Kazami stared at Talia as the girl went on, "And he said that a lot of people want Azula to be Fire Lord, and that he thinks a lot of people might start revolting against your dad…" she stopped quietly. Kazami pondered this tiny bit of information, there wasn't enough evidence to signal anything truly bad happening yet, she wouldn't even mention it to her father; she didn't want him to be worried about it. Besides, it was a bunch of teenagers who were putting this together as far as she knew, what was there to worry about?
She sat down next to Talia instead of towering over her; she hated using her authority as a princess to scare people. "Is that all you heard?" she said more softly, showing that she hadn't meant to threaten or truly scare her friend. This girl was like one of her many sisters. She had one of the biggest family's in the world, she was sure of that. She loved it.
"Yes, I would of told you anything else, my family's safety means as much to you as it does to me," she said, throwing her arms around Kazami's shoulders. Kazami smiled and hugged her closely, her family feeling were very much reciprocated.
She pulled away, "Thank you Talia, if you hear anything else, tell either me, Samaya, or one of the adults of our family."
Talia smiled and nodded. "Let's get something to eat, Zalia, Halia and Dalia spent all day preparing them!" She then proceeded to walk on her hands across towards the snack table. Kazami smiled at this and followed her example. The greatest thing about being part of a family of circus freaks? You could learn to walk on your hands!
She eyed all the different food, another great thing about her family, there was so much variety in the food we all ate. Of course everyone preferred their culture's dishes, but there were a select few, which were displayed here, that everyone loved. Earth Kingdom foods, such as noodle soup, crab puffs, pan-fried noodles, and roast duck, were all displayed on gorgeous green and brown dishes. Same went for all of the other cultures. She was particularly interested in a big bowl of fireflakes, took a bowl, and dumped a bunch in it. Being sure not too look undignified, she took small handfuls of fireflakes at a time. At home however, she would have stuffed her face while sitting on the courtyard steps and watching Toph face anyone who wanted a rematch, since pretty much no one ever beat her.
Talia daintily took a crab puff and a small fruit pie. Kazami loved seeing how sweet Talia and her siblings were, they were like a breath of fresh air when it came to being around her family which had inherently picked up Toph's habits over the years. Toph however was also the one who taught them proper manners, she was one contradicting woman.
Kazami sat down next to a group of girls and one or two guys. She recognized them all, they all went to her family's bending academy to either watch or participate. Kazami had faced most of them in her days of training thus far. She smiled cordially at all of them, and sat down to quietly wolf down her fireflakes. Their conversations were small and pleasant, casual.
"I can't believe how well the airbending sisters decorate! I mean look at all the little flowers strewn from the ceiling, how did they get those up there?!" We all looked in confusion at Fiana. She then widened her eyes and blushed. "Of course…they're airbenders…" Everyone laughed at this, not at her, but with her. Kazami knew she picked the right group to sit with.
"That's like asking a firebender how they lit those candles so fast," she chirped in. This was followed by giggles from the girls and the low rumble of a maturing boys laugh. Everyone began elaborating on funny bending related jokes.
"How'd you keep that water so cold? We're in the Fire Nation!"
"Wow! That tea's really hot! I don't see any fire to keep it warm…"
"Where did that breeze come from? It's not even windy outside!"
The puns were really just going downhill, but they all found it funny none the less. Kazami decided to try to change the subject a bit. "Who's going to the next Duo Dragon Duel?" The alliteration of the name made it sound slightly silly, but it was a fifteen year old tradition of Ember Island. Every three months or so, firebenders from all over the island, and sometimes outsiders, would come in teams to duel other firebending teams. This all took place at her very own training arena, and she was proud to have such a strong tie to this revered event.
Almost all the hands in the circle went up, with various cheers. One boy, Keron, said, "Me and my buddy here," pointing to Lee, the boy to his right, "are going to definitely win in the intermediate group."
Anilla, the girl sitting to the right of Kazami said, "Oh yeah, we'll see about that. Hani and I are totally going to kick your butts!" She then lit a little flame in her hand, forming it in the shape of a small dragon, and having it dance along her fingertips. Her dark brown eyes glowed in the light of her little creation, as it curled up in her hand then went to the tips of her fingers and spat out fire at everyone. The fire obviously didn't go far, it was only a demonstration of her skills of precision. A second dragon appeared next to the first, and they circled each other in a dance of flames. "See?" she said, "Duo Dragons."
