Prologue

The first time she felt that tug was when her life was in danger.

The Northern Water Tribe was under attack and there was chaos everywhere. As one of the healers, Orora's task had been to run through the battlefield, find anyone hurt, and heal them.

It was madness wherever she ran. The Fire Nation had managed to breach their defenses and many water tribe warriors were facing off against them one on one. She had managed to dodge as much of the fighting as she could, and just do her job, yet it didn't seem to be enough. With every soldier, she healed two more would take his place. Exhaustion was setting into her bones now, and she had stumbled on her feet more than once. But there was no time to stop. No time to rest.

The water bender leaned against a wall of an abandoned building as she tried to catch her breath. She had been healing since the beginning of the siege and was starting to grow tired. Lifting her water skin, she quickly emptied it onto the floor, before moving to bend fresh clean water from a nearby canal. The blood on her hands didn't bother her at all. She had started off by wrapping bindings around her palm but they had gotten soaked rather quickly, prompting her to take them off. Her eyes flickered to the string tied around her little finger. Earlier Orora had felt it tighten, but only slightly. A rather strange sensation since it had never done so before. There was no time to think about it, as she spotted another water tribe warrior clutching his burnt arm and ran to help him.

Once done, she helped him get to his feet while giving him directions to the nearest safe point, Orora turned to move on when she was met with a horrifying sight.

Three Fire Nation soldiers had several healers and wounded water tribe warriors surrounded. One of the firebenders moved to grab a young healer, probably to take her captive. The young woman struggled and screamed, trying to get away.

The terrified look in her eyes, and the desperation with which she fought against her attacker. The cold cruel laughter that came from behind that horrible mask of the firebender. The sounds of fighting around her, screams of her people dying or fighting.

Orora snapped.

With a ferocious scream she threw her arms forward, her movements precise yet fluid. From a nearby canal, several sharp icicles rose and flew toward the Fire Nation soldier, pinning him to the nearest wall. The girl he had been holding, quickly scrambled away as the remaining soldiers turned their attention to her.

Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she turned her icy gaze toward her opponents. They moved to attack her simultaneously, but she quickly rolled out of the way. Still crouching, she pulled water from the canal once more, this time forming twin icicles in her hands. Jumping to her feet, she was quick to stab one of the soldiers in the shoulder, while throwing the other makeshift weapon at the third firebender, just as he threw a fireball at her.

Throwing her arm up, Orora managed to build a thin wall of ice to stop the fireball from hitting her, but she underestimated the strength of the man's powerful blast and the wall erupted, throwing her back several feet.

Landing on the ground with a grunt, Orora groaned as she felt her entire body throb. The last firebender had managed to dodge her attack and was now making his way toward her. She tried her best to rise to her feet and was about to retaliate when the world went red.

She stared around in horror as the very moon in the sky turned as red as the blood that coated her parka and hands from her previous healing. The firebender seemed to be surprised at the sudden turn of events as well. But just as soon as the world had turned red, it was back to normal. The colors returned and the moon shone down on them with all her beauty and grace.

Waking from her shock-like state, she turned to face her attacker and threw a disk of ice at him. He seemed to break from his trance as well as he was quick to step out of the way of her attack and kick a flame in her direction. The two of them exchanged a few more blows before the world turned dark.

"Wh-?" Raising her gaze to the sky, her eyes widened in horror when she saw that the moon's light had gone out. It felt as if something within her had been snuffed out. And when she threw her hand out to throw another icicle at the firebender nothing happened.

She barely had time to register the loss of her bending when the firebender, quick to overpower her, gripped her firmly by the front of her parka. Orora did her best to fight him off, kicking her legs as much as she could, but he threw her against a nearby wall, knocking the very wind out of her.

The young girl lay there, winded. The comb that had held her hair back in a bun had come loose, causing her hair to fall around her in messy dark brown waves. The last of her strength seemed to have left her as she watched the firebender approach menacingly, raising a hand with a bright flame burning in his palm. Her vision began to fade, and her head felt heavy as she allowed her body to go limp, fingers trembling and aching from the uncountable number of times she had used to heal others.

What happened next was a bit of a blur, but Orora swore that she saw fire blasting at the soldier about to attack her, knocking him aside and saving her life. Before the darkness claimed her, she managed to see something or rather someone.

A figure - dressed in white - with a shadow - on the side of their face.

And a color. A warm gold.

Then everything went dark.

Later, when she was recovering in one of the healing huts, Orora recalled what had happened. One thing she was sure she felt was the sharp tug on the little finger of her right hand. Where the string connecting her to her soulmate was tied.

The girl frowned to herself.

That couldn't be right. Her soulmate couldn't be someone from the Fire Nation.

Could it?

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The minute he had seen Zhao run after killing the moon spirit, Zuko had wasted no time going after him. The world had gone dark around him, the moon losing its light once the spirit had died. But that didn't matter to him. All that mattered was him escaping and getting revenge on Zhao for trying to kill him.

He lost sight of the older firebender as he turned a corner, but despite his injuries, Zuko was determined to find him. As he jumped from one roof of a hut to another, he was met with a sight that had him stopping in his tracks.

A Fire Nation soldier stood over the prone figure of a young girl. It didn't look like she was about to put up a fight, as the fireball burned hot and bright in the soldier's hand.

Whatever had happened, and whatever would happen, did not register to Zuko as something inside him, from the very depths of his subconscious mind and the deepest part of his heart, caused him to react, prompting him to do what he did next.

His hand lifted, almost of its own accord, and threw a ball of fire in the direction of the soldier. The ammunition met its mark, as the other firebender barely had time to dodge the fire, before Zuko jumped down and kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

He stood there a moment, standing a foot or two away from the fallen water tribe girl. Zuko turned his face just in time to see the girl's blue eyes disappear behind closed lids as she fainted. A tug and slight pinching sensation at his right hand had the young prince frowning, but before he could give it another thought, he spotted Zhao running along a rampart.

Zuko, with a backward glance at the girl, gave chase.