General Iroh of the Fire Nation stood on the deck of the ship that was headed back to his Nation. He had only been away from home for a month, but it seemed much longer as he sat through meeting after meeting as plans were being made for the Fire Nation's movements through the Earth Kingdom. His last stop had been a week at the Pohuai Stronghold from where he had sent a message to a Fire Nation camp in the far northwestern Earth Kingdom requesting a company of soldiers to be stationed there. Now, sailing east along the coast, he stood on the upper deck of the ship. His dark hair was pulled back from his receding hairline and tied into a tight topknot that barely moved in the light wind blowing over the deck. His long dark sideburns, however, gently swayed in the breeze while his amber eyes scanned the horizon ahead of them. Black smoke rising up from the land on the port side caught his eye, and as the ship drew more level with it, he could just make out fire blasts between the trees.
"That's Fire Nation," he said to Lieutenant Jee who was standing next to him. "I requested Captain Idem to take a company to the Pohuai Stronghold. It could be him and his men in the area. He may be in trouble." He turned to Jee. "Have Captain Maza get closer. I want to take a few soldiers ashore. I'm sure Admiral Jeong Jeong will understand the delay."
"Yes, General," Jee nodded before doing as requested.
Landing on the shore, Iroh rode his komodo rhino flanked by two Imperial Firebenders. He led a squad of soldiers towards the battle. Cautiously approaching the fire that could be seen through the trees, they rode up to what had once been a village but was now destroyed. Most of the buildings were on fire; the villagers were dead, and the surviving Fire Nation soldiers were gathering bodies to burn the remains. Spotting Captain Idem, Iroh dismounted from his rhino to walk up to him.
"What happened here, Captain Idem?"
"General Iroh," he said not expecting to see him. "It was just a Water Tribe. Nothing to worry about anymore."
"Nothing to worry about?" asked Iroh in a low voice. "Tell that to the families of our soldiers who will not be returning home alive."
"They seemed like an easy target, but the savages fought harder than I expected."
"It was not your mission to attack," said Iroh, struggling to control his anger. "You were to merely move your company to Pohuai."
"They were given a chance to surrender, General. I gave the order to kill every villager who fought back. None of them stood down, not even the women."
"This was just a civilian village, not a camp of warriors," argued Iroh looking around at the remains of men, women, and children. "It was completely unnecessary to attack it."
"If they had just surrendered this would not have happened."
"If you had just followed your orders this would not have happened!" yelled Iroh in a tone that reminded everyone who heard him that he was the Dragon of the West.
General Iroh severely reprimanded the captain for his actions, but there was not much more he could do. He knew it would be seen as an act of self-defense as the soldiers defended themselves from a barbaric Water Tribe that did not do as they were ordered.
Iroh climbed on his komodo rhino and slowly rode off by himself to look around. Not one villager surrendered, and it appeared to Iroh that not one villager survived, but not without taking out their share of Fire Nation soldiers. He was disgusted by the devastation and the loss of life, not just of his own people, but the people of this innocent village, especially the women and children, and he deeply regretted he had not been able to prevent it. He stopped his rhino, and after climbing down, he walked around to get a closer look at the remains. Lost in his thoughts as he walked among the smoldering ruins, he thought he heard a soft whimpering. He approached the burning remains of a building, and on the ground nearby lay a young woman; her throat had been cut, and her arms had been badly burned. Next to her lay a bloody sword. Despite her horrific death, her beauty did not go unnoticed by him. He could not help thinking that it was a waste that such a beautiful woman had been destroyed. His eyes were then drawn to the small figure of a little girl next to her pouring water over her cut throat. She was the source of the whimpering he heard. He walked up and stood over her. It would be easy to kill the girl; one quick slice with his knife would end her life and suffering. Any of the soldiers, had they found her, would have immediately put her to death. He looked at her; she could not have been much younger than his own nephew.
"This is something you should not see," he said as he knelt down next to her.
She looked up at him with beautiful green eyes the color of the sea. Tears had left streaks down her face as her skin had been blackened by the ash of the burning buildings. He wondered if her long curls were naturally black, or if they, too, were darkened by the soot. Her wrists and arms were covered in the blood of her mother whose wound she was trying to clean. There was a chain diadem embedded with precious gemstones around her mother's head. Iroh removed it and placed it around the girl's neck, and then he stood up and looked around. He stepped over a bow and empty quiver to move a broken beam from the smoldering remains, and then he picked up a partially burnt blanket nearby using it to cover her mother's body. He continued looking around until he found a large canvas bag, and after emptying out the contents he walked back over to the little girl still kneeling next to her mother, her little hand resting on top of the lifeless, burnt hand that was all that could be seen now.
"You must be very quiet," whispered Iroh. "Do you understand?"
The little girl nodded her head almost imperceptibly.
"I'm going to make sure no one hurts you."
He picked her up and carried her to his rhino where he held open the bag.
"Climb inside," he said, "and do not make any sound and do not move."
She did as he ordered crouching down in the bag. He tied it to the side of his rhino making sure there was an opening through which she could receive air. Suddenly, several of his soldiers appeared.
"General Iroh, we were looking for you."
He turned towards them. "I was looking around for survivors," he said in a low, unemotional voice.
"This village is a dump," said the soldier. "They had nothing of value."
"Considering the fight they put up, you'd think they'd have something valuable," said another soldier.
"Some consider their freedom most valuable," said General Iroh sadly as he regretted the massacre.
"At least it's one less Water Tribe," said the soldier.
"Is that how the Fire Nation is going to share its greatness with the world?" asked Iroh. "By killing everyone who is not of our Nation?"
