Chapter 1

The hawk screeched as it flew closer to the Fire Nation ship. Zai shot it a quick glance. He was used to the messenger hawks, but he still found them annoying. He sighed and looked up at the cloudless sky, leaning against the safety rail on the warship. Everything seemed so bland that day.

The other soldiers seemed to avoid him. He was certain some of them heard stories about him. About how he was different and rebellious, and how he was forced into the navy by the Fire Lord himself. They were just the dogs of the operation, while Zai mingled with the fat cats back home. Maybe they avoided him because even the smallest naval uniform was too big for him. Whatever it was, Zai could hardly care less. He'd rather not interact with anyone who helped the Fire Nation in the war. He didn't count himself as one of them. They were here by choice.

The commander walked onto the deck. He held a letter in the air. The message burst into flames and quickly disappeared before Zai could read the first word. Commander Zhao obviously wasn't happy about the news.

"Gentlemen, I've received word from the Fire Lord. There appears to be a traitor on board. The Fire Lord has personally asked us to rid our Nation of such disgusting people," The Commander said with a grim, tight smile on his face.

"Commander Zhao, who is it?" a soldier in bender armor inquired, standing not too far from Zai. He knew that he was the closet one to being a traitor on this ship, but he couldn't think of anything he'd done wrong, at least not recently. Whatever the news was, it must have been linked to his father some how. His father must have upset the Fire Lord enough that his crime extended to his family. Zai started to distance himself from the soldiers, trying to edge out of Zhao's line of sight. His efforts proved useless when Zhao turned to him.

"Well Zai, I guess you'll be meeting your parents sooner than you thought," Zhao grinned. He turned back to the other soldiers and his morbid smile faded. "Kill him."

"Well that isn't-" The soldiers interrupted him with several blasts of fire. Zai ducked; the blasts missed him by a hair. "-Fair…"

The soldiers moved in, looking to corner him.

"Come on guys, I could make you tea," Zai pleaded, "You can't betray the country if you only make tea..." The soldiers didn't look amused. A spearman eagerly charged him, there was probably some reward for whoever delivered the final blow. Zai quickly jumped over him, kicking him in the back of the head after he landed. The spearmen made a loud thud on the metal deck.

"You idiots! Don't go one at a time! Firebenders blast him!" Zhao commanded. The benders shot their fiercest attacks at Zai. At the last second, he shot himself high into the air, above their attacks, using his own firebending. All the soldiers stopped as they watched green fire appear out of Zai's feet. Obviously they hadn't heard stories about his peculiar firebending. Zai flipped over their heads and landed, now closer to Zhao then he was to the swarm of Fire Nation soldiers. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not. "Don't just stand there! Get-" Zhao's command was cut short when Zai hurled his breastplate at Zhao.

"Sorry, I just couldn't move in that garish armour," Zai apologized before dodging the fire Zhao shot at him. He ducked and rolled and gave the crowd of soldiers a large burst of green fire. Zhao charged at him, fists engulfed in fire. With a quick burst of fire from his feet, Zai flipped over him, pushing Zhao to the ground as he landed.

He then went back to blasting a series of firebending attacks on the soldiers. Tossing them away from him, chucking his shoulder guards and other pieces of his armour, punching, kicking, and blasting them away with fire. If they caught him, his life would be over rather quickly. He blocked another blast of fire and stumbled on his feet, trying to regain balance. His strength was draining, he couldn't fight them forever.

Zhao blindsided Zai, sending a rather sizable blast of fire into his torso. Zai tumbled to the ground. He could feel the icy sting of the frozen metal floor on his hands and face, contrasting sharply with the burns that ran across his torso. The edges of the hole in his shirt were still smouldering. The skin that wasn't raw and charred was frozen.

Zai tried to push himself up, but he couldn't move. His vision started to blur around the edges.

Zhao gripped his collar tightly and pulled him up to his feet. Zhao shoved him against the rail of the warship. Soldiers pinned his hands to the rail so he couldn't fight back, not that Zai had the strength to do so anyway.

