Ty Lee loved her friends.
Azula was always so brave, and talented in everything she did. She could count on Aluza to always be strong for the both of them, and to know what to do no matter the situation. Okay sure Azula could be a little rough sometimes, and could sometimes say things to her that made the corners of her eyes prickle with the beginnings of tears, but Ty Lee knew that it was just one of the ways Azula was looking out for her. Like that time she had confided in her friends about her secret dream of running away to join the circus, and Azula had laughed and began nicknaming her "circus freak." Ty Lee had cried into her pillow when she got home, but come the next day she understood that Azula had actually been helping her. If she'd told her sisters or parents about her dream she'd have received a much harsher punishment, and if it had gotten around the school her classmates would have taunted her about it forever. Azula had been teaching her an important lesson: that silly little fantasies belonged locked up in her head, and should never be told to anybody.
Mai was a little shy, but was loyal to a fault and had amazing aim. Her reserved nature balanced out with Ty Lee's usual bubbliness perfectly, and she was always willing to step in and help when people asked things of her that she felt too polite to refuse. Sometimes Ty Lee liked to hang out alone with Mai and relax after Azula led them off on a fun, but sometimes stressful, adventure. Not that they told Azula about these days of course: they didn't want her to feel left out.
Then there was Tanya.
Ty Lee was a little surprised when Azula had immediately taken a student with a commoner background under her wing, but she'd wholeheartedly approved. Tanya had such beautiful golden hair, and her serious attitude was adorable coming from someone so small and cute looking. The fierce pout that would cross her face every time someone mentioned how darling she looked in her uniform made Ty Lee want to squeal with glee. The fact that she was a genius who consistently scored perfect marks in every test they did, no matter what lesson, and was always happy to help her out with homework was icing on the cake.
But if she was being honest, Tanya scared her sometimes. She felt horrible for even thinking it, like she was some kind of traitor, but she couldn't help her thoughts. And she didn't mean fear in that uncomfortable sense she sometimes got when she couldn't do something Azula had asked her to do. No, she meant a fierce shiver that would run down her back and tell her to run away as fast as she could.
The first time it happened was during their first lesson on military strategy since Tanya enrolled. As General Iroh's siege of Ba Sing Se was the talk of the nation at the time their teacher had posed a hypothetical scenario to the class about how they would go about breaching the legendary walls. Most of the class had offered uninspired answers: siege towers, underground tunnels, or even firing soldiers over the wall via catapults. But when it was Tanya's turn the little blonde girl had launched into a twenty minute pitch on not just how to breach the walls, but also claim and hold the entire outer section of the city. She advocated sending raiding parties out across the surrounding lands to burn every village in the province to the ground: notably not killing anyone, but giving the survivors the barest amount of supplies necessary for them to make the journey to Ba Sing Se. By flooding the city with refugees, she reasoned, Ba Sing Se's government would be incapable of properly handling the logistics needed to provide them all with food and shelter, leading to a growing sense of discontentment as the city clogged up with people and more refugees turned to crime in order to survive. If an uprising didn't naturally occur within the six weeks, spies could be snuck in amongst the refugees with orders to burn the food stores. Once the uprising began many soldiers posted on the outer walls would have to be pulled back to help deal with it, leaving the wall undermanned for a mass incursion via siege ladders.
It was not the tactical genius that scared Ty Lee. It was the dispassionate, almost uncaring, way that Tanya spoke about both civilians and soldiers; how she referred to them as "human resources" rather than actual people. It was the glint in her eye when she talked about the "efficiency" of launching the assault in the middle of the uprising, massacring the guards when they were at their weakest. It was the ring of certainty in her voice when she finished delivering her pitch: as if she'd already tried a strategy like this before, and personally knew that it would be effective.
