"Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself."
— James Anthony Froude
Prologue 5: A Waterbender's Hell
The child slept, her mind lost in infinite darkness.
Even in unconsciousness, the dry, overwhelming heat continued to plague her body.
She squirmed and wriggled in her sleep, aware just enough to feel her shallow, panting breaths, and the rapid, unsteady beating of her heart.
She awoke for a few moments, sensing her body trembling violently in the darkness. Her arms and hands shook violently and she fought back the urge to scream, managing to clamp her mouth shut before she let out a frightened cry.
The only sound that came out was a small hiss as she exhaled sharply through her nose.
Breathing hard, she tried to regain control, tried to calm herself before her anxieties and fears set her nerves off again because she would almost certainly not be able to keep still and quiet the next time her body went into panic mode.
After what felt like a very long minute, her heart settled down from its rapid and uncontrolled rhythm. The shaking and trembling stopped, her body's spasms ceasing to be, and she took a deep breath.
In. Out.
One after another.
She would be alright now. She had been successful this time.
But, as she drifted off again, a dark voice in the back of her mind taunted her.
Next time you will not be so lucky…
There was a sudden chill in the air.
The little girl opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings.
The first thought that came into her mind was snow.
Cool, wet snow.
It was everywhere. It soaked her clothes and bathed her skin in its chill. The frigid sensation was enchanting — a blissful and wonderful dream come true.
She sat up and started to laugh. She looked around, finding herself in the middle of the village.
A bunch of kids raced by. She spotted her brother amongst them. One of the girls in the group caught sight of her and raced to her side, kneeling down beside her in the snow.
"Come on, Katara!" Niyok urged, her voice full of excitement. She pulled Katara to her feet and the waterbender followed after the older girl, holding her hand tightly.
Soon they caught up with the other children on the outskirts of the village.
Everyone else was breaking off into two groups, girls on one side, and boys on the other.
Kunik, the second-oldest of the girls at sixteen, was giving out orders. She usually took up the role of leader for the girls in snowball fights against the boys, due to being the most intelligent and observant. Which was useful because the boys, when not busy with chores and thus being able to be all present and accounted for, outnumbered them.
"Knowing the boys' usual strategy, they'll try to flank us on both sides. Putyuk, I want your group to set up a nice snow barricade on our right flank. Iluak, I want you and Musika to do the same on our left. Nirlik, your group is responsible for gathering snow for ammunition."
Kunik turned to Katara next.
"Katara, go with Nirlik's group. See if you can put your waterbending to good use."
Katara nodded.
"Yes, Kunik," she replied obediently.
Over the next few minutes, as both teams prepared for battle, Katara did indeed manage to put her waterbending to great use, gathering plenty of snow and forming it into snowballs.
Kunik had been most pleased when Nirlik's group had returned with dozens of ammunition projectiles.
"Perfect," the leader complimented, before turning to one of her appointed lookouts, "Umikei, what are the boys doing now?"
The fifteen-year-old girl answered back, "Well, they haven't set up any barricades or forts, and right now they're busy huddling in the open. They have been focusing on collecting lots — and I do mean lots — of snowballs."
"Well fortunately, so have we," Kunik said, before turning to the rest of the girls, "Alright, everyone! Battle positions!"
The girls all moved to take their places.
Katara positioned herself on the left-most side of the right barricade, so that she could be ready to charge down the middle and hurl snowballs everywhere when the order to attack was given.
"Steady, everyone. Steady, steady…" the oldest of them, Rina, cautioned.
Within a few moments, they all saw the boys break off into two groups, with one team hurling snowballs at them, and the other team busying themselves with creating a fort.
"Alright, let's go!" whooped Nutha, getting ready to attack.
"No! Stand down! We have to do this strategically!" Kunik replied, firm yet gentle in her reproach, "Iluak, Musika, draw their fire. Rina, Umikei, you're with me. We're going to charge down the boys who are making fortifications. Heh, the poor sods. They should've been prepared. The rest of you, defend this position and wait for the order to attack."
With that, Iluak, Musika, Rina, Umikei and Kunik ran off into the snow fields to do battle.
"Aww, that's no fun!" grumbled Nutha sulkily.
Niyok tried to cheer up her older sister.
"We'll be attacking soon, Nutha. Don't worry."
