The twins had shown signs of their abilities at an early age. And like most twins, Eska and Desna did everything together. Eska was the first to shoot a sharply made icicle at her nurse. About two seconds later, Desna followed suit.

"My, we have a healer and a fighter on our hands!"

And that's where the problem truly began. Ancient customs allowed Desna to be trained in the art of Northern style waterbending. He quickly rose to the top of his classes as a high level fighter. Eska was prepped for life as a princess. She grew up hearing stories of the 170 year old princess named Yue, who gave her life to become the moon spirit. Eska went along with these traditions silently and without complaint. Her father was pleased that she would one day fulfill her duties and marry someone worthy of the royal family. And their father was rarely pleased. Eska didn't really mind an arranged marriage. But she would be damned of she would sit by and not learn how to use her gift.

So the scheme was born. Eska and Desna were practically identical. With bangs sweeping over their icy blue eyes, people could rarely tell them apart. Eska had taken to wearing purple eyeshadow to combat this. One day her brother came in and she ambushed him.

"Desna, I want to fight."

"Eska, you know that isn't allowed." He dead panned.

"I know it's not. But I have a plan."

She took one of her sleeves and wiped off her makeup and undid her hair. In an instant, she was transformed into her twin.

"You want to trade places."

"Every other day we will switch. You can get me caught up at night in the privacy of the spirit oasis. It's the perfect plan."

"You do realize if you are caught there will be dire circumstances."

Eska nodded. She didn't care. She wanted to fight.

So on the next day she transformed into Desna and took his place in class. She took to the moves in an instant, constantly freezing her opponents whenever they had to spar. Their teacher remarked that she had quickly improved. It was exhilarating. No longer constricted to passive movements, she revered in blocking her opponents attack and turning his own moves against him. Beneath the waning moon of the spirit oases, she and Desna practiced their skills. He was a formidable opponent. Each night left them sweaty and breathless. Their skills alone were great but together, they quickly discovered, were terrifying. Wandering through the icy tundra, they could move entire icebergs and launch them through the air. It created a deafening boom that was heard throughout the tribe.

Their teacher soon caught on. The next day in class, he ripped open Eska's robe to reveal her bindings.

"A woman is among us! Disgraceful." He shoved her into the rock hard ice.

"You spit upon our customs. As the princess of this tribe you should know better. I wouldn't be surprised if your grandfather had you exiled."

With a fit of rage, she flew at him sending a flock of ice daggers at his vitals. He blocked them with ease and shifted the water beneath her feet, quickly prisoning her inside. He looked at her with a cocky grin. The ice began to shake and flew off her body. With one fluid movement, she broke apart the icy ground and flung it at him. His grin dissolved into terror and a split second before it made impact, she stopped it. He sank to the ground.

"What was that you were saying about exile?"

He quickly shook his head, "Nothing at all, your highness."

From that day forth, no one questioned Eska's want or skill in fighting.