Since Haru's mother doesn't have a specified name, I gave her the name "Hala". Also, I just came up with the earth kingdom currency system, I'm not sure if it's accurate or not.

Just a note, check out my other story "Error" if you can, I would like y'alls opinion on it.

Check out my Insta, @ musiclover_j101 for more art and maybe even hints to future plot points! Also, make sure to check the poll every now and then.

Now on to the story!

-Jenna

Ayaan decided not to pay any heed to the chaos his siblings were causing by asking the poor boy questions. He'd already gotten the gists of the situation just by looking around as they were walking here. It was the reason he was so on edge.

The fire nation was rooted deeply in this village. More than likely, it was the same for the other neighboring villages. It was oppression at its finest. By taking all of their strong men and women, the village is left with nothing but the young and weak, which were easily handled and enslaved.

It was no wonder his scar was aching with that awfully bad vibe. He had to take a breath to ease his anger. Now wasn't the time to act, no matter how much he wanted to spear every fire nation scum he saw. A plan needed to be made and to form a solid plan, information was needed.

"Why'd you run away before?" He heard Katara ask, still miffed about that fact.

"Uh," The young man stammered, trying to find a workable excuse, "You must have me confused with some other kid." He said. Ayaan raised an eyebrow at his poor word choice but said nothing. This kid must usually be an obedient child; he is not good at lying.

Aang chose this moment to come up, defending Katara's claim of seeing him, "No, she isn't. We saw you earthbending."

That single word was like lightning striking down. The mother, who had been quietly and curiously observing them frantically ran from behind the reception desk. With practiced swiftness, she closed the blinds covering her windows and shut the store entrance. Keeping up that same speed, she whipped her head around to her son, "They saw you doing what?!"

Her son quickly tried to deny their claims, "They're crazy, Mom! I mean, look at how they're dressed."

The group immediately felt self-conscious at that comment. Of course, they knew that what they wore wasn't typical Earth Kingdom attire, they weren't from there, after all. Aang had at least gotten himself a conical hat, which he was currently shifting about in confusion at the boy's comments. Their clothes were a bit worn and torn, but they didn't smell thanks to their diligent upkeep of their chores and hygiene.

Ayaan often took it upon himself to clean the clothes, as foreign smells tend to ward off animals with sensitive noses. It was to the point he'd even heard comments that he carried the scent of a clean, fresh spring of water.

Ayaan couldn't care less about people's opinions of him. If they weren't his family, their insults, taunts, and threats meant nothing to him. Though, he did not take kindly to others belittling his siblings, "The Earth Kingdom is not the only nation in the world." He bluntly stated, "You should work on your lying, you are not good at it."

The kid at least had the decency to look embarrassed after being called out. This, however, became pure shame again when his mother jumped into the mix, "You know how dangerous that is! You know what would happen if they caught you earthbending!" She said.

This caught Ayaan's curiosity. Was he right?

Just then, there was an obnoxious knock on the front door, "Open up!" A man said. He sounded completely impatient, and by the woman's deepening frown, this person wasn't anyone she was fond of.

Sokka peeked through the blinds, trying to see who was at the door. When he did, he panicked, "Fire Nation! Act natural!" The children scrambled to get into an inconspicuous position, Ayaan just staring at them before shaking his head.

The mother opens the door, letting the fire nation soldier inside. He stares at the four children awkwardly. One wouldn't blame him, either. The boy was clasping his chin looking toward Katara. This would have been normal... if he wasn't crossing his eyes.

Katara's eyes were blown wide, looking towards the man. What made it worse was that she'd just stuffed her face with berries. Sokka wasn't much different, studying an apple as if it carried the secret to manliness he'd always been searching for. Aang's pose would have been normal, smiling while leaning on a barrel... if the barrel's lid didn't spin and his hand, and partially his body, dunks in the water and he falls.

The eldest son of the chief repressed the urge to facepalm. Did they call that acting natural? He'd have to add a new regiment to their training schedule.

Ayaan was the only one the man didn't pay much attention to. His hood was up, hiding his hair, and he was shopping normally. He picked things off the shelves, examined them, and then put them back and continued to look around. The only thing that would draw any attention to him was his attire, but it wasn't as if the fire nation soldier hadn't seen a foreigner before.

