To War...

Where the Water Tribe was located, it consisted of many lakes that came in several different types of lengths and depths. They all surrounded the biggest lake on the continent, it was huge and strangely, it looked menacing. This huge lake was known by all to stay away from, as it was life threatening. In the history, that they know of, this lake had only led to people’s deaths, yet, it seemed that it was also very important. It just wasn't known why.

The other lakes were not of this nature, they even were the homes for the Water Tribal members.

As the people were immune to water, they could also breath in it, just as you normally would outside.

This was also the last defence of the Water Tribe, as the Fire Tribe would not be able to kill them all, as the Water Tribesmen would be able to escape inside the deep water. They have not had to use this strategy for as long as they could remember, and they continued to grow slowly in lakes and population.

The Water Tribal village looked closer to a fresh swamp land. Much of their food consisted of fish, that was eaten raw. Other foods consisted of octopus, squid and even scallops.

Rain would often happen over their area regarding who or how many new children were born. If a noble was born, a huge thunderstorm would appear, with a heavy downfall of rain, no matter whether the child was male or female.

This kind of land style was similar to that of the Fire Tribe. The biggest, and only, volcano on the continent of Mondal, was situated in the middle of the Fire Tribe village. Again, it was classified as a very dangerous place that you could lose your life in. The magma was so extremely hot, that the people could not live too close to it. It was further, down below the volcano, that they situated their homes. The continuously flowing magma made magma pools below, that were cooler for the Fire Tribal members to live in. There were distinct types of pools, which implied their status of power and just like the water, it was also their last line of defence. They would, if necessary, get the protection from the magma to be able to continue their lives. In their history, also, there wasn't a time in which they had gotten to the point of using this kind of strategy.

The Fire Tribe ate cooked food, easily done by themselves, if they weren’t lazy enough to catch their own food. But…Many of them didn’t care for hunting and bought food from lower people, or simply went to an inn.

When someone was born, the volcano would erupt to a degree of depending on how much power the child was born with. At a time, the Fire Tribe were extremely worried as twin noble children had been born and the volcano erupted with so much magma that the people scurried away for a time in worry. The dark black cloud, that came with the erupted magma, covered all of the Fire Tribe village for two whole days, before it started to dissipate.

On one side of each tribe, they would seem to be very close and that was where they would fight. Yet, on the other side, it was a barren, desolate, earth wasteland. Defences were up, even though there weren't any fights that occurred.

It was a big, vast place that would take many weeks to cross, perhaps even an entire year, it was uncertain.

That was the land that the two great tribes knew of, for thousands of miles. Even nomads didn't know of much more then this...It was like a desert, there was a whole lot of nothing and…Both tribes had no desire to venture into it.

What was fact…Was that they rarely had to worry about spy’s in their bases. Everyone knew that they each hated each other that much that even the thought of spying, made them feel sick!

And the most mysterious thing was…Why weren’t they immune to their own menacing lake and huge volcano…

***

It was unknown to Loralle of what truly happened to both her mother and father. Only three people knew of her origins and even though she was the late tribal leader's daughter, they didn't treat her as such.

At the time of her birth, her mother had killed her father in vengeance and Loralle was left on the cold earth, that was being heated by fire from her mother and dampened by the water that was the connected power of her father.

For a brief time, she had been abandoned, until her mother was killed by three people.

For these three people, they were the Water Tribe’s protectors, John, Sam and Rick, and they hated Loralle for having caused their leaders death, and that...She also had the blood of their enemy!

The protectors had never liked their leader’s idea of combining powers, as it seemed absolutely blasphemous! Even with the idea of victory, the fact of putting the fire power with their own water power made them sick! But, their leader had indeed, somewhat, changed some time ago and they wondered how he could think of doing something so outrageous!

The last words of Dracon had stopped the protectors from killing Loralle, on the time of her birth...

But it was since her birth that Loralle had to learn to endure many hardships, alone.

Having the protectors accompany her, they had kept others away and rarely treated her like a human. They had refused to always feed her and give her water, making her come close to death many times, especially in infancy. Having someone with fire in their blood were not good enough to be with the Water Tribe, is what the protectors thought, even talking to them was too much!

