Chapter Two – Landing

"We're here," both Rena and Nuri breathed at the sight of the vast sea of the Avatar Universe.

"We will head to Fire Lord Zuko first. Tell him of our travels and report back as a successful mission," Wang spoke up, a serene smile on his face.

"I wonder what they're doing in there," Pedro said, tapping his feet impatiently, unconsciously making the ground beneath him shake a little.

"Stop it," Nuri said. "You're making the ground shake. A guy 50 miles from here would feel it."

He looked sheepish. "Sorry."

"You may come in," Wang said behind the door.

They entered into a huge hall, where the Fire Lord sits on his throne in regal, seasoned beauty. On his sides sat 2 people, two boys, the older aged 21, on his right and the other barely 17, on his left. The man in the middle gave them a gentle smile, welcoming them to sit down. "You've kept your promise, Wang," the oldest of the 3 men said, chuckling at a private joke. "I never expected you to actually be able to find some."

"Diligence and willpower, your Majesty," he said, bowing respectively. "These are the benders we found."

"And how old are you children?" he asked kindly.

"I'm 22," Pedro said, giving the Fire Lord a shimmering smile. He gave out his hand for a shake but was restrained immediately.

"You will bow to the Fire Lord," the guards said.

"No need. They're not accustomed to our ways." The Fire Lord gave a polite nod and Pedro nodded back.

"This is Nash, the same age as me," Pedro said, locking his friend in a vice grip.

"I thought there were 4 benders," the boy to the Fire Lord's right stated.

"There are," Wang said, surprised that there were only 2 of them. "Maybe they're outside?" True to Wang's prediction, both girls were outside, the shorter of the two's usually blank expression not present, replaced by a smiling face. The taller one, her long, curly hair tied up in a pony tail, had her eyes closed and leaned into the railings. "Why aren't you inside?"

They both turned to face Wang. "It's twilight," the taller girl answered simply, her gaze serene and…yearning? "The only time in 24 hours, only existing twice in one day where darkness and light met. History has told many stories to the moon and the sun being lovers. I've always loved those stories," she said, her smile reaching her closed eyes.

"I've heard of those stories," a new, deep voice said.

Rena turned to her right to see a smiling Fire Lord.

"Fire Lord Zuko!" she said, bowing a polite Japanese bow. "It's an honor to finally m-meet you!" Beside her, Nuri laughed, and Rena stepped on her foot. "I-I-I'm a big fan of yours." Rena's smile was bright, making Zuko smile too.

"I suggest you girls come in," he said, turning back. "It's getting dark." They both nodded as they followed him inside.

Wang then spoke up. "Nuri here-" he said, waving towards the short girl. "-Is a firebender."

"You are?" Zuko asked, surprised. "No need for formalities child, you can look up if you want to." Nuri's head did bob up, but Zuko noticed that her eyes were unfocused. "Is there something wrong child?" Nuri shook her head. Only Rena noticed her lips were trembling, as she was closest to her. Nuri tried to look at Zuko, but failed. Then the Fire Lord's eyes widened and his face turned into an apologetic one. "I am sorry I did not notice it earlier. It must have been hard for you."

"What has been hard?" Nash asked.

Rena whispered something into her ear and she nodded. "I don't know if you guys have noticed it, but Nuri is blind."

"You're kidding me," Pedro said, coming up to the front of Nuri. "That's not true, right, amito?"

She nodded. "It's true."

"Then how were you able to…you know, walk around the ship without bumping into anything?" he asked.

To that question, she smirked. It reminded Rena so much of Toph Bei Fong. "Firebending."

Zuko's face contorted in a confused expression. "How?"

"Heat sensors," she replied simply, knowing that not many people would understand what she was talking about. Except for Rena, that is.

"You're kidding me! That's unbelievable! Such creativity!" she then hugged the black-haired girl. "You're unbelievable."

Then the doors opened slightly to have a man say, "Dinner is ready, Your Majesty."

He smiled at the 6 newcomers. "Let's rest this conversation and have dinner shall we?"

Zuko stood up to walk to the door. "Zesiro, Shouzei, come get your sister," he said to the two boys still sitting.

