Disclaimer: You better be glad Avatar isn't mine. It would probably end up like this….

A/N: Welcome back.

I passed years developing the skills that would lead to my escape.

-Hama

Congratulations, Katara

Hama met Katara at sundown, a live Komodo chicken slung over her shoulder. Katara, understandably, was puzzled.

"You'll see in a bit," said the old woman. "I promise you, tonight's lesson will be very exciting."

"Ah, spirits!"

The cave was full of corpses, chained upright against the walls. Rotting, putrid. Men and women both. The smell was indescribable.

Aang looked around, horrified. Sokka grimaced. Toph made a face, and said: "Aw, aw man. They're dead, aren't they?"

There was the slight tinkling of a chain being moved, and Aang nearly jumped out of his skin.

The only living prisoner in the cave was a man, his hair ragged and dull, his cheekbones prominent, his eyes sunken. His clothes hung loose around him.

The man couldn't support himself, and when Toph set him free, he slumped forward onto the young girl without protest.

"We need to get help," said Sokka, and Aang nodded numbly. He couldn't imagine what kind of spirit would lock people in a cave to die like this.

The three of them gently picked up the man and hurried out of the cave. They needed to find a healer, and fast.

"Can you feel the power the full moon brings?" asked Hama, and she breathed in deeply. "For generations, it has blessed waterbenders with its glow, allowing us to do incredible things." Hama put down the trussed komodo chicken in the clearing. "Tonight, I'm going to show you what some of these things are."

Katara stared at the chicken, uncomprehending. "Hama, I don't understand."

"Watch carefully, Katara. What I'm about to show you, I discovered in that wretched Fire Nation prison." Hama untied the chicken, and the bird hopped up, shaking its feathers out and clucking. "The guards were always careful to keep any water away from us. They piped in dry air, and had us suspended away from the ground. Before giving us any water, they would bind our hands and feet so we couldn't bend. Any sign of trouble was met with cruel retribution."

Hama gestured towards the chicken, which was now strutting and pecking around. "And yet, each month, I felt the full moon enriching me with its energy. There had to be something I could do to escape. Then I realized that where there is life, there is water. Watch."

Hama stood straight, and held her hands out, fingers splayed and stiff. It didn't look like any waterbending position Katara had ever seen.

The chicken froze.

"Look. Remember how I showed you the water in the plants? Animals are the same. But animals fight back, which is why we can only do this under the full moon's light."

The chicken let out a squawk, and Hama moved her hands, scooting the chicken forward.

"Hama?"

"I call it 'bloodbending.' I bend the water in another body. You can do it to anything." Hama smiled. "Or anyone."

Katara's eyes widened. "You mean, you do it to people?"

"This is how I escaped. First, I practiced with the rats that scurried across the floor of my cage. Then, I was ready for the men. It took years, but one full moon night, my cell was unlocked by the very guards assigned to keep me in. And I walked free, for the first time in years." Hama closed her eyes a moment, overcome with the emotion of the memory. But she didn't lower her hands.

Katara looked uneasy. "But, to reach inside someone and control them? I don't know if I want that kind of power."

"The power exists, Katara. You cannot deny that it is a part of you. A part of every waterbender. And it is our most powerful weapon against the Fire Nation. With this, no one can stop you."

Katara shied away. "I'm not sure…"

"And if they had captured you, Katara? What would you have done?" Hama's eyes narrowed. "Would you have made use of anything you could to escape? Or would you have died, like everyone else?"

Katara's heart lept into her throat. "I… I…"

Hama was beginning to look angry, and the chicken began clucking wildly as the old woman's hands clenched. "Katara, I watched. I the man in the cage next to me used his own piss to try and escape. He was beaten, and he died. The woman across from me chewed open her arm to use her blood. They cut her hands off, and she died. When I escaped, no one came with me because they were all dead."

Tears sprang into Katara's eyes. "I… I'm sorry."

Hama breathed deeply, and she relaxed. The chicken, suddenly freed, ran into the undergrowth.

"Do not apologize, child. I did not wish to tell you these things. But I want to make sure that the last hope for our tribe has the skills she needs to survive, and carry on our traditions. Do you understand?"

Katara nodded slowly. "Yes, I… yes, Hama. I'll try."

Hama smiled. "Good. Now, let's find that chicken…"

Aang, Sokka, and Toph stood by nervously as the village's healer poured hot herbed broth down the near-comatose man's throat. He coughed, and choked, but managed to get it down.

"What happened to you?" asked Aang after the healer left. The man's eyes flicked to meet the Avatar's. He opened his mouth, but the sound he made was too soft to make out. Aang leaned forward.

