NOBODY WAS SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT SHAYRA RINGLER WAS AN EARTH-BENDER. it was a secret that the ringler family intended to keep, and paid good, important people to make sure this secret doesn't get out.

shayra's parents hated the idea of earth-bending. they didn't like the thought of someone having such powerful skills and abilities, and they think they do more harm than good. her parents had a very high authority in the earth kingdom, being one of the richest families next to the beifongs—one of the families her parents despise the most because they have more power than them, more riches.

when the ringler family discovered that their daughter was an earth-bender, they immediately went into action. they hired the best doctors from earth nation, trying to get them to remove her bending ability. none of the doctors were successful, not having discovered a way to take someone's bending ability away permanently.

her parents then went to a fortune teller, asking her to read their daughters future, needing to know if she will become powerful. the fortune teller foretold that their daughter shayra will be very powerful, and they cannot hide her bending forever, knowing at some point, it will become too strong to hide.

shayra's parents didn't listen to her, and had resorted to making sure shayra's abilities never got shown to the public.

they made her do school from her home, hiring a tutor to come and teach her everything she needs to know. they only let her go out at night to take a walk around the village, letting her get fresh air without the risk of revealing her earth-bending to the public eye.

but, what shayra's parents didn't know, is that every night after they went to sleep, shayra snuck out and practiced her earth-bending, and went to the secret earth-bending fights—called earth rumbles—watching and analyzing the skills and techniques they used when fighting.

eventually, shayra started competing in these tournaments, making herself known as the masked warrior. she kept a mask on that concealed her eyes and nose, not letting her identity be revealed at the risk of her parents finding out.

she became one of the best earth-benders fighting in the tournaments, alongside the blind bandit, who was her biggest competition, sharing almost the same amount of skill as her.

and now, as she watched the hippo and the boulder compete, she got ready for her fight against whoever wins that round.

shayra looked up from behind her mask, just time to see the boulder fling the hippo off the rink, flattening him against the wall with a large chunk of rock.

"the boulder wins!" the announcer called out as the crowed cheered wildly for him.

shayra sighed in preparation and began bouncing on her feet, doing small stretches to ready herself for the fight and tied for hair back in a quick ponytail.

"next match, the boulder versus one of our most skilled earth-benders we have, the masked warrior!"

the crowd started cheering loudly for shayra as she jogged out onto the platform, smirking and waving at the crowd, feeding into their excitement.

shayra settled her jog into a swift walk, walking up to the boulder with confidence, giving him her best poker face.

"the boulder feels as if he's about the crush the masked warrior's face into the ground!" the boulder roared as he paced back and forth in front of her.

shayra raised an eyebrow. "the masked warrior highly doubts that statement." she said, mimicking how the boulder speaks about himself in third person.

the crowd let's out sounds of enjoyment as they heard the two earth-benders slander.

when the crowd died down, it left the two fighters in a silent staring contest, as if daring the other to go first.

shayra just smirked, keeping her eyes on the boulder, and simply tapped her foot against the ground, causing a pillar of rock to shoot out from under him and launch him into the air, to the edge of the ring. the crowd went wild at that, some cheering on shayra and some booing her. she just tuned them out, leaving her focus on the fight.

the boulder grunted angrily and lumbered his way back over to her, slamming his fist into the ground, making a wall of dirt propel toward shayra.

shayra quickly backed up and crossed her arms over her face, breaking the rocks into pebbles as it passed through her. the boulder was in shock, thinking that wall of dirt would send her into the stands.

shayra calmly flicked from dust off her shoulders, looking to the boulder with an innocent look. "done yet?" she asked, cocking her head.

the boulder yelled in rage and started summoning huge rocks and boulders from under him, throwing them straight at her.

shayra dodged most of them, wanting to save her energy, but she also blasted a few to pieces if they got too close.

shayra knew what she was doing, she was stalling. she was making the boulder use all of his energy so when he runs out of it, that's when she'll strike.

the boulder finally stopped, realizing it's a lost cause. he was panting heavily, sweat dripping down his face. he was hunched down over his legs, his hands resting on his thighs for support.

on the other hand, shayra looked fine, just standing there with her arms crossed, looking at him expectantly.

