Chapter 1

Zia's POV

Stay strong, don't back down, you can do this Zia. Those were the encouraging words the Kingdom was telling me. Of course, they are going to be in their cozy homes, while I am going to search for the Red Dragon.

I blew in my hands to warm them up. Fire came out of my mouth and warmed my hands up. I am a firebender; the only one in the world that can earthbend too. Usually, the only person who can bend more than one element is the Avatar, but whoever that is hasn't been seen in one hundred years. The Avatar can bend the four elements; fire, air, water, and earth. I can only bend two of the elements.

You see, my mom was an earthbender, and my dad was a firebender. My dad was taken prisoner by the Fire Nation and died three months after. Although he was born in the Fire Nation, they called him a traitor and took him away from us. My mom died a month after the Fire Nation told us my dad was dead. She got so sick from despair that she couldn't live in this world without the love of her life. She left me here to go to the Spirit World to be with him. My mom and dad died when I was seven; so I have been an orphan for seven years now. I have been kidnapped, tortured and abused in those seven years.

Bam! "Ow, ow, owwww! My toe!" I cried out to the cold winter night. I guess that's what I get for thinking about my past. I looked down to see a small rock about the size of my fist sticking out of the ground. Growling, I stomped my other foot and the rock sank quickly into the ground by my eartbending.

Well that's going to leave a big bruise. I thought, trying not to use my big toe to walk. I kept on walking on my right heel until I got to the forest, where the Red 'Dragon' supposedly lived.

All of a sudden, I could hear loud voices coming out of the trees, and I stopped where I was. They slowly faded away and I walked cautiously into the forest. There was nothing that looked out of place or abnormal until I got to a small clearing. It had signs of fighting in there. It looked to be a firebender against an earthbender. Just my luck, my two elements, a freak to both nations, I thought. Burned trees and grass was everywhere I looked. Rocks were sticking out of trees, a crater in the ground, and the surface near one end of the trees was uneven. I was still observing the clearing when I heard a voice behind me.

"Hey, you, what are you doing here? Come here now." I turned around and saw a teenage boy. He was almost bald except for a ponytail on top of his head. He had a scar on his left eye. His eyes were a golden-red and he wore Fire Nation clothes. With that in mind, I figured he was Fire Nation and would imprison me if he found out I could bend two elements. Still thinking, I remembered his tone and I could tell that he was used to people listening to his orders; meaning he was born of noble blood.

Should I run away, or just go to him? In my clothes I would look like and regular Earth Kingdom citizen. I was wearing a dark green with light green trim, thin hooded long sleeved tunic, with black pants that also had light green trim, and black combat boots. The only things that would give me away are my hazel with a tent of red eyes and my red velvet hair. But lucky for me, my hood was up and the shadow of it would hide my eyes. But what if he did capture me and put me in prison like my dad? I shuddered and made my decision. Clenching my fist to bring up a wall of Earth to block the teenager's path, I turned and ran away as fast as I could.

The boy just ran around it and shot fire at me. Leaping behind a tree, I escaped the shot, unburned. I started running again and I could feel the boy shooting fire at me; they all missed, but were getting nearer their target, me, with every shot. I couldn't see his last shot at me, but I could feel the heat creeping toward me. Without a second thought, I used a move my dad taught me when I was six. I jumped into the air, turned, and shot my own fire. It burst through his and continued to go for the boy. He just blocked it with his arm. His face showed surprise at me firebending. All this was happening while I was still in the air, turning. A thought came to me as I the ground facing the direction I was headed. Great, now he probably thinks I'm the Avatar is going to want to come after me more, I thought sarcastically to myself.

I shook the thought out of my head and continued to run. The boy was still after me, shooting fire at every chance, when I burst out of the forest. I was panting to hard and had too many tears running down my face to see the fist-sized rock in the road. I tripped, falling onto my face. The Fire Nation boy had caught up to me. He was panting harder than I was and had sweat dripping down his face.

"Finally, I have the Avatar in my clutches." He said proudly to me. I just shook my head to the side.

"I am not the Avatar. If I was I would use air bending to blow you back. But I can't, because I am not the Avatar!" I said in a deeper voice, so he would think that I was a guy and not the Avatar.