From her place beside the barricade, Katara watched as the older girls did some damage to the boys. The ones who were trying to charge the girls' barricades were swarmed with snowballs. And from the looks of things, Rina, Umikei and Kunik had almost reached the fort.
Squinting her eyes, Katara could see Sokka beside the fort, quickly passing snowballs to Toryk so that the older boy could throw them at the incoming girls.
Suddenly, Nutha shouted.
"We've got boys!"
Just as Nutha had finished shouting her warning, Katara felt several snowballs crash down on her head from above, the frosty white snowflakes slithering down her face.
The impact was cold.
Beside her, Niyok squealed as the slushy snow trickled down her neck and into her clothes, soaking the furs around her neck and shoulders entirely.
"Aaagh! Brain freeze!"
"Hahahaha! Got ya!" Koko called from afar.
Even though they were some distance away, Katara heard the incredulous reactions of Rina and Kunik.
"Wait a minute?! How did this happen?! We're smarter than this!" Rina shrieked.
"Apparently not!" groaned Kunik.
Rina, Umikei and Kunik had been so focused on Toryk and Sokka that they failed to notice the rest of the boys reorganizing themselves into a blitzing formation for a quick raid on the girls' position.
"Alright girls, that's it! Let's get them!" yelled Nutha.
Breaking out from behind the cover of the barricades, the rest of the girls charged at the boys.
Snowballs flew everywhere, and the air was filled with joyful screams, shrieks, and laughter.
"Iluak! Status!" Rina called from somewhere.
"My throat and nose are full of snow!" Iluak shouted back.
"There are worse places for snow to get into, ya know," quipped Auka, a rowdy seventeen-year-old boy known for making crude jokes, "Such as…"
"Shut it, Auka!" snapped Ahna, his younger sister at fourteen years old. She hurled a snowball straight at his face, hitting him square on the nose.
Though the boys had gotten the advantage with their manoeuvre, with enough teamwork and determination, the girls regained control of the situation to the point where they could assert their dominance.
"Uh, I surrender! I surrender!" yelped Sharak, dropping his snowballs and raising his hands above his head as Nutha and Niyok approached him.
"Just because we're girls doesn't mean we're gonna take it easy on ya!" remarked Nutha before she nodded at Niyok, giving the signal to start pelting the poor boy with snowballs.
"Forget trying to surrender!" yelled Atka, the younger brother of Auka and Ahna at thirteen years old, "Run for your lives!"
"Oh, stop being so melodramatic!" laughed Putyuk as she cast her snowball and nailed Atka on the back of the head.
Katara paused to look around the battlefield, scanning the area for her chosen target.
She found the boy she was looking for and snuck around some snowdrifts. She was going to take him down from behind.
She kept her head down and crawled on all fours as she got into position, peeking her head up from the snowdrift behind her target.
He hadn't noticed her yet.
He would now.
Leaping up over the snowdrift with a cry, she half-ran, half-slid down the other side of the slope.
Her big brother, caught entirely unaware, was unprepared for the sudden impact of his little sister smashing into him, bowling both of them over on the downward slant of the snowbank.
"Oof!" Sokka gasped, winded from the tackling blow.
"Got you!" Katara chirped, giggling giddily with glee.
Somewhere in front, she heard Umikei shout over to her.
"Well done, Katara! Nice thinking!"
As Katara smiled back adorably at the teenager to acknowledge the compliment, Sokka tried to get out from under her by grabbing her parka with both hands and hauling her upside down overhead.
This only resulted in them tumbling all the way down to the bottom of the snowdrift, with Katara landing on top of Sokka.
"Not fair!" grumbled Sokka.
"Got you again!" laughed Katara.
Sokka frowned sulkily at his little sister, before her infectious delight got past his barriers and he too started to laugh.
Around them, the snowball fight drew to a close, the girls apparently triumphing over the boys. It seemed, from the sounds of things, that the other girls had decided to use Katara's tactic to take down the rest of the boys.
There were good-natured taunts, and graceful acknowledgements of defeat, along with a few compliments directed specifically at Katara, but she didn't care about that.
Right now, it was just her, and her brother.
And all the love they had for each other.
He hugged her, and she hugged him back tighter, never wanting to let go, never wanting this moment to end.
"I miss you," Sokka whispered into her ear, "I miss you so much, baby sister."
"I missed you too, big brother," she whispered back, her voice full of pure love and adoration for her older brother.