"you look a little tired, boulder. are you okay?" shayra asked with mock sympathy, pouting her lips.

"how. . .how did you dodge all of those?" the boulder panted out, lifting his head.

shayra shrugged. "i guess you just have bad aim."

right after shayra said that, she began twisting her arms in circular motions, manipulating the ground under the boulder to cave in, trapping him waist down in the dirt.

the boulder desperately tried to claw his way out of the dirt, but soon failed.

shayra walked over and leaned down to him, inches away from his face and said, "bye-bye."

and with that, shayra stomped her foot against the ground and launched the boulder into the stands, right into another caved in area where another earth-bender had accepted defeat.

the crowd cheered and hollered loudly at shayra's successful win. she smiled and bowed sarcastically at them.

shayra stepped off the platform as a large armadillo-looking animal stepped onto it, sweeping off the remains of the fight.

after she had a small brake to get ready again, the bell rang and the lady who keeps score of everything walked out onto the platform, holding up the sign that shows that the next round it about to start.

the lights dimmed as the referee spoke atop his high pedestal, a beam of light casting directly on him. "now the moment you've all been waiting for—our two champions, the masked warrior versus the blind bandit!"

the lights slowly brightened again and shayra saw the blind bandit standing directly in front of her, holding her championship belt, the same as shayra was holding.

the two ladies who were standing beside her took off her cloak and removed the belt from her hands, exiting the arena.

there was a mix of calls in the crowd, some yelling 'bandit!' and some yelling 'warrior!'.

shayra calmly walked up to her, assuming her position. "it's good to see you again, toph." shayra whispered her name slightly. she was the only one who knew that she was the blind bandit, and no matter how much of an opponent she is, she's still a friend, and knows how it feels to hide your identity.

toph stayed still, looking up at her. "nice to see you again, shayra."

shayra just rolled her eyes and got into her fighting stance. "whenever you're ready, bandit."

toph smiled and moved her foot swiftly in front of her, making an arc around the front side of her body, then quickly drawing it back and scuffing it against the floor, creating a line of rocks snaking towards shayra.

she quickly jumped out of the way, and faced her palm out flat facing toph, and sent a wall of dirt hurdling straight to her.

toph didn't even flinch, and turned the wall into pebbles, just like shayra did before.

shayra panted, blowing a strand of hair that escaped her ponytail out of her face. "have you been taking notes on my skills?" she asked sarcastically.

"definitely not!" toph said strongly, sending three columns bursting out of the ground, not giving shayra time to react, and slammed her against the wall.

shayra groaned and peeled herself off the wall, accepting defeat.

xin fu spoke up and announced, "your winner, and still the champion, the blind bandit!"

toph raised her hand in victory with a smile on her face, and shayra couldn't help but let a small smile show on her face as well.

all of a sudden, xin fu jumped off his pedestal and stood next to toph and said, "to make things a little more interesting, i'm offering up this sack of golf pieces to anyone who can defeat the blind bandit."

the crowd stayed silent and xin fu spoke up again. "what? no one dares to face her?"

shayra figured that he would quickly realize that nobody was going to go up against her, until she heard a high pitched voice say, "i will."

shayra quickly turned her head to the voice, seeing a boy about twelve years old, wearing basic earth kingdom attire and instead of hair on his head, there was a large blue arrow going across it. he was standing there with a smile on his face, and shayra wondered if that kid had a death wish, or was just really stupid.

the crowd cheered as the boy walked up to toph, and shayra had moved from her stop on the wall to the front row of the stands, sitting uncomfortably because of the pain in her back from slamming into the wall.

from above shayra, she heard someone yelling, "go aang! avenge the boulder!"

shayra turned her head and glared at the person who said that, who ended up being a boy, about her age, and a girl a little younger in basic water tribe gear.

they didn't seem to notice her steely glare, so she just turned back around and watched the fight.

