“Let’s play a game!” screamed out this tall annoying bully. “Whoever wins gets all the fire flakes, and whoever loses gets to do what the winner says!”

            Taeyeon rolled her eyes and sneered in annoyance when the bully was not looking. What an idiot, she thought. Fire flakes as a reward? Really? Who cares about some cheap fire flakes? Fire flakes are just some hot crunchy snacks bought for two copper pieces at the streets. Though the bully's aim was to threaten the young Taeyeon, the bully only seemed more of a moron to her with every quiver of the bully's tongue. Taeyeon slowly and quietly walked away. She has no time for this nonsense.

            “Hey, you little midget, where do you think you’re going?” asked the bully threateningly when she noticed Taeyeon walking away. The bully then walked over to Taeyeon and harshly grabbed her collar. “You need to join us, Midget.”

            “I am not joining you. And stop calling me 'midget!’” Taeyeon yelled back. She definitely did not like it when people pick on her small stature. She may be short, but that did not mean she should be insulted so easily. Wanting to keep her strong integrity, Taeyeon quickly pulled away from the bully’s grasp and composed herself by fixing her light-brown hair up into a bun. Her bangs, however, were left hanging over her forehead. Afterwards, she gave another sneer and mumbled a few curses unheard by the bully and her gang as she tucked some loose strands of hair behind her fairly-large, somewhat pointy ears.

            “Oh no, you’re coming with us!” The bully then yanked Taeyeon by her worn out red shirt again and forced her to join the game. The bully snickered as she dragged powerless little Taeyeon along with her gang. The other weak little kids just hung around the bully because they did not want to get beaten up. If you can’t beat The Bully, join The Bully, they always said. Taeyeon, however, was not very interested in taking the side of a sadistic idiot. She preferred to just mind her own business.

            “Hey!” called out a deep loud voice from behind. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. They all knew who that was.

            “Yunho Oppa!” Taeyeon exclaimed.

            “Bu Li, are you bothering my little sister again?” Yunho asked with a charming smile. He stood with much masculinity and stared at the bully with his kind, shining eyes. Bu Li’s knees went weak and her cheeks became flustered with color as she stared at his strong muscular figure. To make things worse, he took a step closer and reached out his hand…to Taeyeon. Of course he would do that. Taeyeon was not really his sister, but he was really close to her since he worked for her father as an apprentice blacksmith. As for Bu Li, she was just a nobody who went around bothering other village kids. Why would Yunho even care about the mean girl who oppressed other smaller girls anyway?

            Taeyeon immediately pulled away from The Bully’s weakened grasp and took Yunho’s hand. Thank goodness he came like a knight in shining armor again. If he had not come, she would have to lose to another one of Bu Li’s absurd, senseless games. Being ordered around like a poor little slave was not something she liked doing. She may just be the daughter of a poor blacksmith but being treated like useless trash was absolutely unfair.

            “Well, what are you all looking at?” Yunho asked in a tone with much authority. All the other kids trembled in fear. “Go ahead, scram! The next time you mess with Tae-Tae again I will surely burn you all to ashes!”

            The others quickly ran away and Bu Li eventually left too. Taeyeon threw her head back in laughter at the sight of them scurrying away like cockroaches scared of the light. They may act tough around weaker kids, but when it comes to Yunho, none of them would even dare to fight.

            “Thanks, Yunho Oppa,” Taeyeon said with a respectful bow. Yunho was about four years older than her. She needed to pay him respect.

            “Why didn’t you fight back? You should have shot a fireball at them and burned their arms!” Yunho said so animatedly, moving his fist in a punching motion as if actually trying to hit an invisible enemy.

            Taeyeon stared at her tiny palms and looked up at the setting sun. Born as a fire bender, she was able to release fire from her fingertips and feet and control them. However, controlling fire and manipulating it as a martial art was no easy matter. It takes a lot of intense training and discipline to be an accomplished fire bending master. Taeyeon has never won a fire duel in her fifteen years of living. Every other kid in her little town was better than her and she often got picked on because of that.

            “I can’t fight back. They’re always stronger than me when in a group. Besides, Bu Li is a better fire bender than me anyway,” Taeyeon said in a matter-of-act tone as she walked with Yunho. She did not really pity herself for not fighting. She just did not want to fight.