In lessons of history, etiquette, economics or anything else not applicable to war Tanya was a model pupil: diligent, hardworking and always successful. To be fair she was all of those things during lessons related to warfare too, but it was at those times that she seemed to really come alive in the worst sense of the word: grinning like a lion before cornered prey, and spouting out cruel diatribe about the other nations or advising ruthless, merciless strategies to attain victory. Ty Lee was not at all surprised when she found out that Tanya was in regular contact with a navy lieutenant who'd all but guaranteed her a position in his command. For all that Tanya liked to claim that she thought war was a senseless waste of resources, none of her classmates believed her, even though they were too afraid to say it to her face. Tanya was a natural born soldier. A natural born killer.
Yes, Ty Lee loved her friends. But when she closed her eyes and dreamed of running away to join the circus, she never envisioned her friends coming with her.
Peace and relaxation. Was there anything more beautiful?
Tanya had been surprised to receive an invitation to study at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. It was the top school in the nation, exclusively for the children of nobility, and not a place she would have had any chance of getting into were it not for the scholarship from the royal family. It was a rare opportunity that suited her goals perfectly, for the academy worked in partnership with the army to offer officer training to its students. Graduating would allow her to enter the navy at the rank of junior lieutenant, immediately giving her some level of authority and skipping the positions that were likely to put her directly in harm's way. It was only two ranks away from a captain, and four ranks away from her ultimate goal of becoming an admiral.
The reason for such a stroke of good fortune revealed itself on her first day, when Azula had approached her at the first opportunity and introduced Tanya to her friends. It would seem that Tanya really hadn't imagined that spark of friendship between them during her match. Poor Ozai. No doubt he'd patiently endured Azula's pestering for as long as he could before finally giving in to her demands, and pulled a few strings to have a place offered to Tanya. An act of such soft parenting would no doubt have the more traditional nobility tutting with disapproval.
Being friends with royalty certainly had its advantages though, and not just at opening new doors for her career. Tanya had been expecting that, in a school full of noble children, a commoner girl like her would be a ripe target for bullying. Instead most of the other students parted like the red sea wherever she walked, and treated her with unfaltering politeness, some even shaking at the knees whenever she stepped too close. Being best friends with royalty seemed to make her untouchable.
Tanya aced all of her lessons, scoring perfect marks on every test or challenge they presented to her. The honour of being top student used to be Azula's alone, but when Tanya arrived Azula had started studying harder than ever to match her, and once again Tanya felt pleased at the spark of friendly competition they shared. Yet if she was being honest, Tanya was a little bored by most of her lessons. Subjects like history and etiquette were interesting, but the simple fact was that Tanya had already been to school before, and in time periods that had been considerably more advanced than this one. She knew of concepts that her teachers couldn't even dream of, and having to sit through lessons that she already knew quickly became tedious. It was selfish and entirely ungrateful to dismiss her peaceful education as boring when soldiers fighting on the battlefield would have given a limb to be where she was, but such was the curse of perspective. In a few years time, when she was forced into the war, she'd look back on these boring lessons with a fond smile.
More interesting was the time that Tanya got to spend with Azula and her other two friends, Ty Lee and Mai. Both were kind and friendly girls, and were always so eager to support Azula in whatever she said or did. That was true friendship right there. Sometimes Zuko would join in too, but most of the time he would avoid them whenever Tanya was around. Zuko acted very awkward in Tanya's presence: stuttering over his words, and looking away whenever she made eye contact. It wasn't long before Tanya came to an uncomfortable realisation about why this was.
Zuko had a crush on her. It was the only condition that matched all the symptoms he was displaying. Her inspiring words back at the tournament must have done too good a job at lifting his spirits, and now his feelings for her were leaving him confused whenever she was around. It was a disaster in so many ways. For one thing, although she now wore the body of a young girl, at heart Tanya was a middle-aged man. Having someone so young crushing on him, however unrequited, was an uncomfortable experience. For a second thing Mai seemed to have a bit of a crush on Zuko herself if she wasn't mistaken, and Tanya had no intention of getting involved in some kind of period drama love triangle rom-com. And for a third thing Zuko just wasn't her type. Unfortunately Tanya didn't know how to go about letting him down gently without breaking his little heart, and so did her best to act with respectful, albeit a little cold, formality when talking with him to avoid getting his hopes up.
