A.N. Whoa...I never actually thought I'd finish Broken Wings...much less start a sequel...
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nor do I think I ever will, so this disclaimer applies to all chapters that follow this one. But I do own Keely, Lyra and any other O.C. that I put in here.
:Chapter 1:
Keely groaned as she leaned against the ship's railing. She'd arrived at the North Pole, but because she was a firebender they wouldn't allow her to enter the city, much less see Aang.
They had been kind enough to bring her ship some supplies and for that she was grateful.
The crew had been told they could go, but out of respect for their captain they had remained on board.
The people of the Northern Water Tribe were astounded that their waterbending relatives trusted the firebender. They themselves were recently attacked by firebenders and weren't about to allow another one in.
(A.N.: If you don't understand that...when she went to the port town, it was a waterbending town. So the crew for Kaito's ship were all from the Water Tribe.)
The helmsman walked by her on his way to the mess hall, "Are you okay Captain Keely?"
"Yes, just tired," Keely replied, "You guys really should go you know."
"And leave you here by yourself?"
"I can take care of myself just fine thanks," Keely pushed herself away from the railing irritably, "Besides, I need someone to contact Aang and one of you would be able to when you go ashore."
"You've thought about this since last time," the helmsman sighed in defeat, "Some of us will go to contact the Avatar."
"Now that's more like it!" Keely grinned and the spark was back in her eyes.
The helmsman laughed as he walked away to inform the men that he was going to take with him.
:Lyra's POV:
Aang and Katara were off learning waterbending, and Sokka was off somewhere moping about losing Yue. That left Lyra sitting in the house they were using, all by herself.
Finally she couldn't take it anymore and decided to go for a walk.
Lyra's outfit had once again changed, but only in the way that she now wore a Water Tribe coat and some blue earmuffs. Since the wind was no longer constant, she'd allowed her hair to hang down.
Her blonde tresses had grown to reach a little below her shoulders during the time she'd spent with Sokka and the others.
She shoved her hands into her pockets as she walked through the city.
Lyra stopped to lean against one of the ice structures and look at the sky. A few minutes later there was a tug at the bottom of her coat, so she looked down.
Standing beside her was one of the village children. This particular little girl was around five years of age with messy black hair and the biggest blue eyes Lyra had ever seen.
At the moment those eyes looked hopeful, "Would you play a game with me and my friends?
"Sure, but what's your name?" Lyra let the young girl take her hand and lead her in the direction opposite of where she had been subconsciously going.
"Catori, "the girl smiled, "And I know you. You're one of the girls traveling with that Avatar guy, right?"
"Sure am. My name's Lyra," Lyra was leaning slightly forward from being pulled by someone so much smaller than herself.
"That's a pretty name," Catori commented.
Before Lyra could reply she was surrounded on all sides by young children.
'Well I wanted to do something more exciting,' Lyra mused to herself.
:Keely's POV:
Keely had been so transfixed on finding the Avatar and losing Zuko that instead of being her happy self, she was constantly quiet and withdrawn.
The crew she traveled with now had no reason to think anything was wrong with their captain. After all, she'd been like this ever since they'd first met her.
Keely no longer slept well, and when she did she was plagued by nightmares.
Keely had finally noticed her dramatic personality change when she'd snapped at the helmsman earlier, so she was now helping the kitchen staff clean up the mess from dinner and humming cheerfully.
One of the cooks noticed her change in behavior, "Are you alright, Captain?"
"That's the second time someone's asked me that today, "Keely said as she pulled up her sleeves and began washing dishes, "No, I'm not alright, but I need to stop dwelling on my problems."
The cook shook his head and went back to doing his job.
Thirty or so minutes later the helmsman entered the kitchens and walked up to Keely, "Captain, the Avatar has sent you a message."
Keely dried off her hands and gladly took the roll of parchment from the helmsman, "Thanks."
She unrolled it and scanned the sloppy Chinese, "Aang is going to try to convince them to allow my entrance."
"That's wonderful news, Captain," the helmsman nodded.
"I wish you guys would just call me Keely," she rolled her eyes, "I'm going to go train, bye."
:With Lyra, earlier:
Lyra laughed happily as she ran around with the kids.
"Who's that?" Catori asked suddenly, pointing at a guy who appeared to be in his late teens.
"Dunno," Lyra replied.
The guy approached, "Excuse me, Miss, but would you happen to know where the Avatar is?"
"Depends on who's asking," Lyra's eyes suddenly became hooded.
"I was sent by Captain Keely because the tribe wouldn't grant her entrance," the man replied truthfully.
"Who are you?" Lyra asked suspiciously.
"The helmsman on her ship," the man explained.
He kept eye contact and didn't falter, thus he wasn't lying, "Follow me."
"Will you come back later Lyra?" Catori pouted.
"Not today, but maybe tomorrow, " Lyra grinned as she began walking towards the training area.
She led the man to the stairs that would take them to Aang and Katara, "How is she?"
"Captain Keely?" the helmsman paused, "She seems as fine as a quiet and withdrawn person can be."
A worried look stole over Lyra's features, "Come on."
Once they entered the training area, Master Pakku asked, "Why are you interrupting us?"
Behind him Katara had frozen another student in a block of ice, and Aang was emerging from under a pile of snow.
"We need to talk to Aang," Lyra answered.
"You have five minutes, " Master Pakku replied sternly before turning back to Katara.
Aang walked up, dripping with snow, "What is it, Lyra?"
"It appears that Keely has arrived, but the officials won't allow her to enter," Lyra said as calmly as she could manage.
"Is she with Zuko?" Aang questioned.
Lyra turned to the helmsman, who looked rather confused, "Who's Zuko?"
"Apparently not," Lyra sighed.
A.N. Sorry it took so long...:sigh:..Hope I'm still worth a review or two.
:Libby-chan: