I own Nothing! Just sayin!
The next day Zuko and his family left for their house on Ember Island. Sokka's family would not be joining them until the next day. Once they got to the Island and were all settled in, Iroh went to find Khana.
"Khany, let's go to the beach!" Iroh said grabbing Khana's arm and pulled her toward the door. Zuko walked into the room as Iroh was dragging Khana away. He had a quizzical look on his face.
"Apparently we are going to the beach." Khana told him with a slight giggle.
"Okay, just be careful." Zuko replied. He was glad that his children were leaving. It left him and Katara to have some much needed alone time.
Khana was excited about the fact that her father went lax on the security detail when they were on the island. Before the two kids left, Khana made sure she grabbed towels. Luckly she already had her bathing suit on, because Iroh wasn't going to wait for her to change.
When they got the beach, Iroh headed straight for the water. Khana on the other hand elected to spread out her towel and work on her tan.
Jai was glad to be back on Ember Island, even if his parents were there with him, but they would be leaving the morning after the Memorial Ball. Some of his friends were already at the beach so he headed there as soon as he was settled in.
He was playing Volleyball with some other people on the beach. Then the ball flew past him and he and three of his teammate chased after it.
Khana noticed a volleyball coming straight toward her she stood up and caught it with ease. She noticed that three boys were chasing after it. She tossed the ball to the boy that was closest to her, then she noticed that he was the boy that she ran into in the city, the boy that she couldn't get out of her head.
"Sorry, about that." He said simply.
"It's fine." Khana replied. At that point Jai's eyes lit up in recognition.
"You're the girl that ran into me in the city." He said with such enthusiasm.
"yea.. Sorry about that again." Khana said. She could feel herself blushing. The other two boys that he was with were getting impatient.
"Come on Jai." They called to him.
"You go ahead, I think I am going to stay here a while." He called back to them as he tossed the ball. They just shrugged and walked away.
"Sorry about them." Jai said as him and Khana sat down. "My name is Jai."
"Khana." Khana said with a smile.
"Khana that is an interesting name. it's not Fire Nation is it?" jai asked.
"No, it's Water tribe. My mother is a Waterbender and my father is a Firebender. I was named after my great-grandmother."
"Water tribe, that's cool. Wait, Khana…. You're Syn's Cousin! You're the princess." Jai said. He immediately felt embarrassed. How stupid he must have seemed to her.
"Yes," Khana said with a sigh. "Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all. I'm just shocked. You are nothing like I expected. You are nothing like Syn described you. " Jai said smiling.
"Never listen to Syn. Don't you know that by now?" Khana said laughing.
"I should,." Jai said smiling as well. The two of them continued to talk until the sun began to go down and Iroh was ready to go home. "I'll walk you home." Jai offered.
"I'd like that." Khana said simply. She didn't have to explain where her house was. Everyone knew where the Fire Lord's house was.
Once they reached the house, Iroh ran in yelling "Mommy, Daddy! Khana met a boy and he walked her home!" Khana's face went red.
"Little brother's they are so annoying." Khana said. Jai just smiled.
"I'll see you later Khana."
"See you later." Khana replied and then turned and walked into her house.
Once she was in the house, she collapsed on the nearest couch. Then Iroh tottered into the room.
"Khan, are you okay?"
"Yea, I'm fine, but you sir are in big trouble." Khana said cracking an evil smile.
"Why what did I do?" Iroh asked innocently.
"Oh you know what you did, 'mommy, daddy, Khana met a boy'" Khana said mocking him.
"He was merely informing us of what you have been up to all day?" Zuko said as he walked into the room. "So you meet a boy on the beach?" Zuko asked concerned.
"Well, technically, I met him the other day when I was coming back from Sati's. I ran into him." Khana explained. "Then today on the beach I caught a rogue volleyball that they were playing with, He noticed that I was the girl from the city and he decided to stay and talk with me instead of returning to his game. Then he walked Iroh and I home. His name is Jai. He is the son of Councilman Shan."
"He is the son of a Councilman. Khana…" Zuko began.
"Dad, please, don't start that." Khana said knowing exactly what Zuko was going to say. "When he realized who I was, it didn't change the way he acted toward me. He just said that I was nothing like Syn had described me. He is one of Syn's friends."
"Just be careful Khana." Zuko warned. He knew daughter's dating history. It was filled with no good boys who just want to get closer to him and boys who backed away from her when they found out who she was because they were to afraid to take a chance.
"Dad, I will. I don't know if he even likes me, but I do know that he is different." Khana said with a smile. Zuko let the subject rest for the time being.
