It had started off like any other day.
"Oi, Kaya, two orders of roast duck!" Yura shouted, snapping her fingers and handing me the piece of paper with the order on it.
"Got it!" I shouted, giving her a thumbs up before turning back to the frying pan, which currently had some vegetables that were ready to be served. "Kim, is the rice ready?"
The head of my partner in crime popped up and she smiled.
"You betcha. Vegetables done?"
"Mhm, here." I handed her the frying pan to take care of while I walked back into the storage room to fetch the roast duck.
My name is Kaya; long ago I had shed my last name. Coming to this Inn in the Earth Kingdom had forced me to destroy many things that made me who I was, including the fact I was a firebender. It was very convenient that I wasn't what most people from the Fire Nation looked like, with my bright red hair and green eyes, while they normally had brown hair, light eyes, and their skin was nowhere near as dark as mine. My tanned skin came from being in the sun doing manual labor, though, if I spent some time inside without doing much I'd turn pale again.
Kim and I were travelers, as I liked to call it that even though she was still technically in her home. She was an earthbender, an orphan I had taken into my care after I'd found her on the street. She had long since known how to defend herself, however my motherly instincts kicked in, and I forced her along with me.
I had left the Fire Nation due to my complete disbelief in the fact what the current Fire Lord was doing was ridiculous. Day in and day out I was supposed to rely on a man who murdered innocent people; I would do no such thing. I had too much pride to follow blindly; sometimes my passion landed me in a lot of trouble with people. Due to this I wasn't well liked, except by a special few who approved of honesty.
"Roast duck is done." Due to my firebending powers, it made it incredibly simple for me to control heat, thus helping the process of cooking, which I also had a natural talent for. I put the roast duck on a plate, handing it to Kim before waiting for Yura to give me my next order.
"Get out there and deliver that yourself." She ordered after stomping into the kitchen. "Those damn pirates are getting all touchy feely and the only two waitresses we have left. Neither of them is going to go out there with them there..."
"So instead you sacrifice me and Kim?" I scowled, picking up the roast duck as Kim was still out delivering the last meal I made to a patron. "Alright, who does it go to?"
"Guy with a scar, and some old man. They also want more tea, so here." She shoved a kettle of tea into my hand; I'm glad I had decent balance or else I would've dropped what I had in my hands and had a rather unpleasant accident. The place wasn't as full as it normally was, only a few tables, and my customers had taken their place at the back of the room, next to the table Kim was serving.
The rowdy pirates where chugging away large amounts of alcohol, laughing wildly and causing trouble, as they were known to do. Of course I'd be subject to pass them; the short skirt I wore as a so called uniform would not go unnoticed by them, as they were pigs. I was used to the harassment due to the uniform; doesn't mean I didn't know how to deal with them.
I had the manual labor to thank for my strength and the hard streets to thank for my hand to hand fighting skill. I couldn't go blasting fire everywhere in a busy city, especially when I was trying to stay undercover. After the raids the fire nation soldiers put the Earthbender Kingdom through, they weren't generally accepting of firebenders…
I attempted to serve the two odd fellows without any problems, placing their meal in front of them and pouring them so more tea. I was glancing over at the one boy, whose eye and one part of his face had been burnt badly when I heard Kim cry out loudly in disgust and turned around; a rowdy pirate had taken to squeezing a part of her she'd rather no one touch.
Me, being the protective and wonderful person I was, decided to step in before it got out of hand. I yanked the pirate back from where he was standing, in the process he released Kim's bum from his grip, and threw him back on the table. He was about to get up when I grabbed onto the ragged shirt he wore.
"You listen here, pal. We're not your little service girls, we cook you food, you eat it and then you leave. Got it?" The pirate smirked, licking his cracked lips as his eyes trailed over my tanned legs, before landing on the fiery hair that framed my face.
"You're a pretty lady, such fiery hair tah go wit' ya temper." I ignored his speech impediment and instead smirked as my fist connected with his jaw, sending him flying back over a few tables and ruining the meals of his buddies. Another one of his friends stood up to defend him; unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to control fire as much as normally would've been able to if I kept a level head. I tried my best to keep my temper under control; it was more difficult than you would think.
The effort was wasted it seems, as the tips of the pirates hat caught on fire and he screamed bloody murder, throwing it on the ground and attempting to put it out. The floor being wooden and what not would've caused another fire, had Kim not come out with a bucket of dirty water and thrown it at the fire, dousing it and the man. We shared a look of amusement; teamwork at its best.