After the initial awkwardness passed, thankfully, the woman questioned the man, "What do you want?" She asked, her tone aggressive and discontented, "I've already paid you this week!"

'A tax collector.' Ayaan surmised. He didn't like the look this man had at all. He made his way to his siblings as he watched the commotion happening. His hand was twitching, inching towards his spear.

"The tax just doubled." The man said arrogantly. His filthy breath contaminated the air, "And we wouldn't want an accident, would we?" He creates a ball of fire in his hand, and Ayaan's eyes focus on it, "Fire... is sometimes so hard to control." He threatened subtlely.

Something in the back of Ayaan's mind was straining to get free at those words. The dancing flames in his hand and that smirk on his face as the mother scrambled to get the money... that familiar fear in her eyes.

All of it was tugging at something, and he was steadily losing his self-control.

'I'm afraid I'm not taking prisoners today...'

He didn't realize when he'd grabbed his spear. The tax collector's face was overlapping with someone else's. He didn't realize he'd stepped forward, nor did he realize that a murderous aura was leaking from his scowling visage.

'There was another? Interesting...'

That was... until three pairs of hands stopped him.

One pair held the hand that gripped his spear, another hand clasped onto his should, and the last pair held his other hand, squeezing it for reassurance. When he blinked, looking down, he found three pairs of eyes subtly gazing at him before looking forward again. They didn't let go until the tax collector left, tossing the useless copper coins on the floor for the mother to pick up.

Ayaan had to take a very deep breath to calm down, and as he did, he sent one last look towards the door.

'Your face, I'll remember it.' He promised, a vicious glint in his eyes.

The man ignored the shiver up his spine, counting the added money in his pouch.

"Nice guy," Sokka commented sarcastically before getting to the point, "How long has the Fire Nation been here?"

"Five years," She answered solemnly. She mentally moved past what had just happened with a sorrowful resignation. It happened too often for her to keep the energy to remain upset, "Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

"The coal mines..." This piece of info got Ayaan's strategic mind running. If the coal from these villages powers their navy forces, taking them back from the fire nation would deal a massive blow to them. If they could do that, it would be a massive victory for them.

No one else was paying attention to that fact, only that the fire nation was running the village right now, "They're thugs." Haru, the son of the woman, spat. "They steal from us. And everyone here's too much of a coward to do anything about it." There was righteous anger in his tone, quickly curbed by his mother's equally angry retort.

"Quiet, Haru!" She said, "Don't talk like that." She couldn't risk any fire nation hearing her boy speaking ill of them. Who knows what they'll do? Try as she might, she just wasn't strong enough to fight against them. She was not a warrior or a bender, she was a shopkeeper.

"But, Haru's an earthbender. He can help!" Katara said. She thought it was strange. She'd seen the boy earthbend, and he was amazing at it! With him, they should be able to take on those no-good fire nation scum easily! That guy from before didn't seem all that strong compared to Zuko and his gang.

"Katara," Once again, Ayaan was there to contradict her, "Bending does not solve everything, especially not in this case."

His mother sent a glance toward Ayaan before adding on a fact widely known in these parts, "Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village." She said. There was a look of pain and grief in her eyes, as well as deep destain.

At the reveal, everyone's reactions differed. Katara was appalled, and Aang wasn't far from her in those terms. Sokka had a grim expression on his face, and Ayaan figured that those bastards would implement something like that. He had a feeling he knew what happened to the village now, or at least an idea. Though, it was yet to be confirmed.

The mother cast a meaningful glance towards her only son, "He must never use his abilities."

Katara, being one to speak from her heart and not her head, voiced her feelings, "How can you say that? Haru has a gift! Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me and my brother not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are." She said.

'Why did you feel the need to include me?' Ayaan couldn't help but think, glancing her way, 'I do not use waterbending as much as you do.'

While he understood where she was coming from, her deep connection to her bending and his own were vastly different. Katara had loved her bending since the moment she discovered it, while he always felt a distance towards it. Of course, he practiced it. It was a skill that he had, as a warrior, he took it upon himself to do what he could with it.

But something always felt off.

Something always felt wrong.

'Something always felt like it was missing. Something is incomplete.'

What that something was he did not know. He just could feel that it wasn't there and he needed it. Since he was young, he'd always felt something was missing. He felt that he was strange. It was why he asked his mother why his hair was different and asked his father why he was stronger than most even though he was younger.