"No, Katara," Sokka replied sadly, his tone of voice growing ever more mournful, "I miss you. I miss you so much…"
Katara finally noticed that her brother's words were being delivered in the present tense.
"But I'm here," she answered back, confused and more than a little scared, "I'm home."
Sokka just looked at her pitifully.
Like she didn't understand.
And she didn't understand.
She didn't understand why he was looking at her like that, why he was saying those things.
She didn't understand what was going on and now she felt more afraid than ever.
"I'm home…" she said again, trying to sound confident, but only managing to sound even more scared than she already was.
"I'm home!" she cried out, more insistently this time, but she couldn't keep the quaver out of her voice.
Sokka's only response was to shake his head sadly and point at something behind her. As they were both flat on the ground, with her lying prone on top of her brother, she rolled off of him and onto her back to see what he was pointing at.
It was black snow.
The black snow was drifting down everywhere, in all directions. It came over the group of children, swarming down and around all of them so much that it blocked out their view of the village.
And within moments, they couldn't even see each other through the ashes.
Katara found that, to her horror, the ashes were making it impossible to breathe.
She tried calling out to her brother, to her friends, to anyone nearby who might've been able to help, but she choked and coughed on the bitter, black ashes.
She tried to scream, but she couldn't do that either.
As she kept on choking and coughing and suffocating in agony, she felt the air suddenly turn hot.
Hot, and dry.
The ashes stopped suffocating her, but now she was enshrouded by darkness, blind and scared.
Suddenly, she was no longer in the snow. She felt warm metal underneath her bare feet, far too warm for comfort.
There were no more ashes in the air anymore, and yet she still found it hard to breathe.
The hot, dry air was suffocating.
And then, her situation got worse.
There was a harsh flare of light as a flame burst into existence in front of her.
She went rigid and still, frozen in fear.
Several other flames blazed to life around her.
Blazed to life, in order to take hers away.
Monsters with vicious eyes materialized in the darkness. Their eyes, of a golden, amber colour, flared like embers rising off a flame.
She was terrified, so frightened and scared and terrified, and yet she still couldn't move. Still couldn't look away.
It wouldn't have mattered anyway.
There was nowhere for her to go in this cage.
A few agonizingly tense seconds passed, before the monsters moved as one and brought their fire forth.
The flames surged past the bars and engulfed her completely.
Above the roar of the raging fire, she could hear herself screaming.
Katara woke up screaming. Her screams of anguish tore through the prison, reverberating off the metal walls with overwhelming intensity.
She wanted to keep on screaming, and if she had the freedom to do so, she would have, but the guards and the other prisoners were already starting to react to her frightened outburst.
"Shut up! Shut up, scum!" a soldier snarled as he approached.
"Katara?" Tavaki called over from his cage.
"Katara, please calm yourself," Arihi murmured desperately.
The soldier stopped in front of Katara's cage, glowering fiercely at the child inside.
"You'd better shut up," growled the soldier, as several of his comrades joined him, "Or we'll really give you something to scream about."
Together, they brought up flames before themselves, levitating the fire above their hands.
Seeing this, Katara curled over into a ball on the cage floor. She clamped her hands over her mouth to stifle her screams, and began to cry instead.
She didn't want to be burned.
She didn't want to die.
"That's better. Much better," said one of the soldiers mockingly, "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"
"Feisty little bitch," another one sneered, "She cries almost as much as a baby."
"That's what the ice mutts teach their young," another soldier said, "To hide their savage, barbaric nature they have to appear vulnerable and civilized."
"Well, they got the vulnerable part down right," a fourth soldier spoke up, "Otherwise capturing all of their waterbenders wouldn't have been such a breeze."
Jeering laughter, raucous and harsh, erupted from the gathered soldiers.
Through her tears, Katara saw Arihi tense at these words. The older waterbender hunched over even more, her fists clenching at the not-so-subtle slight towards their tribe.
"Well, time to prep them all for feeding," said the leader, "Go and prepare their morning rations, Sadao."
One of the soldiers, a young man of average height and build, departed to carry out his task.
The prisoners assumed that the soldier in question was Sadao — it was practically impossible to be able to tell most guards apart from each other. Most of the guards wore the standard full-body armour of the Fire Nation military, complete with the face-concealing skull-like masks that haunted the prisoners in their dreams.