"If you'll be leaving now, that'd be fantastic." Kim snapped, pointing towards the door. The pirates stood up without question; I was glad none of them wanted me to set them on fire, as I definitely would've been willing to show them my power had they agitated me anymore. As soon as the last pirate filed out, I started to collect the broken dishes. I'd have to clean up all this wonderful food that I had cooked. It probably would've been delicious.
"My, my, such skills I see for such a young lady." The older man from the table I had served commented. "I hadn't expected to see a firebender around these parts." I scowled. Oh, he'd caught that, huh? Well now I knew I was in some trouble; my naturally witty mind seemed to have come to a halt when confronted directly about something I had tried to keep hidden.
"It wasn't me firebending..." I stated, searching for an excuse to use. I diverted my eyes from the man, staring hard at the wall as I tried to think of a viable excuse.
"Oh?" He commented with a smile. "Than what was it?" His and his companion's eyes were both on me now; his companion however, wore a frown while the older man seemed much more relaxed.
"Spontaneous combustion." I commented, before returning to the kitchen with Kim following closely behind.
"I can't believe you set him on fire." Kim laughed, placing a hand over her mouth in a poor attempt to muffle her laughter.
"I can't believe you let him grab your butt!" I grinned as she turned pink; she was too innocent for her own good at times. She huffed, crossing her arms and grabbing a broom.
"You'll never let me forget it, will you?" I shook my head.
"Oh, never." I grinned, taking the frying pan and beginning to wash it in the sink. The quicker we cleaned, the quicker we could go back to our rooms and be in peace, as dinner hour was now over and done with. Yura walked back in with a scowl, peering from me to Kim until addressing us.
"Look, I already knew you were a firebender, but did you have to scorch my floors? Honestly." Yura growled, crossing her arms as she glared at me. Oh no, she was not calling me out for the fact she hadn't even noticed they were pirates in the beginning. "Those two guys out there wanna talk to you. Get to it before I fire YOU." Kim looked at me, confused, but followed me out so she could begin sweeping up the rest of the mess.
"Ah, our lovely waitress returns." The old man smiled up at me and I blushed a bit. Whenever someone complimented me, it bothered me, as if flattery would make me any easier to talk to.
"I have a name. It's Kaya, so use that and not waitress." The man smiled warmly, apparently unbothered by the attitude; he was blatantly ignoring the fact I obviously didn't want to be talking to him.
"Ah, I am Iroh, and this is my nephew, Zuko." And suddenly it clicked in my head, exactly why this boy had suddenly seemed so familiar to me. It was Prince Zuko, the Fire Lord's son. I hadn't even recognized him; it must've had to do with the new hairstyle he seemed to be sporting. "You are quite an amazing cook."
"Er... Thanks?" I muttered, shrugging my shoulders as my face heated up. No matter how many times I've heard it, it still makes me blush.
"Uncle." Zuko growled impatiently, his eyes narrowing at Iroh. He crossed his arms impatiently. Oh, is Princey getting annoyed with his time being wasted?
"Oh, right, I've gotten distracted by this young girls beauty." From that moment I knew something was going on, I hadn't been complimented on my looks before. My hair, yes, my general appearance, no. I was used to the comments such as 'Wow, you're an amazing fighter!' and 'Your cooking is delicious, women really do belong in the kitchen!'
"You're coming with us." Zuko finally snapped, standing up from the table and grabbing hard onto my wrist. Most girls would've screamed and been alarmed; I met his amber eyes with a steady gaze.
"Excuse me?" I tried to tear my wrist from his grip but failed; he was pretty strong.
"You're going to help us hunt the Avatar."
"I'm pretty sure I didn't agree to help, nor was I asked." I hated being ordered around like a puppet, I did what I wanted, when I wanted. I finally got up the strength to pull my arm from his hand and turned to walk to the kitchen but was stopped by Iroh.
"It would be nice to travel, no? We could use such a fine cook to go along with us on our journey." The Avatar was our last hope, though... It was then that an idea came to me. If I went along with Zuko, what if I sidetracked him from his mission, long enough for the Avatar to return and defeat his father. I could always take Kim with me; I wasn't going to leave her behind.
And that was how we joined Prince Zuko in his search for the Avatar.