The outskirts residents rushed out of huts and igloos.
A horn blew in the distance, deep and haunting, and when they caught sight of the steamship, spitting out from the sea— sails patched with bone-white canvas and smoke puffing from its rusted pipes— everyone exploded into action.
Aman, the leader of the outskirts defense, led a group of water benders towards the shore.
"Work together! Form a wave and crash their boat before it reaches the shore!"
The benders lined up together in front of the buildings and began to move their arms harmonically, twisting their wrists in the flow of the ocean, and as they did, the water responded and soon, they conjured a large wave of water.
But, on the steamship, the pirates had benders of their own.
More ruthless, powerful water benders. When the giant wave came crashing on the ship, they all worked together and redirected it with a push of their hands.
The forceful wave struck the benders and Aman before they had time to even retaliate, sending them crashing on the ice and houses.
The steamship reached shore soon after. Its hull scraped the ice as it docked violently on the edges beyond the settlement, sending fractured waves over the coast.
Then, with a puff of thick smoke, the ship's bow opened like a fanged maw and unleashed pirates.
"Run!" someone yelled.
"Defend the outskirts!"
Mura had run into their hut and informed Atukka of the attack. Quickly, they hid Nala in a false thatched wall, and Attuka stood guard after the door, Mura behind him.
"Renji," she muttered. "Renji is still out there."
"He made his choice," Atukka growled. "You can not go out there "
Mura stayed quiet, but her heart continued to pound in fear for her son.
Outside, the pirates poured from the ship— brawny looters wielding rusted clubs, daggers, whips; cloaked figures with water-skins strapped to their hips, already bending the icy sea into weapons.
The attack began.
The pirates ran into houses, forcefully taking anything they deemed valuable. Children screamed. Elderly men and women scurried into corners with their meager belongings, only to be yanked out and thrown aside.
Aman and some waterbenders retaliated, but their bending was nothing compared to the practiced, cruel, and hungry techniques of the pirates' benders.
A woman hurled a wave to protect her son. It was shattered mid-air by a spinning blade of ice.
A boy tried to run with his satchel. He was tripped by a whip of water and kicked across the frozen ground.
This wasn't the first time this was happening. The outskirts were always an easy target for pirates.
They had no protection. That was the truth. The Great Wall of Ice was behind them, and the Frozen City was a distant savior that never came fast enough.
Because of this, pirates would evade seasonally, stealing from the easy prey and fleeting before Marines arrived from the Frozen City.
Today, they were just as ruthless, and they did not hesitate to kill anyone who fought back.
~ ☯ ~
A single, gentle flame flickered above Renji's index finger. He gazed at the flame, staring into the yellow within its red and orange, the hottest core of the flame.
Renji wasn't that good of a firebender. He was in the water tribe and there was no channel for him to learn how to firebend neither was there a reason.
But he had learned it anyway — at least the tiniest basics of it — from a bending tome that he had found in Atukka's table.
When Atukka found out Renji was using the book to learn firebending, he tore out the pages of firebending, shredded them into pieces and flung it into the river.
He refused to raise a fire bender, and in a community where everyone already disregarded him, Renji was also disregarded by the man supposed to be a father to him.
Renji turned off the fire. 'I don't know what Mom sees in him.'
He got up from his sitting position on the ground and sighed, the weight of guilt resting on him. 'I shouldn't have spoken to her like that.'
Renji wasn't one to raise his voice, especially at his mother. That was not to say he didn't get angry or frustrated, he just knew how to hide it all behind a friendly face.
But today, he had lost control. Perhaps Renji was a bit more frustrated and angry than he thought.
He kicked the snow, sending small balls of soft white sand flying. Then he turned around, "I have to go back and apologize."
But then, he saw a small drop of black dust fall on the snow before him. Renji's eyes narrowed, then widened. He knew what this meant.
"Mom," he whispered. "Nala."
Quickly, Renji darted down the mountain, heading back to the outskirts camp.
~ ☯ ~
Renji was late.
By the time he reached the village, chaos was everywhere.
There were cries and screams, blood sprayed on the icy ground and houses were crushed.
Renji jumped down from the low cliff and landed hard on the snowy path, feet sliding slightly as his boots met slush and cracked ice. His golden eyes scanned the chaos, darting from hut to hut.