The next day Sokka's family arrived at the Island as did Aang, Toph and their ten-year-old son Gyatso. Zuko and Katara were happy to see their friends and happy to have the team back together. Khana was happy to have Satirah and Syn were there to give her some company.
"Hey, Sati, Syn, what do you two say to shopping?" Khana asked once Satirah and Syn were settled in.
"That sounds good." Satirah said nonchalantly. She was in a sour mood because Wren wasn't at the Island with them. She knew that he was coming the next day, but she couldn't help but miss him.
When the three teenagers were walking through the family room, the adults were sitting around and Iroh and Gyatso were playing together. Zuko saw the three kids trying to sneak away without being seen and he wasn't about to let that happen.
"Where are you three going?" He asked amused.
"Shopping!" Khana said excitedly. Zuko just rolled his eyes.
"she is enthusiastic about that?" Aang commented
"She gets it from Sokka." Katara said. All the adults laughed, and Sokka shot a mean look at his sister.
"Kay, bye!" Khana said attempting to escape again.
"Have fun, you three, and Khana leave some money in the treasury will you?"
"I'll think about it Dad, I'm not making any promises." Khana said laughing before she walked out of the door.
"Ah! Finally an adventure with people my own age!" Khana said as they walked to the market.
"What are you talking about Khan?" Syn asked
"Iroh, I love him to death but he can be so annoying at times. He literally drug me to the beach yesterday, although I guess I should actually be thanking him for that." Khana said with a devious smile.
"What are you talking about?" Sati said confused.
"Because I met a guy. A wonderfully sweet guy." Khana said smiling from ear to ear.
"What happened to the guy that ran into in the market in the city." Syn asked.
"That's the thing, it was the same guy!" Khana said proud of herself.
"Wow! Jai made a move! I am proud of him!" Syn said.
"You knew the whole time and you didn't tell me that you knew him! You lied to me and said that you didn't know who I was talking about!" Khana said yelling.
" Well, I didn't know who you were talking about until I went to Jai's house and he told me about you. If it makes you feel any better I didn't tell him either. He would have freaked out and never approached you." Syn said. Khana merely rolled her eyes and they continued with their shopping.
When they returned home, Satirah went off to practice her bending and Khana and Syn ventured off to the back steps of the house that lead down to the beach.
"What's on your mind, Khany-K? You have been a little off today." Syn said. That was one thing that Khana adored about Syn, He always knew when she was thinking about something, even if she was trying to hide it.
"Nothing really, I'm just really curious about Jai. I mean I don't know that much about him, but he seems different." Khana said. Syn knew what she was getting at.
"Don't worry about Jai Khana, He is different than all the douchebags that you have dated in the past. Jai is a really shy person. If he would have known who you were then he wouldn't have approached you. Not because he is scared to take the chance, but he doesn't think that he is good enough to be with someone like you, and the fact that his dad is a dick doesn't really help matters. But a lot of really decent guys come from psychotic fathers. I mean look at Uncle Zuko." Syn said.
"Don't let him hear you saying that." Khana said with a slight giggle. Syn had just confirmed Khana's thoughts about Jai and that made her happy.
"Oh, because I am so scared of Uncle Zuko." Syn said laughing.
"You should be scared of me." Zuko said as he came up behind the two teens. Syn and Khana turned around smiling. "What are you two doing out here at this time of night?" Khana didn't realize just how late it had gotten.
"Syn and I were just talking." Khana said simply and truthfully.
"Well, don't stay out here too much longer, tomorrow is going to be a long day. " Zuko said. The next day was the Memorial Ball.
"I know Dad, we won't be out here too much longer." Khana told him. Zuko seemed content and went back into the house.
"Does he just pop up when his name is mentioned?" Syn asked kind of concerned.
"I think so. It is actually kind of creepy." Khana said giggling.
Eventually, they decided to go inside. Khana went to bed still thinking about what Syn had said. The next day the house was buzzing. Everyone was trying to get ready for the ball the night. Usually Khana wouldn't be excited about the ball, but she was this year. She knew that most of the council members and their families would be in attendance, and she was hoping to see Jai again. Syn, Satirah and Khana decided to stay out of the way and spent most of the morning and early afternoon in the back courtyard. They practiced their bending a little by fighting one another.
As the afternoon grew later, Katara finally came and found her daughter, her niece and nephew and informed the girls that they should start getting ready for the ball.. Satirah groaned at the thought but Khana just went to her chambers without a word in argument. She took a nice long bath and then her ladies came to fix her hair and they warned her that it was going to take awhile. About an hour later, Satirah came into Khana's room and Khana was still getting her head done.