Whatever that was, he had a feeling that this journey he was on would give him his answer.

Haru's mother shook her head. There was no way for this young girl to know, "You don't understand."

"I understand that Haru can help you fight back." She said, still not seeing the point. Bending in general was an ancient art. It was sacred, a part of their heritage. Telling someone that they weren't allowed to use this gift was blasphemous to Katara. For so long, she'd longed to be able to successfully bend her element, and now she's met other benders on her journey with Aang. It was dream come true for her.

For someone like her, who puts bending in such high regard, this way of thinking, of submitting... she couldn't stand for it. Five years. Did they live in this miserable way for five years?

"Katara, enough," Ayaan said. He could see that she was getting riled up. Katara was passionate, and it was something he admired, but sometimes she went too far, "The situation isn't that simple."

"You took on an entire force alone and you didn't even use your waterbending!" She shot back at him, "How is this any different?"

"Hey! I was there too!" Sokka corrected indignantly.

He was ignored.

"Haru isn't me." He said bluntly, "Being able to bend does not equal being able to fight."

"But it's an advantage that we have! You saw him out there," She said, pointing to Haru, "He was amazing. You can't tell me that he can't fight with those skills! With us here, we can help them." She was resolute in her reasonings.

"It is not that simple," He said again.

His repetitive answer angered her further, "Weren't you about to attack that fire nation tax collector just a moment ago? Was that 'not that simple' too? You were angry, right? You wanted to fight him, too, right? What is the difference between fighting one fire nation scum and a whole lot of them besides numbers?! We've fought plenty of them on our own, and won every time!" She said.

"Our situation was vastly different from theirs." He replied to her.

"How is it different?! We... we were just like them!" She said, "Our home was raided again and again until the south pole was nothing but a bunch of scattered villages. Every bender was taken, and now there's only us, born years later. This town, it's the same." She said.

To this, he remained silent. She took that silence as a sign to continue, "We can help them. With Aang and his airbending, us, Sokka, and Haru, we can take them on. We're strong, so much stronger than we were before. They shouldn't need to submit like this! All it takes is to stand up to them, to fight back!"

They had to be tired of living like this. Surviving on nothing but scraps, their livelihoods ripped away and every, single day having their pride stepped on.

It had to end.

Ayaan agreed with her. He felt just as strongly as he did about helping the village out, "I understand what you're saying." He said. There were a lot of variables at play here. It wouldn't be enough to just fight off the firenation in the area. What's the point of beating up a few soldiers.

Five years. The firenation had taken root in this village for that long. In that massive span of time, their network couldn't have remained simple. They couldn't just rush in defeating every enemy in sight, they needed a plan. A very thought-out plan.

Katara's heart was in the right place, but executing her feelings without thought would only cause more harm. It was for this reason that he was thankful when they stopped him from attacking that man in his brief lapse of blind rage.

So yes, he understood her, "But it isn't as simple as you are putting it."

Katara just could not fathom her brother. Why was he so hesitant? She didn't understand all of the complex thoughts running through his mind, the grand scheme he was formulating. All she was getting from him was that he wasn't agreeing with her, even though he said he understood her viewpoint. It was infuriating.

Unable to understand it, she blatantly asks her question, "What can the Fire Nation do that they haven't done already?" What more could they do? What was worse than this? What more could they lose if they've already lost their dignity?

The mother, having had enough, spoke out miserably, "They could take Haru away! Like they took his father."

At this, the arguing siblings were quieted.

Of course, Hala was tired of it. Five years of this. Her family and home had been suffering like this for five long years. She was angry, sorrowful, enraged. But what could she do? She had to protect her son, and to do that, she diligently had him hide his gift.

When the fire nation came they obviously attempted to fight back. But they were a mining village. They weren't warriors. Slowly, one by one, the number of benders they had dwindled. It wasn't long before most, if not all of them, were captured and taken away. Her husband had been one of the last, taken just a year ago.

Now only Haru was left, her only son. She couldn't lose him, she wouldn't be able to bear it. Keeping him from using his gifts, something that she knew he loved, hurt her every day. But if that would keep him safe, then that was what she had to do.

