Avatar: The Last Airbender: Reawakening

1

11 years ago

Five year old Katara laid down in bed as her mother tucked her in for the night. They were inside their small hut in the Southern Watertribe. Her father, Hakoda, her older brother, Sokka, and her grandmother had to gone to bed already; laying a few feet away from where Katara's fur blanket that severed as her bed was located. Like most nights though, Katara and her mother, Kya, stayed up later then the other members of their family; mostly because Katara loved to hear bed time stories. It was a time of night that allowed daughter and mother to bond as Kya told Katara stories of her childhood.

Tonight, Kya had just finished telling the story about the last time the Fire Nation had been to the Southern Water Tribe and how Hakoda, a young boy at the time, had protected her. Normally, Kya didn't tell Katara stories that included the Fire Nation. She believed it best that her daughter grew up away from war and even though the Fire Nation had not attacked their tribe since Kya was just a little over Katara's age, Kya knew the harsh reality that the world was at war and the Fire Nation could strike again at any time. Because of this, she believed that she should expose her to children to stories about the Fire Nation every now and then to make them better prepared should the Fire Nation come again.

As Katara laid in bed, allowing her mother to pull a blanket over her, she reflected on the story she had just heard. She was surprised that the first time her mother had really met her father had been during a Fire Nation raid but that was not what was on her mind. The young girl looked up at her mother questionably "Mommy?"

"What is it sweetie?"

"Why did the Fire Nation start the war?" Katara asked, looking up to her mother for an answer.

Kya looked down at her daughter surprised by the question. Sure, she knew that the question was inevitable if she was going to tell stories that included the Fire Nation, but she wasn't expecting Katara to be asking that at only five years old. Sokka hadn't even asked something like that and he was a year and a half older than his sister. Then again, Kya thought, Katara always had been the more curious one. Sokka has always just accepted things for what they are, no questions asked.

"Well," Kya finally said as she thought about the right words to say to her daughter, "it's complicated...they just believed they had a right to."

"But why?" Katara asked again, "if the world was peaceful before, why would somebody want to start a war? Why wouldn't they just want to have peace?"

The mother sighed, "That is just how some people are, my dear. Some people want power and control and some people just believe that they are better than others," she explained, "no matter what the state of the world is at the time; there will always be that one person that just wants to make a mess of things. That one person that thinks they can rise up above everyone else. That is why the war started. It was just one person's desire to rule the world and unfortunately he was in charge of a nation that would obey his every word."

"I don't understand why someone would do that though," Katara stated, confused at her mother's explanation.

"It is just the way some people are Katara," Kya repeated, "that is all there is to it. It just starts with one person and then that person gains followers.

Katara looked away from her mother as she thought about what her mother had said.

"You don't have to worry about it though," Kya assured kissing her head, "the Fire Nation hasn't attacked the tribe for years. Not since the last Waterbender was taken away."

"But I'm a Waterbender. What if the Fire Nation comes back for me?" Katara said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"They won't," Kya declared, grabbing her daughters hand and squeezing it, "no one outside the tribe knows of your gift and it will stay that way. You have nothing to be afraid of."