"You know, I am going to start staying at your house a lot more often. I can get used to the being pampered thing. I mean look at this!" Satirah said gesturing to her hair and then showed Khana her perfectly manicured nails, which would all look wonderful with her traditional water tribe gown that she would be wearing once she got dressed.
Finally Khana's hair was done and her ladies helped her into her gown. It was a variation of a traditional Fire Nation gown that worked well with the summer heat. She was finally ready and hurried down to the ballroom. She was just in time, the guest were beginning to arrive and she rushed to join her family, so that they could greet the guests. They greeted councilman after councilman until finally Khana saw a familiar face. The face that she had been hoping to see.
Councilman Shan approached the Royal family with his wife and Jai. All Jai could see was Khana. She looked radiant.
"Fire Lord Zuko, Fire Lady, Princess, Prince Iroh." Shan said bowing to the family.
"Shan it is good of you to come." Zuko replied.
"May I present my wife Ling Mai, and my youngest son Jai." Shan said. Khana notice a slight hint of disappointment in Shan voice when he mentioned Jai. Jai bowed as did his mother. When he rose back up he caught Khana's eye and saw her smiling at him.
Once all the guest had arrived, Khana wandered off to the side of the dance floor to where Syn was. She noticed that Satirah was already in the arms of Wren on the dance floor.
"Is there no one to dance with, dear cousin of mine?" Khana said teasing Syn.
"No not really, you know I'm not that big on these shindigs. I am only here because I am forced to be." Syn said.
"Yea, I know what you mean." Khana said trying to make Syn feel better.
"You know that you want to be here. I mean Jai is here. And in fact he is on his way here, probably to ask you to dance." Khana turned around and sure enough she saw Jai making his way over to where she and Syn were standing, his eyes locked on her.
"Syn, how are you buddy?" Jai said when he reached them.
"I'm good, how about you?" Syn asked cracking a slight smile.
"Never been better." Jai replied as her turned and smiled at Khana.
"Princess Khana, would you honor me with a dance?" Jai said in the most gentlemanly fashion as he took her hand and kissed it.
Khana blushed and replied, "I would love to." All Jai could do was smile.
Jai lead Khana out to the dance floor and they began to dance. "You look Beautiful, Khana." Jai said softly
"Thank you, you are looking quite handsome yourself." Khana replied with a smile. She could feel her heart racing. She only hoped that Jai didn't notice.
"You're Family throws quite a party." Jai said jokingly.
"Yeah, I think it could go down in the record books as one of the most boring parties in Fire Nation history, but this year it is actually quite entertaining." Khana said smiling.
"I would have to agree with you." Jai said simply smiling at Khana once again, which made Khana blush again. They continued to dance until the ball was over, Then they said their goodbyes and Jai and Wren left the ball together. Jai's parents had left before them.
Once Jai and Wren finally made it back to Jai's place they noticed that Jai's father was waiting up for them and he didn't look to happy.
"Who do you think you are? What could you possibly be thinking, dancing with the Princess? It was bad enough that you danced one dance with her. That is not your place to fratinize with the Princess. You are not that important. You should not have even spoken to her, because you are obviously of a different standing." Shan yelled at Jai. Wren was ready to jump in a defend Jai like he usually did. He didn't like people making Jai feel like he wasn't worth anything but surprisingly Wren didn't have to step in because Jai beat him to the punch.
"The Princess didn't object to it and it didn't seem like the Fire Lord had any problem with it. I danced with her. It is not like I asked her to marry me. I was not like I kissed her. Not to mention I meet her on the beach the other day and we had a nice conversation and she doesn't want to be treated like she is better than anyone else." Jai replied back. Then he turned around and walked straight to his room and Wren quickly followed him. Once they were in the safety of Jai's room, Wren finally spoke up.
"What has gotten into you? This was the first time that you actually stood up for yourself."
"I don't know something is different about me. I just seem to have more confidence." Jai replied. He was now regretting yelling at his father like he did.
"I'm not complaining. This means that I won't have to protect you so much." Wren said. Jai punched Wren in the arm and the two of them laughed like the old friends that they were.
Khana floated up to her room after the ball was over. Once she was undressed and in her favorite nighttime robe, she flopped on her bed and stared dreamily at her ceiling. She had had the most amazing night of her life. She soon drifted off to sleep, exhausted from the ball.
AN- I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please, please, please review! Also check out my profile for pictures of what I envision the characters to look like!