            “Hey, you’re turning sixteen soon. You better act like a big girl and learn to take care of yourself. Bigger monsters might come out. You’ll never know!” Yunho said with his arm gestures again. Taeyeon just giggled at his remark. The dimple on the right side of her chin showed whenever she smiled.

“One day, I will leave this stupid old island and travel to another place,” Taeyeon said to Yunho. “I’ll become an amazing fire bender and explore the entire world! Everyone will bow down and respect me, just wait and see!”

Situated beside an extinct volcano in a small island at the far eastern edge of the C-shaped Fire Nation archipelago, their little town was not very well-known. Nobody would probably care if it would somehow be wiped out of the Fire Nation map. In fact, the town did not even have a name. Most of the people lived in poverty. The poor villagers could only wish to leave that town. Nobody would even think that a hero would hail from that little insignificant place.

“Now that’s the spirit!” Yunho laughed. He always liked to encourage her. He has always been the strong-leader type of person.

            “One day, I’ll be an amazing fire bender,” she whispered to herself. “Yes, one day.”

            After walking for some time, Taeyeon and her , Yunho, arrived at a little wooden cabin. The tiny structure looked sloppily built by an amateur carpenter, and the materials used were not the exactly sturdiest kind either. Nevertheless, it still stood and was enough of a shelter for a family to reside. Beside it was an open, roofed workshop where Taeyeon’s father worked. The roof also looked sloppily erected with a few mends on the wooden pillars holding it up. Under the roof were the blazing furnace and some shelves where Taeyeon’s father placed some of his tools. There was also an anvil, where the blacksmith hammered the metals into shape. The place was old and run down just like the rest of the town, but it was home. Taeyeon greeted her father with a bow and so did Yunho. Her father seemed to be working on something important. Ignoring them, he continued scribbling on paper and looking at different metals.

            “Father, we’re home,” Taeyeon greeted once more. When her father finally noticed them, Taeyeon and Yunho bowed again.

            “Yunho, where have you been?” Taeyeon’s father sternly asked when he saw them. The dark circles under his eyes made him look so tired. His salt-and-pepper colored beard extended down his chin, making him look so serious. “You work for me. You shouldn’t just leave whenever you want!”

            Yunho flinched for a second. Thankfully, Taeyeon was there. She explained what happened about Bu Li and how Yunho scared them away. Her father was not exactly very entertained by the story but he calmed down a little.

            “Well then, at least you somehow made yourself useful by being my daughter’s body guard,” Taeyeon’s father said. He softened a little when he looked at Taeyeon. She was his only daughter, and even though he was not very good at showing affection, he loved her as a father.

            Just then another young man about the same age as Yunho came out to the blacksmith’s workshop. He had a cold stare and his black hair fell over his eye brows. He looked really pale too. Unlike Yunho, he looked like he never knew how to smile at first.

            “Jaejoong Oppa!” Taeyeon exclaimed and ran towards him with a big hug. He briefly smiled at her when she greeted him. In that instant, it looked as if he was the sweetest person in the world.

            “What do you want now?” asked Taeyeon’s father angrily. He did not look very pleased to see Jaejoong. Jaejoong’s smile faded immediately. He looked very cold and pale again.

            “Ah… I j-just wanted to say that d-dinner is ready,” Jaejoong said dejectedly with a bit of a stammer. Yunho and Taeyeon gave him a look of sympathy. For some reason unknown to them, Taeyeon’s father was always very harsh and mean to Jaejoong. He always criticized everything he did and punished him for what he did not do. Taeyeon’s father also favored his apprentice, Yunho, over Jaejoong because of Yunho’s useful fire bending ability in the blacksmith business and Jaejoong was nothing but an ordinary human with no bending powers. Everyone thought that he looked very discouraged often because of that. However, Jaejoong never really spoke out his real thoughts and neither did his father. The real underlying problem was only known to the two of them.

            “Well then, let’s get on with it. For a man, the only thing you really know is cooking and being a housewife—just like your mother,” said Taeyeon’s father, as if insulting the dejected Jaejoong. Taeyeon's father then went into the house and slammed the door, leaving the three kids standing outside.

            Jaejoong silently chuckled and sneered. His father just called him a housewife in front of his sister and best friend. He should be offended by the insult, but he just did not care about what his father says anymore. He had been hurt by his father’s words so many times that his heart had formed a tough callous. He did not feel pain or shame anymore.