"That will be your last rebellious act you'll ever do. I hope it was worth it," Zhao hissed, tightening his grip on Zai's collar.

"Actually no it wasn't…" Zai replied, getting a last burst of energy as he lifted his feet up and aimed a weak blast of fire at Zhao. It wasn't much, but it managed to knock the commander off his feet. "Okay, now it was," Zai said with a smirk. Zhao stood up and looked straight into Zai's eye. Zai glared back. After a moment of silence Zhao's expression hardened.

"Throw him over."

Before Zai could even process the command he was falling. He crashed into the water and felt the cold overwhelm him as everything when black.

X X X

"Alright Lani, our target is from the Fire Nation," Uncle Keoni started as he read the letter he had received from his contact.

"You mean your target," Lani corrected. "You just dragged me along because I'm a bender and can move the boat silently," she added with a grumble as she bent the water around the boat, moving it slowly and ensuring they made no noise.

"An assassin always has a means of transportation," Keoni shrugged as he dragged his fingers idly through the water, "and an assassin never kills in pairs. You can get the next person."

"Great, that's all I could ever ask for," she murmured sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"I know you're rolling your eyes Lani," He grumbled. "I would have done this alone if I could bend."

"I know, I know. It's all because you can't bend you drag me everywhe-" the boat bumped into something and Lani jumped. "What was that?" she asked as she stopped bending the water.

"It's probably just a leopard seal. Nothing to worry about," her uncle said, disregarding the incident quickly.

Lani looked over the edge of their small boat and found herself face to face with an unconcious boy. He looked younger than her.

"It's not a leopard seal uncle. It's a boy," Lani said, concerned.

"Does he look rich? Does he have a sack of money on him? Bring him up I want to see this boy," Uncle Keoni replied, his face lighting up at the thought of money. Lani carefully pulled the boy onto the boat. She noticed his burned torso and charred shirt. Her uncle, on the other hand, was busy searching the unconscious body for whatever valuables he had on him.

"Uncle, stop it. You're drooling all over him," Lani snapped, smacking her uncle's hands away from the boy.

"Who cares, he's soaking anyway," he grumbled, slouching in his seat on the boat. "You can toss him back now, he doesn't have anything and we need to go on with our mission."

"He's still breathing, the least we can do is take him back to the island and heal him," Lani pleaded.

"No. the least we can do is what I suggested. Now dump your boyfriend back in the ocean," he ordered, gesturing to the side of the boat. Lani glared at him before turning the boat around. "What are you doing? Lani, I said no! Lani!"

"We're helping him, and you're telling your contact the mission was a bust," Lani snapped back. Her uncle crossed his arms across his chest and pouted.

"You're not the boss of me…"

"But I'm the bender" Lani replied with a smirk on her face.

"Hey that isn't fair I'm older than you! Turn this boat around!" he snapped at her, standing up to grab Lani's shoulders at the same time as Lani speeding up the boat. He lost balance and fell off the back of the boat. "Lani!" he shouted trying to get her attention. Lani quickly stopped the boat.

"What's the problem? You can swim, right?" Lani stated with a grin. Her uncle quickly swam back to the boat and clumsily climbed on with Lani's help. "It was cold? You could have died?" Lani asked her uncle, wrapping a spare blanket around him.

"I get it. We can go back to the island and heal him," he grumbled. Lani smiled.

"But he's from the Fire Nation. We'll have to dump him at our sister tribe to the south, so our existence still stays unknown."

"Understood," Lani alleged, going back to moving the boat through the ocean. It wasn't a long way back to the island. Lani knew she'd have to let go of saving peoples lives if she wanted to become a great assassin like uncle, but that day wasn't today.

X X X

"Well hurry up, rip his shirt off," he groaned. He watched Lani hover over the boy for a good five minutes as he lay on his stomach in his hammock. She looked up at him, slightly disgusted. "Just do it already if you want to heal those wounds. You're new at this whole healing thing aren't you?"

