Tenna

Two weeks had gone by since the six Earth Kingdom children were brought to the orphanage - minus the one that had been whisked away at the request of the master. Kozan continued to dwell on what he had seen that day. The ground cracking at the boy's footfall; he had heard the stories but he had never seen it for himself, so he didn't know what to think of it.

Whatever the case, the master seemed petrified by the instance. He made the new Earth children spend their entire first day in their quarters, which was nothing more than a shoddy shack just outside the orphanage's courtyard. It was one of four that stood as a reminder of the harsh treatment of the orphans who came from outside of the colonies.

When they were finally allowed out of their quarters, the Fire Nation children did not hesitate to begin the hazing process. It started with a series of mere taunts and, at its worst, derogatory slurs. Within days, the harassment had escalated to physicality, such as tripping them in the corridors. One of the orphans, a Fire Nation boy named Domu, who was about a year older than Kozan, would throw rocks at the new arrivals, yelling at them to "catch it with their minds!"

This continued for two weeks. It was obvious that the workers at the orphanage knew what was going on but elected to do nothing about it, whether out of fear of the master or their own prejudice, no one could tell. Kozan personally did not participate in the harassment of the Earth children. It was not because he didn't approve of it, but even at only 7-years-old, he had done his own share of bullying the natives and was bored of it at this point. Aside from that, something else was on his mind.

The only girl among the new batch of orphans seemed to go out of her way to avoid interacting with any of the children. She was rarely seen even walking with the other kids and separated herself from them during meals, and the only time she could be found out in the courtyards, Kozan noticed, was during the hours of dusk when everyone else had gone back inside. Kozan had watched her for a while. She would sit by herself at the foot of a large tree near the edge of the courtyard like she was trying to stay out of sight, and she only looked out at the distance as though deep in thought. It wasn't until a few days later that Kozan finally got up the nerve to approach her once he was sure that none of the other colony children were around to spot him.

As the sun began its descent over the sea to the west, the girl was sitting back against the tree as she always did. As Kozan approached her, he watched as she picked stones out of the ground, ran her fingers across them for a moment, and then threw them over the orphanage's wall as hard as she could. Kozan could not help but be impressed by the amount of strength she was putting behind each throw as the stones soared through the air. He doubted that even Domu could hurl them as far as she was.

"Nice throw!" Kozan complimented as she released another stone.

The girl jumped at the sound of his voice, her eyes going wide with terror as she fell back onto the ground. "Go away!" she cried.

"Don't be so jumpy," Kozan put his hands up to reassure her. "I'm not gonna do anything to you."

The girl just stared at him with eyes of distrust. "All you do is torment us!"

"I never did any of that stuff!" Kozan said defensively. "I'm not trying to be mean."

"Then what do you want?"

Kozan swallowed somewhat anxiously. "I really just wanted to ask you something." The girl just stared at him suspiciously from the ground, gripping a stone in her hand. Kozan knew what was going through her head. The native orphans had every reason to be scared of the Fire Nation children the way they treated them, yet as he looked down into her autumnal eyes, he almost wondered why he ever enjoyed it himself.

"My name's Kozan. What's yours?"

The girl hesitated, her eyes shifting as if she was trying to determine the right thing to say. She never released her grip on the rock, but pushed herself up off the ground as she answered him. "Tenna," she replied in a soft voice. "My name's Tenna."

Before Kozan could even get to what he wanted to ask, he heard the muffled sound of footsteps creeping up behind him. The look that came over the girl's face told him that their introduction was about to come to a bitter end.

"What are you doing, Kozan?" Domu's voice called out. "Are you actually talking to that thing?"

Kozan turned to face him. He was accompanied by two other boys who always seemed to follow his orders without question when it came to harassing the native orphans. The arrogant expression on his face told Kozan that he was only here to cause more trouble.

"You know they're the enemy, right?" Domu continued to taunt.

"What are you talking about?" Kozan responded. "They're kids like us."

"Like us? Are you kidding me? They're primitives who play with rocks all day!" Domu said in an obvious jab at Tenna, who just sat motionless on the ground with her eyes on everyone.

"Why don't you just go away?" Kozan blurted out. For a second, he could not believe what he was saying. Defending an Earth Kingdom child, he thought to himself. What had come over him? "Don't you think they've had enough?"

"You're going soft, Kozan! That should make you a traitor." The other boys with him laughed as if on cue, but that was enough for Kozan's blood to boil as he lunged forward and shoved Domu with all his strength.

Domu was caught off guard as he stumbled back and tripped onto the ground. His cronies were left speechless. Domu's jaw dropped, scrambling to his feet as he grabbed Kozan by the shoulders, hissing in anger. Kozan grabbed hold of him as the two wrestled around for a moment. Domu yelled at the other boys, who finally got the hint to pull Kozan away from him.

