"Nikita, what are you doing?" asked Azula. She put her hands on her hips and looked at Nikita sitting on the edge of the pond with her feet in the water. She'd been petting one of the turtle duck babies but it swam away at the sight of Azula.
"Sorry Azula," she said as she wriggled away from the pond and stood up. "They're just so cute, don't you think?" Azula grinned.
"I bet they'd taste good," she said teasingly and light a small fire in her hand. Nikita looked horrified.
"You wouldn't?" she asked nervously. Azula laughed.
"Of course not," she said. "A princess doesn't eat turtle duck." She stuck her nose up the way only a royal can.
"Azula!" called a voice. They turned around and saw Ty Lee cartwheeling across the grass towards them and Mai dragging her feet behind her.
"Hi Ty Lee. Hi Mai," said Nikita.
"You're late," said Azula. "You were meant to be here ten minutes ago."
"Sorry Azula," said Ty Lee.
"It was Ty Lee's fault," said Mai. "She had to cartwheel over everything on our way."
"Oh Ty Lee, why don't you just join the circus," said Azula.
"I want to," replied Ty Lee enthusiastically, missing the nastiness in Azula's tone. "I'd love to join the circus but my parents won't let me." Mai made a snarky comment but Nikita missed it because walking along beside the garden with his mother was Prince Zuko, Azula's older brother. Nikita stared at him. She liked Zuko but he didn't play with them unless his mother made him because he was nine and they were only eight. When he did play with them Azula always teased him but Zuko was the one to get in trouble. Nikita always wanted to stand up for him but she was too scared of Azula. Suddenly Azula screeched,
"Look! Nikita loves Zuko!" Nikita went bright red and looked away from Zuko, yelling,
"No I don't!"
"Yes you do!" said Azula. "And Zuko loves you too!"
"I do not!" he yelled. He ran down the stairs onto the grass and tried to push Azula but she jumped out of the way and he fell face first onto the ground. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee laughed but Nikita made to help him up. "Get away from me, you weirdo!" he yelled and pushed her over.
"Zuko!" his mother scolded him, grabbing him by his collar and sternly telling him to apologise. Nikita began to cry and ran away, towards the garden exit.
"Don't cry!" yelled Azula after her. "Zuko's just stupid. Don't be a baby!"
"Come back Nikita!" Ty Lee called after her. But she kept on running, tears rolling down her cheeks.
The sun shining through the window fell upon Niky's face and she woke up. Once again she had dreamed about Zuko last night. She'd had a whole week of dreams about him now and she couldn't help thinking that it meant something. But really, she thought, what could it mean? So she shook it off and rose from her bed, dressed and went outside. It was still quite early and the small island village was quiet. She spotted Pao, one of the fishermen, heading down to the dock and she ran to catch up with him.
"Good morning," she greeted him.
"Morning Niky," he said. He didn't look surprised to see her as she often hung round the docks with him.
"Are you going out this morning?" she asked him. Most days Pao would spend fishing on his boat. The island where Niky lived was small but being surrounded by ocean meant that the fisherman had an endless supply of fish to sell to the mainland of the South of the Earth Kingdom. Niky liked to go with him and fish and swim all day. Sometimes dolphins would come to the point and swim with her but Pao didn't like them because it meant he had to pull his nets in just in case he caught one of the dolphins.
"I don't think so," said Pao. "Look at the horizon." Niky looked up and saw that the distant sky was black. "There's a storm coming. Should only have few hours fishing at the most before it gets here."
"It looks like a bad storm," said Niky. "Should we pull your boat ashore?"
"Might be best," reckoned Pao. They reached the dock and Pao went into his shed to get his fishing gear while Niky walked to the end of the pier to look at the storm. It didn't look like a normal storm. She squinted her eyes and suddenly she saw that it wasn't a storm.
"Pao!" she yelled. "Pao!" The old fisherman came out of the shed and joined her.