The watering guards lacked the bone-white helmets of terror and maliciousness that characterized the common Fire Nation soldier, yet that was of little comfort to the prisoners. They could see the blatant scorn and contempt written all over the guards' faces whenever it was time for them to be given water.
The guards hated them, and the only thing they hated more was giving water to them.
Because the prisoners were nothing in their eyes, and they deserved nothing.
Nothing, except torture and pain.
Eventually, the guard responsible for administering bread rations to the prisoners came along, tossing the usual meagre slice of bread into each cage before departing the cell block.
The prisoners ate quickly and quietly, all of them starved and ravenous with hunger.
Their haste was a good thing too, for the restraining guards soon came after breakfast to chain them up. And they weren't in the mood to be delayed by the prisoners' tiredness.
After they had been chained up and were waiting for the guards to come with their water rations, Sinaya whispered over to Katara.
"What happened, little one? Did you have a nightmare?"
Katara nodded shakily, still crying a little. The occasional hiccup escaped her, and she felt her body trembling uncontrollably.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sinaya prompted gently.
Katara shook her head.
No.
"It might help you if you do," the older waterbender advised.
"No thank you," Katara said quietly, faltering in anxious hesitation. She really didn't want to talk about what was bothering her, for fear of breaking down again. She really didn't want to test the guards' patience any time soon.
But a part of her was desperate, crazed with fear, frantic enough to the point where she could feel her mind starting to lose its grip on reality.
She fought against the urge to scream.
She would not break down over a nightmare. She would not lose herself to her fears.
She wouldn't.
She couldn't.
She managed to regain control of herself and spent the rest of the day in silence, miserable and forlorn.
The other prisoners watched her with concern, gazing upon her with worried eyes and a feeling of parental inadequacy.
Katara didn't move about much throughout the day, either. She just stuck to one corner of her cage and stayed there, hugging her legs, not moving unless it was time to get chained up in order to be given water.
She had a dreamless sleep that night, probably due to her body's fatigue.
She was grateful for that small modicum of mercy from the universe, though the trade-off for that was that she could feel herself struggling to sleep. She could feel herself struggling to breathe, with the hot, dry air choking and suffocating her. Her stifled breathing compromised the already sub-par quality of her sleep, and the resulting stress tortured her even in the pitch-black oblivion of unconsciousness.
She woke up the next morning, still tired and fatigued as always.
The guards gave them their usual morning rations of food and water, before leaving them to wither in the dry heat until lunchtime.
Katara wasn't the only one feeling sapped and drained of life.
There was a weak moan from somewhere down the fifth row of cages, followed by a dull thud as someone collapsed.
"Elenoa?" Sikota called out softly, anguished concern written all over her face.
"What happened?" Katara whispered over to her.
"Elenoa has collapsed," Sikota replied grimly.
"Is she dead?" Katara asked, now frightened.
"I can't say for sure," Sikota told the child, "Akari and Tahi are observing her, though. I'll let you know what has transpired after a few minutes."
Those few minutes felt like an eternity of agony for Katara.
No other prisoner had perished since Dimika had died, and despite everything, all the pain and horror and heartbreak, the child kept alive in herself a small hope that she and all the other surviving prisoners would make it out of the prison alive, together.
Now, she was cruelly reminded of the horrible reality they were trapped in.
Her distress must have been significantly noticeable because Uki presently commented on it.
"Breathe, child," the elder instructed, "Do not let your anxieties overwhelm and drown you. Let them wash over you, and flow away."
Katara did as she was told and took in a deep breath.
Then another.
And another.
Soon enough, she had managed to calm her racing heart and settle her nerves.
Sikota whispered an update on Elenoa's status.
"She's alive, thank the spirits."
"Will she be alright?" Katara asked, still worried.
"It's just heat exhaustion," Sikota answered, "Under normal circumstances, yes, it would be bad. But it's almost time for us to be given food and water, so hopefully… hopefully she'll be alright."
Elenoa was alright, thankfully.
But her fainting spell had scared everyone.
The other prisoners' concern for her wellbeing and health had blossomed into outright terror, and their collective fear had done a number on their morale.
They were silent for the rest of the day. They spent the hours in silent prayer, and some of the younger adults in the cells closest to Elenoa stayed up late into the night, keeping a constant vigil over her.