The soldier did not respond.
"It looks like you may have found some things worth taking," said the first soldier looking curiously at the bag.
"It's worth nothing to you," said the general.
"Let's see what you got," said the soldier as he pulled out his knife and went to stick it in the bag.
Iroh grabbed the man's wrist but not before the knife pierced the bag.
"It's not your business what is in the bag," said Iroh deeply. He turned to another soldier. "Omu, take the company to Pohuai as per their original orders. Do not engage any civilians."
The Fire Nation company obeyed his command and left the Water village.
Iroh rode back to his Imperial Firebenders. "I want you and the others to return to the ship. Have Captain Maza set course for the northwestern campsite."
"Sir, what about you?" he asked.
"I'll meet you at the camp in about a week; I have business I need to take care of first."
"It would not be wise to leave you on your own, General Iroh, especially for so long. If anyone escaped here, they may go after you."
"I can take care of myself. I'll meet you at the camp. That's an order."
His soldiers reluctantly obeyed, and Iroh set out on his own in a different direction. He rode southeast for hours before stopping. Opening the bag, he saw the little girl crouched down inside. She did not move, and she was still quiet despite the blood that had run down her left arm from where the soldier's knife had cut her. Iroh was amazed that she had not made a sound after being sliced by the knife.
"You can come out now," he said.
She lifted her head and looked around the strange forest as she slowly stepped out of the bag.
"You must be thirsty." He offered her a canteen.
While she was drinking he knelt down next to her and began cleaning her wound. He glared at it feeling angry at the soldier who had inadvertently injured her.
"What is your name?" he asked her.
She did not say anything.
He pointed to himself. "I am Iroh." He pointed to her.
"Chiara," she said softly.
"Chiara," he repeated. "Such a beautiful name."
When he finished dressing her wound, he cleaned her arms removing the dried blood that had been her mother's. Once her arms were free of the blood, he returned to his komodo rhino. Pulling out food he sat next to her and allowed her to eat, but she ate little. After resting for a short time he put her on top of his rhino, climbed on behind her, and they moved on.
They traveled for hours, and late that night, he decided to stop near a river and make camp until sunrise. After dismounting, Iroh pulled the little girl down before offering her water. After quenching their thirst, he walked her to the river. The moon was bright, but he still carried a lantern with him setting it on the rocks nearby, and he stood her in the river where he began cleaning her face.
"Let's see what color your hair is," he said as he began wetting her hair. "It looks like it's as black as the ash," he said holding it near the light.
Chiara saw blood on his lower arm from a wound he had sustained earlier when he moved the beam. She pointed to it. He looked at it before scooping up a handful of water to wash the blood away. She reached down scooping up water in her cupped hands and held it over his wound. His eyes grew wide as the water began to glow and the wound began to close. He was stunned as he looked closely at it in the firelight.
"You are a waterbender," he said, impressed by her ability to heal.
He thought about her pouring water on her mother's wound, and it occurred to him that she had been trying to heal it. He unwrapped the bandage from her knife wound.
"Now yours," he said.
She looked puzzled. He sprinkled water over her wound and motioned for her to heal it. She moved her hand over it, the water glowing, but her wound did not change. Now Iroh was puzzled, and he wondered why her wound did not heal. He wrapped it up again.
After cleaning her up he began gathering sticks in order to build a fire. He laughed to himself as Chiara followed him around imitating him by gathering sticks too. Kneeling down near their camp, he arranged the sticks and leaves they had collected in a small pile before sending a little blast of fire into it. He gently laughed as she imitated him trying to make fire.
"I don't think you will be able to do that, little one. You have a much different gift."
He heated his rations, and they ate. After their small dinner, he folded a blanket and placed it on the ground where he had her lie down. He covered her with another blanket to keep her warm. As Chiara lay there listening to the sound of the crackling fire amid the chirping insects and occasional call of the distant cat owl, tears fell from her eyes as scenes of her mother's lifeless body came to her mind. Iroh heard her soft sniffles and suspected she was mourning her family, and he waited until she was silent and still before he lay down himself and eventually fell asleep.
--------------------------------------
As the sky was lighting up the next morning, the rising sun was drawing Iroh from his slumber. Glancing over at the other blankets he saw they were empty and Chiara gone. He quickly rose from his spot to look around, but he could not find her. Heading towards the river he finally spotted her near the water where she was carefully placing rocks on the ground in the shape of a circle. He slowly approached her, his eyes on the different sized rocks and pebbles laid out in an intricate design. He sat down nearby to watch her finish her arrangement. After setting the last rock in its place, she knelt down next to it. Iroh knelt down on one knee next to her.
"What is that?" he asked.
She touched the chain around her neck. "Mamma," she said with tears in her eyes.
He realized the design she made on the ground was a perfect replica of her mother's diadem. Iroh felt great sympathy for her, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her. The image of his wife Mina flashed before his eyes as well as the daughter they never had the chance to have. He was tempted to take her as his own child, but if anyone discovered she was a waterbender, he worried that her life would be in peril.
He packed up the camp, and they rode for another day, stopping again in the evening to sleep. It was on the third day of their journey that he found a road leading to an Earth Kingdom village. He spent the day stealthily scouting the area, and that night after another cleaning at the river near their camp, he brushed her long hair, and wrote a note. Early in the morning about an hour before sunrise the next day, he walked her towards the village and stood her in front of the door of the first house they came to.
"Be very quiet," he whispered in her ear. "These people will take good care of you." Or at least he hoped.
He placed the note in her hand and then he turned to leave.