Well, I was trying to write myself a birthday chapter that turned into a birthday story (though my birthday was on May 13th). As this was going to be a one-chapter story, the pacing may be a bit off in the beginning but it should relax as I add more to the story that I wasn't going to when it was just a singular chapter. Anyways, I was thinking of the Winx in the ATLA universe and naturally, a FloraxHelia story started to form. I have it in my head that Helia is a firebender who comes from a military background but after some trauma, has left it behind and started exploring the world. Basically how he is in the actual Winx Club series (grandfather/uncle depending on the version you watched/read is the head of a military academy). I also have Flora as a waterbender as I think that Flora's personality is more in line with those of the water tribes. Fairy of Nature might lend itself more to Earth Kingdom but I don't think Flora matches the vibe of an Earth Bender. Also, this is my story and my head so I can do what I want :).

CW: Talks of war, death, sexual violence (even among minors), and injuries. This is gonna be bleak.

The sun had barely peaked over the snow and ice-covered hills of the cold Southern War Tribe and Flora had already begun the process of collecting the water that she would have to heat over the small fire that sparked to life in the small home that she shared with her sister. Chores started early in their village before the wind picked up and rendered the chores nearly impossible. Plus, Flora and her family would need the hot water to begin the cleaning and cooking of the day.

Flora grabbed the bucket that had sat by the entrance of the small fur-lined home and raised the large polar bear-dog fur that covered the small doorway. Tightening the parka hood around her head and ears, Flora took a deep breath and set off towards the small nearly frozen lake that she would gather water from.

Sure, Flora could have used the small well that the other women used in the village but Flora enjoyed the solitude and while the only sign of life in the village were the people and animals, Flora enjoyed the cold nature nonetheless. There was something peaceful about witnessing the sun rise over the horizon, the pinks and oranges contrasting with the icy blues and stark whites of the landscape. Hearing the soft wind blocked out the noise of the village and the noises that Flora still hears in her head. The beauty of nature provided a distraction from the harsh realities of war that had raged on for the past one hundred years.

The sharp sting of the cold wind on her face was better than the sharp pangs of hunger that she felt when the Fire Nation blocked the transport of food from the Earth Kingdom after the uprising that happened a few years ago. The howling of the wind was better than the screams she remembers of the last Fire Nation raid, when they came and killed those believed to be part of the rebels and captured the women sending them to spirits knows where, her mother being one of those women. The coldest days of the winter never were as terrible as the days the Fire Nation decided to inflict their wrath on the people of the Southern Water Tribe.

So Flora trudged through the snow, her breath visible and her eyes watering under the harsh cold.

Making her way to the lake, Flora dropped her bucket on the banks, took out a small serrated knife, and stabbed it into the thick ice, carving out a small circle revealing the water that lay beneath. Flora turned her head as she placed the knife back inside of the fur-lined parka, making sure that there was no one around. Seeing that she was truly alone, she raised her hands and felt the icy waters flow in her veins. The water rose from the lake and Flora carefully bent the water into the bucket.

Flora had been one of the last water benders in the small tribe. She, her sister, and a few of the older women who had been left to take care of the rapidly dwindling number of villagers. Flora remembers the last raid much more vividly than the others that had preceded it. She had been so young the last time that the Fire Nation came, scared and begging the Fire Nation soldiers not to take her mother. Flora had not known then why they had come but when she spoke to one of the elder women of the tribe, Flora knew that they had come for people like her and her newly born sister. Her mother had not been a bender, but they took her. Her father was a bender and that was close enough for the soldiers and the Fire Nation. Her father had joined the rebel group and was living in hiding in the north, leaving the soldiers to take her mother in his stead. Flora lay awake many nights wondering what had become of both her father and her mother. But keeping her and her sister alive had always been at the forefront of her mind.

As the bucket filled with the icy cold water, Flora felt her blood flow and her energy increase as she became one with her element. The water was smooth and flowed with such ease that it made her feel guilty. Guilty that she could have the small reprieve to bend her element in peace when the other members of her village were forced to heed the Fire Nation decree that those in the Southern Water Tribe were not to utilize their bending. Flora sometimes thought what it would be like if she and her sister were to leave the south and head toward the Northern Water Tribe where they could use their bending under the protection of the warriors of the north. But as soon as the thought entered Flora's mind, it quickly left. She would not leave her home, holding out hope that her mother and father would come back and that laughter and love would fill their small home in the South.

Once the small bucket was filled with water, Flora willed herself to stop her bending. Stopping was always so hard when it had felt so good. But she had to get back to Miele and back to the reality that was her life. So she set back towards her small house at the end of the village, thinking about the breakfast that she would make for her and her sister. It was hard to think about when they had so little to eat but Flora was always told how creative she was.

As Flora neared her home, she saw smoke rising from the small hole in the roof. The fire had not gone out from when she had left, meaning that Miele might have been awake and if she had not been awake, then at least she had stayed warm. Flora entered the house and placed the bucket near the entrance. She removed her parka and shook the snow that had blown into her long hair that she had kept in two braids on either side of her head.

