The Emptiness in the Cold

No matter the season, no matter the time of day, the wind in the North Pole pierced through furs, seal skins, and flesh alike. But rushing down roads of hard-packed snow and ice, from hut to hut, Mei Li felt nothing. Exhaustion stole away things like that, awareness and thought. There was energy for nothing eyes beyond staying on her feet and bending when needed. Ever since the treatment for this dreaded plague had been discovered, this had been her life, day in and day out.

Mei Li's father forced her to rest often. As a waterbender himself, he knew the toll healing took on the body, he knew the limits. However, when she was allowed to forget about the dead and the dying for a little while, all talked turned to her future, her plans. At nineteen, she was already too old to have no direction for her life, so her father said. He had only let it slide this long because of her duty as a healer.

"I want you taken care of, Mei Li. I want to know that you have a future beyond this..." Over the past few years, his face had aged, etched deep with worry and hardship. Mei Li often wondered if hers had suffered the same, but mirrors weren't a very common luxury in the homes of the common folk. There wasn't much use for them in the life of men and women whose appearances were appreciated by few.

Finally Mei Li came to her destination, a ways down the road. The hut was a small one, tucked away against one of the outer walls of solid ice, several meters thick, that surrounded the inner ring of the city. This inner ring was nothing like the sprawling labyrinths of lanes and mansions she'd heard existed inside the walls of Ba Sing Se, but it still separated the most prominent members of their society from the rest. To live right beside this wall, despite the size of the hut, meant this family was old and likely well off, which meant so were their guests. Money always meant prompt service.

A short formal bow, an introduction. It was all so automatic, like she herself was stuck in a repeating time loop.

"Ah yes. It is good to see you again, Miss Mei Li. When my aunt sent a letter to inform us that she and her family were coming north with their sick, I requested that you attend us again when they arrived. Your treatment of my son was a wonderful success." The patriarch of the house was an older gentleman, a long beard matching the white arctic fox bear fur he trimmed his robes in. A hint of memory of him remained, but nothing more than just a hint.

"Thank you. I am honored to serve you again..." The voice sounded so hollow, soft. Was it really hers?

The old bearded man's head bobbed a nod and he motioned for a younger woman to approach.

"This way." She gestured toward another entry way and pulled back the covering to allow Mei Li inside. "We believe they are only in stage two... so treatment should not be overly complicated."

"Thank you. Please stay away from the patients as much as possible," Mei Li replied, kneeling on the ground. The patients were both children, one no more than six or seven and the other potentially a teenager. The woman, whoever she was, was right. The disease had not progressed too far; these children would most definitely recover. That was a relief.

Mei Li uncorked a special skin at her waist that contained the concoction of medicines for the cure. She bent a thin stream of the liquid from her skin, splitting it into two smaller doses, beading them in the air.

Leaning over the teenage boy, she spoke to him softly, coaxing him to open his mouth. "I'm going to give you some medicine... just try to swallow and be still." He nodded weakly and accepted the bead of liquid as his dropped into his mouth and slid down his throat. Mei Li moved to the other child, delicately persuading her to do the same. Once both children had accepted the medicine, Mei Li stood to accomplish the rest.

Originally, this treatment had been regarded with fear, too closely related to bloodbending, the forbidden art. Now, it was acknowledged that it had saved far too may lives to forbid completely.

When it was finished, Mei Li stumbled through the thanks and the formalities before making her departure. Happiness bloomed in her chest every time she was able to believe a patient would live, but day after day of this... it was all starting to fade. Anymore, it wasn't enough...

Character Profile: Rennick

Name: Rennick
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Nationality: Mixed
Weapon: None
Origin: Unknown
Personality: Calculating and sardonic but also very playful at the same time, Rennick is simple put, strange. His motivations constantly change, he is impossible to predict, but his attitude toward everyone hardly ever changes. He treats foes like friends and friends like foes whenever it suits him and he seems to have no sense of where the line must be drawn in his behavior. The only other consistency in Rennick's personality is curiosity; he will do almost anything to obtain new information.
Background: The only thing known about Rennick is that he has spent the last nine years in the Fen Hon traveling circus. Only six years ago, he took over as the circus's ringleader and since then, they have never been more successful and well-known.

