Fire and Blood

Worthless

"Aera!" Hamara demanded her attention, but she did not provide it. Marching into the town infirmary she licked her lips in cold and callous intent. "What do you intend to do, Aera?" the old woman called. "Aera!"
She stopped, swung 'round and shouted. "I just want to talk to them!"
"Aera, No!" Hamara fumed, letting sparks from her mouth. "No!" And she grabbed Aera's arm, yanking her back. "They will kill you."
"They can't fight, Hammy. Besides, I kicked their asses."
"That is beside the point, Ae—"
She rolled her eyes and kept on walking. She didn't have to listen to the useless worrying. As she swept past the front desk, the receptionist stood to protest, only to meet Aera's harsh eyes.
Behind, Hammy struggled to walk forward, only just being able to keep upright with the walking stick in her hand and cursing softly under her breath, small hints of smoke leaving her nostrils.
Walking quickly past all the rooms on either side of the corridor, Aera peered through keyholes and ajar doors in hastiness. She needed to find one of them. One of those bandits. She needed to know why they came. Yet, despite the current situation, Aera was less concerned with finding the criminals, but more concerned with as to why they weren't being treated as such.
They should be languishing slowly and painfully in some sort of cold prison cell beneath the town courthouse. But instead, the Mayor pardoned them, bypassing Judge Zhengi and the justice she represented. The Mayor thought himself benevolent. Aera took him for a fool.
A nurse came from a closed room from ahead, her face filled with disgust as she closed the door and locked it. Aera had forgotten her name, despite the close-knitness of their town, but when the nurse saw her, she scoffed and reopened the door.
"You can go in, Aera. He should've died anyway." And she walked into another room, acting as if nothing happened.
She gritted her teeth and stormed into the unlocked room, wondering which of the assailants she would find.
Ice head. The one which she had frozen his head in water. He lay there on a bed of straw, his head wrapped in bandages. Including his eyes.
With a jug of water on the bedside table, Area twirled her hand and bent the liquid into the man's covered face, drenching his bandages. But when she had splashed him, he made no sudden reaction, but merely groaned.
"Wake up!" she screamed. And the bandit twisted slightly, clearly roused from sleep. "Nod your head if you can hear me."
"I can hear you." The man could speak perfectly. For some reason she had assumed he couldn't. But that could not be paid mind to. There was something even more important.
"Why did you come here!?"
The room went silent.
"I have already told you people about a thousand times. We were sent."
"By whom?"
And he kept quiet.
"We were sent to get rid of the waterbender in your town. That's what I told your judge, and that's all I will say now." Aera flared up and ran to slap him  in the face, and he roared in pain.
Gripping his collar in her hands, she screamed in his face. "Who sent you! Tell me!" And he laughed.
Aera slammed her forehead into his face. He didn't need to live. He was worthless.
So she climbed onto his bed and began slamming fist after fist into every part of his head. After seconds of struggling, he had finally succumbed.  But she continued. Bruising and tearing the flesh of her knuckles. It pained her too, beating the defenceless man to death, but pained her even more when she thought about Meeka. The other waterbender. She had been twelve, but now she was gone.
"Aera!" Hamara scampered as she quickly could into the room, prying Aera off the man. He was bloody. As Hamara weakly grabbed her, Aera did not fight to finish him. Not while she began to cry.
Hamara let her fall to the ground, then let simple flames flicker in her palms. She rubbed her hands together, quelling the fire, then placed them on the man's face. She was healing him. Not like how a waterbender could, but in a firebender's small way. Area knew that Hamara's hands would be burning to touch, but all the same knew that they'd be soothing.
"My friend," Hamara treacherously whispered. "Who sent you?" The bandit coughed.
"His name is Captain Sion. B— But his orders... they were from a General."
Aera felt a wave of tears threaten her as her nose burned, and quietly walked slowly out of the man's room.
Feeling her finger with her fingers, she timidly crossed the corridor.
Meeka had been targeted. And so had she. Why did this happen? It felt like there was a feeling of hatred toward waterbenders. At first, when she thought they had been mere bandits, Aera guessed that is was silly racism like the kind in her daily life, but now... with the Fire Nation military....
Of course, she guessed that he could've been lying, but why would he do that? There was no reason to lie. Was there?
But nonetheless, she had believed him. She chose then to believe him.
Area pushed the glass entry doors open and exited the infirmary. The day was almost over.
Up ahead, above the rooves of facilites and homes she saw the giant paper floats of the twins, Korra and Aang. They were all smiling, their diverse colours of purples, blues, oranges, greys and greens in the breezy orangey-pink light of the setting sun.
Aera thought to herself as she walked barefoot through the town if anyone actually wanted to kill her for her racial difference then remembered where the lived. This was the same nation that exterminated an entire race of people for the sake of getting rid of the Avatar because he would've been a threat to the Firelord's throne.
So now... even after two centuries, what made such a thing any different? They came after the waterbenders in her town. Could it be that she was a threat?
The notion, though she always held it close to he heart, threatened her from within.
"I am royalty." she whispered. But in the first time in forever, they did not comfort of encourage her.