"What is it?" he asked concernedly, sensing something was wrong.
"It's not a storm," she told him. "It's an ash cloud." She pointed below the cloud. "And there's the ship. The Fire Navy ship."
"Oh no."
"We have to warn the rest of the village," said Niky urgently. They quickly turned around and starting running back to the village.
"But it's only one ship," said Pao, already a bit breathless. "They can't expect to attack our island with one ship."
"Trust me," said Niky grimly. "One ship of Fire Navy soldiers is all they need to burn down our island to a crisp."
"Is that what happened to your village?" asked Pao. Niky didn't have to answer because they had reached the village.
"Knock on every door," she instructed. "We need to get everyone away from here and onto the other side of the island." Pao nodded and they separated, each taking a side of the dirt road and knocking on the doors of every house lining the island's main road. Once they had told someone then that someone would grab the rest of their family and they helped knock on the rest of the doors until all of the island's inhabitants had gathered in a group at the top of the main road. Yuan, the head of their village, stood up in front of them.
"Everybody listen!" he yelled. "The Fire Navy ship will be here soon. Women and children will run to the other side of the island to hide. The men will stay and fight." There were several cries of protest, mostly from the women who knew that if their husbands stayed and fought then they could die. There was nobody who hadn't heard of the merciless wrath that was the Fire Navy. "Don't argue!" shouted Yuan. "We will protect our village and its people no matter what. Now, women and children, you must go now!" He started ushering them into the forest that led to the other side of the island and hugged his wife, Kuei, and his two children and watched until all of the women and children had gone then joined the rest of the men finding weapons to fight against the Fire Navy soldiers.
But Niky didn't follow the others into the forest. The other's didn't know that she could help them. She crept along behind the houses until she reached the end of the row of houses and where the path towards the dock began. She ducked down as the men ran past her down to the dock. Quietly she snuck after them. All of the men waited on the path, hidden so the soldiers wouldn't know they were there. Niky knelt behind a bush on the beach's edge watching the approaching ship. It was in the bay now and in the next few minutes it had docked and the soldiers began to descend onto the dock. One of the soldiers who seemed to be in charge spoke to them.
"Check everywhere for him. Leave no house, no room, and no corner unchecked," he ordered them. "We must find the Avatar." Niky gasped. They were looking for the Avatar!
Suddenly she heard a war-like cry from the path and all of the men burst forth brandishing any weapon they could find including pitchforks and brooms.
"Get off our island!" yelled Yuan bravely. "Now!" And to Niky's horror the soldiers just laughed and proceeded towards them. They took their stance. They were going to fight them and Niky knew only too well who would win.
"Attack!" yelled the head soldier and they did. All of a sudden the beach was full of fire, shooting this way and that but all towards the village men. There were shouts as they fell to the ground with burns and their clothing on fire. But they kept on fighting and Niky knew she had to do something. So she emerged from the bush and ran straight towards the ocean. She heard yelling and was aware that two of the soldiers were chasing here. She could also hear Pao yelling for her to get out of there. But she kept running and when she reached the water's edge she spun around and raised her arms. A shadow fell over the beach as a huge wave rose above them all. Then Niky pushed her arms forward and the wave crashed down onto the beach. Everybody was drenched to the core and no fire remained. Niky used the water to pick up the injured men and she washed them down the path back to the village.
"She's a Water Bender!" she heard the head soldier yell. "Get her!" All of the soldiers turned and sloshed through the wet sand towards her. She used the octopus stance, a Water Bending move that allowed her to attack and defend herself at the same time. But it wasn't enough for the huge group of Fire Bending soldiers. They grabbed her and quickly carried her onto the ship before the washed away fighters could struggle through the thick layer sand and debris back down to the beach. They only just saw Niky being carried onto the ship before it started sailing away.
"Don't follow!" screamed Niky. "I'll escape!"
"No, you won't," said the head soldier. He took off his helmet and Niky gasped. It was Zuko!