Kozan flailed about as they held him firm by the arms. Domu threw a furious punch into his stomach. Kozan had the breath knocked out of him as he struggled weakly, but it didn't stop Domu from hitting him again.

"Maybe the master would like to know that you're a troublemaker, too," Domu growled as he lifted Kozan's head to look at him. Kozan clenched his eyes as Domu raised his fist to his face, but before he could throw his attack, he was struck hard in the back of the head.

Domu cried out in shock as he whipped around to see Tenna on her feet, the rock gone from her hand. Domu ran a hand across the back of his head and observed it to find a little bit of blood on his fingers. He didn't know what to think. No Earth Kingdom child ever had the guts to stand up to one of them before. Even his cronies were taken aback as they loosened their grips on Kozan's arms.

Kozan ripped himself away from them and wrapped an arm around Domu's neck, pulling him back to trip him onto the ground. Domu's face had gone pale with disbelief. "I'm telling the master! Do you hear me?!"

"What are you gonna tell him?" Kozan jeered. "That you got beat by an Earth Kingdom girl?"

The other two boys reached down to help Domu to his feet, but he just shook them off and hurried back to the orphanage. "You're gonna regret this!"

As he watched them disappear back inside, Kozan wasn't sure if the ominous sensation in his gut was coming from Domu's punches or his words. He had no idea what had just come over him. Kozan was no stranger to the prejudice against the Earth Kingdom people that existed in the colonies, but he felt as though he had forgotten all about it just now.

"Thank you," Tenna's soft voice spoke up behind him. As Kozan turned to face her, she no longer seemed to be intimidated by him. "No one's ever stood up for me like that."

"It was nothing." Kozan was finding it difficult to meet her gaze. "I just don't like him. Domu thinks he's the leader of this place."

"But do you think he'll really go to the master about this?"

"I don't know," Kozan muttered. "I think he's all talk. He's just as afraid of the master as any of us."

"I didn't want to cause any trouble," Tenna responded. "I don't want to be taken away like that other boy was."

Kozan suddenly remembered why he had come out here in the first place. "Don't worry, I don't think the master would do that."

"Why not?"

His legs still limp from his encounter with Domu, Kozan sat down against the tree. "That's actually what I wanted to ask you."

"Ask me what?" Tenna said as she sat down beside him.

"Do you-" he stammered as he tried to find the right words to say. "I mean, is it true? Did he cause the ground to crack on his own?"

The question seemed to make Tenna tremble as she thought back to that moment. "My people call it earthbending."

Kozan's eyes lit up. "I knew it! But I thought it was just a myth."

"No, it's real," Tenna replied. "Doesn't your culture have bending, too?"

"We have firebending," Kozan nodded. "But I've never seen it for myself."

Tenna appeared confused. "Aren't you a firebender?"

"No. None of the children here are. In fact, there are no firebenders in this colony at all. They're all taken away to join the Fire Nation army."

"I didn't know that. My people always said that all Fire Nation citizens were benders."

"Well, it's not true," Kozan said, somewhat offended by that assumption. "I've always wished I could throw fire like in the stories I've heard."

Tenna's eyes suddenly fell. "I've seen it," she said in a low voice that sounded laden with tears.

"What do you mean?"

Tenna took a deep breath. "My village was burned to the ground by firebenders. I lost my entire family. That's why I was brought here."

Kozan felt a cold sensation crawl beneath his skin at the sound of her lament. "I'm sorry. I don't know much about the things that are going on outside of the colonies. The only things I know are what I read about in the library."

Tenna's eyes darted back to him. "There's a library here??"

"Yes," Kozan replied rather sheepishly, "but Earth Kingdom children aren't allowed in there. Master's rules."

"Oh," Tenna's heart sank again. "My parents had a collection of books about the cultures of the world. My grandfather used to tell me stories about how they were taken from an ancient library somewhere in the desert. I used to spend hours reading them, but the firebenders came and destroyed them all."

Kozan watched as a single tear began to creep forth from Tenna's eye. He didn't know what new thoughts were coursing through his mind right now, but he could not help himself as he said, "Maybe I could help."

"How so?" Tenna asked.

"Well, you can't go into the library, and we're not allowed to take out any books," he began, "but maybe I could copy some things down and give them to you to read. You know, if I don't get caught."

"Would you really do that?"

"How about this? I'll give you everything I can copy down, and you teach me everything you know about your culture. We're taught here that the Earth Kingdom is just a primitive desert nation, but I don't believe that. I'd like to hear it from someone who actually grew up in it."

For the first time, he saw a smile of excitement spread across Tenna's face. "Deal!" she exclaimed as the two of them shook each other's hands. It was the first physical contact the two of them had made. Kozan wanted to be worried about what the other children would think, but in his heart, something about this made him feel warm and happy inside.