There were some days when Azula invited her over to play privately, and the two of them usually spent their time sparring and practising firebending together. Considering that she was Azula's only firebender friend, not to mention the only one who could beat her, Tanya didn't mind these bouts at all. She even let Azula beat her every now and again, just to make sure she didn't get disheartened. Coincidentally on these days Prince Ozai would sometimes make an appearance, and had even invited her to stay for dinner a couple of times.
Tanya liked Ozai. He was a firm, commanding man who put a staggering amount of effort into his work, but always found time for his daughter's education. Unlike his warmongering brother, General Iroh, Ozai preferred to dedicate his time to the arts of politics and statecraft: a far more worthy profession in Tanya's opinion. At the same time though it was clear that he wasn't afraid to wage war or even step into combat himself when the situation demanded it, and firmly believed in the Fire Nation's aim of bringing order and prosperity to a soon-to-be unified world. During their meals Prince Ozai would quiz them about the state of the war, the history of the Fire Nation and a range of other patriotic subjects, as well as offer his own logical and well-reasoned opinions on strategy, philosophy and economics that Tanya often found herself agreeing with. His wording could be a little extreme at times, but the core of his beliefs was that rewards should only be given to those with the dedication, talent or power to earn them. A true capitalist.
The coming years were not kind to Azula or her father. There was one year when they received news that Lu Ten, the son of Prince Iroh, had died in battle, and that the siege of Ba Sing Se had been lifted. As if that wasn't bad enough Firelord Azulon passed away soon after, wisely proclaiming Ozai to be his successor on his deathbed, and mere days later Princess Ursa's life was claimed by a sudden illness. This string of tragedy in such short succession would have been enough to sour anyone's coronation, but both Ozai and Azula, dignified royalty to the end, bore their grief with stoicism, never allowing it to show on their faces so as not to worry their subjects. Tanya was reassured to know that Ozai was the sort of ruler who could remain strong in the face of tragedy, even if she did think it might be healthier for Azula to open up a bit more.
By contrast, Tanya positively flourished during her school years. Knowing most of the subject content just gave her more time to practice her firebending, and she was unashamed to boast that she was bloody good at it! Her flight technique had been honed to such a level that she could comfortably pull off moves she'd learn in her second life, and whether on the ground or in the sky she could annihilate pretty much anyone below master level in a fight. When her time to serve in the military finally came, Tanya was confident that she had done all she could to ensure her best chance at surviving.
Which was why, on the day of her 13th birthday, Tanya found herself standing in front of a full-length mirror, staring at the reflection of herself dressed in the black and red armour of the navy. It was embarrassing that she remained so damn short they'd had to commision a special set of miniature armour just for her, but she held out hope that she'd hit a growth spurt as her teenage years progressed. At least whoever made this armour for her had accepted her request to include a black and red peaked cap rather than the traditional metal helmet. Tanya had been awfully fond of this style of cap in her second life, and thought that the golden flame insignia printed on the front matched her hair rather nicely.
"Tanny! Don't go!" Ty Lee sobbed melodramatically, somehow managing to wrap Tanya in a hug without impaling herself on the spiked epaulettes of her uniform. "Make sure you write as often as you can, okay? In fact, write every day!"
"Yes, and do try not to get knocked overboard and drown." Azula said cooly, lounging across a nearby sofa. "After all the money father invested in you it'd be such a waste if you went and died too quickly."
Tanya chuckled at Azula's particular brand of dark humour. "I'll be fine. It'll just be a few years at sea, maybe the odd raid or two, and I'll make Admiral before you know it. Then I'll be back here again to draw up strategic plans with the war council, and we'll all be together again."
Mai huffed from where she stood against the wall. "I hope so. Dad's been lobbying to be appointed the governor of a city out in the colonies."