He just shook his head at me and then all I saw was blackness. I can't believe he just knocked me out. That was my last thought as I slowly lost consciousness.

I can feel gently rocking back and forth as if I was back in Mom's arms. She used to rock to me asleep when I was a kid. Mom? No, she is dead. Then who is rocking me? I flung open my eyes to see a gray-black ceiling of a ship. Siting up too quickly, my eyes suddenly go black and I have to wait a few seconds for my sight to return.

I look around the room and see three of the walls are plain and have nothing on them. The forth one, the one on the opposite side of the room, has a porthole. The window has five iron bars going down it, blocking anyone's path of escaping through there. I looked at the wall beside the bed. It had one gray door. I slowly got up and walked over to it; while making sure my hood was still up.

Banging on the door, I yelled, in a slightly deeper voice, for someone's attention, "Hello? Is anyone there? Um, I don't know how long I have been in here, but I really have to go to the bathroom!"

"We'll let you out in a minute, but we have to tell the prince you are up and awake." Surprised that someone answered me, I backed up too quickly and tripped over my own feet, falling on my butt. Embarrassed at myself, I slowly got up and sat back down on the bed to think over what my guard said. 'I have to tell the prince you are up,' what the heck does that mean? What prince is he talking about? I was still pondering over my thoughts when I heard the locks of my door being opened.

In Fire Nation armor, the boy who chased me through the forest strutted in like he owned the place. In his case, he probably does. I am guessing that he is the prince the guard mentioned.

Before he could say a word, I asked him, "Who are you? Where am I? How long have I been here? Where are you taking me? You kidnapped me; that's a federal charge, you know. Why am I here? And, finally, before you say anything, I am not the Avatar." I sucked in a big breathe to ask more questions that were on my mind, but he stopped me when he raised his hand. He had an angry look on his face which said, if you don't be quiet, I will personally kill you.

"I am Prince Zuko and you are aboard my ship. As for our destination, I will not tell you. You are here because I thought you were the Avatar. But I know you are not because the Avatar is supposed to be an airbender. But I will keep you here and give you as a present to my father, along with the real Avatar. To think of how much honor it would give me to bring the very first two-bender to him." He told me.

I just rolled my eyes. I will not speak to him. I will become a mute. He walked to the door and motioned me to follow him. I got up as the door opened; showing two guards with a piece of rope in one of their hands. Walking slowly towards them, I held my wrists out to the guard. He jerked my wrist toward me so I would get there faster. The guard then tied the rope too tight around my wrist and I winced. Lucky, my hood was still up and they couldn't see my face, but I knew it was only a matter of time until some pulled my hood down to see that I was a girl. I pulled my arms away quickly and turned my hands; trying to loosen the rope a little. All I succeeded in was giving me rope burn.

The guard raised his hand to slap me for pulling away and I automatically flinched. Closing my eyes, I awaited the pain that was going to come; it didn't. I opened my right eye to peek out. I saw Prince Zuko holding the guard's arm, stopping him from hurting me.

"If you do that again and I won't stop him." Zuko told me as he released the man's arm. I nodded franticly and he motioned the guards to grab my arms. They lifted me up from the ground and I kicked my feet desperately. One of the guards rose his free hand threatening and I stopped my kicking, relaxing.

"You learn quickly, peasant." Zuko said as he walked out of the room. The guards holding me up just followed; not even sweating at carrying my weight. We continued walking down the claustrophobic halls while I looked at the walls. They were covered with Fire Nation banners and had their flags too.

We came up to some stairs and Zuko started climbing them. My guess is that they lead to the top deck. Ah, fresh air will be nice to breathe. Climbing up the steps, I looked at my guards and they had finally started to sweat. Serves them right for making me look like I can't walk. I might be small but I have a lot of muscle, and you know what they say, muscles weigh more than fat. They put me down and had me walk next to them, with their hands still griping my arms tightly though.

I looked up to the end of the stairs and saw a light peeking out of the door. My estimate was correct, it lead to the deck. Now I just have to figure out why Zuko was bringing me up there.