The group clapped and Kazami looked at Anilla in awe. Anilla was seventeen, two years older than Kazami, and had always been a firebender worth looking up to. She wasn't the most powerful by any means, but she was clever, as her duo dragon demonstration had proved. She was precise in her movements, and great at making distractions. You had to know her tactics well to beat her in a fight. Kazami had never come close to winning against her, for she knew she had much to learn about discipline and strategy before she could come close to Anilla. She knew forms, but not tactics yet, and she was eager as ever to earn them.
A few of the others in the group tried to replicate her dragons, but all of them ended up looking like snakes at best, most just looking like blobs. None were too discouraged though, since the group made good fun of laughing at the other's attempts. Anilla had her dragons dancing around the center of the group, putting on a show for them all.
"Make them high five!"
"Can they breathe blue fire?" one girl asked.
Anilla nodded and concentrated hard on the dragons. Then she let out a breath, and the two dragons lifted their heads skyward and sent up a tiny stream of blue fire that turned into a whirlwind as their fire mixed. Everyone's ooohh's and aaaahh's filled the room as others came over to see the dancing duo dragons as blue fire radiated from them. This was some of the most beautiful firebending Kazami had ever seen, and was wondering if Anilla could teach her this trick sometime in the future.
Anilla's dragons came back to their owner and proceeded to curl up on either of her shoulders. She smiled sweetly at everyone, then closed her eyes, and the two dragons slowly disappeared, as if falling into an eternal sleep. The whole group applauded and Anilla bowed gracefully, "Thank you, thank you," she said with a bright smile on her face. The girl wore her hair back in a beautiful ponytail, her silky black hair bulled out of her face, but still shining against the lights. Her clearly visible cheek bones added an air of authority to her, that everyone treated her with respect, no matter their age. Her dark brown eyes shown with wisdom and kindness, she was one of those people that everyone looks up to, even if they're taller.
Kazami looked down at her now empty bowl, she asked Anilla to save her spot next to her while she went to get more fireflakes. She got up and ran right into an able muscled figure, setting her back a bit. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you!" Kazami said politely, a tint of red coming out onto her face.
The boy turned to her and flashed a grin, "It's fine, I should watch where I'm going I guess," he said lightly. The boy was just a little taller than Kazami, dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail much like that of her father's when he had been younger. His blue eyes stared back at her, smiling as he held her gaze. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, how did you end up with bright, beautiful blue eyes like those?" She mentally smacked herself for adding beautiful in the question.
His smile widened, "My mother is from the Northern Water Tribe, and my father's from the Fire Nation."
"Really?! My mom's from the Southern Water Tribe and my dad's from here!" she smiled brightly, she hadn't met another Water/Fire cross besides her sister before.
"Wow, I've never met someone who was a mix of the two elements before!"
"My sister and I are both water and fire," she smiled proudly. "She's a waterbender and I'm a firebender. My name's Kazami by the way, what's yours?"
"Nanuk," he said, "Named after my mother's father. I'm a firebender too."
Kazami brightened up, "How long have you lived here? Ever heard of the Duo Dragons Dual?" she said. She had no idea why she was asking this, she didn't know this kid. Although, she did really need a partner for the dual, maybe she could just test him out tomorrow at the arena…
"I only moved here a few weeks ago, I'm Azalia's brother."
"Oh yeah! My sister Samaya was talking to her earlier," she recalled his sister's appearances. She was a little shorter than Kazami, and she had dark brown hair and golden eyes, easily looking more Fire Nation than anything else, besides the fact that her skin was pretty tan, as was Kazami's.
"Anyway, what were you saying about a Dragon Dual Duo?" he asked innocently.
She chuckled, "A Duo Dragons Dual, it's an annual competition held at my arena about every three months, it's been a tradition here for the past fifteen years since Samaya and I were born."
"You have an arena all to yourself?" he asked, one eyebrow quirked.
"Well, the Fire Nation Royal Family has to have somewhere to train…" she said modestly.
"Wait, I'm talking to the Fire Nation princess?!" he said, an almost panicked look in his eyes.
"Hey calm down, I'm just as normal as you, hence why I live at Ember Island with all four nations in the same house as me. I'm way more commoner than princess, believe me." She laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and felt his skin almost prick below her tough, sending a slight shiver up her arm. Ignoring the feeling, she grinned at him sweetly.