"Witch."

"Very good, Katara. You're a natural. Try spreading its wings."

The komodo chicken convulsed a moment, then spread its wings.

"You can practice this even when it's not the full moon, you know. I make hollow puppets and fill them with water to mimic a body. Now, try a more delicate movement: turning the head."

The chicken squawked, and its head turned. Unfortunately, it turned too far, and Katara gasped as the bird went limp.

"Hm. That's too bad. But you're definitely improving. And the truth, Katara, is that you don't even need the full moon, with this." Hama raised her arms, and the dead chicken flew into her hands. "There's still water there, after all."

Katara looked slightly disturbed. "Hama, it's dead."

"It can be tomorrow's dinner. I'll have you practice with the puppets tomorrow. Those are less delicate. Besides, I think that's enough for tonight. We should both get some rest."

When the two waterbenders got back to the inn, they saw Sokka, Aang, and Toph standing by the doorway. Katara saw the looks on their faces, and immediately knew something was wrong.

"Katara," said Sokka. "We found out what happened to all the people who disappeared!"

"I found this cave!" said Toph. "It was huge, and-"

"It was full of these disgusting rotting people!" interrupted Sokka. "It was so awful, and-"

"One guy was still alive," added Aang. "And we rescued him, but he said-"

"It was a witch that did it!" finished Toph.

Hama and Katara stared, shocked. "A… a witch?" sputtered Katara, after a moment.

"Yeah, and we talked to old man Ding, and he said that something was controlling him with weird witch magic!" Sokka nodded fervently.

"Controlling-" Katara stared at Hama, who lowered her head.

Katara's jaw dropped. "You…"

"Yes, me." Hama raised her face to meet Katara's eyes. "I'm the one who did it."

Aang's eyes became as big as saucers. "W-what?"

Hama continued to look straight at Katara. "They threw me in prison to rot, along with my brothers and sisters. They deserve the same. Katara, when I am gone, you must carry on my work."

Katara shook her head in horror. "No…. no, you tricked me! You said this was just to survive!"

"Survive, yes! And to destroy this entire vile nation!"

Sokka put his hand on his sword, and Toph dug in her feet. Aang pointed at Hama. "No. We won't let you do this!"

"Won't you?" Hama extended her hands, and Katara's three companions' arms snapped to their sides, their backs straightening. "Kata-" started Sokka, but then his jaw clamped shut.

"Let them go!" cried Katara.

"Katara," said Hama. "You are young, and full of spirit. You can use bloodbending to win the war. You can use it to save the world. Listen to me. This is the most important thing you will ever learn. Will you learn it from me?"

Katara backed a step away, shaking her head mutely.

"Then you give me no choice. I will keep your friends as my prisoners until you learn all I can teach you. Then, perhaps you will see what needs to be done."

"No! Let them go, now!" Katara shifted her legs into a waterbending stance.

"Katara, I don't want to fight you. You are the hope for our tribe."

"Then let them go."

Hama moved her body, and Toph, Sokka, and Aang were flung in between the two waterbenders. "If you want to fight me, you'll have to go through your friends. And neither of us want that, do we?"

Katara paused. Then, she straightened her posture, and stuck her hands out straight. She felt the water in Hama, and grabbed it.

Hama's face contorted, her arms twitched, and for a moment Sokka, Toph, and Aang were freed. They whirled around-

And then Hama grabbed them again. "Katara, I am a waterbender too. We can't very well use this technique on each other, can we? I won't hurt your friends. Join me."

Katara shook her head. "No! I won't let you do this! I won't let you terrorize these people, and I won't let you hurt anyone!"

Katara reached out, this time to the three bodies in front of her, and pulled forward. Her intention was to get her friends out of the way.

But that isn't what happened.

At the same moment Katara tugged, Hama pulled back with her own bending to keep the three in place. And Aang, Sokka, and Toph, like the skins filled with liquid that they were, simply ripped open.

The starving man survived, against all odds, and told the villagers what had happened to him and to the others who had been taken. The stolen villagers' loved ones finally got closure, and they put their dead to rest at last.

As for Hama the innkeeper, she gave herself up when confronted, confessing to all her crimes and more. She showed no remorse.

Still, they say, in that backwater Fire Nation town, that though Hama is long dead and burnt, her spirit still haunts those woods. That you can still hear the cries of the lost spirits under the mountain, and that on full moon nights the waters still tremble and scream with grief.

A/N: Because 'My bending is more powerful than yours' is about the dumbest line I've ever heard. I mean, it sounds like it belongs in 'Dragonball Z' or something…