"Miele? Are you awake?"

There was a small groan but it was low and did not sound like Miele. Still, the space where Miele slept moved. But Flora saw quickly that this body that had been covered by furs had been too large to be that of her teenage sister.

Flora took a hesitant step forward and called out to her sister again, this time her voice wavering.

"Miele?"

The body moved again and Flora gasped when the furs fell to reveal a large man with a pale face and black hair. Sharp cheekbones, slender face, and pointed nose. This man was Fire Nation and this man was in her home. But where was her sister? If this man was in her place, where was Miele?

"M...M..." Flora stammered as she struggled to find the words as she stared at the large, pale man.

The man winced as if in pain and his thin hands reached forward and landed on his abdomen. When he pulled away, his hands were covered in blood and Flora knew that he was injured. Flora's initial fear had subsided slightly, taking momentary comfort in the fact that she might be able to take on an injured man. But the question of her sister's whereabouts still haunted Flora. That was until Flora heard a rustling and turned to see Miele walk in with a stack of wood from the shed out back.

"Miele!" Flora exclaimed as she stepped toward her sister, "Don't come any closer!"

"Flora," Miele stepped past her sister and toward the fire in the middle of the floor, "he needs our help."

"Do you not see who he is? What he is?"

"We are healers, our job is to help."

"But not people like him."

Miele crouched down next to the man and pulled back the furs that covered his body, revealing his blood-stained shirt.

"Yes, people like him, Flora. You said that we are to treat anyone who might need our help. He collapsed outside of our door and we need to help him."

Flora cursed the sensitive nature of her sister. Miele was a far better person than she was but Miele fortunately had not seen firsthand the horrors of the seemingly endless war as Flora had. Heard the screams of the people of the village. Felt the heat of the fire.

"And what are we to do when he wakes up? Have you thought about that, Miele? Are we to help this man to health just so that he can repay us with a fiery grip on our throat? A flame through our heart?"

"Flora..."

"You know what they are capable of and yet you still bring him into our home?"

"Flora."

"If he does not kill us then he will go back to his home and tell the other soldiers!"

"Flora! He is not a soldier! He is just an injured man who needs our help!" Miele shouted back.

Flora had never seen her sister so passionate as she gazed up at her. Her eyes shifted back and forth from Miele to the wounded man on their floor. Flora watched as Miele's hands moved quickly and carefully over the man's abdomen. There would be no convincing Miele; she had always been so stubborn. Flora dropped down next to Miele and sighed.

"How can I help?"

Miele looked at Flora and smiled, "I need more water and cloth."

Flora turned back toward the bucket and stood up. She grabbed the bucket of water that she had just pulled from the lake and poured the water into the large cauldron above the fire.

"Give the water time to heat up. I will go out to the storeroom to gather more wrappings."

Miele nodded and Flora left the small house for the storeroom across the small clearing to gather the things that her sister needed. As Flora entered the small store room, she inhaled as she looked at the bare shelves and held her breath. Everything that they had was running out. Flora did not know when the next smugglers' shipment would come in, nobody did. Just as nobody knew that she and her sister had been harboring an enemy. A wounded enemy but an enemy nonetheless. When Miele pulled down the furs, Flora's eyes couldn't miss the unmistakable red sash that held up his black pants. He had been a soldier and from what Flora could remember from the fragmented pieces of her memory, a high-ranking soldier at that. What had he been doing in the South Pole and what had he been doing by himself? What would her village have done if they had caught him? What will they do when they realize that she and her sister are quartering an enemy?

Flora grabbed the small roll of white wrappings and exhaled. Why did this man have to fall in front of their home? Flora found that she was asking herself a very familiar question. Why her?

Returning to the main home, Flora walked in and gave Miele the wrappings. She watched as her sister unraveled the tight roll and began to bandage the man's wound. His shirt had now been removed and Flora's eyes traced his muscular build. He was more slender than the men of the water tribe but her eyes moved over the muscles of the man's torso. She looked up at his face and watched as his eyes slowly opened, if only partially. They were not the bright gold that had haunted her dreams but instead, a dark blue. Just like the eyes of those in the water tribe. But Flora was no stranger to the possibilities of the differing features of the nations as she and her sister shared the green eyes that are commonly found in the Earth Kingdom. Their mother stated that it was due to an Earth Kingdom ancestor, a reminder of the peace and harmony between the nations before the war. Maybe this man had an ancestor that inhabited the lands of the north or perhaps slept on the same furs as someone in her village.

"He cannot stay here," Flora muttered as her eyes stayed on the man.

Miele looked up.

"What?"

"Bandage him and take him to the store room. He cannot stay in the home. If anyone catches us with a Fire Nation soldier in our home...he will stay in the store room."

Miele simply nodded, knowing that arguing with Flora on this would be futile. Flora turned and stepped outside of the home again and felt the morning wind begin to pick up, stinging her face. She raised her palms to her face and rubbed down her flushed cheeks and sank down the ice walls, her parka-less back becoming wet from the heat of her body. She looked up at the pale sun.

Why her?