Title: Seeing isn't believing

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or any of its original Character. OC belongs to me, and any copying without my permission will be punished!

Rating: T (for violence and mature content)

Summary: What no one knew, Prince Zuko had a Birth-Star, when he was born. This is her story as she struggles through life after being separated from her home and her firends. Follow her through the paths of her life and watch her battle against her own nation!

A/N: First Avatar fanfic, so please be nice. Constructive critisism is welcome, as long as you don't swear^^

Prologue

This I write now down, at the request of the Fire Lord himself, so that those who follow my dynasty know what has happened in my life and why I am who I am.

First of all, I think I should tell you who I am in the first place, right. My name is Kyona and I am from the Fire Nation. I'm a high ranking noble there, and the Fire Lords first counsellor and best friend (as I have been told). I am also skilled in the arts of Firebending and in swordsmanship. Yet that is not the most remarkable thing about me, as people tend to point out.

I am a Dreamseer.

That means I am able to walk through the Dreamrealm and see what the future might hold. It is in a way like fortunetelling, but not as accurate and kind of treacherous. It can be that the people draw the wrong conclusions or base their decisions on what I see, which is in no way of any good. Not in the slightest.

But I think I'm getting ahead of myself.

First of all, I'm going to tell you what happens when I enter the Dreamrealm. Of course, my mind has to be free of waking thoughts, but I don't need to sleep to go to the Dreamrealm. It is easier in sleep, yes, but it isn't necessary for having visions. At least not for me.

Usually I meditate until my mind is calmed enough. Then I free it from all the worldly concerns that plague me every day. Once I achieved that, it is like there is this wide space opening in my mind and even though I know my body is still sitting on a pillow in the Fire Nation Palace, my mind is leagues away. When I open my eyes I can only see darkness in front, broken by ever changing hues of faint colour. No sound breaks the silence and even spoken words are not louder than a whisper in there.

And that is the Dreamrealm, from where I can cross different and random dreams and the combination of all this lets me see the future.

But that is not the only way I can see the future. Usually I stay out of the Dreamrealm, it is way too confusing. Under normal circumstances (normal, for a woman like me?) I have visions that come to me now and then. They just show up, but not as dramatic as it is often portrayed by those travelling frauds that read peoples future for money. As I have been told, the only indication that I have a vision is that my eyes get dull and seem to be looking far ahead, though usually I am asleep during that. I cannot speak during visions, or hear others speaking to me, so I must believe what my friends tell me.

Oh, there is one other thing I'm able to do, but that only works with one person. I am able to reach that person during the dreams he's having. And even more effective, I can always tap into his mind and help him make decisions. As has been reported to me, some believe that I hold this particular person under a spell. I can assure you, none of that is true. I am no spell-caster, I cannot enslave people's minds or souls, I can only look at his thoughts and connect with his sorrows or problems and help him find a solution. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I only developed that skill a few years ago, merely by accident, yet to tell it now would just be meaning I'd get ahead of myself again. But like I said, it only works with one particular person and that has a reason. Everything has a reason so why not this?

The Person I am talking about is Zuko, now Fire Lord of our nation and bringer of the peace in the world.

Zuko and I shared many things in our youth, even our birthday. Not only were we born on the same day, three days from the Summer Solstice, we were born at the exact same moment in time. At the same moment we opened our eyes and cried our first scream. Years later the Fire Sages told me that my life and fate is intertwined with Zuko's; that I am his birth star, his spiritual twin. Such it comes that I have golden eyes, not tainted with red or copper colours, very much like Zuko's eyes.

Our mothers were close friends and after they found out about this remarkable thing, they decided to let us grow up together, spending time with each other every day.

With hindsight, these years were the most blessed and peaceful I had ever experienced, though I hope the universe surprises me and gifts me with coming years of bliss and prosperity.