He returned the grin, and she moved her hand back to her side slowly. "Can you meet me at the arena tomorrow morning at dawn? It's just down about a mile west of this house."
"Why?" he asked with all sincere curiosity.
"Well, the Duo Dragons Dual, I need a partner to fight with…" she said shyly, hoping he wouldn't turn down her invitation.
"You want me…to fight alongside…you?" he stuttered, amazed.
"Why not you? I'll evaluate you tomorrow morning, and we'll see if we can work well together," she grinned at him, trying to reassure him through her eyes that she would be no different than any other firebending partner.
He gulped, "Ok Kazami, I'll meet you there, at dawn you said, right?"
She nodded, "See you there!"
He bowed slightly to her, which she returned and then turned to leave. "You better be there on time!" she said playfully, but he took the words completely to heart.
"I will princess!" he called over his shoulder. She shook her head; it would take a lot to get it through this boy's head that she was truly no different than him.
She walked over to her sister, who was sitting on the couch, still talking to Azalia. She could see her yawn, and knew that it was time for them to head home. "Hey Azalia, I met your brother, Nanuk a few minutes ago," she said smiling. "He's really nice, how are you two getting along?" she asked, her mind not exactly into the awkward small talk she was trying to produce.
"Great!" Samaya said, "I think we have a lot in common. We should all get to know each other better somehow…"
Kazami's eyes widened, "Come down to the training arena tomorrow! Azalia, your brother's coming too, I've invited him to be my possible partner in a firebending competition coming up. You guys can practice waterbending together while him and I work on firebending together!" she said, proud of her idea. She really did want to get to know these two better, they both seemed like nice people.
"That's a great idea!" Azalia said, a great amount of enthusiasm in her voice, "I'd love to! What do you say Sam?"
"Yeah, I'd love to," said the sleepy waterbender. Azalia got up, come on, here, I'll help you up." Azalia offered Sam her hand, and Kazami reached out hers as well. They pulled Sam up in unison. "I've got it from here," Kazami said, smiling. "We'll see you tomorrow at the arena. How about you and Sam come about an hour and a half after dawn? Nanuk and I will need a little bit of time to get warmed up and for me to test him before we really get into possible training. Besides, I don't think Sam's going to be getting up at dawn anyway," she said, playfully prodding her sister who blinked wearily. "What? Dawn, no thanks, how about like…an hour and a half after?"
Azalia and Kazami both laughed, "That's what I just said, come on, let's get you home." They said their goodbyes to everyone as they left the party. Sam finally shook herself awake enough to productively walk home without falling in the sand, which was a good start. The moon blazed down on them, it was a full moon tonight, and even though Kazami couldn't waterbend, the moon gave her strength as well. The reflection it left on the water was beautiful. Kazami looked out and saw some dolphins jumping in the distance, playing beneath the glow of the silver orb. She breathed deeply, the ocean air filling her nose, and closed her eyes peacefully. The sand beneath her feet was steadily cooling off from its normal, sun-kissed heat. With every step she dug her toes in, loving the feeling of the little grains of sand snaking their way between her toes.
They arrived at the house, and Sam stumbled through the door. What had made her so tired, Kazami did not know, maybe it was all the surfing she had done that day?
Toph was sitting in the kitchen with Suki and their mom, having a few late-night drinks. Father, Sokka, and Aang were sitting on the couch and were telling jokes and just all around having a good time. Katara waved them over, "How was the party?"
"It was great! You'll never guess who we met!" she piped up excitedly.
"Who?" Katara said, her eyes lit up brightly in curiosity.
"We met these two kids, they're our age, Azalia and Nanuk. Their mom's from the Northern Water Tribe, and their dad's from the Fire Nation! Isn't that awesome?!" she said. A surge of pride rushed through her. Her parents were the ones that truly united the world by having a marriage of such different cultures, and they had influenced the world that it was nothing to be ashamed of.
"That's great honey, I'm glad that there are more kids like you on the island," her mom smiled sweetly. "Now you two, off to bed, Sam's already asleep."
It was true, Sam was half standing, with her face on the counter, snoring softly while Toph proceeded to poke her nose repeatedly. Katara swiped her hand away and shook Samaya's shoulder. "Come on Sam, wake up, time to go to bed."
"Huh?" Sam said, but followed Katara as she led her upstairs to her room. It was a long trip up the stairs, Sam was moving at the pace of a tortoise-frog, groaning at every step. These were the few times that she hated being on the third floor.
