My life is a black and white story with black and white people living black and white lives; there were only ever two kinds of people. Did you hate the fire nation? If you didn't, you were from the fire nation. There was never an in-between or any kind of medium in which to seek refuge.

That's why I am here.

My father was a Yu-Yan archer once; he taught me everything he knew. I've forgotten his name, as well as my own and the rest of my family's. I remembered my mother's long hair, and my father's serious countenance- but I don't remember what they called me. Since the moment I was born, he claimed to have seen a spark in me. Granted, it wasn't the same spark as my talented fire bending siblings, but a spark nonetheless.

An archer is what I was born from, and it is who I became. My skill excelled compared to that of my peers and I was soon recognized as a prodigy. The day I turned nine, I think, I began my official training as a Yu-Yan archer, and only a year later my family was taken from me. They were killed at the hands of the Fire Lord himself, for reasons I do not know to this day.

I was always a quiet person. I already rarely spoke, as was taught to me by my father and the rest of the Yu-Yan society, but my few words turned into even fewer on this day.

The nation that had taken everything I knew and loved was the only place I could call home. I had to stay because I had nowhere else to go. I had to stay, didn't I? I hated this nation, the people in it, but it's all I knew. How could I possibly leave? Where would I go?

All of these questions were constantly pressing at my mind, until the day he came- until Jet came.

Jet was a small splash of white in my otherwise dark life. He taught me that it would be okay to leave, especially after what they did to me. He said it was okay to hate the Fire Nation, and so I did.

But he was not the one who showed me color. He wasn't the one that brought back the longing to be accepted and loved back into my life. He didn't show me what it meant to live, or taught me how to forgive and helped me heal.

No, the person who did this was a girl in pink.

From the moment I saw her, I knew she was special. How had she managed to catch my eye so quickly? Sure, she was beautiful, and there were plenty of girls who wore bright colors. But what was it that had caught my eye?

It was her laugh.

Ty Lee was happy and loud and beautiful and everything else that I wasn't- she was perfect, far too perfect for me.

Perhaps that was why she didn't love me how I loved her.

The sound of her laugh, of her happiness, plucked a string in my heart that resonated loud and pure inside my black and white one. It brought color and variety into a world that had previously known only two kinds of people.

But she was unique, her own person.

The day we met brought us to where my story is now, inside a hot air balloon over the fire nation. This day had been perfect, only because I had spent it with the one whom my heart desires.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud cackling sound from the other side of the hot air balloon. Ty Lee lifted her head from my lap and looked over at Azula, who was laughing hysterically at something Jet had whispered to her.

"Azula, I wish my laugh sounded as pretty as yours does!" Ty Lee exclaimed, smiling at the princess.

Your laugh is beautiful. Is what I wanted to whisper to Ty Lee, but I didn't.

Azula didn't seem to hear what her friend had said to her, so Ty Lee turned back towards me.

"I'm sleepy." She yawned as she stretched her arms out and rested her head on my leg, her face looking up at me.

I saw her mouth move, but I couldn't hear any words. I raised one eyebrow at her and she laughed, motioning for me to bring my face closer to hers.

I was suddenly aware that I could feel her breath on my face, and I wondered in the back of my mind if my breath smelled bad.

"I asked if you were comfortable." She whispered again.

I nodded my head and licked my lips, trying my best not to look at hers.

My eyes briefly glanced at her mouth and I quickly looked off the side of the hot air balloon, trying to pretend that hadn't happened. For some reason, my heart wasn't racing as I had expected it would. Shouldn't it be pounding in my chest right now? I was incredibly nervous, why wasn't it showing?

Her face was warm on my leg, something I had noticed earlier but wasn't fully aware of. I heard her giggle and looked back down at her, noticing I had been subconsciously twirling her hair with my finger. My eyes grew wide and I blushed, causing her to giggle again. Did she know she was teasing me every time her mouth moved, every time her eyes met my own? I have to stop doing this to myself.

She whispered something again, but I wasn't sure what she had said. I moved my face closer to hers so I could hear her and so I could feel the warmth of her breath again.

"Keep playing with my hair."

I smiled slightly at her and nodded my head, continuing to twirl her long hair with my fingers.

She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to me, causing me to hold my breath.

Why is she so beautiful? I looked down at her mouth, wanting to kiss her so badly.

Fifteen seconds of courage. I said to myself.

I thought back to the first time I shot a man with my bow and when I repeated that same sentence before I launched it into him. How was it that killing a man was easier than kissing a girl?

My heart was racing now, pumping adrenaline through me.

Three, four five.

Just as I thought this, her eyes shot open and she smiled up at me.

Once again I moved my face closer to hers, but not to listen to her words.

Eight, nine, ten.

Time was moving in slow motion, and I became suddenly aware of every acute detail surrounding us. I noticed that Jet and Azula were now standing, looking out at the people and buildings below us. I noticed that the sun was hitting Ty Lee's hair in such a way that it appeared to be red instead of brown. I noticed that the balloon was slowly descending towards the ground and I know it was now or never.

Twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

My fifteen seconds were up, and when my lips met hers I found not rejection, but that she returned the favor with open arms.