The next day was only better by a little bit. Elenoa had regained some of her strength and vitality, but she was still relatively lethargic and weak. For most hours of the day, she sat in one corner of her cage, slumped against the bars, glassy eyes staring off into space, only moving when it was time to eat and drink. And when she moved, it looked like her limbs would give out under her any second while she crawled, and she might crash to the cage floor and lose consciousness all over again.
But thankfully she didn't.
After watching Elenoa crawl back to the corner of her cage to get some sleep, Katara breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. She saw Kaito quietly conversing with his mother. Malia was discussing something with Suluk and Sikota. Tavaki and Sinaya were practising waterbending movements by themselves. And Arihi was meditating intently, her eyes shut tight, and her shoulders undulating up and down as she took in heaving breaths.
Things were going as well as they could be right now.
A little while later, Sinaya spoke to her.
"Child, is it alright if I can ask you something?"
Katara nodded.
"Uh huh," she replied in a small voice.
Having gotten the child's permission, Sinaya continued, "I'm just asking, on behalf of Eramiha, who asked me to pass her question onto you, what are the defenses back home like nowadays?"
"Defenses?" Katara asked, bewildered, "As in weapons?"
"Not just weapons, but also protection," Sinaya clarified, "Like the walls. Do we still have ice walls surrounding the perimeter of the village?"
"Oh, yeah, we still have the ice walls," Katara answered, now understanding.
"And yes, we should also talk about the weapons," Sinaya continued, "Have they changed much? Do they still use clubs and spears and machetes and boomerangs? Or have they come up with something more advanced, or more powerful?"
Katara shook her head.
"No. We still use the same weapons that the warriors used back when you were still part of the tribe."
"I see," murmured Sinaya, before turning to Tulok to pass on the message back to Eramiha.
A short while later, Sinaya spoke to Katara again.
"Eramiha says thank you for the information."
"But what good will that information be to her?" Katara asked, growing increasingly distressed, "We're all stuck here."
"That doesn't mean we can't think, or plan," answered Sinaya, "Katara, it's always good to keep your mind busy, every day. Think about something. Anything. It can be about home, or waterbending, or food, or animals. Anything. Thinking and using your mind will keep you sane here. It will keep you grounded."
Katara wasn't sure if keeping herself sane was the best course of action anymore.
Sometimes it felt easier just to forget, and let herself go. Let go of what little she still cared about.
It was so tempting to just withdraw into the dark recesses of her mind, and just not care anymore. To just give up. To pay no mind to the other waterbenders imprisoned here and just focus on dying as quickly and as painlessly as she could.
Maybe throw her bread rations out of the cage and into the abyss, or feed them to the rats. Maybe then the rats would stop biting at her bare feet.
Reduce the amount of water she drank — even more?
It would be possible. She'd just need to drink smaller amounts from the cup.
She'd suffer more, yes. She'd put herself through more pain and agony by doing this, yes. But at least she would die quicker. And that way, her suffering would finally be over.
But then she'd remember how the other prisoners would look at her, latent hope shining in their eyes despite the pain, the suffering, and the despair.
It was the same kind of looks that the rest of the tribe had given her, back home, despite the ever-present atmosphere of regret and sadness that seemed to affect everyone but the children.
She was the last Southern waterbender.
A hope for her people.
A seed of new life, new faith, and new hope.
A light to save them from the darkness.
And that's when she would remember her purpose.
She was the last waterbender born to the Southern Water Tribe, but she would not die as the final one.
She and the other prisoners would get out of here.
They had to.
They had to, because the only other alternative was to stay locked up in this prison forever, and that was a prospect that was far too frightening and depressing to think about.
Sikota spoke quietly to her one day, out of the blue.
"Katara, Akari has a question for you," the older waterbender said, "If you can still remember, what are the kinds of food that our tribe eat nowadays? Are there still enough sea life to sustain the village?"
Katara thought back to her last few days in the South Pole. From what she had seen, there was no shortage of sea life for the villagers to catch. What really posed the biggest issue however, was the lack of properly trained waterbenders.
Waterbenders could help speed up the entire fishing process, manipulating sections of the ocean where schools of fishes swarmed heavily in great numbers, forcing them into the fishing nets cast over the side of the boats.
But aside from Katara, there were no other waterbenders to help out with this task, and Katara herself was far too young to be involved in such a heavily demanding assignment. Not to mention the fact that she was entirely untrained.
