Blazing Crystal

Black Flakes

"My story begins on a cold spring day... My brother and I were nine and my sister was eight. We were too young to know the horrors of war, but we heard stories from the elders of our tribe. The last time the Fire Nation came to our tribe was twenty years before we were born. They would usually come to imprison waterbenders, but overtime they took every waterbender we had and so the raids stopped. We were left alone for twenty years, allowed to live in peace and forget the bloodshed around us. However, that changed when word spread around about my sister...

"We all are pretty sure we know the man who told the Fire Nation about Katara... His name was Kota, and he had tried to get a group of followers to promote him as chief. He didn't like my father's methods in keeping our warriors centered at home. He wanted to be out destroying the enemy, and he felt the South Pole were cowards for not setting out to fight Fire Nation fleets. However, his three followers were no match for my father's supporters, and so Kota bitterly left the South Pole to go fight the Fire Nation on his own. He's the only man who left the South Pole in the time my sister discovered her abilities, so we're all pretty certain he told the Fire Nation about her out of spite."

Taking in a deep breath, I looked away from the fire and down at the dirt in deep thought.

"When the Fire Nation arrived on our shores six years ago, none of us were prepared for the violence that would occur. From the battle, we would lose ten of our strongest warriors... We would also lose my mom..."

The only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the fire. Shutting my eyes again, I told Zuko and Iroh the very thing I hadn't told another soul.

"Katara, Sokka, and I had been playing in the snow when the black flakes began to fall... I remember it as if it were yesterday..."

Sitting up in the snow, I pouted at my laughing brother. "Sokka!"

He giggled and held his hand out to me. Katara decided to join my side and picked up snow to pelt it at Sokka. She was shorter than Sokka and I, but stronger because of her waterbending. She was ready to toss snow at our brother who continued to giggle. She exclaimed, "I'm gonna get you, Sokka!"

Previously my brother had been chasing me through the snow, and he managed to catch up to me and shove me down. As he did so, my little sister Katara helped me out of cold mush, only for me to fall back in it. Sokka couldn't help but burst out into laughter, which was why I shouted at him.

"You two will never get me!" Sokka said, but still offered his hand to me. I took it and he helped me out of the snow. "You know I'm invincible!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right, Sokka." I bent down quickly and grabbed some snow tossing it at him. He covered his face with his hands, and snow decorated his gloves. In the process, Katara took her advantage and threw snow at the side of his head. He didn't have time to block that one. I beamed and exclaimed, "You're an easy target."

Katara giggled, and Sokka lowered his hands with his own pout. "Only when you two gang up on me!"

Just as Sokka was about to pick up more snow to fling at us, we stopped as black flakes drifted past our line of sight. Looking up at the sky, we were horrified to see dark clouds had begun to drift over us. We weren't sure what the black flakes meant, but when we heard the screams from the rest of the villagers we knew it couldn't be good. Men began to run past us, each one brandishing spears and other forms of weaponry. As they raced towards the ocean outside the tribe, the three of us looked at one another with horror.

"I'm going to join the fight," Sokka bravely said, racing away from us.

Katara looked terrified, knowing danger was headed our way. "I'm going to find Gran Gran... You go make sure mom's okay." She turned and raced off towards where the elders had been gathered earlier in the day. As she went her way, I ran towards our hut to go make sure mom was okay.