No matter how miserable her life became, no matter how many times they're robbed like this... If it meant that her baby was safe, then it didn't matter. She would give up everything to protect him.

"I'm sorry." Ayaan apologized for his and his sister's behavior. It was insensitive to argue, especially if that argument was in regards to her son, right in front of her. It was too soon and too much. Katara, also seeing her blunder, apologized as well.

"I-it's alright. You didn't know." She said, "My name's Hala. You've already met my son, Haru." She introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Aang!" The young airbender said, his positivity easing the once tense atmosphere.

"I'm Sokka, The Boomerang Guy," He proudly introduced, brandishing his prized, recently polished weapon. The others shook their heads, but the atmosphere continued to clear up amiably.

"I'm Katara," The young waterbender said, casting a glance towards Haru, "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Haru said. Her words from earlier had been... refreshing to hear. It was always nice to be complimented on his bending.

Ayaan wasn't sure why he felt the need to point his spear at something, but he refrained in order to introduce himself, "Ayaan." He said simply. Walking up to Hala, he gently took her hand and placed a satchel in it. The woman was confused at first, before she opened it and gaped like a fish.

"T-t-this is- Oh no, dear. I can't accept this!" She said, trying to give the satchel back to him, but Ayaan refused.

"For the money that was taken." He said, "and to ask for lodging." He'd explained. There was no inn in this village thanks to those fire nation scourges, and while they could easily just camp out, it was much safer to be within housing than in the woods.

"Of course! You're welcome to stay!" She said, though she was still tempted to give the money back to him. Some silver and even a gold piece were mixed in! It was too much for her to handle! With this, they'd be covered on expenses for weeks, maybe even more. "But this is too much, Lord Ayaan. I can't accept this."

"Lord?" He said, a bit confused.

Hala's eyes were going to jump from her sockets at this rate. Haru, wanting to see what was up, ended up with the same expression on his face. He carefully took out the gold piece, staring at it like it was an alien from space. "T-t-t-th-th—" He didn't have the words.

Earth Kingdom currency, for the most part, was a simple system. Copper was the cheapest piece. 100 coppers equated to 1 silver, 100 silvers a gold, and so on. In their little town, seeing silver was rare, let alone gold. It was the same in any of the villages.

Only those from wealthy families had that kind of money. Merchants, nobles, and well-known businesses saw that type of money. For the earth kingdom, it was possible to buy one's way into nobility, which was how most noble families began. It was to the point that it was common to call any who could hold that amount of money, someone who was well off, a Lord or Lady.

Ayaan, being a foreigner, had no idea about this fact. Nor was he aware that he'd long since qualified to be called a 'Lord' do to his extremely successful sales.

It wasn't like he wasn't used to being put in high standing. After his father left, it was left to him to look after the tribe. He was, effectively, the chief in their father's absence. That role was taken up by their grandmother after his departure. He made sure the village was well kept, had food and materials, and was prepared for the different seasons of the year. This included being on the lookout for strange activities, though this was only because he often went out to hunt and train.

But this wasn't the south pole. Here, his status as the eldest son of the chief did not mean much. "I'm just Ayaan. And that amount is not a lot, please don't worry about it."

'NOT A LOT?!'

Both of them felt woozy just thinking about it. Sokka, sensing their pain, patted them both on the shoulder. "It's okay, you'll get used to it." He nodded understandingly.

They looked to Katara, and she was doing the same thing.

Aang also nodded.

Only Ayaan was confused, "Is something wrong?"

They... they had nothing to say, "N-nothing. Nothing's wrong. Follow me." She said. And just like that, they left for their home just a ways away.

I hope Katara and Ayaan's slight clash was written well...

Also, here's another sneak peek into the future~ I hope to do more of them.

~QUOTE FROM A FUTURE CHAPTER~

"That's what you wished to hear, right? Confirmation of your thoughts? Justification for your anger? Would dying that day have made you feel better? I am but a marked failure as both a son and a brother, after all. Useless in all of the areas you find important."

"N-no, I didn't mean—"

"I know what you meant, Katara. You spoke very clearly," He hissed, causing her to flinch back. He looked at her for a moment before turning away, "There is no way for this worthless failure not to understand." Before anyone could stop him, he left for his tent. This pain he felt? This unholy agony in his chest? He'd deal with it as he'd always done, as he always will: Alone.