When Sam finally reached the top of the stairs and went around the corner, Kazami sighed and quickly turned and went to her own room. She got dressed in her comfy silk robes, the purple fabric fitting her body loosely so she was at her upmost comfort to sleep. She sat down on her bed, the purple sheets soft beneath her fingers. Kazami lied down and curled up under the sheets. She looked out her window to the night sky, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
ooo
Kazami shut her eyes as she breathed deeply. It was barely dawn as she sat on the main platform at the back of the training arena, where the referees usually would sit. It was personally used by her family as a meditating spot if they came here early enough. The platform faced the ocean and the rising sun, so the firebenders were perfectly at home there. The energy the sun filled her with fully awoke her, and she was definitely ready to test Nanuk. She was comfortable in a top that exposed her stomach and had short sleeves, and shorts that had a skirt on the outside of them. With arm bands on instead of gloves, and her hair in a high ponytail, she was ready for a work out.
She did not expect him to arrive when she heard, "Hey Kazami!" from the other side of the arena. She was about to yell at him and tell him that she was concentrating but decided against it. "Hey," she said, waving at him warmly. "Good morning! Do you need to meditate or stretch? I've already done both. If you need to, I suggest stretching first, it helps you relax while meditating," she offered as advice. She felt like she was teaching him, even though she knew he was probably just as capable of a firebender as he was.
"I still need to do both actually, sorry that I got here late," he apologized quickly.
"Nanuk, please, stop treating me like I'm going to strike you down if you do something wrong! I'm a kid, just like you," she said, a genuine smile on her face. "Also, I got here early, you're perfectly on time."
"Oh, uh, ok," he said. "I'm just going to stretch, is that ok?"
"Whatever your preference is. I'm going to do some of my own little workouts, just tell me when you're ready to start!" she said, happy that she might actually have someone to do the dual with her. Kazami decided to work on some things that Ty Lee had shown her last week. Bending down, she touched her palms to the ground and easily lifted the rest of her body up. She then walked around on her hands, loving the feel of most of her body being suspended in a foreign way.
Kazami pushed off of her hands and bended forwards, landing squarely on her feet. She repeated this several times, oblivious to the fact that Nanuk had stopped stretching and was watching her with awe. She turned to him and cocked her head, "What?" she asked.
"Oh nothing, I've just never seen anyone do that," he said quietly, blushing.
"Oh, the lady who owns the house of the party we went to, Ty Lee, taught me all those things. All of her daughters can do it, and so can her son." She then did a series of front flips, landing in the splits right in front of him on the ground. "So, ready to start your evaluation?"
"Uh, yeah," he gulped. She rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed by the fact that he still wouldn't view her as an equal. She pushed it out of her mind as she stood up and walked back to her platform. "Alright, show me your most powerful fire blast."
Nanuk steadied himself, taking deep breaths. He was faced towards her, and then he spun around suddenly and sent a huge ball of fire towards the other end of the arena. She nodded her head in approval, "Nice job! Now, show me a blow that would be affective for someone who is within a two-foot proximity to you."
He rooted his stance, letting all his weight accumulate in his legs, and pulled up a wall of fire in front of him and to his sides. Kazami quirked one eyebrow, "Have you been studying earthbenders?" she asked.
"Actually, yes, how could you tell?"
"My godmother is an earthbender, and so is her daughter, I train with them all the time," she replied. She jumped down from her platform, and walked up to him. "Let's just get right to the point, spar with me," she said. She smiled, a sly smile that was a complete an utter challenge. He nodded and returned her smile.
They went to opposite sides of the arena, and all at once spun around and started punching fire at each other, each one blocking the other's blow with ease. Kazami knew this was just futile, warm up moves, neither was actually trying. He'd throw two, she'd throw two, block them, and throw two more. They continued this until it turned into a sort of dance. Kazami knew he was getting comfortable, too comfortable. She decided to continue inching her way towards him, bringing their fighting in closer. Once they were only about ten feet apart, she studied the way he was fighting. His stance was rooted, and he was relying on his feet to keep him steady. His strength was coming from the fact that he was a solid force, and his energy was coming from his arms, and not his breath. Shaking her head, she kicked fire out from her feet, a wave going towards him on the ground. His stance was immediately broken, and she sent more ways until he fell onto his back. She stood over him, "We've got a lot to work on."