"There's still plenty of fish, and octopus, and squid," Katara answered, "But having only nonbenders do the fishing means that we aren't as efficient as we can be."
Katara felt a little bit of pride rise within her when she spoke of efficiency. Sokka had taught her about the concept just recently, and she was pleasantly surprised that she had remembered her brother's lessons about the fact.
"Well, at least the Fire Nation didn't ruin our ecosystem," Sikota remarked, before turning to speak to Akari.
Katara remembered the lesson her mother gave her on how important it was that their tribe didn't over-hunt, and also recalled the various angry conversations she had heard amongst the men when they had returned empty-handed from week-long fishing trips.
The Fire Nation takes everything. All of our waterbenders. All of our valuables. Even all the fish in the sea.
When Katara had asked her father what exactly the Fire Nation would do with their fish, her father bitterly replied that it would be sold to the closest Earth Kingdom settlements.
The Fire Nation, not content with their own privilege and wealth, were all too happy and willing to steal from the livelihoods of other nations to increase their own already-bountiful prosperity.
It was completely and utterly dishonourable.
Before Katara had a chance to dwell too long on these other injustices, Sikota addressed another question at her.
"Just to satisfy my curiosity, little one, I have a question of my own. Akari's favorite fish to eat is mackerel. Mine is cod. What is yours?"
Katara thought for a bit, then answered, "Salmon."
"Well, that's a rare, but very rewarding treat," Sikota commented, grateful and intrigued at the young girl's answer.
There weren't any more questions after that, so Katara just turned her mind to her own thoughts about home, trying to ignore the ceaseless aching throughout her body.
The rest of the day passed by slowly in a haze of agony. She was barely conscious during feeding and drinking times, with the chains restraining her arms in place being the only factor in keeping her from passing out whilst she waited for the guards to give her water.
When it was time to sleep, she drifted off after only a little while.
She was running.
She was running hard, and running fast. Her heart pounded against her ribcage, and she felt her chest heaving for breath.
She felt an overwhelming sense of urgency, and she struggled to recall why.
But instinctively, she still ran.
Over the snow drifts, past tents and igloos, leaping over little ditches, and racing past other tribe members scattering in all directions, until she reached one particular igloo.
Ducking inside, she came face to face with the source of her instinctive dread.
"Mom!"
The horrible memory replayed itself yet again.
"Just let her go, and I'll give you the information you want!" her mother cried to the leader of the raiders.
"You heard your mother," the raider addressed her, snarling, "Get out of here!"
"Mom, I'm scared," she whimpered.
"Go find your Dad, sweetie," her mother reassured her, brave and strong, "I'll handle this."
She doesn't waste time in this version of events.
She knows what will happen. Sokka will come racing towards the entrance of the igloo and tell her to wait outside while he goes for help.
Indeed, he does come racing, as she knew he would.
But Katara doesn't stop to give him time to speak or think.
She searches around for a nearby adult, someone grown up and capable of actually helping her mother.
She spots several of her mother's friends, fleeing from firebenders, some trying to shield their own children from the Fire Nation's horrific brutality.
It's a futile effort, as several more firebenders box them in and corner them up against an igloo. There is a concentrated blast of fire, and a chorus of horrified, agonized screams.
Then, there is nothing left but ashes scattering in the breeze, where mothers and their children once stood.
Katara bites back her own frightened scream and continues running.
She sees flaming mayhem and bloody havoc wherever she goes.
Elders, frail and slow, are straightforward targets for merciless soldiers. They go down the easiest.
Katara frantically looks for her Gran-Gran.
She can't find her anywhere.
Maybe she's already dead.
She looks for her father's friends — the tribe's best warriors and the top lieutenants.
She catches sight of Bato, bleeding out in the snow, a huge gash in his left flank, eyes open yet lifelessly still, the only signs of life in his body being the slightest of undulations in his chest.
Another lieutenant, a rugged man by the name of Runar, lay unmoving in the middle of a jagged circle of blood-stained snow, a spear sticking out of his chest.
Katara swallowed down a sob and forced herself to keep moving.
She saw so many of her fellow tribe members fight in vain for their lives, others trying to flee futilely to safety, all of their efforts ending up for nought as wave after wave of Fire Nation soldiers crashed down brutally on top of them.
Her tribe was drowning in a sea of red, a sea that roared with scorching flames and the din of metallic armour and weapons.