Why in the world Mai's dad would want to leave the safety of the homeland to rule over some dusty, rebel-filled city close to a warzone, Tanya did not understand. But then again Ukano never had been the most intelligent of men. "Let's hope that doesn't happen. At least Ty will still be here to keep you company Azula."
Maybe she was seeing things, but Ty Lee's smile seemed just a little bit tighter for a second. "That's right." She replied cheerfully. "So you better make sure you come home too."
Home, huh? She didn't really consider the high temple her home, but in a broader sense she did feel the love one felt for their homeland here in the Fire Nation. She had people here that she loved and respected, and the thought of stepping foot off her native soil brought with it an unexpected sense of melancholy. Yes, the Fire Nation was a country she was surprised to find she was a little proud to represent, even if she did think the war it was waging against the rest of the world was a waste of resources.
A knock at the door signalled it was time to go, and after one last hug to each of her friends, Tanya opened it and followed the soldier waiting outside. They led her out of the royal palace and through the maze-like streets of Capital City, until at last they reached the port. Waiting in one of the wharves was a hulking mass of black metal, expertly shaped into a sleek and seaworthy design by the progress of Fire Nation engineering. Azulon's Revenge it was named, and waiting at the top of the gangplank, resplendent in his armour and flanked on either side by two elite troops, was a man that Tanya could not help but smile to see.
But now was the time for formality, and so as she reached the top of the gangplank Tanya struck a perfect salute, only allowing the slight curling at the corners of her mouth to convey her happiness. "Captain Zhao." She greeted him respectfully. "Junior Lieutenant Tanya reporting for duty."
"At ease lieutenant." Zhao replied, giving a short salute and a smile of his own. It really had been good of him to keep his word and have a place on his ship reserved for her after all this time. Keeping in contact with him had definitely paid off.
"What is our first assignment sir?" Tanya asked dutifully.
Zhao chuckled. "Eager for combat? Well you're in luck. Scouts have reported an Earth Kingdom military vessel trespassing in our waters. Orders are to intercept and destroy them with maximum prejudice." A wicked grin crossed his face. "I think it's the perfect opportunity to show me some of those techniques you've told me so much about."
Tanya couldn't hold back the grin of her own. "As you command, sir."
Postings at sea were the worst.
Anson stifled a yawn into his hand, keeping his bleary eyes fixed on the vast expanse of ocean ahead. He missed the feeling of good, solid rock and soil beneath his feet. Earth benders weren't meant to live atop this water nonsense.
Still orders were orders, and everyone had to do their part if they wanted any hope of repelling the Fire Nation from their shores. The idea that his hard work, however boring it could be sometimes, could save his daughter from growing up in a country owned by firebenders was all the motivation he needed to keep going.
He broke from his musings as a dark shape appeared on the far horizon. Quickly unfurling his spyglass, Anson's pulse began to quicken at what he saw.
"Fire National ship! Port side!" He shouted, and soon heard the alarm bells ringing and troops scurrying around into battle positions behind him. Just one ship? Good, it would be a fair fight then, and everyone knew that the Fire Nation never won in a fair fight. He kept his telescope fixed on the approaching threat as the captain came to stand beside him.
"Report." The captain commanded.
"One ship on the east horizon. Seems to be a cruiser."
"In range of our trebuchets?"
"Not yet, but it's approaching fast… wait, no it's coming to a stop."
Something wasn't right about this. The Fire Nation prized aggression in all things, and normally wouldn't hesitate to attack unless outnumbered. Why then had they stopped so far away when their weapons couldn't hope to reach them from there?
A flicker of bright orange light against the dull darkness of the iron ship caught his attention, and Anson immediately tracked it through his spyglass. "Sir, they've deployed something from the deck. It's rising rapidly.
The captain frowned. "Some kind of weapon?"
"I don't think so sir. It looks more like… a child?"
