It is better to be happy for a moment and be burned up with beauty than to live a long time and be bored all the while. - Helen Keller

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, I do own every DVD available, the most recent all-Avatar comic and Aang's glider/staff from Toy's-R-Us. (Okay, it's my daughter's, but who else was going to show her the right way to use it?)

Chapter 2 – Adolescence

Two years had passed since the Freedom Fighters adopted Kaiya into their group.

The first few weeks were difficult. She clashed with everyone in the group; that is, everyone except Longshot, nothing altered his level exterior.

During this stage, Jet played the part of instigator as often as mediator. He seemed to take special pride in riling her up. Several times, she was sure she felt her blood boil, but then Jet would use some clever retort or flash that roguish smile to diffuse the conflicts before they escalated to the point of outright war.

One of these situations was when they decided that Kaiya needed a nickname to be properly initiated into the group. She adamantly refused to respond to the vulgar array they came up with. The nicest of which make fun of her tall gangly appearance; the worst, comparing her complexion to animal leavings, but when Smellerbee called her "fire-eyes", Jet stepped in.

"Fire-eyes? That's a great name for a Freedom Fighter," he scoffed before turning serious. "The Fire Nation is responsible for destroying our homes and families. They're evil and we'll do whatever it takes to stop them."

Everyone scattered after that, suddenly busy with one chore or another, leaving Kaiya face-to-face with a fuming Jet. She shivered under his intense gaze, but held her ground.

He looked at her oddly for a moment but then his features softened, "Don't worry about it, Kaiya," he said, clapping her on the shoulder, his expression turning mischievous. "It's not your fault your eyes are the color of tree fungus."

She laughed nervously as he walked away, knowing the heat that flushed her face was due to more than just embarrassment.

Things calmed down after that as Kaiya became accustomed to living with this motley crew.

She spent hours everyday training with Jet. He ruthlessly pushed her to improve. Two concussions and a broken arm later, when she was able to move through the trees as naturally as she could walk, she found his stream of insults reduced to playful jibes and jovial banter. She respected him and found herself looking forward to each brutal challenge in order to prove her worth to this leader of outcasts.

Even Longshot, who was the same age as she, took it upon himself to teach her marksmanship, which was a challenge in itself due to his lack of verbal communication. In time, and with some help from Smellerbee, she was able to converse with the mute boy in a way that made her wonder at the necessity of the crude babble used by the other boys. They practiced archery and dagger throwing until finally, after months of mind-numbing drills, she received her first complement from him. It was no more than a smile, but it meant more to her than a thousand words of praise.

The Freedom Fighters worked so well together now that they had begun to take on more and more dangerous "missions". They progressed from only stealing enough food and supplies to survive, to ambushing troops and cutting off Fire Nation supply lines. They spent their evenings devising new ways of terrorizing the soldiers, all in the name of supporting the effort against the war and driving the Fire Nation out of their forest.

Tonight they were celebrating another successful mission. Adding to their amusement was a message they had intercepted which included a poster depicting their leader and offering a sizable reward for his capture. The message went on to detail many of the group's recent activities. It also credited them with a number of crimes they hadn't committed...

...yet.

Raucous laughter rang through the treetops as Sneers and The Duke recounted their latest scheme, embellishing the story with outlandish exaggerations. A feeling of euphoria was shared among the child/warriors and for tonight, they were invincible.

Kaiya watched this interaction from the sidelines. Turning away, she leaned against a railing and looked out over the foliage laden branches that kept their home secret; that kept them safe.

A lot had changed in the past two years. No longer was she the withdrawn child found starving in the woods; she now laughed and joked with the other kids having found a friend in each of them. Though they had grown closer and more comfortable with one another forming a strange sort of surrogate family, she never shared the details of her past. She hid the shame and fear that those memories ignited within her.

She dreamt sometimes of her old life and though these memories began pleasant enough they always left her breathless and shaking as the scenes turned violent. She shook her head in an attempt to dispel the jeers and accusations that were as clear now as they had been so long ago on the frozen tundra.

She realized that she'd been daydreaming and took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart, ashamed at the control those events still held over her.

Looking across the wooden platform, she caught Longshot's perceptive eye. She smiled warmly at the teen and got up to go sit with him. Of all the Freedom Fighters, she was most comfortable around him. She preferred his quiet companionship to the rambunctious barrage of diatribe that dominated her interaction with the other adolescents.

"Hey," she said as she settled beside him, close enough that their knees bumped as she folded her legs beneath her. "You were pretty amazing back there. How come you never taught me how to shoot three arrows at once?" she teased.

His answering look was one of annoyance though a light flush colored his cheeks.

"You're right. Too many sharp objects in my hands at one time would be hazardous."

A small huff was his only response but she knew he was laughing inside.

"Come on," she said taking his hand and pulling him after her. "I want to show you something."

He followed Kaiya across a rope bridge when a blur of green and brown flew past him, colliding with the girl in front of him. Her hand was pulled from his grasp as she was pushed sideways off the narrow path. Before he could react, he caught the glint of Jet's hook swords in the tangle of limbs that descended below the canopy and out of sight.

Longshot turned back, returning to where the rest of the Freedom Fighters where gathered, the only outward indication that his companion had just been skyjacked inches in front of him was his shoulders, which slumped almost unnoticeably as he rejoined the queue.


Author's Note

I need to apologize. This chapter kind of got out of hand and I had to split it. The fight scene I mentioned before turned into two fight scenes which will appear in chapter three.

It also seems that my characters have developed a mind of their own. I never planned for Longshot to play such a large role but I liked how it turned out. Do you?