"do people really want to see two little girls fighting out here?" toph questioned harshly. shayra smirked at her remark.

the crowd ohh'd and aang frowned, raising his hands defensively and saying, "i don't really want to fight you, i want to talk to you."

from behind shayra, the same water tribe boy said, "boo! no talking!"

shyara swizzled around, having enough of this stupid boy's commentary, but stopped when she saw the younger girl next to him—probably his sister—smack his arm and say, "don't boo at him!" which made him shut up.

shayra gave her a grateful look at turned around once again to see toph blast a massive block of dirt from under the boys feet, sending him into the air, but the boy must've had quick feet, because he barely even got three feet in the air before he was back on the ground.

"somebody's a little light on his feet," toph said. "what's your fighting name, the fancy dancer?"

shayra snorted at that, and the boy just shrugged his shoulders with a sheepish smile on his face. but once again, before the boy could even react, he was blasted into the air, but he did a flip mid-air, basically flying to the other side of the arena, which left shayra extremely confused on how he was able to do that.

"please, wait!" the boy pleaded.

"there you are." toph said determined, creating a thick wall of dirt and sending it right to the boy. the boy jumped—no, flew—into the air, and quickly slamming down and sending the wall of rock right back at toph, sending her off the platform.

shayra's eyes widened, and stood up quickly in shock.

everyone's eyes were widened in the crowd, and it was silent as everyone processed what just happened.

but, all of a sudden the crowd started cheering wildly once again for the boy, as he sprinted off the platform after toph.

shayra started quickly making her way out of the arena, but she looked back one last time to see the people that were behind her, on the platform accepting the reward's of the boys win alongside him.

shayra just shook her head and exited the arena without a trace of her ever even being there.

but what she didn't know, is a certain boy from the water tribe had seen her, and watched her leave the arena, determination set in his mind that if the blind bandit wasn't going to help aang, the masked warrior would.

SHAYRA HAD RETURNED HOME AFTER THE EARTH RUMBLE, knowing she'd have to think of some excuse to tell her parents why she was out for so long, so on her way home she bought a huge bouquet of flowers and a nice charm necklace from a nearby vendor to give to her mother, saying how she was getting a gift for her to show how much she appreciates her.

when she arrived home, she noticed that not only were her parents in the throne room of their house like usual, but there were three other guests, those guests being the ones from the earth rumble.

shayra eyes widened and she dropped the flowers out of shock, stepping back slightly.

her mother spoke up first, "where in the world have you been! it's been hours, and you know we're scheduled free time is only fourty-five minutes!"

shayra clenched her jaw and gave a sympathetic face at her mother. "but, mother. the only reason i was out so late was because i was getting a gift for you. i token of my appreciation for all the things you and dad do for me." she said in her sweetest voice, side-eyeing the other three people in the room, slightly begging them not to say anything.

her mother's hard gaze softened slightly. "well, you know you don't have to do that. but, if it was only of that reason, i suppose it is alright, okay, dear?" her mother looked to her father, who looked bored out of his mind.

"yes, dear." he drawled out, slowly turning his head to look out the other guests.