            “Oppa, are you okay?” asked Taeyeon. She never liked it when her father talked to Jaejoong like that. She could not really do anything about it though. She was scared of her father too.

            “I think that was a compliment. Not everyone can cook well,” Jaejoong said in a sarcastic tone. He continued to chuckle but nobody laughed with him. Taeyeon and Yunho both felt bad for him.

            “Don’t worry, Jaejoong Oppa. I like you better than Yunho Oppa because you’re my brother and he’s not,” she said with a giggle to lift up the horrible atmosphere.

            “Really? But I saved you from The Bully today! Besides, I’m like part of the family now,” Yunho said with a teasing frown.

            “Don’t worry, Yunho, I love you more than anyone loves you,” Jaejoong joked with a chuckle. They all laughed together and went in to eat dinner.

            The next day, Taeyeon’s mother asked her to run an errand. She needed to buy some vegetables, beef, and other spices. Usually her mother would ask Jaejoong to do errands and other housework chores but today Jaejoong, Yunho, and her father left to do something out of town. They said they would be back by sunset, so for now, Taeyeon had to buy all the vegetables, beef, and spices by herself.

            She then headed straight to the market. It was a very lively site. The market never ran out of fun quirks. There were vendors loudly advertising the quality of their merchandise, angry customers asking for bargains, and shop owners chasing after petty little thieves. There were different kinds of animal meat hanging from the stalls with flies swirling and hovering over them. The size of the vegetables ranged from tiny balls to huge human-sized, pumpkin-looking apples. Taeyeon looked around often and checked prices. As she was shopping for vegetables at the market, someone yanked her by her collar from behind. It was The Bully again. What did she want now?

           “Hey Taeyeon, you little midget,” greeted The Bully in an insulting tone. She then proceeded to search through her pockets and found the money that Taeyeon’s mother gave her for the errand. “Oh-la-la! I’ll take these, thank you.”

           “Hey Idiot, give it back! I need that!” Taeyeon yelled.

           The Bully raised her hand up with the money in it so that Taeyeon could not reach it. Taeyeon jumped and tried to grab it but she was just not tall enough. Just then, she thought of fighting back. Taeyeon shot fire at The Bully’s feet from her palms, making The Bully drop the money. Unfortunately, The Bully was also a fire bender and immediately shot a huge fire attack from her feet with a kick. Taeyeon was not able to get her money back so she just tried to run away. She ran as fast as she could while avoiding bumping into people and vegetable stalls in the busy market. Eventually she was cornered by Bu Li and the rest of her gang.

           “You think you can fight me?” Bu Li asked as if about to summon a challenge.

           I shouldn’t have done that, Taeyeon thought. This time, Yunho or Jaejoong will not be around to scare The Bully away. She calmly stood and thought of a strategy for a second. Panicking was out of the question. She was never really the kind of person to lose her senses in tough situations.

           “Please don’t kill me!” Taeyeon begged on her knees. She ran out of ideas so she just resorted to begging for mercy. Who knows? Maybe it might work. She did not think it will go well though, but she had to at least try. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

           “Ha! Whatever I want, you say? Hm…,” Bu Li then started to think. “You make me look embarrassing in front of Yunho Oppa every time…”

           Taeyeon sneered again. The Bully embarrassed herself in front of Yunho just by being herself. Taeyeon had nothing to do with that. “What do you want then?” Taeyeon asked.

           “I want you to make Yunho go on a date with me,” Bu Li replied.

           “Gross!” Tae Yeon blurted out. She did not know why, but even she felt embarrassed.

           “You want to die?!”

           “Fine, but he’s not in town today. He went out with my father to…,” Taeyeon explained but was rudely interrupted.

           “Just go get him! After that I will never bother you or anyone again.”

***

Hours Later...

            “But how am I supposed to know where he is?” Taeyeon whined as she trudged out under the hot sun. The rocky ground was cracked and dry and it hurt her feet to go on. After her incident with The Bully, she went home to her mother and told her everything. Her mother just laughed at her predicament and sent her off to look for Yunho. If that was the only way to make Bu Li stop bullying, then Taeyeon should absolutely get Yunho right away, thought her mother. Unfortunately, her mother did not know where her father took the two young men either. “They couldn’t have gone far,” she said.

