Avatar: The Warring Earth

ZanYi—Behind the Scar

By DJ of Twins of the Pen

Disclaimer: Avatar in itself belongs to Nickelodeon and Bryan Konietzko/Michael DiMartino. The only things that belong to Twins of the Pen are the original characters.

"Zaron, are you down there?"

The teenaged boy growled under his breath. There was no mistaking the young voice that called out to him in the quiet night, and its owner was not one he wanted to deal with at the moment. So instead, Zaron opted not to answer, focusing his amber eyes on the stream of fire coming from his hands.

The flames cackled and the shadows danced in its glow. Darkness had long since fallen, torches lit around him, and the hint of salt rose from the waves to waft over the obsidian beach. Fire was the only light, the moon new and nowhere to be seen.

It was with great concentration that Zaron took his stream of flames and began to manipulate it to and fro. The fire whip had been stumping him for days—and those same days he'd had Master Fei harping on him about it. Yet, all that while, she had managed to hone it with ease.

"Zar, why didn't you answer me?" the voice asked again, soft steps coming down from the volcano of Roku's Island and onto the soft sand. Zaron didn't bother to look at his little sister, the child prodigy. He was not in the mood.

"Not now, ZanYi," he grumbled, focusing to maintain the flames he had made.

However, it did nothing to deter ZanYi. She simply crossed her arms at him. "No, we're talking now," she declared, and Zaron knew she was frowning at him, just from the pout in her tone. "Why didn't you tell me you enlisted in the Resistance?"

Zaron swore and scowled. "How did you find out?"

"I found the envelope in the trashcan and the letter on your desk."

Of course she would, and ZanYi sounded quite proud of that. He made a note to start locking his door when he was not in there, but that was a bit late now. It would not matter much longer.

"Can we talk about this later, ZanYi?" he deterred her, gripping the fire whip he'd finally made. He practiced making simple motions with it, trying to grasp a better feel for it.

ZanYi shook her head behind him, shouting "No!" when she knew he wouldn't see that. "Why would you join them? Sifu said they're… bloodthirsty bigots?" The seven-year-old prodigy was not entirely sure what that meant, but she knew it couldn't be a good thing.

"He also says you're a princess," her brother quipped absentmindedly, all of his grit and restraint focused on the task at hand.

"I'm not a princess!" ZanYi protested adamantly, a bit of her own blue flames spurting at her clenched fists.

"Exactly my point," Zaron argued, "Master Fei is not always right. Now we'll talk about this later, ZanYi. Go. I'm practicing." His patience was starting to wear thin, as well as his control over the whip. It was taking all of his thirteen-year-old self to keep it under his might.

But ZanYi didn't take the hint—or order, as it were. "But Sifu also said they were the ones who killed Mom and Dad!"

That was enough to make her brother snap. "That's a lie!" he shouted. Zaron didn't notice his flames grow higher, his whip hotter. "It was those dirty nonbenders that killed them!" He whirled around to glower at his ignorant sister. Regrettably, the fire whip whirled with him, hot in his grasp.

The snaking flames lashed out in the whirl, wrapping around ZanYi's bare leg. The fire struck and stuck to her thigh, pulling the leg from underneath of her as Zaron finished turning to face her. ZanYi landed on her backside, screaming in pain all the while. Her cry was enough to jar Zaron, and at the sight of her on the ground, his heart skipped. The fire whip dissipated along with his concentration and Zaron rushed over to ZanYi. "ZanYi!" he called out to her as he did so, only for her to shrink away from him.

"Get away from me!" she demanded angrily, flinging bouts of her blue fire at him as she scuttled back. Zaron dodged the fireballs, but his eyes kept going from the smoldering burn on her leg to the look of angry terror on her face. Tears pooled in her golden gaze, threatening to stream down her cheeks, but she was too stubborn to let them fall.

"ZanYi, let me look at it!" Zaron demanded, almost desperate.