"Mom!" he yelled. "Nala!"
A column of fire erupted from his palm as he blasted a pirate away from a fallen villager.
Not waiting to help the villager, Renji ran, ducking through collapsing huts as he headed for his own.
"Mom!"
Three pirates attacked him together, they bent ice out of the ground and aimed to send their daggers at him.
Renji leapt to the air and spun his foot, causing a burst of flame to follow the motion of his leg.
Their eyes widened.
"Heh? Did that water tribe boy just firebend?"
Before they got answers to their question, the flame struck them and pushed them backwards, landing harsh on buildings.
Renji leaped over them and continued running, leaping over more bodies— living and dead.
"Mom! Nala!" he yelled again, straining his vision in the chaos as he got closer to their hut.
But then he heard his mother's voice.
"Renji!"
Renji froze. His head snapped to the side.
There, he saw his mother, running towards him with relief and desperation in her eyes.
Renji felt a rush of relief as well, and he began to hurry towards her.
Shlick!
Mura stopped walking. Renji as well.
The crowd of people blocked his view, but when they got out of the way, he saw his mother on her knees.
There was blood staining her robes, and she used her hands to hold in the wound in her stomach.
A man stood over her— a pirate, not even a bender. Just a man with a dagger in his hand.
Renji's breath caught in his chest. His heart pounded harder and with a yell of fear he yelled, "Mom!!!"
Then fire exploded.
He launched himself forward in a wave of flame, eyes ablaze.
The three pirates before appeared in front of him once again, bending water into sickles and tendrils.
But Renji didn't stop running, he got closer and closer, his eyes burning with rage and heartbreak.
"Get out of my way!" he yelled.
The pirates lunged their watery attacks.
With a roar, Renji threw out his hands, and the water suddenly stopped.
He had not vaporized it with fire, but rather, he'd turned it to ice.
The water around him froze solid mid-air. The pirates froze too, confused, their expressions flickering from cocky to terrified.
Then, Renji pushed his hand forward and leaped above them at the same time.
They formed spikes, bursting outward in all directions, impaling each pirate in a perfect arc. Blood hit the snow.
Those who had seen what just happened were shocked and silent.
The firebender had bent water.
But Renji did not care about that. He barely even noticed it, he only ran and fell to his knees before his mother.
Then the horns came.
The Frozen City had sent its Sentinels. Metal boots marched down the gates as soldiers in frost-armored suits emerged from the mist.
Their bending was precise, swift, and powerful. They moved like a wave, pushing the pirates back.
"Let's go! Let's go!" the captain yelled. "Let's get out of here!"
The pirates scattered as they headed back to their steamship. However, Renji was yet to move.
He was cradling his mother, trying to stop the wound from bleeding but it refused.
"No. No no no no no," Renji held her softly and desperately. "Mom please… just stay awake, okay? I-I can help. The sentinels are here. Just hold on. Hold on!"
Mura's hand weakly found his cheek. Her eyes fluttered.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry for the life I gave you, Renji. I know I made everything difficult for you. I know."
"It doesn't matter," he sobbed. "I don't care about any of that any longer. I don't care how hard it was. I don't care if they hate me. As long as I have you… as long as I have you, then it's okay. So just please—don't go. Please, Mom… Please."
Her fingers traced his cheek. A faint smile.
"I love you, Renji. No matter what, never forget that. Trust it. I love you so much."
Her eyes closed.
"Mom?" Renji shook her. "No, no! Mom, please! Mom!"
He screamed madly.
The sound tore from his soul, shattering into the sky as everyone began to regroup from the mayhem and sentinels made arrests of the pirates they managed to catch.
Renji was numb now, only sneezing in as he stared at his mother's calm face of death.
Behind him, a Sentinel approached. Older, grizzled, with a fur-lined coat and sharp eyes. His boots crunched through the bloodied snow.
"You're the firebender, right?" he said flatly.
Renji didn't answer.
The man looked at the frozen spikes— four pirates, impaled. Still bleeding.
"Everyone says you did this. You're coming with us into the city."
Renji remained head down, eyes puffy, voice low and hollow. "What do you people want with me?"
The Sentinel scoffed and crossed his arms.
"What do we want? Kid, can't you tell?"
He nodded at the bodies. Then at the burned snow. The ice spears. The steam.
"You're the Avatar."