She watched in frightened horror as the rest of her tribespeople dissolved to ashes around her.
Her father, fighting off a firebender soldier, was blown to soot and dust by a powerful fireball, the blackened particles flying off in the polar wind.
She saw her brother next, both of them locking their eyes directly upon one another. He tried to reach out to her, tried to get to her in time, but he disintegrated after only taking two strides towards her.
There was a bright flash of burning light from behind her, and terror ripped through her heart.
But even cringing, with her eyes shut tight, she forced herself to turn around. And she forced herself to open her eyes.
Fire Nation solders surrounded her. The non-benders raised swords and spears and knives in her direction, and the firebenders, all at once, simultaneously sparked fireballs that were suspended idly over their palms.
They were going to kill her again.
But before she could even think about screaming, she was yanked back by her parka, rough pairs of hands sharply seizing her shoulders and shackling her wrists.
Then, she was no longer in the snow.
She was now back in the cage again, staring helplessly as her home burned to the ground.
Before she could even process what had just happened, the hull door rose up and locked shut, sealing her away from the outside world.
In the darkness, the amber eyes of skull-faced demons glowered fiercely in the firelight.
And her scream was drowned out by the roars of incoming flames.
She woke up with an intense and all-consuming desire to scream.
But terror and previous experience made her hold her tongue.
The stifling, suffocating heat was unbearable, and to even just weakly writhe in discomfort sapped more energy from her than she would have thought possible.
She tried not to think of how long she would still have to wait until her next drink.
The moon still hung high in the night sky.
Spending the next few hours dwelling on her utmost primal urge, her base desire to drink and swig and gulp down as much water as she could manage, would only cause her to lose her sanity. Or rather, what was left of it.
Water was all she could think about. She was sure it was the same for the others as well.
Just the simple action of downing a cup of water and quenching this burning thirst was a fantasy that was sorely sought after, but remained unattainable. A dream that was cruelly out of reach. The memory of doing such a simple and mundane everyday action months ago now became another silent taunt to her, making her eyes sting with unshed tears that threatened to fall.
Don't think. Don't think. Don't think.
In a desperate attempt to accomplish this objective, she looked around at the surroundings outside her cage, trying to analyse or focus on something, anything, to distract herself from the distressing thoughts that were swamping her mind.
Some piping on the far wall. A few rats scurrying along the walkway. The moon far above the barred windows in the ceiling.
Her fellow waterbenders in their cages.
She gazed at each of them, studying their faces. Somehow, even after all this time, she was still learning more and more about how they reacted to the everyday routine, the hopeless situation around them.
Although Sinaya and Tavaki weren't related by blood, they were close. Like surrogate siblings, or perhaps even lovers. Sinaya was practical, going through the forms and motions of waterbending when she could. The lack of water and the torturous heat never stopped her from practising, whenever there were no guards around.
And whenever it looked like Sinaya was pushing herself too hard, Tavaki would calm her down and get her to relax with a few whispered words, and sometimes not even that. Sometimes, he would just give her a gaze, nurturing and empathetic, and that would be enough.
Sometimes, his gazes cheer Sinaya up when she's not at her best. When she's overwhelmed and despairing and brought low by the brutally bleak confines of their existence, all it takes is a look, a gaze from Tavaki to raise her spirits back up.
Yeah, maybe Tavaki and Sinaya were in love, after all…
Katara had only seen gazes like those shared between one other couple before.
Her parents.
She flicked her gaze to the other row, aiming to distract herself before memories of her mother and father drowned her in inescapable sorrow.
Sikota was hugging her knees, rocking slowly from side to side, her eyes closed. Akari was on her knees, pressing herself against the bars of her cage, gazing at Elenoa's cage. Elenoa was doing better now, her health having recovered to the point where she no longer trembled when she crawled. It was only a small improvement, but one that all the waterbenders were thankful for.
Malia was practising waterbending katas in her cage, while Suluk was quietly conversing with Sanita — probably recounting an old Water Tribe folk tale to her.
Patu and Tulok were also talking quietly to each other. Leilani was passing a message through to Ambo, who relayed her words to Arihi.
Katara wished she could hear what any of the conversations around her were all about. She was feeling rather isolated at this point. Though she rationalized her thoughts as tortured boredom, and the fact that all the whispered, secretive talks around her were probably for adults' ears only.
She turned her attention to her own row.
