helpless and there was nothing you could do. But didn't the Avatar and his friends show you what working together could do. That was only a few villages worth of people. If we can get established properly, if we get organized here in the mountain then we can start to spread out. We get fighters and benders to join us from all over the Earth Kingdom and take on the Fire Nation from all over at once." She fell silent, not realizing how tall she was standing, how passionately she spoke, how much she connected with those that listened.
"You're right." Haru's father stepped forwards. "Enough cowering in fear from the Fire Nation, it isn't enough just to be free of that prison, if we are still prisoners in our own homes." Everyone was nodding, a strength returning to them that had not been there in a very long time. "So," he turned to Anna, "Where do we start." As Anna surveyed the sea of faces before her, riled up and ready to fight she realised what she had done. She had become the leader of the Earth Resistance, and she couldn't wait to get started.