"No I'm not; you forced me to train for years on it. So I can heal myself if a mission ever goes wrong. You taught me about all the plants and herbs with healing or poisonous powers. I'm pretty sure I can heal this boy's wounds." Lani snapped back at the man looking down at her from his hammock, which swung freely high in their hut.

"Then just rip his shirt off already. He won't mind," he grumbled before rolling on his back and staring up at the straw roof. Lani rolled her eyes and looked back at the boy. He was rather peculiar looking, though she supposed it was just the white streak in his hair.

She took a deep breath and ripped his shirt all the way off, fully exposing his torso. She bent the water out of the pots that surrounded her and wrapped the water around the boy's torso. She gently placed her hands on his burns. His energy was all mangled up in the wound. She tried to twist and untangle it so the energy wouldn't fade away. She did all she could, but it was still knotted there slightly, making the scar sensitive until the energy untangled itself.

"Uncle, do you have any Fire Nation clothing from your golden days?" she asked, realizing that leaving the boy near the south pole without a shirt would be overly cruel.

"Yeah there's some in my shop. Fire Nation clothing is hard to sell in the Earth Kingdom," he replied, sounding half asleep. He rolled onto his side in the hammock with his back facing Lani. "You can go in there and dress him up if you want, you weirdo."

"Uncle! You're going to change him," Lani snapped, standing up and tugging on his hammock.

"What? No. He's your problem not mine," he retorted, clinging to the other side of the hammock.

"Yeah, well I'm your problem, so he's your problem's problem. So he's your problem too," Lani explained, confusing herself slightly in the process. She yanked harder on his hammock and he tumbled out and fell to the floor.

"Fine I'll change him," he groaned picking himself off the floor. He picked up the boy and slung him over his shoulder.

"Just be careful. I don't want all my healing gone to waste if you drop him," Lani admonished as she went over to help her uncle carry him.

"I know what I'm doing…kind of…I changed you when you were a baby," he said as he rejected help from her. "Don't worry, he's unconscious he'll be less of a hassle than a crying baby."

"Okay…" Lani said letting her uncle walk out of the hut with the boy to his shop. She watched them as he carried the boy down the beach. She gave out a sad sigh and went back into the hut and lay in her hammock until her uncle came back.

X X X

Lani sat on the beach with the boat. The waves would roll up the beach and tickle her feet before falling back into the ocean. Her uncle walked past her with the boy dressed in clean Fire Nation clothes. Lani couldn't remember who the person was that wore the clothes when her uncle killed them, but by the look of it, it seemed like a very rich or high ranking man in the Fire Nation.

Lani herself wore clothing that her uncle wore when doing missions near their sister tribes, or when it was winter. It was unusually warm for something so thin, but her Uncle did have to design his clothing to be sleek, stealthy and ready for the conditions it's about to face.

Her uncle placed the boy in the boat. He looked over at his niece and gave her a nod bidding farewell. He untied the boat from the tree it rested against and handed the rope to Lani. Lani stood up with the rope in her hand and looked up into her uncle's eyes. After what felt like a good minute of silence Lani hugged her uncle.

"Be careful," he whispered into her ear before letting her go.

"I always am."

X X X

He was still unconscious. The boy lay there peacefully, showing no signs of waking soon, which Lani supposedd was a good thing. She knew she'd never see him again, but it was good that he never knew who saved his life, lest he try and track her down. That wouldn't just be dangerous to her and her uncle, but to their whole island's existence and the secrecy that kept them safe.

She made it to land. The boat slowed down and came to a complete stop when it butted up against the ice. She got off the boat carefully, tying the rope around a wooden stake and driving it into the ice. She went back on the boat and picked up the boy's limp body.

She was getting tired, and the southern tribe village was too far away from where she landed, but in the distance she could see an old Fire Nation warship frozen in the ice. She made her way over to it. There was no way she'd be able to make into the ship carrying the boy; he only looked twelve or so, but he was still heavy. She lay him down near the ship. That's all she could do for him.

She knelt down beside him, resting her hands on the ice as she prayed to the Spirit of the Water Tribes to keep him alive. It started snowing and she sighed as she got to her feet, gazing down at his white streak of hair one more time before she went back to her boat and her tribe.