"oh!" he said, quickly straightening his posture on his throne, looking hardly at the three kids. "and what may you three be doing here?"

the three kids just stared at him, before the bald one—aang—spoke up and said, "we're actually here to see your daughter, if that's okay? we met her in the town today and wanted to talk with her more."

shayra looked at him in thankfulness and in confusion. she was thankful for them not blowing her cover for being in the earth rumble, since she had taken off her mask in the stands, and in confusion on why they were even here in the first place."

her father turned to her in question. "is this true, shayra?"

shayra hesitated before nodding slowly. "yes, father. these are my friends."

her father nodded. "very well. shayra, lead them out to the garden. you all can mingle there for now."

shayra nodded and started leading the way towards the back of the estate, the three kids following after her.

when they made it out to the garden, shayra swiveled around angrily, staring at them with hard eyes. "okay, why the hell are you guys here?"

they all stepped back in surprise at her sudden outburst, but aang, who seemed to be the only one talking, quickly spoke up and said, "i need an earth-bending teacher, and i can't find out where the blind bandit lives, so we came to you."

shayra narrowed her eyes. "how do you know where i live?"

the water tribe boy scratched the neck of his neck embarrassingly. "well, uh-i may or may not have followed you home?" he said with a questioning tone.

shayra's jaw tightened and she bit her lip. "do you guys realize how dangerous that was for me? nobody can know that i earth-bend, no one. and if someone saw you guys follow me. . ." she shook her head. "doesn't matter, the point is, is that i can't help you. i'm sorry."

the younger water tribe girl looked to her with curious eyes. "why can't anyone know you earth-bend. bending is a gift, it shouldn't be hidden."

shayra laughed bitterly. "yeah, tell that to my parents."

katara's eyebrows furrowed. "wha—"

"that doesn't matter either." shayra interrupted. "i really am sorry i can't help you with earth-bending. but, i can tell you where top- the blind bandit lives."

aang's eyes widened. "really? that would be great!"

shayra nodded and told them all they needed to know, before escorting them out.

before they fully exited the house, the girl turned around to shayra. "if you ever change your mind about coming with us, i'm katara, that's aang," she pointed to the bald one, "and that's my brother sokka." she averted to finger from aang to the boy next to him.

"ah, the one who kept cheering for the boulder." shayra said.

katara giggled and nodded her head. "yeah, that's him." she started walking up to the group. "hopefully we can meet again, shayra."

shayra nodded with a smile. "i hope so, katara of the southern water tribe."

"how did you—"

"i know water tribe attire when i see it. and you and your brother don't look like you're northern tribe members."

katara gave an impressed smile and started making her way back to the group, and walked out of her estate.

AS SHAYRA LAID IN HER BED THAT NIGHT, she kept thinking about her decision and if it was the right one. she wanted to help aang, of course, but the thought of her parents figuring out that she's been using her earth-bending like that? i didn't even want to know how bad of a punishment she'd receive.

shayra has always wanted to do more with her powers than just fighting in earth rumbles where most of the people don't even have real skill, just strength and muscle. she wanted to go against real skill, like toph. she loved sparring against her, finally getting a chance to go up against true earth-bending. her and toph would sneak out of their houses at night some nights and spare in the arena until sunrise, both knowing they have to get back to their families before they become suspicious. that's why her and toph get along so well, it's because of their shared fear of their parents finding out about what they really do when they are free from their watchful eyes.

as she was finally about to fall asleep after hours of twisting and turning, she suddenly heard a rock fly up and slam against her window, making her jump back against her headboard i'm surprise, knocking her head during the process.

"shit!" she hissed, jumping up from the bed while rubbing the back side of her head.

she cautiously walked toward the window, hands raised just in case she had to use her bending. but, when she opened the window, she didn't see anything.

she was about to close it when she heard a faint voice say, "hey! down here!"

shayra knew that voice anywhere, so she didn't even have to look down to know it was—"toph!"

"yes! it's toph you idiot, come down here. we're leaving." toph said rushingly, bouncing on her feet.

"leaving where? and why in the middle of the night?" shayra asked.

"we're going with aang and his friends to teach him earthbending." she said, starting to get impatient.

shayra shook her head and scoffed. "yeah, okay. i'm not just going to leave my family like that."

toph let out a groan of frustration. "come on, shay!" she pleaded. "this is what we want, isn't it? to experience earth-bending in the real world. not earth rumbles!"

shayra bit her lip. "toph, i don't know if i can leave my family like that. they'll send search parties all over earth kingdom to bring me back, bring us back."