Yes, it was a child! A little girl, no older than ten judging by the size of her, with unusual golden hair and a military uniform. He'd heard stories about firebenders who could fly, but never so high or so fast. This one looked like she could challenge the airbenders of old.
"Give me that!" The captain muttered, grabbing the spyglass and fixing it on the strange flicker of light heading up into the sky. His frown hardened as he confirmed what Anson saw. "What on earth are they playing at, sending a kid into a warzone? Some kind of reconnaissance?"
"I don't think so. She's too high up for that."
They watched in uneasy silence as the little girl flew ever higher, coming to a stop directly above the ship. From so high up her hair and flames were mere pinpricks, as if one of the distant stars in the night's sky had decided to hang around into the day.
Suddenly that distant pinprick split into two, then three, the four. All of a sudden they were rapidly multiplying, and Anson didn't need to be a genius to figure out what was going on.
"She's firing at us!"
"Defensive positions! Protect our trebuchets!" The captain roared, and all across the deck soldiers raised shields of rocks and stone from strategically positioned pits to protect them from the rain of fire. Rain was an accurate statement, for each fireball was no bigger than a drop of rain, and would really do no more damage than a painful scorch mark on its own. They would have been nothing but a minor irritation if not for the sheer quantity with which they fell.
"Are the trebuchets unharmed?" Bellowed the captain. Looking around the deck, Anson could see that all of the siege engines remained unscathed. If the girl's intention had been to quickly remove those from the battle then she was naive for thinking it would be so easy.
"Sir! The Fire Nation ship!"
Anson looked back to the ocean, and indeed the Fire Nation cruiser was once again ploughing a path towards them. He could see soldiers in red armour scurrying around the black decks, readying trebuchets of their own. Damn it! Even if their heavy weaponry was unharmed, they couldn't load and fire it while the flaming rain was falling! They were pinned down! "How long is that brat going to keep this hellfire up?"
"Not much longer if I have anything to say about it!" The captain roared. "Shoot her down!"
At his command earthbenders across the ship punched forwards, sending rocks rocketing up into the air. Yet gravity was not on their side, and bled momentum from the projectiles the higher they climbed. Before long the rocks came tumbling back to the ocean, having failed miserably to reach the demon star above.
"Captain! The cruiser is in firing distance!"
All eyes turned back to the ocean, where a volley of barrels were being launched from the Fire Nation ship. Within seconds they collided against the deck, spreading wide puddles of black oil that soon caught alight from a drop of hellfire and burst into flames. Within moments a good quarter of the deck was awash with fire.
Yet the nightmare wasn't over yet. Already Anson could see huge round balls of coal being loaded into the trebuchets. "Sir! They're going to bombard us!"
The captain's eyes were wide with the beginnings of panic now, but through force of will he kept his voice steady. "All hands brace for impact!"
Soldiers scurried left and right, grabbing hold of the nearest railing they could find as the coal balls were lit and fired into the air. Each one caused the ship to rattle and screech as they hit, spreading yet more flames across the deck. Yet those weren't the only sounds. In between the heavy cracks Anson also heard metallic twangs and sharp, thudding impacts. Large harpoons fired from ballistae had sunk into their side, and the heavy chains attached to them now dragged the two ships together.
"They're going to board us!" Anson yelled.
The captain looked around, glaring hatefully at the damage done to his vessel, before firming his expression with grim resolve. "If that's how they want to play it then fine, let them come! We'll repel their first wave and then push back, counter-boarding their ship while they're licking their wounds. Form up men! Prepare for an assault.
Although still reeling from the brief bombardment, earth soldiers were nothing if not stubborn, and at the sound of their captain's voice pushed themselves forward on unsteady feet to rally at his side. Great swathes of rock and grit rolled forward like a wave, quenching many of the pools of flame as they formed into a barrier across the port side of the deck: a wall of stone that the fury of the firebenders would crash uselessly upon.
Yet something felt wrong. The air was too clear.
