Chapter Text
My Nanay says we come from a place very different from the island we call home. She says that her Nanay, my Lola, came from a land far to the south. Where everything was covered in snow and ice, where the clothing was thick, the sky open, and the water endless. She says that there, the people had no cities, no real roads, nor any machines that could crawl across and shape the land. Instead there were sleds, buildings built out of stone and ice, and a people that were always willing to share a fire made from rocks instead of hands. She had never seen it herself, but could always feel it in her own Nanay's embrace. That there was a sort of… strangeness that came from her. Made her different than the other people on Ember Island.
I asked her once, when I was very small, why she was so strange. She had responded with, "My life does not burn like those of the Fire Nation, I am not made of embers and coal. I am of the currents and eddies that carry ships through the seas. My bones are made from the ice and stone that litter the waters, and my blood that of the water that flows throughout the world." She had cupped my face then, "You are like me little one. I see the ocean and the moon in you, be careful, for those here will not take kindly to it."
I never did fully understand what she meant, not until I was a few years older.
It was not the first time I was playing in the waves, nor would it be the last. But the tide was high and the current strong. The water had snaked its way around my knees and swept them out from under me. I fell into the damp sand and tried to push myself up, but wave after wave came crashing down on top of me. I didn't even have time to cry out as the water entrapped me, pulling me deeper and deeper into that blue abyss. I turned at one point, seeing the water surge over, about to finally drown me. When I raised my hand and the wave froze in place. The water held over me, churning and flowing like it was alive, but would not collapse. It felt… heavy, in my hand, and I turned my wrist slowly. Watching the water turn with it.
"NIKKA!"
My mother grabbed me out from under the wave and pulled me away, the water coming crashing down onto the sand below. I blinked a couple of times as she pulled me further up the shore. She sat me down on the blanket that we had been using to mark our spot on the beach and cupped my face. "Nikka! Are you alright, you were so deep! What have I told you about going too far out into the water? Its dangerous!" She looked over me once, worry etched deep into her forehead.
"I'm Ok Nanay," my hair had been plastered all over my face, water still dripping down the ends and onto her skirt. I had turned my head back to the water, feeling a strange push and pull that matched the tempo of the waves. I raised my hand again and just… held on, to a piece, and as the water receded a small stream remained. I turned back to my mother, excited, only to find fear in her face.
Gently, she took hold of my hand and lowered my wrist, standing up she said, "Come on, we need to go home."
I had frowned, "But I want to pull the water more."
The phrasing of my words only deepened hers, "I know anak, but I think there's something I need to discuss with your Tatay before you can keep playing with the water." Her words had confused me, would confuse me, for years to come. That night when they thought I was asleep I could hear my Nanay whispering fiercely to my Tatay. The two were arguing, but it wasn't angry. The worry she held in her face all day had carried over and spilled out onto my Tatay. I could hear him trying to assuage her fears, but it didn't seem like there was anything that could calm my Nanay down. Eventually a new voice joined them, Lola had stepped in at some point, her tone calm and soothing in a way my Tatay could not be. I could not hear them, and to this day I do now know what exactly to what came next. However, what I do know is this: when the sun rose the next day we started the process to move to a more secluded section of the island.
It took us a few months, and it took me away from the other young children that I was only just starting to befriend. However, the home we took up residence in was larger, it had a pond, and was buried in the forests closer to the hills. My Nanay told me we moved because this was closer to the school. My Tatay said that it would provide us more family time.
My Lola told me the truth… "What you did that day at the beach was something that has been passed down in our family for many generations. It is not common here, and could be dangerous if other people saw you do it. I will teach you how to use it, and teach you of our past and the histories tied with it. In return, you must promise me this my anak." She cupped my cheek with her weathered hand, "You cannot ever show anyone, what you are capable of. Not until you know that you are safe, and that you can trust them. Do you understand?" I didn't then, but I knew that what she was telling me was important, so I nodded anyways. "Thats my bunso."
"I have a question though, Lola."
She smiled at me, "Yes?"
"What is it called? What I can do?"
Her smile broadened, "Waterbending."
~*~
My Lola taught me much those first few years, how to sense the water, how to get in tune with it. Slowly I learned how to move it, separate drops from the whole, redirect a consistent flow. Simple things that would teach me the basics of what I would need to know in the future. She taught me under the light of the moon in the pond at the back of our home. As she taught me how to bend, she would tell me of her home at the South Pole and of her people- our people. The Southern Water Tribe. She told me of how the Waterbenders there could do amazing feats with the snow and ice that surrounded their home. How at one point they even beached a massive Fire Nation war ship by making the ice flow up from the ground and hoist the ship skywards.
I hung on her every word and listened with wide intent eyes with every story that she passed down onto me.
My Nanay and Tatay would sometimes come out to watch, soft smiles on their faces as my bending grew stronger and more controlled. The worry though, the one that had settled in my Nanay's face since that day at the beach, was ever present in their faces. After the lessons, and after they had thought I went to sleep I would hear them whisper to each other about whether it was safe even with the move. If they should be supporting what I was doing or if they should have me hide it. The argument would often go in circles, my Tatay, my Nanay, and my Lola all on different sides. However, it always ended the same way: to them, to stifle what I was anymore than they already were, would cause damage that they would never be able to repair.