He tried again to get close to her, but again, the small girl held him at bay, raising a wall of azure fire between them. "Stay away from me! You hurt me! And you're going to leave me too, just like Mom and Dad! So just go away!" ZanYi yelled, croaking as her voice broke, doing her best to hold the emotions at bay.

It hurt Zaron to watch. "ZanYi—!"

"Enough!" a new voice bellowed, authoritative even in age.

Zaron watched as ZanYi's fiery defensive wall was broken and diverted by the last man he wanted to see in that moment. Still dressed in his extravagant robes despite the hour, Master Fei crouched down next to ZanYi. She was clutching at her leg, biting her lip as she tried not to cry, but a couple tears were slipping out.

"Princess," Master Fei started, reaching over to look at her leg, but ZanYi clutched it closer to her, despite the ensuing pain that followed.

"I'm not a princess," she refuted, indignant through her agony. It was enough to make her teacher's lip quirk grimly. Clear that ZanYi would still debate this with him, despite her wound, Master Fei let it drop, looking to his side as members of the White Lotus trod down the volcano.

"Can you take her up and get this burn looked at?" the elder firebender requested urgently. The men nodded, one reaching down to pick up ZanYi.

The little girl, however, pushed away at him. "I can walk on my own…" she told them, her voice warbling as she did so. The small firebender rose to her feet, her short raven tresses unable to hide the wincing on her face and water in her gaze. As she stumbled up the rocks with the White Lotus, Master Fei could not help but shake his head at the young prodigy, his peppered hair falling around his shoulders.

Zaron, in the end, could only look on, a twist in stomach as he watched. Even in the blackness of the darkness, it was almost impossible to miss the bright red burn on ZanYi's leg, blistering and cut and singed. She didn't even look back at him, trying her best to square her shoulders and walk as normally as possible. When Master Fei rose to his feet, Zaron knew he was in for it. A breeze swept by, lifting his shaggy black hair from his eyes. He could see the outrage on his teacher's face, the disappointment, the hurt. It was possibly the largest range of emotions he had ever seen at once from the elder.

"Prince Zaron," he said low and steady, deadly. Master Fei kept himself composed, resisting every urge to punish the teenager physically as he asked through grit teeth, "What have you done?"

Zaron put his hands up and stood his ground. "I didn't mean to do anything!" he objected immediately, anger in his own voice. "I was practicing and she came down here pestering me with all kinds of questions!"

"And so you decide to use what I've taught you to hurt her?" Master Fei parried, the fury seeping into his voice. "Your sister is only a child!"

"And you're already trying to brainwash her with your lies!"

His firebending teacher narrowed his eyes at Zaron. But that didn't stop the teenaged boy. In fact, it drove him, fueled him. "She may not remember that day, but I was old enough! I do! And you can blame the Resistance all you want, but it was those NEs that killed them! It was those monsters that made sure we had nothing left of our parents, not the Resistance!"

Zaron started forward and Master Fei stood his ground, watching his angry pupil with distasteful eyes. "I joined the Resistance. I'm old enough now. I leave for training tomorrow and they're sending a boat to come get me off this stupid island."

He tried to pass the elder to go to the house, but Master Fei gripped his arm, pulling back. "If you want to join the very movement that made you an orphan, fine! But you are not the only one who lost them that day, Prince Zaron. These last three years, you have been nothing short of insufferable, which I have tried my best to be understanding of because I know you lost a lot. But you seem to forget that Princess ZanYi lost just as much as you did."

Zaron tried to pull away from his teacher's grasp, but the old man had a strong, ironclad lock on him. "Let go of me," he demanded.

"No," Master Fei denied, instead holding his arm tighter. "You were not the only one to lose your parents. She did too. And now she's going to grow up without them. In a few more years, Princess ZanYi won't remember what they looked like, won't remember her mother holding her as she slept at night, won't remember her home in Republic City. All she is going to know is that they're gone while you get to hang on to those memories!"

Zaron stopped struggling against Master Fei, his strength fading as the words started to penetrate his obstinate mind. He didn't want to listen, didn't want to hear it. The teenager looked away from his teacher, as if that would erase the truth.

