Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar. The OC's, however, are all mine.
Chapter 1: Family
Uncle Iroh likes to say that family is not always the people you're related to. Your family is made up of people you would willingly give your life for, and know they would do the same for you. He's right. Most of my real relatives are rotten, and the people I consider family are no relation at all. It was the same way with my dad. He met up with the people I consider aunts and uncles during the Hundred Year War, and they became their own family. Now they're all grown up, but they're still closer than any family I know. The bond they have has even carried on to the next generation.
The Hundred Year War ended a few years before I was born, and thanks to Uncle Aang and the rest of the family the world is recovering nicely. There are still scars on the people and the landscape, but we're recovering. Everywhere you go you can see people from the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes and the Fire Nation all mingling together. The Air Nomads were wiped out long ago, thanks to my great-great-grandfather Sozin, so there are only three nations right now. But with two of Uncle Aang's children being airbenders, maybe the Air Temples will one day be full again.
The Avatar isn't really my uncle; I just call him that. Actually I don't have that many blood relatives left. For a start there's my parents, Fire Lord Zuko and his wife, Mai. My sister Kairi is fifteen, three years younger than me. She's a firebending prodigy, practically a master, but with the war so close on our heels that can sometime be a bad thing. Azula, Dad's sister, was a firebending prodigy too. In the end she went insane and they have her locked away somewhere. Only my parents, Uncle Aang, and Uncle Iroh know where she is. But I do know that she was power-hungry and used her bending to do evil. People never say it to her face, but I know a lot of them are afraid that Kairi will end up just like her. She knows it too, and it makes her mad.
Then there's Grandfather Ozai. At the end of the Hundred Year War, Uncle Aang took away his bending abilities, so now he's just another person. He's in prison too. My father took me to see him once, when I turned fifteen. Grandmother Ursa disappeared when Dad was a kid. I think he knows what happened to her, but he doesn't talk about it much. No one does.
The only person on Dad's side of the family who isn't either dead or missing or in prison is Uncle Iroh. He's actually my great-uncle, but everyone just calls him Uncle Iroh. And I mean everyone. He owns a teashop in Ba Sing Se called the Jasmine Dragon. He's really wise, and lots of people go to him for advice. He's also a master at Pai Sho. And he's a respected member of the Order of the White Lotus. When I was fourteen Uncle Iroh even made me an honorary member of the Order of the White Lotus, which was pretty neat.
My mother's side of the family is... different. Both of her parents are still alive, and they're about the most boring people I know. They're very proper and never do anything fun. Then there's my uncle, TomTom, Mom's baby brother. He's only twenty-four, so we're expected to spend time with him when we visit. He's a real snob and a great firebender too, which he loves to rub in my face. But I haven't seen him in almost a month. Ever since Kairi beat him. And she was right. Dad hasn't found out.
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While my true family is a pain (except for my parents and Kairi and Uncle Iroh), the people I consider family are amazing. There's Uncle Aang, first off, and his wife, Katara. Having the Avatar for an uncle is pretty cool. Aunt Katara's pretty neat too, being a master waterbender and all. They've got three kids. Reena's seventeen and a master waterbender like her mother. The twins, Gyatso and Liu, are twelve and both airbenders. They inherited their dad's talent, so they're both already masters. They've got his sense of humor too. Gyatso was named for Uncle Aang's mentor at the Air Temple, but we all call him Guy. They've got a home at the South Pole and one in the Fire Nation near the palace. Since Uncle Aang's the Avatar he has a lot of stuff to do, but when he's around he likes to joke and play around and give us all rides on Appa, his sky bison. It's pretty cool, since the twins are the only ones who can fly, being the only airbenders. Kairi says there's a way for firebenders to do something similar, but she hasn't quite got a handle on it yet.
Uncle Sokka is Aunt Katara's brother. He's a master swordsman. His wife, Suki, is a Kyoshi Warrior. They make lots of visits to Kyoshi Island, but mostly they spend time either at the South Pole with Uncle Sokka's family or at the palace with us. Their son Hakoda is nineteen and named for his granddad. His sister, Shann, is a year younger than him. Both of them are amazing fighters. Their dad taught them to use swords and showed them all the Southern Water Tribe fighting methods and tricks. They've trained with the Kyoshi Warriors too. They learn a lot from the Warriors, but Hakoda always says he's glad they don't make him wear the traditional dress.
Then there's Aunt Toph. She hates the Aunt part, so we all just call her Toph anymore. She's blind, but since she's an earthbender she can see through her feet, which we all think is pretty cool. She's pretty independent, so she's never gotten married or settled down. She just sort of floats, going from the Southern Water Tribe to the Fire Nation to the Earth Kingdom. Mostly though she hangs out in Ba Sing Se with Uncle Iroh, teaching kids to earthbend. Every now and then she goes to one of the Earth Rumble competitions as the Blind Bandit, but she quit going every year cause she always won. She visits her parents like once a year to be nice, but she says she hates it. She's the only metalbender in the world, which is pretty cool. She knows a little sandbending too. She's probably everybody's favorite, except for Uncle Aang, of course.
Last but not least is Aunt Ty Lee. She joined up with the Kyoshi Warriors after the war, so she splits her time between Kyoshi Island and our family, since she's from the Fire Nation and grew up with Mom. She's got a little bit of humor and she's a crazy acrobat, but she's not exactly the brightest person I know. She doesn't have just a ton of backbone either, but she makes friends real easily so it's pretty hard not to like her. Everybody says she's amazing in a fight. I wish I could see her in action once.
There's lots of other people who are sort of in my family, like Jeong Jeong, who taught Kairi some firebending and helped take back Ba Sing Se at the end of the war. Then there's King Bumi. The guy's ancient 'cause he knew Uncle Aang before he got frozen in the iceberg for a hundred years. He's a real nut, but when it comes to puns and riddles he's a genius. That's why he's a member of the White Lotus, just like Jeong Jeong and Uncle Iroh and Pakku, who's a waterbending master. There are a ton of other people I could list, but there's way too many so I won't. The point is, my family's huge. And it spans all four nations, which I think is pretty cool. How many people can say that?
Okay. Now that you know everybody, I'll get on with the story.
I think I said this in my profile, but I'll say it again. If there's ever anything that's not clear or if you have an idea you'd like to share, feel free to e-mail me! And write a review while you're at it. :)