So they took the risk, and kept teaching me.
When the sun rose I was told to hold back from bending as much as I could. We would still make our way into town, we still interacted with the other families, we still would go to the beach. But now there was always an air of caution, an undercurrent that even I knew was never meant to be brought to the surface. I learned to move, to pick apart the pieces of truth I could tell, and redirect a conversation if anything came too close. The teachings were the same, only they left me more isolated than before. Though I didn't mind that much. I had my family, I had my bending, that was enough at the time.
One day, towards the end of the day, I met a boy.
He saw me wading in the surf, trying to see if I could catch a fish with my bare hands. He came up to me just as I was about to grab it and asked, "Why are you doing that?" The fish slipped from my fingers and disappeared into deeper waters. I sighed heavily and turned to look at him, he repeated his question, "Why are you doing that?"
I placed my hands on my hips and simply said, "To see if I can."
He looked confused at first, a furrow forming between his brows as he stared at me, "Just because you can?" I nodded simply, "Why?"
I shrugged, "Don't you want to see if you can catch a fish?"
He made a face, "I can catch a fish!" I didn't believe him, and made a face that said as much, he pouted, "I can!"
I pointed to the water, "Then prove it." He looked determined and immediately bent lower in the water to try and do just that. The two of us trolled for fish for an undetermined amount of time, occasionally pointing out 'mistakes' that the other had made when we encountered the fish that would be our prey. At one point it turned into a splash fight as the 'mistakes' could not get our points across well enough after a while. Little did we know that we were delving deeper and deeper into the water. At one point we were practically swimming at the farthest point we could go, water up to our necks, our toes just barely grazing the sand below.
He was the first to notice and said, "I think we should swim back." I turned at that point and realized our mistake, nodding once before we both began to paddle back to shore. However, the current had other plans and despite every stroke we took, we were kept in our places. Fear began to overtake the both of us and he said, "We need to swim harder." I agreed and we tried to snake our way through the waves and the cresting waters back towards the beach. We used all of our energy to try and make our way back, and by that time people had begun to notice that we were stuck out in the deep. People started calling out to each other, and several others were pointing us out on the beach, but none were actually coming to our aid. I paddled my way over to the boy, intent on telling him that we needed to call for help. However, as I made my way over I noticed that the water was pulling us further out. I turned to see why and saw a massive wave that was beginning to build just behind us. I could hear someone call out to the two of us, a voice I did not recognize, and I swam much faster to try and get to the boy. I hadn't learned his name at this point, so I had no idea what to call him, I only knew that I had to get to him before the wave crested and we were swept away. I managed to get to him and grab hold of his hand just before the wave broke over us. The water pummeled us and I had to hold onto his hand for dear life if I didn't want him to get swept away.
Under the water we went, the current of the wave break churning us this way and that, keeping us from breaching the surface and taking in the air we so desperately needed. When I felt the current ebb for a moment I pulled on the hand that was entwined with mine to bring the boy closer, only knowing he was when I felt his body impact mine. I let go of his hand for only a second before wrapping my arm around his torso, then with my free hand I spiraled the water around us. Pulling on the current to surround him and I and then pushing us forward at a speed too fast for the rest of the ocean to catch us. We flew forwards through the current until we breached the surface, and only then did I let the current surrender us. We surfaced and gasped desperate breaths that filled our lungs with the life giving air that would save us. From there I held tight to the boy and swam us to the beach, where we landed on the cool sand with the softer waves breaking over us as people slowly surrounded us.
"Zuko!" I could hear someone call, and the boy was pulled away from me. As he was taken I rolled onto my back and took big gulping breaths of air into my lungs. Trying to keep the water from pulling me back in.
My Nanay came up and pulled me into her arms not long after, making tearful noises and worried sounds. My Tatay was right behind her, his strong hand taking my small one with low murmurings of how I would be alright, and that he would never let me out of his sight again. He wrapped me in a towel and pulled me into his arms, a place I knew where nothing terrifying could reach me, and they began to take me further up the beach.
"Wait!" Someone called out and I could feel my Tatay freeze in place. His body turned and I opened my eyes to see a woman, carrying the boy I had pulled from the water, making her way towards us. "Your daughter saved my son. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" I felt my father stiffen then, something chilling coming over him that I knew had nothing to do with the dampness of the towel I was wrapped in.
My Tatay's voice was calm as he spoke, "Nothing Princess Ursa, though I'm sure my daughter was unaware, it was a privilege to serve the crown in this way."
The name struck me as familiar, but I was too tired at the time to realize the gravity of the situation or the importance of the person I had just saved. "Please," said the Princess, "There must be something I can do to repay you." I glanced up and saw my Tatay turn to look at my Nanay, who looked equally as distressed.
"Truly Princess," and my Nanay bowed her head slightly, "We are honored that you would even address us this way. It was nothing I'm sure, nothing short of what anyone else would do."
I turned then to look at the Princess at question, she had a soft face and kind eyes, in her arms lay the boy I had saved. She bit her lip for a moment and then simply said, "I will find a way to repay you, I promise." And though the promise was made with good intent, it would be from that day on that I and my family's lives would be forever changed. I wouldn't know what it meant to save a prince of the Fire Nation that day, but in the days, the months, and the years that came after. I would never forget.