Ligaya and Kaito were as downcast as everyone else. Yet, the way mother and son gazed at each other, they seemed to find strength and comfort in each other's presence, even if they were cruelly out of arm's reach from one another.
Mayumi was still, the only signs of life the subtle shaking of her shoulders as she hugged her knees. She was probably crying, but no one else thought any less of her for it. She broke down the easiest, aside from Katara.
And then there was Uki.
Uki was asleep, and she looked more weary than usual. The deep lines that creased her face seemed more apparent nowadays, as if the perpetual stress had finally taken its toll on her. She was becoming less attentive, and her eyes had lost that little glimmer of conviction that had always been a source of strength to the other prisoners.
Katara decided to just let her sleep. The elder had done more than enough to earn a good night's rest, and the young waterbender didn't want to interrupt her mentor's recuperation.
Instead, she turned to the cage behind her.
"Tavaki?" she whispered, "Tavaki?"
The warrior stirred swiftly at the sound of her voice, in spite of her hushed tones. Such was his honed reflexes.
"Yes, child? What is it?" he inquired.
Katara looked down at the gap between their cages, before gazing up at a nearby grate in the ceiling.
The moon shone brightly through it.
She let out a tortured sigh.
"I…" Katara looked around, double checking to make sure there were no guards around, before continuing, "I just wanted to talk to you. Anyone, really. I just…"
"Wanted to break the heavy silence, didn't you?" Tavaki finished.
Katara nodded.
"I hate this," she muttered sadly, "I hate not being able to talk freely. Not being able to just… just…"
"Engage in normal conversation. To feel human," Tavaki finished again.
"Yes," Katara whimpered, her voice pitifully small, "Why do the guards not want us to talk whenever we want to? We're not going anywhere. Why do we have to be silent while they're around?"
"They don't want us to talk freely so that the chances of us communicating escape plans with each other, however unlikely that may be, remains as low as possible. Besides, we're not being silent for them," said Tavaki, "To them, we're nothing less than animals. We don't even have the right to be heard."
"But I'm not an animal," protested Katara tearfully, "I'm a person. And I hate being treated like this."
"I know," Tavaki murmured soothingly, "It's an injustice. But life isn't perfect, child. There will be good times, and there will be bad. There will be ups, and there will be downs. Sometimes it will be fair, and sometimes it will not. It's push and pull at work, like our own waterbending. And the sooner you master yourself despite whatever comes your way, the sooner you gain mastery over your mind. And when you gain mastery over your mind, you can practically accomplish anything."
Silence fell again after Tavaki's words. But it wasn't an oppressive and suffocating silence.
Finally, Katara spoke again.
"Can we accomplish getting out of here? Alive?" she whispered mournfully, fearful of what Tavaki's answer was going to be.
Tavaki pondered for several moments, deep in thought, before replying.
"The Fire Nation may have taken you away from your home. They may have taken you away from your family. They've certainly taken away your freedom, your dignity, even the clothes that proudly distinguish you as a member of the Southern Water Tribe. But they can never take away your name. Your identity. They can never take away who you are, Katara."
"But they can take away my life. Our lives," Katara responded in a pitiful voice. She still wasn't pacified by Tavaki's words. Despite their elegance and poise, they didn't offer much comfort to the little girl.
Tavaki could see that, and he knew he had to break his advice down further into simpler concepts in order for the young child to be able to grasp their meaning. Katara was slipping further into despair, and he had to restore whatever he could of what was left of her morale, for the sake of her wellbeing.
"Child," he began, "When things get too hard, when life gets unbearable and it seems like death is the only way out, tell yourself this: I am a waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. No matter what the Fire Nation does to me, they cannot take away who I am. They can break me, but they can never destroy me. Not truly. Remember that, child. And even if we die here, that will never change who we are, or the legacy that we leave behind. Even if we die, then that just means that we're finally free of this place. We may not see our family and friends again until they join us in the Spirit World, but we are free. Our spirits are free. And if it comes down to that, when we die, our spirits can finally soar."
This time, Tavaki could see that his words had left an impact on Katara. He could sense the young girl grappling with her existential dilemmas deep within her soul. Katara was stronger and more resilient than she thought herself to be, he observed with pride.
A short while later, both waterbenders were sprawled out on the floors of their cages, fast asleep, at peace with a broken world for now.
PUBLISHED ON = 04 / 02 / 2023