            For many hours, Taeyeon wandered aimlessly. Since she could see the mouth of the extinct volcano from afar, she knew she was not entirely lost. Later on, she was tired and hungry and decided to head home. The sun was about to set anyway. Wherever her father and the two oppas went, they must be heading home by now.

            As she trudged homeward, the hot sun was almost gone. From far away, Taeyeon could see the tiny lights from the bright lanterns in the village. People were starting to light up the place. Back in those days, electricity had no practical use yet. Light bulbs were not invented yet. Fire benders lit their homes with their fire bending, and non-benders used spark rocks to light up small candles to be placed in lanterns.

“Whoa, the town looks really cute from afar! Tiny lights…,” Taeyeon said to herself.

            She could imagine her mother using spark rocks and putting up the lamp by herself. Usually she would ask Jaejoong to do it, and if Jaejoong was not around, she would ask Taeyeon to light it up with her fire bending. Now her mother had to do everything by herself. Taeyeon then started to pick up her slow pace so she can get home as soon as possible. Her mother needed help after all.

            Suddenly, while she was walking, she felt a strong tremor from the ground beneath her feet. She stopped dead in her tracks.

            “What in the world was that? Was that an earthquake?” she exclaimed. At that moment, her heart began to race. Something felt terribly wrong.

            Taeyeon looked from afar and saw a bright red light flash from the extinct volcano beside their town. The dry ground shook violently again. After a few seconds, a loud boom was heard and a violent eruption began to spew a lot of lava and debris from the volcano. Ash and molten rock began to fall from the sky. Even up to where she stood, it was raining ash, making it hard to breathe. Taeyeon’s mouth gaped in shock. That volcano was said to be extinct for thousands of years. With no warning it just erupted. The village was in deep trouble.

"Mother!" Taeyeon screamed and began to ran straight into the birth of hell in panic. But then she stopped.

No, I can't go...

What should she do? What could she even do? Burning lava was explosively being spewed out of the volcano’s mouth and toxic ash and flaming rocks were falling from the sky. What will happen to her family? What will happen to her? In a sudden instinct to protect herself, she decided to run away from the eruption and hide. What good will heading straight to the village do? Nothing, absolutely nothing, she thought. She could die if she went. Nevertheless, she was terribly worried and scared to the point that tears began to fall from her eyes. The little town was getting burned and houses were swept and destroyed by the flames. From kilometers away, Taeyeon swore that she heard the cries of the people running for their lives. She silently hoped and prayed that her parents and her brothers would somehow escape this doom.

           Hours later, the eruption subsided a little, but lava was still flowing and could be seen from the volcano’s mouth. Thinking that was safe to go, Taeyeon started walking toward the village again. She was tired both physically and mentally. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Taeyeon would never have thought that this disaster would ever befall her.

           “This is terrible…,” Taeyeon sighed.

           When she got to the village, everything was destroyed. The crude huts were reduced to ash, some were still burning, and others were buried in half-cooled lava. Soot and ash was still falling from the sky, making it hard to breathe. Right there, tears began to fall from her eyes again. The place where she grew up in was gone. The house she grew up in was also gone. Dead bodies lay half-buried in dirt everywhere. As she looked around where her house once was, she saw a figure of a woman half-covered in dirt and debris lying by the blacksmith workshop. It was her mother. It looked as if she was hit by a rock. She was dead.

           Taeyeon fell on her weak bruised knees and wailed in agony on dusty earth before her mother. "Mother... mother... no, this can't be happening..."

Her eyes brimmed with tears that she cannot hold back no matter how hard she tried. She was too shocked and speechless to say anything more. If this happened to her mother, what could have happened to Jaejoong, Yunho, and her father? She did not want to know anymore. She was afraid that she might not be able to handle it. She just sat there weeping until she could not cry anymore. All of this did not seem real. She wished that it was not real. It cannot be real.

           Just then as she was mourning over her terrible loss, Taeyeon saw a big, long, slender silhouette in the hazy smoke. After the eruption and the crying, it was pretty diffucult to see. She wiped her tears and rubbed her eyes. What is that?

           When the creature shook away the smoke, Taeyeon saw it clearly standing before her. It growled, beckoning her to come closer. As if enchanted by a strange charm, Taeyeon got up and walked toward it. At that moment, Taeyeon forgot her broken, aching heart and was taken away up past the clouds by the mysterious beast.