"then let them search! we will always be one step ahead of them. and, besides, you and me are both two of the strongest earth-benders in the nation. i think we can handle some lousy guards." toph said convincingly.

shayra was silent for a moment, before letting out a sharp breath and shaking her head. "i'm so going to regret this." she muttered. "let me get changed!" she yelled down to toph, who let out a cheer of excitement, jumping in the air.

shayra rolled her eyes and got changed into basic earth-nation clothing, before packing a small bag of necessities, and quietly climbing out of her window.

she was on the second story, so she had to sit on her window sill to close it, and then jump down, letting the earth cushion her fall.

"alright, slow poke, let's go! they're probably already out of our village by now because of how slow you were!" toph said hurriedly as she started jogging to where the three friends were.

shayra rolled her eyes. "yeah, well at least i didn't throw rocks at your window while you were trying to sleep." she mumbled, jogging up to her.

they continued jogging to the meet up place, before starting into a sprint as they started to see them at the top of hill, about to leave.

as they made it to the top of the hill, they were panting, completely out of breath, or at least shayra was.

"oh my god, i need to work out more." shayra panted, putting her hands on her knees.

aang turned around at us in shock, his mouth parted in surprise. "toph, shayra, what are you two doing here?"

shayra swallowed, her breath starting to even out. "um- i don't know. i was dragged out of bed by toph, so ask her."

toph smiled. "my dad changed his mind. he said i was free to travel the world."

shayra's eyebrows furrowed at her statement. she had a feeling she was lying, but wasn't going to say anything for the sake of toph.

from the top of appa's saddle, sokka said, "well, we'd better get out of here then. before your dad changes his mind. and before shayra decides her bed is better than traveling with us."

shayra looked at him with an unamused face. "ha, ha." she said sarcastically.

"good idea." toph said.

"you're gonna be a great teacher, toph. you too, shayra." aang said, smiling at us from his position mounted on appa.

"speaking of which," toph said. "i wanna show you something."

shayra looked to toph for explanation. "am i a part of this?"

toph shrugged her shoulders. "you can be, but you probably don't want to be."

shayra gave a single nod. "gotcha."

aang dismounted from appa and the second his feet touched the floor he was blasted into the sky by toph sending a sheet of rock from below him to propel him into the air and onto a tree.

"now we're even."

shayra laughed, and got atop appa, sitting in between katara and sokka, who both looked at her. "um. . .you're not going to do that to me, are you? since, because i was rooting for the boulder and not you?" sokka asked nervously, his voice going up a few octaves.

shayra smiled. "it's quite tempting, but i'll resist. i can't hold a grudge if i'm going to be traveling with you for a while."

sokka let out a of relief, putting a hand over his heart. "good, i don't want to be stuck in a tree alongside aang."

shayra laughed along with katara, as they all looked to aang, to see him still hanging upside down.

"um, i'll take the belt back." toph said, holding her hand out expectingly to sokka.

sokka reluctantly unclipped the belt from his waist and threw up down from appa and down to toph, to which it hit her head, sending her to the floor.

shayra laughed abruptly, but quickly clasped a hand over her mouth to try and silence them.

"that's not funny, that's not funny. . ." shayra repeated to herself to try and make herself stop laughing, knowing she shouldn't be.

"sorry," sokka said sheepishly, as aang fell from his tree, making shayra laugh even harder into her palms.

AS THE FIVE FRIENDS FLEW OFF ON APPA, ONTO their next adventure. the two earth-benders present were very unaware of what was happening back in their village. they didn't know that their parents had come together, bargaining with two money-hungry earth-benders, ordering them to bring shayra and toph back to them, at any cost.

woo first chapter! sorry there was little to no interactions with shayra and sokka, but i promise they will have much more scenes together in the upcoming chapters!