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PROLOGUE
SHE HAD NO HOME.
Not physically, at least. She entered this world crying, born in the middle of the vast stormy sea, hundreds of miles from any land, from any place someone could make a home out of. Yet, it didn't really matter how far away she was from the nearest piece of land, it wasn't like she had anybody or place waiting to welcome her home. She had no one but her parents.
(And even then, she would not have them for very long.)
The loathsome universe decided to destine her to lead a very lonely life.
The wailing newborn began to flail her arms as she was placed into the arms of her mother. The new mother looked down at the baby in her, who started to settle down and cry's had quieted down into a soft whimper, letting tears of joy flow from her eye's and drip down her face, now that her baby girl had finally been brought into the world and was tucked safely in her arms. Yet, she could not help but let some tears of sorrow trickle down her cheeks as well, knowing that her daughter had been born with parents that had been turned away from society and the places they once referred to as being a home. With her very own parents as outcasts from their nations, the mother knew that her newborn daughter would never be able to experience the feeling of having a place to call home. Instead she would be forced to live her life in exile, just like her parents.
As the mother continued to look down at her baby girl, who's little hand now grasped her own finger as if it was an instinct, she could only imagine her family having a place to call home, instead of on a rocking ship drifting through the middle of nowhere.
The mother stands over the stove, cooking dinner, while occasionally looking up out the kitchen window to watch her daughter run around outside, cartwheeling, and rolling down hills. She calls for her daughter to come inside, who turns around, smiling, at the sound of her mother's soothing voice and begins to run towards the house, her home.
The mother turns back her cooking, only to turn back around shorty after hearing her child's soft footsteps come running into the kitchen, and noticing that the newly sewn dress she had made for her daughter was now covered in grass stains. Before she can scold her daughter for ruining her new dress, she is interrupted by her husband greeting the family, returning home from work. Her daughter lets out a shriek of happiness and runs to tackle her father in a hug. He lets out a laugh as he pick her up and spins her around a couple times before prying her hands from around the back of his neck and placing her down gently in front of the dinner table and walks over to place a kiss on his wife's cheek as she finished setting plates of food down on the table, before sitting down himself with the rest of the family.
Laughter erupts from the dinner table and echos throughout the house and filling it with a sense of warmth and cheerfulness as tales of today's events are told.
Later in the evening, long after the sun had set, her daughter is carried to bed by her husband, who gently lays the blanket over her body and tucks their daughter's favorite toy under her arm, providing her with a sense of comfort. Her daughter turns away from her father, noticing her mother standing in the doorframe and begins to beg her mother to tell her a story.
The mother, unable to resist her daughter's pleading eyes walks over and crouches down next to her daughter's bed, giving into her begging. The mother stretches a hand toward the child, gently brushing away some loose hairs covering her daughters face, and begins to tell her a story of a boy who fell in love with a dragon princess but could never be together because the dragon princess' father, the dragon king, forbid them. By the time she finished with the story, the daughter was already fast asleep, snoring softly. The mother smiled at the sight of her sleeping daughter. She stood up and leaned over, placing a soft kiss on her head, before leaving to retire to her own bed for the night.
As she laid next to her husband, slowly drifting off to sleep, she could not help but let out a small smile at the thought of this home and the loving family that filled it.
This dream would never become a reality and would forever just be a figment of her imagination.
Her daughter could never have that, the society they lived in would never truly accept the family as long as this war continued to rage on across the nations. The mother was the daughter of a fire nation nobleman, she had wealth to her name and placed high in the social rankings, but she gave up her life of nobility to be with the man that she loved; a warrior of the southern water tribe sent to fight against the fire nation in the seemingly never-ending war, but instead ended up falling in love with a women from the very same nation he was fighting against. The two had no choice but to runaway if they ever truly wanted to be together, knowing that the war-torn world they lived in would never accept two people from such different nations being together.
That is why the new parents decided to name their daughter Mirai. She represented a future that could exist if the fire nation would cease their ruthless attacks on the other nations, restoring peace and balance across the world. A society that would allow people from all different nations to live side by side in harmony, the way it once did all those years ago.
But for now there was nothing that the new mother could do but hold her daughter closer, as the crashing waves slammed against the rocking ship, and wish that her daughter's life could be so different from this nightmare she would be forced to live.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
I know this is a very vague backstory but I promise more about Mirai's past will be revealed as she begins her travels with the Gaang.
I'm super excited about this story but updates are probably going to be very sparse these next few weeks because I've been super busy with working and preparing for my first year at college! I'm also going to try and write out a few chapter ahead of time so I can post them more frequently and consistently.