They, themselves, didn't even wish to be near her!

She lived amongst the poor, learning to feed herself with scraps and she went a long time without a lake to cover herself.

With silence overflowing in her life, Loralle rarely even thought thoughts. Her watchful eyes made her act naturally, and in basic instinct, for food and water to lead her to survival.

For being abused and without being taught, Loralle thought this was normal…So now, her survival instincts became very strong and played a big part of her life.

The protectors decided that she should be brought up to be the least lady like as possible, so that the Water Tribesmen would come to think of her as a leader, when that day would arrive.

They didn't show her about brushing her hair, making sure her back was straight and other ladylike gestures, so that she would more so come across as a man. But, to some extent, this was also an excuse...To stay away from her.

Perhaps, all this poor treatment was what taught Loralle, her first power of earth.

The power of earth wasn't even a myth, it was unheard of. Even in the histories from centuries ago, that were safely kept, there was still nothing about the power of earth.

Due to her isolation from everybody, Loralle took it upon herself to make the earth her friend instead. It never spoke back, but as she could use it, she would always nod her gratitude.

She knew that it seemed to be the only thing that was helping her and that it seemed quite happy to do so!

Even, to what seemed to be her people, didn't help her. With this, she was able to find out, by accident…

She was just starting to use her power, when she wanted to see others nearby. Having her hand on the earth, at that time, the earth showed her others around her in her own head.

It was that astonishing to her that she took her hand away and ran away in a flash!

Run, Jump, Run and hide...The protector's lost her.

She thought that she was dreaming while being awake, but she tried a few days later and spied on the protectors, who were huffing and panting, and found that they had never left her…They were just hiding.

Not long after, she could tell through their words, that people close by seemed to be the people she should know…But she didn’t know them because the protectors kept them away on purpose.

So, Loralle started to form words from her feelings, into her head, and was able to start thinking for herself.

She became totally independent, not needing the protectors help for survival anymore, even though she was still clumsy at looking after herself. But she was, indeed, very compassionate towards her power.

The three protectors were quite astonished at her powers. It was neither that of water or fire...But of earth?

Was it possible that another power could be found and used?

Even knowing about it though, they still had no urge at all to learn anything more about it.

They had never told her how to use the power of water, even after several years of following her. Yet, she had learnt something totally different...

They had no words to her amateur earth-built homes or her earth built weapons to catch her own food.

…Seeing her use another power that wasn't their own, seemed to sicken them, but they were bound by strict orders and so...They could never kill her with their indescribable hate!

Through their constant sickness, they continued to endure!

They stopped getting in her way, of making things harder for her, and continued to watch her from a distance. Although, this may also be yet another excuse, just to stay even further away from her.

Even though the protectors had left her sight, she stayed away from others. They wondered if it was a habit? Or did she not like other people?

What they had failed to see was that she didn't even know that they were no longer hindering her from seeing other people...They didn't tell her. They didn't feel obligated to tell her.

Loralle had been deprived of a parent’s love and friendship her whole life thus far...They were unsure how to continue...Should they bring her back to the village instead? No! She has the blood of the enemy!

They were worried about her upbringing as a leader, yet, couldn’t fathom her closer to the Water Tribal members…

It really was quite a predicament for them!

But, as time moved on, they watched her grow to a young, boyish girl, then into a dirty looking, young woman. Her clothes were always tattered, but covered the curves of her body, her brown hair was always a mess and she had eyes that seemed as deep as an abyss.

Dirt seemed to always cover her fair skin and she seemed to scamper around rapidly, making the protectors lose her quite a few times. Seeing her like this, they knew now, that it would be too late to invite her back into the tribe…

Her mannerisms seemed so far from that of a tribal leader’s daughter, that she seemed to be closer to an animal.

And those who saw a glimpse of her...Didn't even know what gender she was. So, to one point that the protectors had set to achieve, it happened!

The three protectors slowly gained respect towards her, through her powers. Even though it still made them feel sick, they had never met someone as powerful as her ever in their whole lives...