Zuko, the two guards, and I got to the deck. The guards let go of my arms and I gasped inwardly, taking in the seen. The deck was covered with soldiers, but that wasn't what made me gasp. What was floating in the water next our ship did. Shivering, I took in the gigantic icebergs. My hooded green tunic wouldn't help me in this intense cold.

Zuko saw me shivering and said, "Why are you cold? You're a firebender so you should be warm."

I just stared at him under my hood; keeping quiet. I'm an earthbender, too, my look told him. Realization flooded onto his face and his cheeks got a light pink tent to them.

"Oh, I forgot. You, go get him something warmer to wear." He said, pointing at my guard that he stopped from hitting me. "So, did you figure out why I brought you on deck?"

I just stared at him, not giving him any satisfaction that I haven't thought of a reason yet. My face stayed absolutely emotionless. He has all his soldiers out here. Maybe Zuko wants to show them off, telling me that I can't escape. That's it! I mentally slapped myself on the forehead for not thinking of it before.

"You are here because you cannot escape from this—" he stopped at the sounds of all his men gasping. I gasped and stared behind him. Zuko turned around and saw the light blue light. Completely forgetting about me he yelled, "Helmsmen, head a course for that light!" As he finished saying that, a strong breeze came and blew me back a few feet. I bumped against the rail with a loud thump that made Zuko turn to me. "We are going to get you your very first prison mate; the Avatar."

My guard came back with a Fire Nation cloak. He looked around the deck in question; everyone was moving around. He shrugged his shoulders and tried to hand me the cloak. I took a tentative step forward. Then I raised my hands, signaling that my hands were tied and couldn't put on the cloak.

Zuko sighed and took the cloak. He walked up to me and cut the rope with a dagger that was strapped to his thigh. I nodded my thanks and rubbed my wrists. The prince handed me the cloak and I twirled it around me. Immediately I felt the difference and smiled. The cloak wasn't too heavy, and I could tell it was fire proof. Well that's good; I won't have to worry about being burned on a ship full of firebenders, and I won't have to worry about burning myself.

"Guards, take the peasant to his room." Zuko said. The guard nodded and prodded me in the back. I stumbled forward and almost fell on my face. My hands were still untied so on my way down I firebent fire out of both of my closed fist to push myself back on my feet. When I was done, my guard slapped me and tied my hands back together. My hood flew off, showing my braided hair and face. I looked at Zuko through my watery eyes. He had a shocked look on his face and looked at an older man on deck. The old man had a curious look on his face that was mixed with surprise. "Make sure that she doesn't firebend again; if she does, teach her a lesson and then tell me." Zuko said as he looked back at me. The prince had a harsh look in his eyes and I knew that I would be punished badly if I firebent. Nope, not going to firebend; don't want to be slapped again.

The guard pushed me for a second time and I stumbled, falling on my face. Ow, there is going to be a bruise there because of the slap and the fall. As I was slowly picking myself off the ground, the guard got impatient and pulled me up. This time, the guard didn't push me, he just nudged me. I continued walking and looked back to see Zuko talking to the old man.

"My name is Lee, and you are?" The guard asked me politely as we were walking to the door of my room. I looked at him in question. He shrugged and said, "It's all an act; I'm actually a nice person. And you look like a nice person, so might as well try to talk to you. You could talk to me and tell me your name or I could just call you Red, as in your hair color."

I thought about his offer. I actually liked the name Red, and most people thought my real name is weird. "Zia," I told him, coming to a decision as we reached the door. He opened it and I nodded my thanks to him. Lee took off his helmet and I was surprised when I saw that he was a teenager just like the prince. He looked about nineteen and had shaggy black hair that gave him a rugged look. He had strong features and I could easily say he was handsome.

"If you need anything, just yell and I'll be here. Oh, and by the way, you have a lovely voice," Lee told me smiling flirtatiously and I felt my cheeks burn. There is doubt that they are as red as my hair now. I smiled politely at him and asked him how long was I on the ship. "Two days," he answered and closed the door after I walked in.

Walking to the bed in the corner, I let myself fall flat on my face. After a few minutes of relaxing on the bed, I got up and walked over to the window. Putting my back against the wall, I slid down into a meditation pose. Stupid boys and my girl hormones, I thought to myself as I relaxed and meditated.