Anson looked up, barely realising that the rain of hellfire had ceased in time to see the demon child rapidly falling from above. Just as it seemed assured that she would crash into the waves the girl pulled up, rocketing across the water at such speed that she seemed like a blur of black and gold to his eyes. As she whizzed across the starboard side a sharp ribbon of flame lashed out at the soldier's turned backs, causing many to cry out in pain.
With perfect timing a battlecry resounded out from the Fire Nation cruiser as the first wave of red-clad soldiers jumped aboard, releasing fierce jets of flame at the earthen barricade. Most sections of the wall held steady, but the earthbenders who'd been most badly hurt by the blonde girl's flaming whip could not help but falter under the sudden pressure. Their sections of the barricade broke apart, letting waves of flame roll into the earthbender's ranks.
Chaos descended as the fire soldiers pushed forward, breaking the earth soldiers apart into smaller groups and dissolving the fighting into a frenzied melee. The earth soldiers struggled back, but too many disadvantages had been stacked up against them. With some pools of flame still scattered about the deck the fire soldiers had the option to attack from many angles rather than just the front, and there wasn't enough earth on the ship for the earth soldiers to defend themselves from so many angles quickly enough. One by one the patches of resistance faltered and faded before the unrelenting tide of fire.
Anson found himself alongside a ragtag group of remaining soldiers, one of the last holdouts of resistance aboard the deck. Bolt after bolt of fire came flying their way, each one breaking against stone in just the nick of time. The captain was nowhere in sight, lost somewhere in the onslaught, and with each passing second more and more firebenders converged on his position. A dreadful certainty settled in his gut, and Anson knew that all hope of victory was lost.
"I'd say it's about time to surrender now, don't you think?"
A voice, childishly high pitched yet twinged with a chilling glee, sounded behind him, and Anson came face to face with the blonde child as she touched down daintily upon the railing. In the light of the fires her yellow eyes shone like hot coals, burning with hateful glee as she observed the destruction. How could anyone smile the way she did in the face of all this death? Surely no child, no human born with even an ounce of love in their heart, could revel in this man-made hell?
The answer dawned on him with terrible certainty. This was no child. It must be one of those vengeful demon spirits in human form, here to dance in the misery and terror spread by the Fire Nation's conquest! He couldn't let this embodiment of evil reach his homeland! Couldn't let it's path of ruin and destruction reach his wife and daughter in Ba Sing Se! If this was to be his final hour, then let his last act be to take this monster down to the darkest pits of the spirit world with him!
"MONSTER!" He roared, pivoting on one heel and bringing a hammer of rock sweeping towards her head with all his fury. Yet the demon sped forward, slipping down and beneath his arm before it could connect.
Bam!
Anson felt an impact hit his chest with an unfamiliar echo, as if hearing it from very far away. All at once darkness seemed to be creeping into the edges of his vision, and the sounds of the battle around him became muted and fuzzy. Slowly he looked down, staring uncomprehendingly at the hand of a little girl touching his chest: smoking fingertips gently stroking the edges of the large hole she had just burnt through his chest.
Strange. He had always expected death by fire to feel like a burning agony. Instead he just felt cold and hollow, as if the soul had been ripped right out of him.
"You should have given up while you had the chance." The girl, the monster, whispered in his ear; a faint smirk playing on her lips. "But I'm glad you didn't."
She grabbed him by the shoulder, and the next thing Anson knew the world had flipped over itself as he threw him overboard. The last thing he saw was her turning her back on him, not even deigning to pay attention to his final moments, before the waves claimed him.
Captain Zhao flattered himself that he was not usually one to brag. But there were times where one deserved to boast, and this was definitely one such time!
He was a man touched by destiny. He'd known it ever since the day he'd found Wan Shi Tong's library, and the scroll that revealed the identity of the moon and ocean spirits within. He would someday obtain glory everlasting as Zhao the Moonslayer, the one who rid the world of the scourge of waterbending forever!
The only thing that stood between him and his destiny was power. Only an admiral had the authority to lead an invasion against the Northern Water Tribes on the scale that he needed, and as a captain he was still two ranks away from that lofty position. He had lied, betrayed and cheated to get this high up the ranks, but now it seemed that destiny had delivered the tool he needed to climb those final steps right into his lap.
He'd known Tanya would be something special ever since the day he saw her compete against Princess Azula. It had been a stroke of pure good fortune that he'd been the first one to meet her after she first demonstrated her firebending talents, and that he'd been able to sway her into his command so easily, yet even back then he hadn't fully realised just what a prodigy she would turn out to be. Not only was she a real firebending master at the age of thirteen, but one blessed with an incredible gift for flight, a tactical genius as efficient as it was cruel, and a close connection to the firelord's daughter. Firelord Ozai himself had sent private messages to him inquiring about Tanya's progress, making it clear that she was someone he had singled out from the common rabble as someone of great importance to the future of the Fire Nation.
And now that same rising star was bound to him. He was sure to be promoted to commander for the overwhelmingly successful capture of this Earth Nation vessel, and had Tanya to thank for it. He would continue to keep the girl close by his side, sharing her successes and promoting her in lockstep with his own ascension through the ranks. Some of his men were already calling her the Fairy of the Fire Nation because of her dainty appearance, and Zhao couldn't help but think the description was apt. On the wings of this fairy he would soar towards the bright destiny that awaited him!
Yes, he was without doubt the one chosen by destiny.
Down, down Anson sank into the depths, unable to muster enough strength to so much as twitch his fingers, or close his lips against the bubbles of air that escaped his lungs. It was so cold, so dark, and yet with each passing second distantly comfortable, like falling asleep. In his last moments Anson's thoughts turned to the family he was leaving behind at home, unprepared for the nightmare that was heading their way from across the sea, and his heart was gripped by fear and regret. Without thinking his lips began to move, chanting a silent prayer.
"Oh spirits, I pray to you for a better future for my daughter."
And as the darkness claimed him, Anson heard a voice, deep and ancient, ring out to him from the depths.
"Like an étoile in ballet, or a prima donna in opera, she will have an unbreakable will and a glittering destiny. For I have heard you, and by my will it shall be done."
Far across the sea, behind the great walls of Ba Sing Se, a beautiful woman dressed in the green of the earth kingdom gasped, suddenly stricken by a deep sadness. She did not know how she knew, but something in her heart told her that the worst had indeed come to pass. Her beloved husband was gone. He would never return home to hold her and their darling daughter together in his arms.
Without thinking her hands came together, and her thoughts coalesced into a whispered prayer on her lips.
"Oh spirits, I pray to you to protect my daughter. All I want is for her, the most precious thing my husband left behind in this world, to be protected!"
And in that moment she could swear that a voice, deep and ancient, whispered down to her from the sky.
"Swords will break before her, arrows will dodge her, fire will not reach her, and her wounds will heal. For I have heard you, and by my will it shall be done."
Upon the walls of Ba Sing Se a young girl stood, staring out at the horizon before her. Out in the distance, somewhere beneath the setting sun, the armies of the Fire Nation marched to war, carving death and destruction upon the land in their wake. Such wanton evil was sure to draw the one she sought, the devil she had sworn to hunt across the very reaches of time and space, like a shark to fresh blood. Yet the great walls built to protect the city she lived in caged her, trapping her from chasing her divine destiny.
If only she had been born an earthbender like her father. One powerful enough to join the military and fight back against the darkness. Then she would surely be able to find and defeat the devil once and for all. Unbidden, the words formed together on her lips into a quiet prayer.
"Oh lord, I pray to you to grant me the power I need to fight the devil."
And in that moment she could swear that a voice, deep and ancient, rumbled up to her from beneath the earth.
"Rock shall part at your passing. Stone shall shatter at your fury. Earth shall bend at your will."
"For I have heard you once again, my chosen one. And by my will it shall be done."