X X X

Zai stood on a bridge over a river of darkness. There was a door on each end of the bridge. He was confused. Where was he? Was this a dream? Was he in the Spirit World? He looked around, trying to find a sign of where he was.

"Hello young soul," a voice said, echoing through the mysterious place. Zai looked over a rail of the bridge. He saw a spirit floating above the river of nothing. It was a tiger, with blue fur and black stripes.

"Who are you? Where am I? Why am I on this bridge?" Zai asked desperate for an answer as he started looking around again. "And what are these doors?"

"I am Kaito, a Water Spirit from the Southern Water Tribe. You, Zai son of Zantai, are in the spirit world," the tiger said, his voice resounding without his mouth moving, "This place is where heroes go once they die. Here, they decide whether to go on to the true spirit world where rest all the Spirits and Avatars past, or through the other door where mortal souls rest."

"I'm a hero?" Zai inquired, feeling a little smug.

"No. Absolutely not," Kaito replied coldly. "You're dying and I needed a place to speak to your soul before you passed over."

"Oh…" Zai mumbled, feeling rather depressed.

"I've been searching for the Avatar for a century, in hopes of teaching him about balance of the world and how this war has affected it. It will take more than the Fire Lord's death to restore balance," he explained. The tiger jumped up onto the bridge with Zai.

"Then why am I here? Why are you telling me this?"

"There hasn't been an Avatar for a hundred years. I'm afraid if he doesn't come soon, this world is doomed. I need your help, and you're in a desperate position. So I'll make you a deal."

"Deal? What's the deal?" Zai asked, worried. He looked down into the spirits eyes. "What could I possibly do to help you? You are a spirit and I'm just a human teenager."

"Humans are able to restore balance in the Human world. I can't do much myself there. You're dying. Without my intervention, your body will freeze to death. You won't even wake up. I will save you if you agree to help me restore balance in the world. I can't just sit and wait for the Avatar anymore. I'm resorting to you. So is it a deal? I save your life if you devote it to restoring balance to the world, like the Avatar should be, or a silent death and a human afterlife?"

Zai hesitated before responding, but his mind was made up. "It's a deal. I'll help you and my world," Zai said, crouching down. He reached out his hand and shook the spirits paw.

"Then a deal it shall be."

X X X

Zai woke up. He was covered in snow. All around him lay a barren wasteland. He sat up and looked to his side to find a large blue tiger standing beside him. He scrambled back in surprise. The tiger gazed back him steadily.

"Now let our journey begin boy," Kaito said. "Get on my back, I'll lead you to the places that have tipped the scale on the world and made it unbalanced, but it is up to you to fix it."

Zai felt something under his hand as he pushed himself to his feet. He looked down at his hand and started digging through the snow. He pulled out a bracelet and turned it over in his hands. It looked very out of place, the markings different from anything Zai had seen from any other nation. Whoever had saved him must have dropped it. He put it on his wrist, a reminder of a stranger's kindness and his delivery from death.

He mounted Kaito's back, holding on tightly. Then Kaito started running, taking big loping strides to who knew where.

X X X

Lani hopped off the boat and sunk her feet into the warm sand as she tied it off. It felt good to be home again. Visits to the southern tribe's lands weren't frequent, but they always made her appreciate the warmth of Kaimana better.

She stretched, raising her hands high above her head. Her uncle and some other members of the tribe walked up to greet her. Insuring the safe return of every tribe member is part of what kept their tribe secret and safe.

"Lani," her uncle started, gazing concernedly at her wrists as she as she walked over to greet him, "when did you lose you virginity?"

She felt her face flush slightly as she lowered her hands back to her sides. "W-what do you mean? I haven't lost it..."

His brow furrowed and she vaguely registered the other members of the tribe whispering among themselves. Her right hand felt cold and bare. She was afraid to look down.

"Your bracelet is missing."

I Would like to thank my friend Kia for the lovely editing job she has done on this chapter.

I will be updating this story every Friday if everything goes well.