They were also sure, that in the past, there was never someone so powerful then either. Her powers were immense and seemed to have that ultimate feeling towards them, that they felt that they had to bow down before her.

Not only that...But she had learnt all her powers by herself, giving them the idea that she was quite a talented, smart person.

Except...Sometimes she really did improper, strange things that made them wonder...

Through her investigating the fire power, somehow, her face would turn all black as some sort of noise would happen...

There was a time, also, that she was investigating the water power and they had gotten wet several times! It had irritated them endlessly but never wanted to show themselves. Of course, she knew exactly where they were and did it on purpose!

The protectors were even flabbergasted that she had survived the huge, menacing lake! It really had worried them when she had entered it, but they still made no move to save her from it...

Watching her all this time, they hadn't worried much about their own Water Tribe village but...Suddenly, they were all called back to it.

They had to run at full speed, as they watched her race ahead on a piece of earth that she sat on leisurely. It was quite a magnificent sight, watching the piece that she was sitting on stay unmoving, but beneath it was a triangle of continuously, rapidly, moving earth!

The power of earth was indeed, something very powerful and the protectors felt very happy that this girl was on their side.

Loralle was, at this point, sixteen years old.

***

Her father had other children, of course, but now, all the males had perished due to war or skirmishes. His daughters were not considered to be leaders and the two eldest daughters had already started a family. Their families power was known by not just all the Water Tribe, but the Fire Tribe also. They were leaders because of their immense power and keeping the Water Tribe safe all this time. Dracon's bloodline had been leaders for the last two hundred years and the people of the Water Tribe don't want their bloodline and powers to disappear. They all valued this family greatly and no one had ever betrayed them.

Loralle had been the last child that Dracon had and, suddenly...She became the new leader of the Water Tribe...

When Loralle heard this piece of news from the protectors, who had always been following her, she didn't show any emotion on her face.

She didn't quite understand what a leader had to do...Considering she learnt that the last leader had died in battle, battle was something, that as a 'leader', she definitely didn't want to do, simply because she didn’t want to die…

It had already been known to her, who her father was, but that was all she knew about him. The protector’s whisperings in the past, about who she was, only made her dislike people and question more things as she grew up. What was still unclear to her, was what had happened to her mother. In silence, she had discretely looked for her in the past…To no avail.

Well, if she was being honest, she had no idea what she was looking for...Apparently mother's looked similar to their children...They also tended to stay close to their children. So, she looked for somebody, close by, who looked just like her...

Her conclusion was, her mother was either far away or didn't look like her at all! Of course, even if she dressed up and combed her hair and then searched, looking for someone similar to that look instead...She still wouldn't have found her.

What hadn’t occurred to her was that even now, no one else seemed to know about her either.

Now, the protectors were bowing in acceptance of their new leader and vowed their loyalty to her. It was yet, another big accomplishment for them to have finally achieved!

Sixteen years...Now Dracon's wish had come true!

And the people of the Water Tribe see that the protectors recognize Loralle as their new leader...So…They had no choice but to do the same…

Squatting on a boulder, Loralle stayed there, while looking out over at the rest of the Water Tribe. What they didn't know, was that to her, they weren't strangers. Through the earth, she had acknowledged every single person near...And far, which includes the Fire Tribe...They had all, unknowingly, helped her to grow, in some respect.

Through the earth and watching them, Loralle was taught language and how to use her powers. They had helped her to know that her animalistic ways were quite...Scary. So, she had tried to pick up on some of their ways of mannerisms and speech. She also knew that they didn't have a hatred for her, that they didn't even know who she was!

Their expectant glances looked at her, while she just squatted there and stared right back at them.

They heard that their new leader was powerful, so much so that they will totally eradicate all of the Fire Tribe!

What was strange to the tribal members, was her looks. ‘He’ didn’t look powerful at all. ‘He’ looked like ‘he’ wasn't from the Water Tribe in the slightest!

It was very normal for a Water Tribal member to be clean…But…

Not only that, their new leader’s eyes would skitter everywhere very quickly, making them think that there was something wrong with them.