Slowly, Master Fei let go of him, training a very grave eye on the young firebender. "Prince Zaron," the elder continued, serious and seriously upset, "Go. Get off this island. Fight in this bloodthirsty war. But unless it miraculously shapes you into a man worthwhile, don't even think of coming back for the princess. Because I will not let you hurt that little girl any more."

The old man stormed past his upstart pupil, his robes swiftly billowing as he trekked towards the house. Zaron made no move to follow, trembling in anger. Who he was angry at, he did not know. The Neo-Equalists. Master Fei. But no longer was it ZanYi.

Zaron looked down at his hands, as if the fire was still there, his sister's screams echoing as loud as Master Fei's rebuke. He gripped them tightly, as if that would erase the damage done at his hand and expel them from his mind. It did not work. Doing his best to push it all from his mind, Zaron went up the volcano and into the house. The halls were empty and dimly lit as he crossed through, down further and further until he got to his room.

That was when the silence was disrupted. Across from his door, through another, Zaron could hear a muted yelp, followed by a scream. "Don't touch it!" he could hear ZanYi demand, almost begging. It was enough to halt Zaron. "Leave it alone! That hurts!" he continued to overhear.

A moment later, the door creaked open, just enough for a member of the White Lotus to slip out. That split moment was enough to bring ZanYi's piercing yells out full-force, the sound piercing him. "Is she okay?" Zaron couldn't help but ask, his insides starting to flip tumultuously.

The man looked at him, almost accusingly, but let it go, sighing in dismay. "It's a bad burn and our healer is visiting family on the mainland. We're trying our best to clean it ourselves, but it's painful and she won't hold still," he informed Zaron before rushing off, muttering about more supplies. As the man scurried away, more shouts and vocalized pain came through his sister's door. Each one was like a stab at him, more painful than the last. Zaron slumped down to the floor, the guilt finally hitting him like a tempest. ZanYi hadn't done anything wrong. He was the one who had gotten out of control. He was the one who was leaving her alone…

At that moment, hot tears pricked at his angry eyes. But he didn't let them fall. Zaron couldn't. He had no right to. It was even harder to hold them at bay as he realized that Master Fei had been right. And something had to change. And it was going to start with Zaron.

The morning dawn came too quickly after the previous night. Even after they had finished trying to clean ZanYi's injury, the screaming didn't stop inside Zaron's head. It echoed and reverberated and plagued him the entire night as he'd packed his bags. It was horrible timing that now he had to leave.

His duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Zaron tried to enter ZanYi's room, knowing she wouldn't have training after an injury like that. But, to his surprise and dismay, he found the door locked. His golden gaze frowned at the wooden door. Zaron didn't want to break it down, but he didn't know how to pick the lock, and he had to see ZanYi before he left…

Knowing his sister well, Zaron went outside and around the house, finding the window open as usual. He jumped up and slung a leg over the ledge, climbing quietly into the bedroom. ZanYi was still in her bed, sleeping soundly. Contrition hit him again: his little sister never slept later than dawn, unless she was exhausted. Moving closer, Zaron found her sniffling a little in her sleep, nose stuffy—probably from crying after everyone had left her alone.

Zaron perched himself at the edge of ZanYi's bed, watching over the child with remorse. Her leg stuck out from her blankets, the dressing thick and large on her thigh. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, not even sure what to do with himself. "I'm so sorry…" he whispered into the silence. What Zaron didn't expect was a reply.

"Go away…" came a little voice. He looked to find ZanYi now awake, peering up from her pillow with irritation. ZanYi pulled her leg back under the blanket, hiding it from her brother's view. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Zaza…" Zaron started, finding that every word he'd prepared to say to her was gone and lost in his throat. So his voice felt flat, his words failed. "I'm leaving for the military," he said instead, meeting the eyes that matched his own, "and I won't be back for a long time."

ZanYi frowned then, clutching at her pillow. "Is that why your hair is gone?" she asked with scrutiny. Zaron ran a hand over his newly shortened dark hair, having cut it after packing last night.