"Yes, father," they both said in unison.

Rena's eyes widened and Nuri smirked. "You do realize that those boys are his sons, right?" she heard Nuri whisper. "My hopes and dreams shattered," the taller girl sighed dramatically.

They walked to the dining hall to be welcomed with assorted foods, drinks and desserts. The biggest plate in the middle of the long table was probably mountain piles of komodo-chicken. She saw something drop from Pedro's mouth, and she suspected it to be drool. Nash didn't seem to be interested in anything other than his book while Pedro dashed to the table. Boys, she thought. No manners at all.

"Dine in!" Zuko said, sitting on the grand seat.

Pedro definitely took the invitation to heart. Rena saw Nuri shyly (and definitely elegantly) pick up some komodo-chicken meat. Nash was still enchanted by his book.

Now Rena was no picky eater, so she took a plateful of komodo-chicken, took what seems to be meatballs, a bowl of noodles and some onion-and-banana juice. She swore Pedro looked at her funny when she gulped the komodo-chicken meat down in a flash.

She felt like Chihiro's parents in Spirited Away. And suddenly, she stopped eating, although her plates were barely half-eaten. "Do you want these?" she asked, nudging the plates towards Pedro's way.

"Yesh phleashe," he said, still munching what seems to be snake-pork in between his teeth.

Rena excused herself to go to the bathroom. Unbeknownst to the others, she took a detour to the place where she saw the sun set. Sitting on the railings, she started to hum herself to sleep.

"Is something wrong with Rena?" Pedro asked Nash.

"I don't know, we didn't really get to know her, she did wake up hours after we did," he answered. "Did she say something to you?"

Nuri's gaze became glassy again. "She didn't tell me anything, but I can feel she's nervous…not exactly nervous, but anticipated? But for a negative reason. There's something strange about her, in a past-like way."

"You're not a witch-doctor are you?" Pedro asked, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny.

Nuri gave a small laugh. "You can see it in her face."

They kept quiet about that. Because how can a blind girl see faces?

In two days.

She thought.

2nd year. 2 more days.

She laughed at herself.

I should get back.

She put on a brilliant smile and bounced her way back to the dining room.

"Where the hell have you been?" Pedro asked, her face obviously scorched up with worry.

Rena gave him a weird face. "Toilet."

With her tone, it was heard that she didn't want to discuss of the topic anymore.

The door suddenly opened, 2 boys, the ones before in the throne room and an elegantly dressed lady entered.

"Sorry to be late father, mother felt sick, so we nursed her for a while," the girl said.

Zuko laughed. "Sick is she? Oh well, never mind your mother," then she held his hands to the 4 children. "Youko, meet the new benders we found over at the parallel universe. You might want to teach Nuri, she's a firebender."

"You are? That's wonderful news! Father found this parallel universe a few years back and we've only found 12 firebenders. May I be graced with a name?" the black-haired girl said cheerfully.

"Nuri, ma'am. Nuri Crestone." The girl stood out and gave a polite bow.

"Such manners," the older of the two brothers said. "I'm Youko, the princess of the Fire Nation. I believe you've met my brothers; Zesiro and Shouzei. I apologize that I'm late, I got held back." She smiled. "Go, go, go back to eating, my presence isn't of that much importance."

Such humility in a princess.

Author's Rambles:

So here's the second chapter! To be honest, this came out pretty fluidly, as in, my fingers just kept on typing...which I should assume is a good thing. Now, the 3rd chapter would probably come out pretty late, so I apologize. It's school and all, mid-terms are coming in fast and I seriously can't afford to fail them (and I don't really want to. If we fail them, we have to stay after school to do remedials, and I hate remedials. I hate them more that skinny people complaining that they're fat).

Maybe I should create a post-schedule? Like, I update every week or every two weeks? I have a problem with regularity, so maybe that can help, albeit a little. :P

Now, I'd like to thank Shadowy Flip Flops of DOOM for your lovely review! I have to say I agree. But there's a reason behind every action, am I correct? It's just that the reason for this one is going to be quite far away from its action. ;)

Thank you to all who took their time to read it! It's appreciated in every shape, way and form!