Appearance: Being of mixed descent, Rennick is one mess of varied traits. He is of average height for a man, with a middling build. His skin is pale like an Air Nomad, but his eyes are green. No one outside the circus, and even some within, is sure what his natural hair color is because Rennick bleaches it white-blonde any time his natural roots begin to show. His hair is kept fairly long for a man, in a side ponytail always draped over his right shoulder. On his left ear, he wears an elaborate ear cuff in a design that looks like nothing common to any of the four nations.
Special Abilities: None

Other: He has seemingly above average intelligence and is very talented at predicting people and reading them.

Character Profile: Akio

Name: Akio
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Nationality: Water Tribe/Fire Nation
Weapon: Martial Arts

Origin: Northern Water Tribe
Personality: Akio is known best for his controlled and calm demeanor. He rarely lets anything break his composure, particularly in the presence of strangers. When he is allowed to relax in the company of close friends and family, more candid emotions surface like humor and things like minor annoyance. However, even at a comfortable level, he tries very hard to keep a tight rein on more extreme spikes or dips in his emotional state.
Background: Akio was born to a mixed race couple, a Fire Nation soldier and a Northern Water Tribe waterbender. Although his mother was not born a firebender, Akio inherited the ability from her bloodline, and despite the war being long over, there was still stigma against firebenders in the Water Tribe for the danger they presented without proper training. Akio's bending unfortunately surfaced when he was very young, only three, and quickly became very volatile as he fought to suppress his abilities out of fear. Their chief soon ordered his parents to take him away from the Northern Water Tribe, but his mother was pregnant and could not travel. Measures were taken to help the boy manage his firebending and for a time, they were successful.



Three years after Akio's sister Mei Li was born, he suddenly contracted a burning fever. His parents took him to the healing huts, but there seemed to be nothing they could do to break the fever, so they had no choice but to leave him him with the healers overnight. Early the next morning, the village arrived to find the hut decimated and nine people either dead or burned.

This time, Akio's mother was forced to take the child while his father insisted on staying behind to wait for them to return. But they never did.

Appearance: Akio is almost a perfect foil to his sister in that he inherited the dark skin of the Water Tribe, but the natural black hair and amber eyes of his mother's race. He is taller and more well-built than his sister, much like his father's people, but his face more closely resembles his mother's.
Special Abilities: Akio's practiced control of his firebending has given him the ability to create every single color of fire with varying degrees of heat.
Other: Akio is trained in martial arts as well as having a mastery over firebending.

Character Profile: Lifen

Name: Lifen
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Nationality: Earth Kingdom

Weapon: None

Origin: Ba Sing Se
Personality: Lifen is a very quiet young woman. She is being trained to take over her father's place in the family, which gives her a strong sense of responsibility. She is very reserved and very kind, but due to the two-faced attitude of the me members of court she finds it hard to trust adults. She always carries a comb that her mother gave her, and a small wooden flute. 
Background: Lifen was raised as an aristocrat in Ba Sing Se. Her father was always very strict and had her learn the tricks of the trade very early. Her mother, however, was very kind and very gentle. Lifen was partial to her sweet mother rather than her intimidating father so any time she got away from tutors she spent with her mother. Her mother would often tell her stories of her family and of her great-grandfather who built a cabbage growing and shipping company in face of adversity, but the plague had been hard on the crops as well. The family had been left with what remained of a dying company.

She learned earth bending as a child while playing with her friends. Ever since, her father made her take rigerous lessons from only the best teachers.

Her family isolated themselves from the outside world due to the plague, but to no avail. Her mother soon fell very ill. Since Lifen's father forbade her to go (because she was the only heir to the estate), Lifen snuck out onto the ship heading to the Northern Water Tribe where her mother would soon receive the medicine she needed.
Appearance: Lifen is a very petite girl, so she doesn't much look like a very powerful earthbender, but she is very spry and nimble. She has dark brown hair that is usually pulled into a tight bun with a porcelan comb in her hair in the shape of a lilly. When her hair is down it reaches just at her shoulder. When at home she is dressed in the finest silks, but when she escaped she stole a maid's clothes and tucked her comb in a pocket. She has brown eyes and fair skin.
Special Abilities: Avatar
Other: She is a very good singer and flute player. 