Anyways, my father, General Jin-hu, was one of the former Fire Lord Azulon's (and later he served Fire Lord Ozai with equal passion) high ranking generals, so he spent lots of time at the palace. My mother, Lady Qin-La, was one of the highest royalties (excluding the royal family) in the Fire Nation.

So I grew up with Prince Zuko, though for me he never really was a Prince, just a child I played with, and later I referred to him as my brother and I was his sister. When I visited the Palace, and that was very often, our mothers would sit and watch over us, while Zuko and I played together and ran through the gardens, pretending we were great Firebenders, or Fire Lord and Lady Kyona. He never referred to me as "Fire Lady" and I was grateful for it.

And something else was held "remarkable" for my personality. I was very calm, unlike Zuko, who always seemed to burst with unreleased energy. I was a happy child, yes, but people couldn't make me angry as easily as they thought. And somehow I think it was good for Zuko as well. It taught him that even calm temper and settled behaviour could make a great friend and later a great Firebender. He perceived it often, when we practised together, and I was proud that he'd acknowledge it so easily. We had the same Firebending teacher and our lessons were first held together, until the teacher observed I had an almost eerie talent for Firebending. I was truly a Firebending prodigy. So they separated us for training, much to our dismay. Often after our training sessions, we would sit together and talk about what we had learned and I taught him what I knew, to make him smile again.

However, my problems arose when I was about ten. I began having dream visions at night, more and more frequently. I didn't know what they meant and was afraid to tell Zuko at first. But he, being naturally inquisitive and perceptive, soon found out that something with me was amiss and bugged me until I spilled it out to him. I told him of my visions, seeing great walls of flame and destruction launched from great flying ships made of metal. Concerned he took me to his healers, and they looked me over but found nothing that was physically wrong with me. Seeing that my health was deteriorating and my skin getting paler with each night I passed with less and less sleep due to my visions, sometimes even passing out during the day, my parents called upon the Fire Sages, the spiritual guardians of our realm.

They however found the reason for my visions and told me and my shocked parents that I have been blessed with the gift of dreamseeing or foresight. That is kinda like fortunetelling, only much more accurate. However the visions can be read with difficulty and not all mean the same.

Soon after that, the Fire Lord Azulon died and his second son, Ozai, father of Zuko and Azula, succeeded him to the throne. Whatever happened to General Iroh and his claim (he being the first born and all) I never truly understood at the time.

Zuko was grieved during this time, for his mother had vanished and I could relate to his pain. After all, I still was his best friend.

In the two years after that, I grew to be a powerful Firebender as well as a skilled Dreamseer. Zuko had taught me also how to use swordsmanship for battle. But beside that, people marvelled my beauty and intelligence, always saying that such a beautiful young woman would make a fine Fire Lady, but Zuko and I both thought that ridiculous. Sure, we were friends, but nothing more.

But things slowly slid downhill before I even recognized it. I had frequent audiences with the great Fire Lord, telling him of my visions and he used them to spread war across the world. But one night I had a vision that terrified me.

I dreamed of Zuko, when he was older, standing on a ship in an icy surrounding. A scar was on his face, marking him. It looked like someone had burned him. I could see his eyes and they were devoid of any emotion besides hatred and despair. I didn't dare telling the Fire Lord of my vision, thinking he would punish me for revealing such a devastating thing. But the visions didn't stop after that.

I had another dream, Zuko was being crowned Fire Lord, next to him stood a young bald monk with blue arrows on his head. They were smiling at each other, looking down to an assembly of many people from all the nations. I thought at the time that Zuko had conquered the rest of the world and those people were his prisoners, ready to be executed in the royal Palace of the Fire Nation.

I told Fire Lord Ozai of that one, knowing it would please him to see the future. Yet he wasn't pleased with the fact of that bald monk and he had me thrown out of the palace. I didn't understand at the time, but soon after that, my family was assassinated by Fire Nation soldiers. Only I managed to escape, but they killed my family.

And that is where my story truly begins…

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