MAYA [Book 1 - Water]

Chapter 11 - Letters To Maya

Dear Maya,

By the time you are reading these letters, you must've been a grown woman already.

I won't make things complicated, so I'll just go straight to the point. The truth is, we are not one of them.

You and I, Maya, are stowaways. We belong to the Fire Nation.

I know this is very confusing, especially for you since you've probably lived most of your life as a water tribe girl, but I'm sorry. That's not who you are.

At first, I planned to keep this fact away from you forever, but my conscience is killing me, I thought to myself, how cruel of a mother I would be if I keep my daughter's true identity from her.

That's why I talked to Kanna and Kaya about this, I also wanted to come out clean to them. I couldn't lie anymore.

I told them the truth about where we came from, but not all things I told them were true.

Right now, Kanna and Kaya must have told you that I ran away because your grandfather and father wanted you gone, but that's not the truth.

First of all, they both don't know about your existence. The only people from the fire nation that knew about you was me, and two of my friends that helped me run away.

Why? Why did I run away?

That's because I wanted to keep you away from your father and his side of the family. Never shall you ever be raised in that godforsaken place.

Don't get it wrong Maya, I love your father, and I bet he would have loved you just as much as he loved me, but his mind has been corrupted by power.

I don't want you to grow up with the same mindset and ideology as him and his family. They are not a family born out of love, instead, they're a family born out of greed.

That's why I ran away. I never told your father about you so that he won't come looking for you, but I know he won't stop looking for the love of his life.

And that's the reason why I started writing these letters because I am planning to go back to the mainland. So long as I am alive, they will surely come looking for me, and once I'm found, they'll definitely know of your existence.

Once you're discovered, your father will definitely take you away and use you, corrupting your brain and your heart. I don't want that to happen.

So I planned to leave you here with Kanna and Kaya. They will take care of you and they will protect you.

I know I wouldn't be there for you during your times of growth. I know that you will be angry at me for leaving you but this was the only solution I could come up with.

I can't risk you being taken away or having this village taken over by the fire nation.

Katara, Sokka, Kaya, Hakoda, Kanna, and the other tribesmen are not your true family, but they are the best kind of people to look up to.

I am glad that you are able to grow up in a family filled with love and happiness. I hope you will never forget to be happy.