Character Profile: Min Ya

Name: Min Ya
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Nationality: Air Nomad

Weapon: Yo-yo

Origin: Eastern Air Temple

Personality: Min Ya is a calm, collected individual. She can be naive to the ways of the world due to her seclusion, but she should never be mistaken as dim.

Background: Min Ya grew up hearing the tales about Avatar Aang, who had been the only surviving Air Bender after the Genocide. After stopping the Fire Lord, Avatar Aang had started work recovering the former temples to their former Glory. Less appealling was the history of the repopulation of the air nomads.

Air nomads had been seperated by gender to the different temples in the past. However, with the need to bring air nomads back to the world, Aang and his decendants were required to bear families with people of the other nations. This meant a total reconstruction of family values.

Unfortunately, this mingling with other races had also openned up the Air Nomads to the plague, taking the lives of many Air Nomads. Panic was caused in the ranks, between the need to isolate themselves again, and the need to increase their numbers. This lead to many disagreements between the temples. Some consider it near time to return to the old ways, as their isolation brought them closer to the Spirit World, and had increased their chances of birthing airbenders.

Min Ya herself grew up in the Eastern Air Temple. She's one of the first children concieved to two Airbenders in centuries. She was a bright child, who adapted to her bending and meditation easily.

A cure to the plague was finally found five years ago. Tenatively, the air nomads are starting to venture out again. However, disagreements between the temples has only increased.

Min Ya can't wait to get out into the world, and see what lies outside the temples.

Appearance: Air Nomads in these times are a combination of the various nations. Min Ya appears to take more after the Earth Kingdom, with green eyes and brown hair.

Special Abilities: Air Bending Master
Other: Is a mean pastry maker.

Character Profile: Katsuo Himura

Name: Katsuo Himura
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Nationality: Fire Nation

Weapon:  Naginata

Origin: Fire Nation

Personality: Katsuo is a tempermental young man, who's emotions are volitale at times. He's very defensive, to make up for his low self esteem.

Background: Katsuo was born to a prestigious Fire Nation family. This had kept him and his family mostly quarentined from the plague, as they were easily able to seperate themselves from the public. Katsuo was the second born of the Himura family, preceded by one older brother, with two younger siblings after him. A sister and brother.

What made Katsuo stand out from the others, however, was that he was the only one in his family not to inherit any fire-bending skills. While being a nonbender was not a social oddity by any measure, both the prestige and the familial stigma grated on Katsuo. He still tries to figure out his place in the world.


Special Abilities: Strong sense of balance.

Character Profile: Mei Li

Name: Mei Li
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Nationality: Water Tribe/Fire Nation

Weapon:  None

Origin: Northern Water Tribe
Personality: Typical of a waterbender, Mei Li is compassionate, caring and even-tempered. She believes very strongly in protecting and helping others to the best of her ability. While this leads her to make friends often and quickly, it also leads to her being a people-pleaser more often than not, out of fear of upsetting others. She puts her feelings second to everyone else's, unless faced with impulse driven decisions that might ultimately bring harm to those she cares about.
Background: A little over a century after the war hundred year war, Mei Li was born in the Northern Water Tribe to a mixed couple: her father a northern waterbender and her mother of Fire Nation descent. She and her brother Akio were very close, only a couple years apart, until an accident sent him and their mother away from the Northern Water Tribe when she was only four years old. For years, she troubled her father about when they would return and begged to go to the Fire Nation and see them, but as the plague struck, it became harder and harder for them to travel and she eventually gave up.

Mei Li was one of increasingly few people to have contracted the plague early on and survived. Having gone through the pain herself, her determination only increased to improve her bending and join the healers of the Northern tribe as quickly as possible. Since the cure arrived in the north, Mei Li's time spent on her personal life has only decreased even more. Her father has been, however, determined to see his daughter married to a respectable man, so without her knowledge, he arranged a marriage for her to one of her closest friends. This hasn't sat well with her since she found out, but up until the present, she's found herself at a loss for what to do.
Appearance: Mei Li and her brother both inherited a very mixed bag of traits from their parents. Mei Li has her father's dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, but with the fair complexion of a Fire Nation native. She's small boned and petite like her mother's people and she also inherited her mother's delicate featured face.

 
Special Abilities: Advanced healing capability.
Other: Has obtained her waterbending mastery.