Rayna is a 16-year-old girl from a small town, known as Zai. Zai was originally an independent village, having no alliance or affiliation with any of the four nations. When Rayna was 6 years old, Fire Nation soldiers came to Zai unannounced. Apparently, the Fire Lord had ordered them to capture Zai and claim it as Fire Nation territory. They then began to raid the village, and start massacring citizens while capturing fire benders. She witnessed her mother and father's brutal deaths, as well as watching her older brother be forcefully taken away by soldiers. Just when Rayna was about to be killed by a soldier, a villager came to her rescue; he punched the soldier away and picked up Rayna, holding her as he ran away. Only Rayna and four other men survived; Morro, the village chief, Saber, a water bender, Zed, an earth bender, and Loch, a fire bender.

Following the attacks, Rayna began intense battle training. Despite being a non-bender, the benders taught her bending moves so she could learn what they would do and how to counter/avoid them. Morro, on the other hand, taught Rayna the art of patience and observing her targets movements before striking.

Flash forward a few years, team avatar made camp near Rayna's camp. The night they make camp, Aang has a unusual dream; a monk tells Aang that in order to continue his training, he must find the girl with eyes as gray as misery, skin as pale as a ghost, and hair as black as death. Originally, Aang believes his dream is telling him about his fire bending teacher, but once he finds Rayna, he realizes that she must train him in basic combat skills. Although reluctant at first, Rayna gives in and joins team avatar. Unfortunately for her, she joined right before they entered the desert. That being said, she never met Zuko and had no idea who he was.

Our story begins in Ba Sing Sae, where Zuko and Rayna would meet for the first time, unaware of each other's true identities.