Chapter Text
“I’m going to find mom!”
The young Waterbender rushed to her family’s igloo, away from her older brother. She saw him run off in equal haste to go find the men as . Nothing else was on her mind. She ignored the taste of the black snow on her tongue, she ignored the roar of the encroaching Sea Ravens. She ignored everything in the world, save for getting to her mother as fast as her little legs could carry her.
“MOM!!”
The masked man did not face Katara as she entered, brushing past a curtain, a brutal sneer fixed on his wrinkled face, his gaze leering down on the Waterbender’s mother. It wasn’t enough to dissuade the Waterbender herself from defending her sweet, perfect mom, though.
“Just let her go,” Kya pleaded. “And I’ll give you the information you want.” She seemed less focused on Katara herself as much as placating the man as best she could. It was all she could do to defend herself.
Mom was in trouble. Dad wasn’t around to help.
This would all be up to her to save the day, Katara thought.
With no effort, no magnitude of the level the world would shift in response to this, Katara instinctively threw a puff of snow into the man’s face. Snow that was not thrown with her hands, but rather pushed off the ground by them.
“Get away from her!!” were the only words spoken, the anger of a child barely concealing the fear in her eyes. The devil in armor smirked as Katara’s mother could only widen her own gaze, her mouth parting in horror.
Kya had been prepared to fight for her little girl.
To die for her, if necessary.
She had not been prepared for Katara to fight back, let alone with her Waterbending.
This was her worst-case scenario.
It was certainly not the worst case scenario for Yon Rha. He smirked, as he turned to face the little girl, a foolish determination in her eyes. Such a meek little target would be utterly powerless to halt a fifty-five year old Firebender from catching his prey.
This pathetic tribe was best represented through this scared little child, the Southern Raider thought. Their own defenses, culture, all of it were completely at his mercy. They could do nothing to stop him.
His prize had been found, and like all the others, they would live or die to his whims. And as he slowly stepped toward his target, he found himself realizing one crucial thing.
Yon Rha enjoyed this sense of power.
Spirits knew he never felt it at home, under his tyrannical mother or with his grown children that barely spoke to him, after all.
“Katara, NO!!” were the only words Hadoka’s wife could shout, before the last Southern Waterbender was promptly knocked out by a swift blow to the back of her head.
The invader smiled, before picking up Katara’s limp body as though it were a bag of rice, slinging it over his shoulder as he smiled at the mother.
“You should count yourself lucky I don’t burn kids.”
Kya rushed at the Sea Raven, desperately. A simple whip of fire sent her clattering to the ground, her body going limp against the wall. Yon Rha scoffed once, before turning out of the igloo, setting the curtain alight without care or concern.
Did the Waterbender’s mother live, or die?
Hmph. The Sea Raven did not care to stick around and find out.
…But if she wasn’t already dead, would she remain a threat?
Yon Rha couldn’t stop the thought from crossing his mind as he marched back to the ship, girl in hand. The Tribals seemed too preoccupied in battle with his men to have even realized what had occurred.
Oh well. The woman didn’t exactly seem like the fighting type to begin with. This raid would be more than enough for Yon Rha to retire honorably from, and thereafter, any future Waterbender reports would simply be the next captain’s burned to bear.
Yon Rha was prepared to defy orders and kill, just to be safe. He had heard the tall tales of an escape attempt from some two-or-three decades ago, by a Waterbender on a full moon who ‘puppeteered’ a guard’s body.
Of course, those were just rumors. That guard was always the emotive type, the results of his trial, finding him guilty of treason and banishment had said. Most simply accepted the reasonable explanation provided from that tribunal, that the guard was a traitor and allowed the last living Waterbender outside due to some misplaced pity. The Southern Raider was skeptical of these beliefs, of course, but he couldn’t exactly say that some full moon puppetmaster was more realistic-sounding.
Besides, that Waterbender was a woman, too. She likely just used some kind of feminine charms on him, promising him a family if she could be freed, or the like.
What could a little girl do when locked in chains?
She couldn't Bend if her life depended on it, after all.
When Katara awoke, even before opening her eyes, something was off. Her clothes were too scratchy. She immediately felt herself, her hands tracing over her body.
Her hair was down - when did that happen? - and where was the snow? Where were her boots, her parka, her igloo?
She was not at home. She was not even in her clothes.
Oversized, baggy brown rags draped across the little girl’s body, as she reasoned that she had been transported to the belly of a steel beast. Most certainly a Fire Navy ship like the one outside home. It wasn’t wooden or nice like dad’s ship.
Katara saw the silhouette of two men outside the bars of her room - her cage - and noticed a pot of some kind of soup had been left for her. When the Waterbender took a hesitant sip, she frowned. The stew had been left in the cold for a while, it seemed.
Katara grimaced as she gulped it down. It wasn’t exactly as delectable as the five-flavor soup from back at home.
She spoke meekly to the guard, a nervous question. Her voice cracked, as if disused for a long time.
“...Where am I? Where’s mom?”
The guard scoffed, responding haughtily.
“Dunno ‘bout her. But as for yourself, little lady…” the Sea Raven, a distinctly male voice goading her, continued with practiced uncare. “You’re on the Southern Raiders flagship. And you, Waterbender, are headed to your nice, new, permanent home.”
The Waterbender in question stared with one-third curiosity, two-thirds fear, especially at the spiteful eruption of ‘Waterbender’ and ‘Permanent’ from his mouth. She could’ve sworn this man spat speckles of saliva as he spoke them, as though they were dirty words his mom couldn’t let him say. He was even spittier than Sokka, a particular still-childish facet of herself thought.
“...Permanent?” the Southern Chief’s daughter questioned.
“...Where?”
The bearded man turned to sneer at her as his eyes bore down upon the child.
“The Royal Dungeons of the Fire Nation. Apparently the Fire Lord wants you to stay in the palace personally… you should count yourself lucky.”
The man took one more step forward, as Katara flinched away from the cage in fear.
“After all, the rest of us were expectin’ Yon Rha to kill the Waterbender and be done with it. Guess you were just born lucky, huh?”
As the guard stepped away, the last Waterbender of the Southern Tribe exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding, her body instinctively scrunching inward on the floor, shivering as though she was back on the no-sun days in the throes of a blizzard.
For her whole life so far, she had thought Waterbending was a gift. She had practiced it with a smile on her face, ever since that first day when she had accidentally slapped Sokka with a snowbank.
But now, as she was who-knows-where in the sea, who-knows-how many days from being carted off to a ‘royal dungeon’ in the Fire Nation, Katara most certainly did not feel like she had been born lucky.