The only reason they were sure about this new leader, was because of John, Sam and Rick’s attitude towards them. Everyone knew that the three protectors would always stay with the most powerful leader!

…A well-known attribute of the Water Tribe, was loyalty, so, no questions were asked about her attire or her mannerisms.

They also happily assumed that Loralle was, indeed, a male. A male that didn’t seem to talk…And didn't look like they knew what to do...

As time passed, it became an awkward silence. In this time, Loralle was pondering her next step. Even though these people helped her, should she just kill them all, so that they didn't have to fight anymore?

Her reasoning's were like this because of watching them fight every now and then. Even watching the Fire Tribal members die, haunted her, but for her to kill everyone…Seemed cruel…Could she endure that kind of cruelty?

Sighing, Loralle knew she couldn't kill the entire village, not that she wasn't strong enough, it was more so because they had helped her…And, it would make her feel bad!

Her plan must not be to totally eradicate everybody, but it needs to be big enough, though, that both tribes stop fighting...

The protectors nudged her. "Say something to your tribe, Loralle...Lead them, to the Fire Tribe’s deaths!"

Yet, it had completely slipped their minds…That they had not taught her how to speak!

Loralle sneered. It was obvious to her of what she had missed out on. She had seen other children, through the earth, grow up with their loved ones. She hadn't even been able to see anyone in person until she was seven years old...And, she had heard the three people talk about her...Her usefulness.

Obviously, they still thought that she would do as they ordered her to do. And at present, she was told to lead the tribe to have death that she had already seen a lot of, even without being at front lines.

She didn't want to be any part of that.

Didn't some of them see it themselves, that the other leader died through battle? She thought that they were all idiots!

Looking at her hand, she clenched it and the earth rumbled beneath everyone's feet.

"Wow, the new leader is strong!"

"Amazing!"

"With this power...We could kill the entire Fire Tribe!"

She could kill everyone here so easily...Would it be worth it...Not to kill them?

the protectors know of her power and decided to stay back, away from the fight, because they didn't want to die!

As much as they wanted to see their leader defeat the enemy in battle, they were quite scared that even watching would be too close! Not only that, it was still quite unbearable to follow someone who wields another type of power. Luckily, the tribe know nothing about what type of power their new leader has, all they know is, that they are very powerful.

Jumping down from the boulder, to squat on the ground, Loralle touched the earth. She saw within her mind at what seemed to be the border between the Fire and the Water Tribes, quite some distance away.

Defences on both sides were out of the range of each other and it seemed to be somewhat of a cease fire.

It had been a couple of hours now, that some of the Water Tribesmen had raced back knowing that their previous leader had been killed.

…Recently killed bodies of the Fire Tribe were seen, as they had tried to force through the Water Tribe's defences after they had been forced the Water Tribe back. One or two were still alive and Loralle clenched her jaw, seeing their pain and blood all over their faces, which made her want to act that tiny bit faster in her plans.

Sneering again, Loralle stood up and walked towards the border. Her plan was set...She was going to scare the living daylights out of everyone! And stop this stupid war!

The Water Tribal members made way for their new leader and followed her towards the border…Towards the war that had continued for countless of years!

As the protectors watched their new leader walk off with many of their tribesmen, leaving a few hundred of the powerful nobles and the pitiful commoners behind, they smiled at each other.

They hadn't been sure on what her actions were going to be, but this seemed to be better then what they had expected!

Wanting to celebrate, they slapped each other on their backs. They hadn't wasted sixteen years! They had all thought now, that it was well worth it and thinking of their deceased leader, they smiled in satisfaction.

Finally, they didn't have to worry anymore! The Fire Tribe...Will finally be exterminated!

They felt very relieved at this moment! Especially since they didn't feel so sick anymore!

"Let's drink to celebrate!" Rick yelled excitedly.

"To our new, most powerful leader!" Sam added.

"To our hard work!" John said.

"For the Water Tribe! The rulers of Mondal!" Rick said, walking into some lake that led to an inn.

***