"Yes, I had to cut it," he told her, the corner of his mouth upturning sadly.

ZanYi nodded and seemed to process this quietly. In turn, Zaron said not a word, just looked at his little sister. It was tense, and it was sad—who knew a conversation could be like this with a mere child? Then again, Zaron had to remember, his sister had never been a normal little girl.

Breaking the silence, ZanYi eventually said, "Do you have to go?" The look on her face was wary, but it was still sad. "I don't want you to go…"

"Yeah, I've got to go," Zaron told her honestly, almost wishing he didn't have to. He reached over to ZanYi and patted her head. "But it's not going to be like Mom and Dad, you hear me? I'm going to go away for long periods of time, but I'll always come back for you."

ZanYi seemed to hear his words, but the expression she wore clearly said she didn't trust them. "I don't believe you," she told Zaron pointedly, "because you're never this nice to me anymore."

While he knew it should have been expected, the truth still cut Zaron. "I know, but that's going to change. I'm going to be a better brother, so that way when I see you, you won't feel like you're alone anymore."

Her gaze was still skeptic, but even to a jaded prodigy, the words melted the look significantly. Slowly, ZanYi sat up in bed, wincing as she had to move her leg. She lifted her hand up, pinky out as she looked at Zaron determinedly. "Promise?" she asked of him, holding her outstretched pinky closer to him. Taking this as the closest thing to forgiveness he could get right now, the teenager allowed a whole side of his mouth to lift. He reached out with his own pinky and wrapped it around her tiny one.

"I promise. I'll never leave you alone," Zaron vowed. A small flame ignited from his hand, and soon ZanYi reciprocated with her blue fire. And then she smiled a little.

"I love you, Zar."

"I love you too, Zaza."

There was a toot of a boat horn outside, and Zaron knew that was his call. "I've got to go now," he told her, releasing her pinky. But then ZanYi reached up and hugged her big brother.

"I'll miss you," she said, face buried in his chest. "Come back soon."

Zaron patted her head again. "I'll try," he managed, returning the hug for a brief moment. Then he extricated himself and rose from the bed, walking back over to the window. Gathering his bag up, Zaron was about to exit through the window when ZanYi's voice called out to him again. He turned to look back at her, and there was a small smirk on her lips, eyes ablaze with determination.

"Just wait. One day, I'm going to help the Resistance, just like you, and Mom, and Dad. And I'm going to be better than all of you," ZanYi promised, and it made Zaron smirk a little.

"We'll see, Zaza."

Zaron matched her gaze for a moment before swinging out of her window, marching down to the dark beach. In her bed, ZanYi clenched the sheets for a moment, clenched them tight. It was with great difficulty that she managed to crawl out of bed and walk over to her window, stumbling and wincing from the pain in her leg. Reaching the window, she watched as her older brother boarded the boat waiting at the sandy shore. He looked back one last time and lifted a hand to wave back to her. ZanYi returned the favor, doing her best to keep her lip from quivering.

As she watched the boat leave the island, she held back the tears in her eyes. Someday, that was going to be her. Someday, she would be strong enough to leave, strong enough to fight too. She didn't understand this war; she didn't understand why people were fighting. But ZanYi knew it was taking everything away from her.

So she was going to start fighting to take it all back.

A/N from DJ: The first of little vignettes in relation to The Warring Earth~! This one was a look back at ZanYi, because dang, that woman has more layers than an onion xP So now we've gotten a look back in her past, to see her complicated 'family' life and a little bit of what kickstarted her to being the lieutenant she now is. Don't worry: more will be revealed in canon, but I felt driven to write out this memory of hers. She's a character dear to my heart because of her life, so I always want to do her justice.

I hope you guys enjoyed the first book, Fire, and that Air will grow on you in the same way. The character development is the key in the stories, but there's everything in the series: laughter, sadness, heartbreak, joy, achievement, growth... It's like life. I hope you guys will come to feel the same.

Until next time, see ya!